The Neumann u87 is in no way a budget microphone, with a price tag of £1500 most people will not be able to afford one as it is quite an investment. However if money is no object or you have saved up enough here are some of my personal experiences with this mic along with some technical info which may persuade or dissuade you from getting it. The u87 is a large diaphragm condenser mic. The condenser aspect of the mic means a charge is applied to the diaphragm and changes in current are measured rather than the excursions made by the diaphragm like in dynamic mics. This means the mic is sensitive much more so than dynamic mics. The mic has three separate polar ...  Read the complete review

Having recently finished a degree in music technology at leeds metropolitan university! i had the pleasure of using all of their very high standard equipment and studios for the 3 years that i was there. There was always a lot of choice and for the first year i really just experimented with different microphones. I mainly recorded chilled acoustic tracks. After i read that jeff buckley used a u87 on his album grace (one of my favourite albums) I thought i have to try out this mic. To my suprise the studios had one and i began experimenting with it. I was very impressed with the smoothness and clarity of the vocals, and i soon started using it ...  Read the complete review

With a wide selection of microphones on the market there can be difficulty choosing the right one. This will give an insight into the Neumann U87Ai and whether it would be a suitable purchase. Section 1: How It Works 1.1 Capacitor/Condenser Technology The Neumann U87Ai uses capacitor technology making it a condenser microphone. The microphone has a moveable diaphragm positioned parallel to a fixed back plate both of which are charged creating a capacitor. A sound wave is created when vibrations cause the diaphragm to move. Sound On Sound magazine states "The electrical capacitance of the capsule changes whenever variations in air pressure ...  Read the complete review