Neumann TLM 103

I'm a singer songwriter in my early 20s. I've recorded over 50 of my own songs in my home recording studio and decided that it is time to suck it up and get a good mic. I set out to get something that would sound really good with my voice. I wanted something smooth and silky that would make my voice sound full and stand out in the mix. I've had problems with thin sounding mics dominating my vocals in some songs, so I also wanted to fix that. In short, I knew what I hated about my c-3000b and what I wished it sounded like (I have a mic modelor that gave me a taste of what nice mics should sound like).

Features are pretty straight foreword and is typically used for a few specific circumstances. Example: If you want to mic a kick drum, up close guitar amp, bass amp, drum overheads, this is not the mic for you... at all. But if you want a ridiculously nice vocal mic for a ridiculously good price, check it out. You can also use it on acoustic guitar, amps (from a distance because it has no pad), and drums (at a distance as well). This works well for me because I mic instruments with sm57s up close and large condensers from afar. Anyhow, I went to guitar center to see for myself if this thing was worth the money. I have to admit that reading the reviews here really threw me off. There are a lot of mixed opinions, which is why I am writing this. I hope this will clarify some issues that I felt were not covered here. I compaired it with a shure ksm32, blue dragonfly, and a neumann u87. The u87 sounded sterile, but better than the shure and blue. The blue sounded good, but thinner that the neumanns. And for the shure, it was lifeless next to these mics, though the detail was comperable. So I narrowed it down to the u87 and tml103. I went back and forth compairing the two even though I thought I knew which one I liked the first time. The sales guy was trying to get me to buy the u87, but that's because his commission would have been three times bigger. I could tell, though, he knew the 103 was sexier. We both did. It sounded more intimate, detailed, full, warm, alive, and it brought out all of the best qualities of my voice. The airiness of the highs were there, the raspiness was well defined, and lows were tight and warm at the same time, and I was very impressed. I justified getting the 103 because I don't feel a need for putting the u87's versitility to use. I just wanted a good vocal mic first, and an acoustic guitar/ambient micing second. I'm not going to tell you what to buy because you need to justify your expensive purchases in your own way, but I hope you take away a few things from reading this. This mic will put your voice in the front of a mix, it will be clear and warm, you can tweak it with a good mic pre, and it will not break (unlike my AKG C3000b, which miraculously stopped working one day). If I had $4500 I would have gotten the Manley Reference Gold, but I don't and this is the next best for my voice. I give it a ten because it is exactly what I was looking for without all of the features I would not have used that tend to hike up the price. Fantastic mic to enjoy for years to come.

I'm a recording engineer and producer with 20+ years experience. I've been fortunate to work in rooms with vintage Neumann's, so I have a good idea on how they should sound. I record mostly to 2" analog and digital harddrives.

I was considering the Soundeluxe U195, but went for the TLM 103 instead. The LDC I use the most on sessions is the TLM 170. After recording two albums projects with the TLM 103 on a variety of sound sources, I've come to respect it. It's not only versatile (gtr cabs, acoustic instruments, vocals, ambient micing), but it's much warmer sounding than the TLM 170. The bottom end is also much tighter and not as boomy. The high end is just right and retains its smoothness from 5k up. I also like the midrange quality of this mic. It really holds its own in a mix and works well on a wide-variety of vocalists. The more I use it, the more I like it. It's becoming a studio workhorse. The best thing about this mic is the bottom end, which never gets muddy. This is where many other mics fall apart, including the TLM 170 and U87.

I've also experimented with many of the budget condensor mics, some of which are good values. But frankly, the TLM 103 is sonic leagues above them. It's also well made and should hold up to rigorous studio use for many years. I'm going to look for another one.

Been involved with music since childhood (35 years) and have been recording for years starting with tascam portastudios back in the bad old days. Now I have the basic home set up with Mackie 8 bus and the usual digital recorders and protools. Yet, I have always bought only professional mics and outboard gear to take to bigger studios.

I just want to put a different spin on this mic. Most reviews are either bitter becuase it's not a U-87 or happy becuase they finally broke down and bought a Neumann! It is not a mini 87. Remember that the electronics are TLM. This is important.

