At: 4047 vs 4050

yardleyone · Post by **yardleyone** » Thu May 11, 2006 1:30 pm

you know... for sounding good on everything. especially vocals.

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Thu May 11, 2006 1:34 pm

Both are nice, but definitely different animals. The 4050 has multiple patterns, so that's probably what makes it a better all-arounder.

tiger vomitt · Post by **tiger vomitt** » Thu May 11, 2006 7:22 pm

i havent heard the 4050 in person. i did listen to it on the listeningsessions.com thing recently. i thought it sounded way different than the 4047 (which i have one of). i thought their 4047 sounded like mine.

so basically, theyre different
haha. uh yeah doy

the 4050 had the bright LDC thing going on. not nec. in a bad way

the 4047 doesnt. my point? it's not like the 4047 is a one pattern version of the 4050. they dont really sound alike as far as i can tell.

4047's a really cool mic btw. good for all kinds of things, but because it's colored it's not right for every thing

words

nestle · Post by **nestle** » Thu May 11, 2006 7:35 pm

I saw them cut open at AES sideways, they are very different. The 4047 has a BIG honking transformer which imparts it's sound on it big time. You cannot go wrong with that mic, it is a sure bet. I actually do think it does sound great on everything. It goes up to 18k but sounds plenty open to me.
The 4050 is nice, but a little polite sounding. a great workhorse but just a tad boring..though at times thats whats needed.

trodden · Post by **trodden** » Thu May 11, 2006 7:47 pm

tiger vomitt wrote:i havent heard the 4050 in person. i did listen to it on the listeningsessions.com thing recently. i thought it sounded way different than the 4047 (which i have one of). i thought their 4047 sounded like mine.

so basically, theyre different
haha. uh yeah doy

the 4050 had the bright LDC thing going on. not nec. in a bad way

the 4047 doesnt. my point? it's not like the 4047 is a one pattern version of the 4050. they dont really sound alike as far as i can tell.

4047's a really cool mic btw. good for all kinds of things, but because it's colored it's not right for every thing

words

totally. I don't have the 4050 though, but do have teh 4047.

I love that mic. I used to use it on everything, well try it out first. I'm starting to find some things it doesn't work on. at first i was surprised, but then really happy that i was actually figuring out the mic. Its still my favorite mic though. that mic, cad e300 (old one), 421, and the MK012 are used CONSTANTLY on all projects. I've found some voices that work with the 4047, and some that totally totally don't.

I mostly record hardcore,metal and other types of screamy music so i'm usually using a dynamic for vox, but the 4047 is used in front of kick tunnel/front of kick all the time, mono overhead (rules there!!) and some vox, and a room mic. I've found a few bass situations where i went with something else as well as vocal.

I looking forward to trying it out on violin. I tried it on an amped viola goting through a 4X12 and didnt' really sound that great, but hope to use it in a more traditional way on another violin or viola.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Thu May 11, 2006 9:07 pm

I have both. I'm plenty happy to use the 4050 on anything except traditional over-the-kit drum overheads. It's always sounds fine, sometimes sounds excellent, and is extrememly flexible by nature of its mulitple polar patterns. When the 4047 sounds great, it really sounds great.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Kelly · Post by **Kelly** » Thu May 11, 2006 9:35 pm

Most, if not all, the AT x0xx lines are a great for the money.

The 4050's are work horses in that they dont really sound horrible on anything. I find they can sound really creamy when you do vocal doubles with them.

I havent used th AT-4047, but I've hear mostly all good things about it.

Both are probably workhorses. The 4050 being more of a general workhorse, and the 4047 a workhorse that can specialize in vocals (though with 1 pattern). Atleast that's the info I've absorbed from gathering info on the AT line.

As you can tell, I've grown fond of AT after using a small batch of their mics...

I'd suggest getting them both from someplace that offers a no questions asked return (Not sure which one, but either sweetwater or musiciansfriend does this), and see which you prefer.

wesimel · Post by **wesimel** » Fri May 12, 2006 5:45 pm

i dont have a 4050, but i can say that the 4047 is a genuine pony, a thoroughbred. i'd bet on it over any stud. (what the hell am i talking about)

yeah but i have a 4047, and it sounds like a good mic. i got it 399 from bsw.com too.

justhitthebutton · Post by **justhitthebutton** » Fri May 12, 2006 7:34 pm

ive only used these mics while working in someone else's studio. so the time to really try them out on everything to see where they shined was not in the bands budget. too much time would have been wasted. but im curious how would you guys compare the 4033 to the 4047?

wesimel · Post by **wesimel** » Fri May 12, 2006 8:48 pm

4033 - not a bad little rider.
jk never used it.

