Neumann - U 87 (original)

Depends on if you have an original or the 'ai' version. the new ones do suck, but the og's are magic.

I have a vintage u87, second run they did. I love it but it's not for everything or everyone.

Pro here working at a top-ten studio with over 200k in microphones. I use the U87 set Ai and even vintage U87 for roughly half of my vocal sessions. Its a bit of a Swiss Army mic. If you can't make a U87 work for your vocals, you have bigger problems than your mic. It is not over hyped in the highs or scooped in the low-mids. It's a fairly vanilla mic all things considered but with minimal preamp eq or DAW eq, you should be able to get a natural balanced tone out of most vocals and instruments. Proximity is the key determining factor when used commonly in cardioid.

I've got a couple of well-maintained vintage u87s and two u87ai. I actually prefer the newer ones for a lot of the acoustic music I record. The vintage ones have their advantages, of course, too.

I am working for a radio station in germany and we have 8 „vintage“ U87 i use to hear for 13 years now. I have problems with eq-ing them. I prefer TLM 170 for now. But sometimes its the only right mic, but often the bass does not roll off „correctly“ for me. Its a mess sometimes

Vintage 87s vary greatly from mic to mic, something to keep in mind. Some sound great, some can sound awful. For seasoned engineers, it’s a predictable go-to. Like a 57. There are certainly better mics, but when you’re in the heat of battle, and decisions need to get made, it’s one of the first grabs because I know exactly what it’s capable of.

Shrug. We have 3 vintage u87s at the studio. Almost every VO session requests them. They sound great on our Steinway Model B. For more modern drums, they work awesome as overheads. I also use them frequently with 77s for guitar cabs. I'm not in love with them on most vocals, but for Broadway cast recordings they are fine. And just had a jazz/RnB singer like it the most on her voice during a shoot out.

100%. I’ve used vintage 87’s, Ai’s, replicas…all blah and boring. If I absolutely had to use one it’d be fine but for being a legendary mic worth thousands, it’s always a letdown.

Are you using an old one or a new one? Because the new ones unmodified aren't very good. Ive heard some old ones that dont sound [that] great either. But my two vintage 87's are excellent (no they aren't u67s or u47's).

First: do you own original 70s ones? Because the later ones aren’t close to as good. Second: part of what makes them great is that they ARE kind of neutral. Or flat. They just work in literally anything and everything. They’re occasionally the perfect thing (especially on some vocals. There are probably more 1970s vocals recorded on 87s than any other mic) but they always work. I could happily make a record with nothing but a room full of 87s (and Ken Scott also often has, for example)