Just for context it should be remembered that the U-87 was just the transister version of the U-67. Not only that, Neumann soon came out with the U-89 to compensate for the deficiencies of the U-87! So for all these years, Neumann has had a similar but better mic that nobody ever thinks about. For whatever reason, fashion, habit, history, the U-87 is the defacto world standard. That doesn't mean it is the best or most accurate. The few people who have actually used one, usually say the U-89 is better!

Now back to the TLM 103. The diaphram is the same as the U-87 and that is the most important part of a mic's sound. But Neumann could be said to have two approaches to mic electronics. Their Fet electronic have a bit of distorion and make things sound big and fat. On the other hand, the TLM electronics(transformerless) is more clear and accurate, less colored. The TLM 103 has transformerless electronics. This is a marriage of two distinctly different Neumann sounds. Becuase every one loves the big U-87, it always gets mentioned but you could also say that the TLM 103 is a budget version of the TLM 170--one of the premere hi fi mics in ensemble recording.

I've done a lot of voice work on the U-87 and it does make things sexy! It's also very large and $3000 meaning you either can't or don't want to use it on several marginal applications.

I have been using the TLM 103 for two years now on mine and my customer's recordings. When I put on the headphones and do the direct comparison that others talk about, I get some of the same ideas--nasality, not a U-87, etc. BUT! I am consistently struck by how big, beautiful and professional my recorded tracks sound when I'm using this mic. My monitor mixes for overdubbing sound more like mastered mixes than mastered CDs I recorded a few years ago with lesser mics! (C-451, C-414, MD421 etc.)

I look at the TLM 103 as the basic diaphram character of the U-87--presence peak, big bottom--but with the higher fidelity electronics of the TLM series which means the mic may be more universally usable on a variety of sources. Project studios need high quality and flexibility. This mic has that in spades! It's also a lot cheaper and smaller meaning you can safely use it in more places than the U-87!

Forget the "good for $200" mics and get a pair of these first. Then buy your next mics to fill in the gaps from a position of knowing what quality is!

I'VE BEEN PLAYING AND SINGING OUT ON GIGS SINCE THE MID 60'S
I HAVE RECORDED ON THE OLD 4 AND 8 TRACKS BY TEAC-TASCAM.
I RECORD DIGITALLY THESE DAYS ,I OWN NUMEROUS ROLAND HARD DISC MACHINESND ALSO USE COMPUTER BASED PROGRAMS SUCH AS PRO TOOLS.
I USE A PAIR ON EVENT 20-20BAS FOR MONITORING ALONG WITH OTHER SYSTEMS.

THIS MIC IS "OKAY", I MEAN IT HAS IT'S NICE QUALITY SUCH AS A GOOD BASS BOOST(PROXIMITY EFFECT) BUT THE MIDS ARE WAY TOO 400HZ BOXY SOUNDING. IT REQUIRES ALOT OF EQ TO CLEAN IT UP ON VOCALS. I ALSO OWN A U87.BELIEVE ME THIS MIC DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A U87. THIS IS KIND OF A NEUMANN SALES GIMMICK TO PUSH THIS MIC AND TO JUSTIFY IT'S OVERLY PRICED
PRICE TAG. IT HAS NO ROLLOFF OR ATTENUATOR. I LOVE MY AUDIO TECHNICA AT4040 WHICH HAS AN 80 HZ ROLL OF AND ATTENUATOR ,AND SOUNDS PRISTINE! I''LALSO TAKE MY RODE NTK, AND BLUE DRAGON FLY OVER THE TLM103 ON VOCALS AND ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS. THIS MIC SHOULD BE PRICED AROUND 300 DOLLARS BUT BECAUSE THEY STAMP THE NEUMANN NAME ON IT YOU GET IT TUCKED TO FOR $900 PLUS.

WOrking at it for about 3 years now

MOTU 828MkII
Distressor
Motif Rack ES
Cubase SX
Neumann TLM-103
Yamaha S80
UAD UltraPak

An excellent MIC. I read all these reviews for cheaper mics that suppesedly sounded just as good as any of the more expensive mics and I'll never believe any of them again. I first had Oktava MK319, AKG c4000B, Rode K2, Shure KMS44 or something like that, and a Marshall MXL v69. None of them were anywhere near the quality of this mic on vocals and acoustic guitar. It just sounds so smooth and sexy and puts your vocals in a sweet spot in the mix. this coupled with my distressor and the UAD-1's LA2A, my vocals sounds professional and nice. of course singing lessons help too. Don't buy cheap crap mics!!

i have been audio recording and making music since 1995. I have been squencing for over 16 years. I record to Mackie HDR24/96 threw a mackie 8bus console. I am primarily digital and have not any other tube equipment currently in the studio other then microphones ;)my listening/monitor enviroment is with the Mackie 824 monitors. I also do critical listening threw the AKG headphones.