Max · Post by **Max** » Sat May 13, 2006 12:45 am

I have two 4050s, two 4033s and a 4047. I think I haven't done a session during the last two years on which any of the five stayed in it's box. Because of their workhorseness, there's always an application they are useful for.
The 4047 is great for bass amps. It's low end is a bit more controlled and the mids are much more defined than on a Beyer M380, which is a dynamic mic that I like to use for real deep and and dirty basses. If I want agressive gnarly rock bass sounds I use a 4033, which has a mid boost that's not too far away from what a SM57 does. But with low and top end and all.
On electric guitars the 4047 can sound a bit ribbonesque. If I use an in-front-of kick mic (10-12" away), it's a 4047 and/or this modded speaker mic that a friend gave me.
I really like my 4047 on female voices. On the male voices I tried to use it for it sounded a bit muffled. It's not the missing top end but more a mellow "coloration" in the high mids. Here a 4050 is probably a better choice. The 4050 can sound great on snare drums. I use it as bottom mic all the time and sometimes on top. I've used it inside and outside of a kick drum as well.
4050s sound great as room mics and with the different patterns they can be used for MS, Blumlein, XY, AB, etc. I once used them as drum overhead mics (omni, AB, pretty close the drums) in a nice big room and was very happy with the sound.
It's true, the 4050 can sound a bit boring or tame. I was never really happy with it on electric guitars. It works well but doesn't sound exciting.
The only issue I have with my 4050s is that they sound different from each other. Not like two completely different mics but not matched.
I assisted on a session on which we had five 4050s in the studio (including two that I brought in). I told the guy who was running the session about it and he suggested I could pick one on his three if it matches closer. At the end of the day we set up five 4050s about 10 ft away from the drums and weren't able to match a pair.
I use the 4033s most often on toms or on the beater side of kick drums. It's great for rock guitar cabs. Blended with a ribbon mic it does exactly what I want. It also sounded surprisingly nice on an acoustic guitar- better than a U87 on this very song with this guitar.

trodden · Post by **trodden** » Sat May 13, 2006 2:14 am

i should try the 4047 on bass again. and yeah, it works better with female register voices. sometime is seems its a bit much in the mids, kinda "honkey" if you know what i mean. I think if i had a 4050 along with the 4047 i'd be set for a long long time on the mic part. really, the 4047 is a fun mic, my first "fun" mic really and it does the job so well. I bought mine from a saint on craigslist for 300.

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Sat May 13, 2006 4:41 pm

I've got a pair of each of those and I used to use a 4033 a bunch. The 4050 is nice and clear, useful on almost anything you might want to record. I'm particularly fond of them in omni for room mics on drums. I haven't use them as OH in quite a while and now think I should try again. The can get a little strident on some male vocals.

The 4047 is all about the dark vibe. I've found recently that when use for OH they sound better with the pad in. Really great on vocals and front of BD. Cool on bass, though I haven't used it there in quiet a time.

The 4033 is a harsh and strident mic. Although, it completely kills on acoustic guitar.

justhitthebutton · Post by **justhitthebutton** » Sat May 13, 2006 5:37 pm

thats odd, but definitely expected, that some of you say the 4033 is strident and harsh. i mean that because of the way we all hear different things in different ways. in my use, i have favored the 4033 over the 4047 on many many occasions and uses. i particularly like them both for overheads depending on the type of drummer. i find the 4033 works best for a drummer who has his cymbals spaced high enough above the toms. i really never understood why drummers try to get the cymbals almost on top of the head of the toms. it makes for hard separation, especially in recording, which makes gating anything almost impossible. but, i digress. you're all right, you cant go wrong with the 4050 in front of a kick. i did a LOUD four piece rock band who wanted to record live. with a little gobo trickery and the 4050 in front of the 24" kick was the ticket.

??????? · Post by **???????** » Tue May 23, 2006 7:16 am

justhitthebutton wrote:i really never understood why drummers try to get the cymbals almost on top of the head of the toms.

It's all about economy of movement. Especially for jazz drummers, you will almost never see them with their cymbals up high. Often the drummers with their cymbals relatively low have subjectively better technique because they're more concerned with economy of movement.

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