Best mic for rap vocals below 4000€

They are wicked awesome. And also, have gone up a stupid amount in terms of value. I think they fetch north of $1k these days.

Yeah, just like my favorite precursor to the SM57 the 548, man I sold a handful for $300-350 ea that I had paid about $200 ea for, now $800 just silly.

I don't get how one could not get a useable vocal sound out of an SM7B... I thought we were professionals here? Too muddy? Do your frickin' job, tell the artist to take a step back, put some damn tape at their toes and tell them don't fucking move like they are surrounded by hot lava.

Does it sound like a U47? No. It's a $400 mic... but I've never captured a good performance on a good song with one and been like "I can't work with this!" FWIW, a SM7B with a Triton Audio FET Head into a 1073 can sound pretty darn good.

A singer with poor mic technique will sound better on an SM7B everyday of the week than they will on an M49.

That said, its fiiiiiine on rap vocals. Not amazing. U87 was my go to until I discovered the 017 FET.

Just a technical clarification. The REDD is not a mic with a built-in preamp. The preamp circuit is the mic.

From the Chandler website: “The Chandler Limited REDD Microphone is a large diaphragm tube condenser microphone, combining mic and preamp into a single, beautifully handcrafted professional recording device. Featuring the vacuum tube based REDD.47 Mic Amplifier circuit directly coupled to a custom handmade premium platinum membrane capsule.

This new and unique microphone design, fusing the mic capsule to the historic REDD.47 line amplifier circuit, provides the shortest possible distance between the two most important elements in the recording chain.

The proximity of the REDD Microphone’s custom capsule to the internal tube mic preamp, allows it to deliver a larger than life full-bodied sound, with a velvety smooth top-end..”

I personally recommended two other mics to OP, not the SM7B, but I was responding to the hyperbolic statements that it is a "useless" mic as separate topic.

I agree the vocal is the most important part of the entire production, but at the end of the day Part>Arrangement>Performance>Gear.

If I have a great song and a great vocalist who doesn't have a huge budget, I would 100% choose a room that only had an SM7B if it meant I could get more hours to get more takes, flesh out a killer vocal arrangement vs having limited time in a room with fancier gear and still be confident I could get a professional result.

As I stated before, if the vocalist has poor mic technique, I will 100% take an SM7B over a Neumann. Its easier to deal with a little muddiness than it is to deal with clipping because they are too close when they belt or too much room tone if they pull too far away trying to compensate for belts.

Is it the best candidate for everything? No, but I think it can deliver something we can always work with and is pretty far from being useless. Many of us here are fortunate enough to work with or own some pretty incredible gear. That's awesome, but let's not gate-keep. We can discuss the pro and cons of the tools we use without the hyperbole.

Maybe Jim Williams just loves Tupac?

I've never heard that sentiment that rap doesn't need good gear, I hope that's not accurate regarding a racial tinge... 

My take has always been exactly the opposite actually.

You've got a genre where the vocal is like 85% of the experience AND often the only analog instrument. Add on top of that that it's basically spoken word and human ears are super tuned to variations in spoken word. So I always tell my friends who are aspiring rap producers to go all out on a top of the line signal chain. If you don't need to mic an entire drum kit or something you've got lots of budget for things like the OP is looking at.

So yeah... the vocal is the entire thing in this genre. Don't hold back.

With regards to the SM7b, I use it all the time for rock vocals and I'm sure I could get a great sound out of it for a rap vocal. But it's not what I would reach for based on what the OP is asking about which is an open/wide/modern vocal.

Some perspective… Brandi Carlile’s vocal track on The Joke is as far as I know a sm7 into 1073 and 1176. I mean, genres aside, that mic is able to deliver one of the greatest vocal tracks I’ve heard since the album was released,

Yeah in very broad general terms mics under say $1k are for more hit or miss than say an 87 or the big 5. Of course you do have guy like Chris Robinson who have a tone know what will deliver that tone. Of course the other side of this is while it allows you to quickly get to their tone, their just might be something in the mic locker that would offer a better but not as familiar sound.

That’s why they pay us the big bucks, that I have yet to see.

While not a u87 or a c800g

Was just comparing my ua twin87 and aa cm800t

While imo the twin87 is perfect for that future sound

The cm800t has a more "in the room" feel

I would keep the u87 and maybe see if there's somewhere you can order the advanced audio to try out

I prefer the 1081 to the 1073 for rap vocals, not a game changing difference but it was worth it for me
The aml ez1081 is fantastic

Mixed many songs recorded with it and i never really liked it.