CAN YOU HELP ME WITH A MIC TEST?

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Permalink Reply by Terry Daniel on July 20, 2008 at 7:19pm

Hi Cirina! Good stuff! No, I don't need the $800 for something else. I was just hoping to hear a bigger difference but I do think it is a little better. I should have been more patient when I was working with the levels on the "Focusrite" before I created this discussion. That said, some truly wonderful feedback! :)

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Permalink Reply by J S Gilbert on July 20, 2008 at 8:08pm

Listening back,again, unless you record the same thing with both microphones, it's hard to judge fairly. Comparing the words, there's a lot more "s" sounds with the shure and just the mic placement can have so much to do with it.

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Permalink Reply by James Anthony on July 20, 2008 at 8:27pm

They both sound great, but your right about the Shure sounding more full. What suprises me is the noise floor on the Shure is so much lower than the TLM 103. In my tests using a Shure SM7, Sennheiser MD 441 and TLM 103, the Neumann always has the lowest noise floor.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Rice on July 20, 2008 at 10:05pm

I think that the Shure works better with the rich tone of your voice ...In fact, I think it actually enhances and accentuations the natural quality of your voice.

Everyone expects the Neumann to sound better because it is more expensive. Especially those that have shelled out the bucks to buy one for themselves. The fact of the matter is that different mic work for different types of voices. I think that the Neumann does sound better on some peoples voices ...those with more of a sibilant, midrange voice. You my friend, as I am sure you know, are a baritone. I have always been of the opinion that baritones sound better with a warmer sounding Mic. I think the Neumann is to bright for you. Though, you may be able to tweek that with a good quality processing.

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Permalink Reply by Cirina Catania on July 20, 2008 at 10:35pm

Hi Tim,
Great answer...What do you recommend for "Sopranos" - ? - :0)

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Permalink Reply by Tim Rice on July 21, 2008 at 2:16pm

The first and second season's were my favorites. I thought they jumped the shark when they killed off Steve Bushemi's character.

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Permalink Reply by Cirina Catania on July 21, 2008 at 6:32pm

Hilarious! LOL - I meant soprano voices - :0)
You gave a very interesting evaluation of Terry's situation, so I thought you might also have a recommendation for the females (like me) who are in the market for a new mic.
But I do agree with you re: the TV series.

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Permalink Reply by Terry Daniel on July 21, 2008 at 8:27pm

Great stuff, Tim! Thank you for your input!

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Permalink Reply by Peter Drew on July 20, 2008 at 11:41pm

Terry, as a few others in this discussion also have suggested, testing the mics simultaneously without any processing will give you the true sound of each mic and help you determine which one compliments your voice best. This dry sound is especially important when working with clients who want a clean, unprocessed track. The engineer at the production house will process the VO as he/she and the client would like to hear it in the final mix. Knowing which mic sounds best dry will tell you which one will sound best when processed as the project is mixed. For clients who rely on you to add some compression and EQ to make the VO pop, you can tweak away knowing that you're starting with a mic that's truly compatible with your voice, which you can then sculpt with your Trakmaster as you see fit. As the folks here who voice trailers and network promos know, the "voice of God" starts with the talent, but ends up sounding as huge as it does because of some major tweakage of the processing knobs. (I think, as voice talent, we've all rolled off the bass on our stereos or the low frequency band of the EQ on our boards to see what that promo guy "really sounds like." What? Hmmm. I'm the only one? OK, so I'm a geek.) But it all starts with a great dry track. So, if you've got the best mic dry, you'll also have the best mic when you process it. Have fun!

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Permalink Reply by Philip Banks on July 21, 2008 at 3:35am

I would suggest recording yourself on one mic and playing it back via headphones placed in front of the other. Make sure that the headphones are the same shape as your mouth, the same distance from mic (b) as you were from mic(a) and that the ambient room temperature is the same +/- 4 degrees celsius ..........................................

Be honest, I went too far, didn't I?

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Permalink Reply by Peter Drew on July 21, 2008 at 11:02am

Hmm. I think your ambient room temperature tolerance is off just a tad, Philip. I would only go with +/- 3 degrees C. ;-)

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Permalink Reply by J S Gilbert on July 24, 2008 at 2:50am

Actually you are correct Phillip, although you fail to mention the effects that changes in wind speed and humidity might have. It might be best to set up both microphones in some sort of giant food locker kept to a very precise 17 degrees centigrade. Also yodellng will often show you the true timbre of a microphone.

It's also best to run the tests as close as you can to 11am GMT to make sure the coefecient variants are stable throughout the clocking cycles.

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