Steve DeMott shares his find of the week, a pair of U87 style mics from United Studio Technologies with switchable Vintage and Modern voicings.

Last week we picked up 2 United Studio Technologies UT-Twin87s at the studio to add to our mic collection. The Twin87 is supposed to emulate both a vintage and modern U87 in a single mic.

The mic comes in a large cardboard box that contains the mic, a rather decent shockmount, extra elastics for the shockmount (which I truly appreciate), and a zippered storage pouch. I would have happily paid a little more for a plastic storage case. I’ll probably find an equipment case that will fit both mics with their shockmounts for safer storage.

Specifications

We were interested in the UT Twin87 because of the involvement of Chad Kelly, who also builds his own mics under the Signal Art Electronics brand. We were extremely impressed with his SAE U47 Premium Reference Edition that we got several months back so we decided to go for the UT-Twin87 based on our experience with that mic.

I was able to put one of the UT-Twin87 right to use on background vocals (about 22 tracks worth) to get a feel for the way the mic sounds and behaves. Overall I found the Vintage mode to be very pleasant. Full and articulate, with a smooth top end. This is the mode I used when tracking the vocals. I also remember thinking that this would make a great voice over mic as the talent talked to me between takes. It gave a voice that “radio ready” sound. The Modern mode felt too bright for my tastes, but if you prefer a little more bite you might like that mode.

The video above demonstrates the difference between Vintage and Modern modes with the UT-Twin 87 used as a close mic on vocals. Here is a demonstration of the mics being used to capture vocals and acoustic guitar. Close up they sound very different, but pulled back from the source their differences are less drastic (though still noticeable). Also, there is a level difference (the Modern mode is hotter). this level difference is adjusted for but there is no other processing on the tracks.

Overall I think these mics will get a lot of use and makes a great addition to our mic locker.