I am Reviewing this microphone because of all the microphones i have used this is by far the most useful, sound quality, bang for buck, powerful microphone i have ever used besides its big brother the m150. I have never used the u47 or a 87 which leaves this for those that can decern to decide. I primarily amd writting from a project studio owner whom is looking to spend thier money as best as they can and get the best sound out of thier equipment.

micrphones worked with:
Neumann TLM103
Neumann M150
akg 414ULB
akg c451b
audio technica 4043
akg d112
sen 421II
Shure 57
Shure 58
shure sm81
shure sm7

The Nueman 105 is a tube microphone with a cardioid pattern.

The microphone is extremely universal. I mainly use it on vocal but it is so very warm and expressive that i use it for ambience (room mic), amp recording, drum overheads.

The reason i got this microphone was threw a suggestion of a friend of mine.

i was considering any tube microhone at the time.

the microphone because of its tube nature does a slight tube compression at higher levels of SPL which is beautiful feature and personality to the microphone. the mic has excellent detail in sound in lower ranges and will not miss the perfect warmth of a deeper sound or voice.

I highly recommend this microphone for the project studio owner whom wants the best bang in sound and use for the buck.

I've been making music all my life and started with recording in 1994. I sing play keyboards and guitars in two bands. I started working with an analog mixing console with a fostex digital recorder some years ago. I love the 1970s sound of rock and pop (Queen, early Elton John) but my interests also spread towards electronic dance music for I love to party!

The TLM-103 is a small version of the famous U87. The quality of music recordings has become incredibly good over the last years, so it is important to have very good equipment. When I started I bought a lot of average equipment stuff like Behringer or Yamaha. The only pieces of gear I didn't sell is the the Lexicon MPX-1, my Event 20/20bas, the Midiman Delta Audiocard and - of course: The Neumann TLM-103. I don't even miss the other stuff I had because I like having good tracks at all time. So I'd rather rework single tracks five times with the Lexicon instead of using 3 cheap reverbs in parallel.

OK, back to the Mic. If you need technical data please refer to Neumanns homepage. The quality is superb, no noise, crystal clear sound (better than anything you heard on a CD!!!).

A lot of people tend to say "if you need r&b vocals, take mix xyz" for some reason. To be honest this is crap. If you can't get a solid track with a Neumann and say, a Mackie-Mixer Preamp, you should practice a little more. More important than any Mic is the room you are doing your musical performance in. Experiment with the acoustic and you will see that it has a much greater influence on your sound than a microphone.

I already said it, I personally go for quality instead of quantity. You may buy a China-mic, but in the end you will end up being frustrated and having lost a lot of money. The value of my TLM-103 has gone up in the past five years!

I've been making music for about 16 years, started off with a Radio Shack dynamic mic and Tascam 4 track. Done some commericals for radio and recording for low buget movies. I know have a small home recording studio with Echo Audio converters and Mackie HR824s for monitoring along with Sony Headphones. I'm using a Joe Meek and Avalon VT 737sp for my preamps.

The Nuemann TLM 103 is a cardioid conderser microphone with no pad and no pattern switch. I mainly use it for vocals. I was considering the Blue Dragon Fly and some lesser priced ones from Groove Tubes. I did like the Dragon Fly but wanted something more neutral sounding. The TLM 103 has an overall smooth tone and excellent proximity effect but the high end response can be a little to bright for me sometimes. There is detail in the signal (which I love) and very low self noise which are obvious once you listen to it. I have a middle range voice with some nasality and the TLM can accentuate that annoying aspect of my voice if I don't watch it. Overall it's a very good mic but not great. Worthy for the price but as always try other microphone before you choose for yourself. There is a wealth of worthy mics around this price level which could be right for you.