AudioGuy Mail Bag: How Do You Audition a Microphone?

I've gotten this one a couple times, so I figured I'd use it for a post.

I live close to a Guitar Center and they have a "health policy" which doesn't allow mic tryouts. So if that's the situation generally, how do I uncover the "best" mic(s) for me? It seems that every mic, regardless of cost, has a following of fans. Therefore, recommendations are kinda useless, don't you think? Anyway, the reason for this is to say thank you for your contributions and I will watch for your articles in the future.
Sincerely,
TD

I agree with that last sentiment TD. The forums can be a really tricky place to get objective info. Often it seems people start with any of the decent budget mics (RODE, MXL, M-Audio, AT,etc), and then after saving, jump straight to a Neumann TLM103/U87 or Sennheiser 416. I've seen this story many times, and while I'd never say these were bad mics, it is really tricky getting a sense of the microphone landscape without just buying a bunch of mics all willy-nilly. Add to that, that I can't remember the last time I saw a negative microphone review in a recording magazine (probably too afraid to scare off advertisers), and the entire educational experience just becomes that much more frustrating.

Why spend $3000 on a U87 when you might sound better on an AKG C414? Why spend $1200 on an MKH416 when you might sound better on a RODE NTG3?

Well, the bad news is you're going to spend a little money. The good news is, hopefully it wont be much.

First off, while the forums might not be a good place for an objective view, it could be a good place to find someone willing to audition their mics for you in YOUR space. Send out some feelers in your area, hit up Voice Over Universe, Julie Williams Voice-Overs Forums, DB Cooper's VO-BB, or recording sites like GearSlutz and RecordingReview. Offer to pay them for their time, and I'm sure you can get your face in front of a couple different mics.

If that doesn't do it for you, it's time to book a studio.
Check out the Voice Over Resource Guide for studios that cater to VO talent, see if they have a good selection of mics handy (dynamics, condensors, shotguns, pencils), and see if you can book an hour to do a mic shootout. This wont be as valuable as the space will probably be better treated than the space you record in at home, but you can still hear what these mics will do to your voice (we're listening for the differences between the different mics).

An important thing to note will be the studio's equipment chain. If they've got thousands of dollars worth of preamp and compressor, you're not really going to get a good sense of how the mic sounds on its own. Some studios might have a "churn and burn" space (usually just a little closet converted) for helping talent knock out auditions. That set up will probably be the simplest arrangement, and might be the closest fit for us closet warriors. If they have one, use that space.
If the studio is worth their salt remember, YOU ARE PAYING THEM FOR WHAT YOU WANT, so they should be amenable to matching YOUR current recording chain (or at least just bypassing their compressor LOL).

Lastly, and I've said it before, SET A BUDGET! Including "educational" spending, set a dollar amount that you refuse to go over. It's very easy to become a collector (like me WOOT!) and start buying everything in sight with little regard for your actual business. You don't want to get a bad case of G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome), and not have bookings to show for it. Above all else, while VO is  hella-crazy fun, it is still a BUSINESS.

One final note.
Once you've finally decided on a mic, and you're shopping sites like Zzounds, Sweetwater, MusiciansFriend, SamAsh, GuitarCenter, etc, maybe you could also consider Amazon, and buy through my affiliate link SomeAudioStore? Maybe?

Just throwing it out there.
You know, shameless plug and all.
Just sayin...

YAAAAARRRRGGGHHH YA'MATEY!!! I BE DRACULA!

Just a silly fun bad videogame voice over to wrap the week up.

I often think to myself  "Self, what would Dracula sound like if he were a pirate"?

Good thing we have 'Castlevania: Symphony of the Night' to answer that question!

Enjoy!

AudioGuy Mail Bag: Properly Setting Up a Shotgun

So first off, BIG thanks to John Florian at Voice Over Xtra for republishing my article on the proximity effect "Please Don't Swallow The Mic! ". The original rant also has a video from the Today Show where you can see some of these proximity read techniques in use by voiceover greats like George Delhoyo, Joe Cipriano, Mark Elliot, and the late great Don LaFontaine. 


I almost instantly got an email from a VOXtra reader. He totally nailed me on the fact that most of my advice is geared towards large diaphragm condensers:

Just finished reading your article on Voice Over Extra about "Please Don't Swallow the Mic."

