I guess it depends on how you want to define "natural" sounding.2121TrumbullAve wrote:So you folks that own the r-121 - would you say that it is 'natural' sounding as advertised? Does it sound like what your ears hear, like it's advertised? This is important to me. It seems if this were true, people would find it a bit more versatile.
To my ears, the 121 is dark.
Not in a muffled kind of way, but in a "doesnt' capture any fizz or top detail" kind of way.
On a piano the high keys don't sparkle and the low strings miss that purcussive attack. Acoustic guitars, even with the back of the mic have a great mindrange body but lack the top to either cut through a busy mix or just not sound like mud without a LOT of EQ. Same thing with overheads.
They do take EQ really well...but I'd rather use a mic that sounds "right" from the start.
I have a pair of Blue Baby Bottles, low serial numbers (like 44 & 47) that are pretty dark & I dig them as much as 121's on a lot of the same things like guitar amps, but that's a $500-600 mic...not a $1400 mic.
Supposedly they revoiced the Baby Bottle to make it more versatile, open it up a bit so it'll work on more things. All I know is that my pair is too dark & middy to use on vocals, overheads, all the same stuff I dislike the 121 on...but the BB rocks on electric guitars & horns so there 'ya go.