Telefunken Elektroakustik ELA M 251 by Louderock
We recently purchased a new Telefunken USA ELA M 251 mic for our studio. One of our writers is about to start her own album and we did a mic shootout to determine the best mic for her voice. The 251 won the shootout and we've been using it since. The mic is great for singers with sharp sounding midrange. This particular singer has a wide pitch range and can get pretty mid-rangey in the upper register on the louder vocal parts. The 251 never seems harsh or pointy yet retains a very open high end sound. It also sounds great when stacking 12 tracks of vocal harmonies. Always smooth. The 251 also has that tone that just sits in the right place in the track. The vocal seems to sit right where you want it to with little effort.
I've had the opportunity to track several vocalists with the 251 and have yet to find one that it didn't sound good on. Yeah, it's pricey but I guess you get what you pay for. I have yet to try it on acoustic but that's next. I'm sure it will be great. I guess they're great on toms, too! Jeff Porcaro - Rosanna Shuffle (Half time Shuffle) Tutorial-lesson - YouTube
Telefunken has done a great job with this re-issue of a classic. I'm sure these will be showing up more and more in the top studios. Definitely worth renting one too if you can't afford the price tag. This is our new Go-To mic.