I wanted to ask you what a proper distance might be for the pop screen to be away from the mic and also what is a good distance to be back away from the pop screen while speaking?  I am using a Rode NT-G2 Shotgun Mic.

 Thanks for the information!

-MS

Well ya see Timmy, I can't really say that my advice is going to be very consistent. I kind of have this Love/Hate relationship with my MKH416. It's super loud, super directional, and super tone deaf. Often mic-ing the shotgun will come down to the space you're working in. There are some generalities I can throw you however.

Now, I'm not as familiar with the NTG2, but looking up it's specs, it seems to play in the same super-cardioid space the 416 plays in for most of the EQ spectrum (it seems the 416 approaches more of a hyper-cardioid in the upper EQ, but I'm not sure it really affects the human voice much).

These mics were designed with such powerful side rejection for the purposes of broadcast and film, the mics to be positioned feet to sometimes yards away from their subject, and often being used outdoors.

I personally, REALLY feel that these are not mics to be right on top of.

When I start a session with a 416 I usually position as follows:
*Mic about a foot and a half away from source.

*Active end of the mic height positioned relatively around the nose of the talent.

*Mic aimed at the chest of the talent.

Like this------->

I do this for several reasons. 

One it helps tame puffs of air as most of them will pass under the microphone, but the voice should travel THROUGH the recording path of the mic.

Also, because of the focus of this mic, I tend to not like pointing the mic at someone's face, as then you're picking up the nasal cavity (not a particularly pleasant source of resonance), and instead try to pick up the talent's chest (by design a much more cavernous source of resonance). 

These mics, while built for very rugged conditions, can actually be pretty easily damaged forcing air into them if you're too close. For added protection I tend to use a foam wind sock, as opposed to a pop screen. No particular reason for that, just the way I tend to do it (though sometimes it allows me to be sneaky, and move the mic farther way from talent that like to crowd the mic by scootching the foam towards the end of the mic). 

Also, as promo readers tend to wave and conduct their hands around their reads, this distance helps prevent the random smacking of the mic.

 

Now here's the tricky thing about miking yourself, depending on your space, all of what I just said might be TOTALLY wrong.

I've found good success with this set up, and usually my only adjustments from this initial setup are asking the talent to move a little closer or farther from the mic, but your mileage WILL vary.

I hope that helps, and thanks for the question!

Mixwit is Dead.

We knew it was coming, but Mixwit is now no more.

Just like a bad breakup (over email no less), the online mix tape service has given me all of my stuff back, including the picture in this post.

It was fun while it lasted.

You can still see Biggelow's Chill Mix , but it will no longer play.

The RIAA wins yet another victory in the war to prevent customers from finding new music...

Top 4 Instant Sound Effect Sites

From the Digg post:

It's embarrassing to admit how long I've spent looking online for single-purpose sound effect sites like Instant Rimshot... and it turns out that it is very difficult to Google for these things. My goal was to present the top 5 sites that exist... but instead you're getting the "top" four.

I've covered some of this before, but these sites aren't bad.

Enjoy!

read more | digg story

Happy 30th Birthday, Compact Disc!

Compact discs weren't always impromptu drink coasters. Once, in the not-so-distant past, they played music, contained pictures, and let people play video games with tacked-on FMV sequences. And today, the venerable CD turned 30.

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Music That Makes You Stupid?

A CalTech grad student named Virgil Griffith has conducted a study relating music preferences with SAT scores. Neat. I'm kinda smack dab in the middle. Now, my ACT scores on the other hand...

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Do You Know How Deaf You Are?

For those of you who liked "Can You Hear Like a Teenager" here is a list of tones that go from 8Hz all the way up to 22,000Hz and should let you know just how much damage to your ears all those concerts, your Ipod and your mom screaming at you have done so far.

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Why computer voices still don't sound human

Modern text-to-speech systems are incredibly complex, and they're improving rapidly. However, reading a book with anything near the expressiveness of an actual human voice is an enormously difficult computational task. It's the pinnacle of speech synthesis research. Welcome to the audio uncanny valley...

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Create Crazy Sound Effects with Household Objects

Gotta love the Lifehacker!If you've ever wanted to play at being a Foley artist for your own audio recordings, here's a huge list of common household objects that can create tricky but believable sound effects.Bonus: Some good ideas from lifehacker users as well!

read more | digg story