Electro-Voice N/D967
A supercardioid concert vocal mic that put the element right up against the performer's lips, and the audience got 6 dB less of everything else.
Overview
The N/D967 is one of the neodymium-powered N/DYM dynamics that Electro-Voice built its late-1990s microphone line around. It was pitched squarely at the concert vocalist. The company's own advertising billed it as "The Concert Vocal Mic" - a supercardioid handheld with a mid-boost and a low-frequency cut filter, sold with a windscreen. That combination was built for cutting a voice through a loud stage, not for flattering it in a quiet room.
The grille is what sets the N/D967 apart from a garden-variety vocal dynamic. Whether that 6 dB figure is a lab measurement or a best-case marketing claim is hard to pin down. The design logic is sound, though. Shorten the distance between lips and capsule and you raise the ratio of voice to everything else before the signal ever hits the preamp. The supercardioid pattern handles the rest of the rejection off-axis.
The element is a high-output N/DYM dynamic, built on the neodymium magnet structure Electro-Voice developed and made the centerpiece of this whole family. In the company's advertising, the N/D967 sits at the top of that lineup, above the N/D767 lead vocal mic, the N/D367 female vocal mic, the N/D468 instrument mic, and the N/D868 bass drum mic. The mid-boost and low-frequency cut filter do the voicing. The boost pushes presence where a voice needs to sit, and the filter trims the low end that would otherwise muddy a close-miked signal.
Pricing drifted over the model's life, so keep that in mind when dating a used example or judging a current asking price. That spread almost certainly reflects street price versus list, and possibly different points in the product's run. Either way, it was never a budget mic. It was priced as a working vocalist's tool.
By 2003 the N/D967 had earned enough of a reputation to turn up on real stages. Both mics shared the high-output N/DYM dynamic elements, which suggests the family's reputation rested on that element as much as on any single model's voicing.
The N/D967 also shows up in Mix (1998, p.73) alongside the AKG, Audix OM-7, Shure Beta 87, Sennheiser MD 425 and Beyer Dynamic M88. That puts it among the handheld stage dynamics of the era.
The N/D967 is a niche piece rather than a blue-chip collectible. It is a tool mic: supercardioid, dynamic, built for the road, and priced accordingly. The tight grille geometry, the mid-boost and the low-cut filter make it interesting, and they also make it a specialist. It is not the mic for a breathy ballad. It is the mic for when the vocal has to survive a loud band. Used examples should show the usual road wear on the grille and body, and the windscreen should be present, since it is part of the delivered package. Beyond that, the archive has no documented failure patterns, repair notes, or current market values for this model. Treat any specific claims about reliability or resale with skepticism until better documentation surfaces.
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