Mailbag - Should I Buy an H4n for My SM57?

I get more comments and mail about my Cloudlifter review. This question comes courtesy of Scully:

Hmm. Maybe I should get one [an H4n]. The SM57 sounds smooth with the H4n. I'm currently trying an SM57 with a dbx 286A + CL-1 to an Edirol R-09HR. I'm also swapping out the dbx for an Edirol UA25. In both cases it just sounds too... "dry." Your voice sounds smooth, and I don't think it's just your voice.

Whoa. Scully. Pump the brakes.
If I find out that, with the gear you already own, you went out and bought a $300 portable recording unit JUST to make an SM57 sound better, I swear to a deity I don't believe in, I will find where you live, drive there, and deliver a swift kick up the arse.

Couple things you can try:

1. Play with mic position. It's sort of like a stage actor finding their light. Move around. Change the position and angle in your booth. Move the mic around. Find that sweet spot.
2. Try different locations. Do you usually record in a small space? Go bigger. Typically recording in a large space? Go small.
3. Check out your preamp settings. Maybe your dbx is hitting the compressor to hard? Maybe the de-esser or expander is getting in the way?

I like to record as clean as possible. Usually I'll go solely preamp, sometimes I'll throw in a compressor as a safety net, but I never use any other gear to affect the sound of spoken word.

I'll always recommend working backwards. Disable everything you can to work with as simple a recording chain as possible, and with THAT see if you can achieve the sound you want.

After that, then it's easy to replace a de-esser or compressor, since they wont be used to CREATE the sound you want, they'll only be there to protect it.

Shop for the Zoom H4n, Edirol UA25, Shure SM57, or dbx 286A, and you'll be supporting this site at no additional cost to you! Looking for different gear? Hit the shop links on the left!

SomeAudioGuy Video Mini-Review: Cloud Microphone's Cloudlifter CL-1 Mic Activator

If you record with low output mics you'll always be craving more gain. The CL-1 is here to give it to you. For engineers using ribbon and dynamic mics, check out my review of Cloud Microphone's Cloudlifter CL-1 Mic Activator.



Click on the Amazon links to the left before shopping, and you'll help keep SomeAudioGuy on the web at no additional cost to you!

Up Close and Personal with The Zoom H4n

One of the most versatile pieces of equipment I own. The X-Y mics up top are kinda pretty...
Zoom H4n on Amazon.

Messing around with the Zoom H4n...

So, if you've been following my exploits over at that other web site I've been producing, you would know that we just recently acquired a Zoom H4n portable recorder. We were shopping around an inexpensive way to get high quality audio while filming on cameras like the Canon 5D mark 2.
Really we were won over by the stereo phantom powered XLR ports which could be run off of a pair of AA batteries, and we really didn't even consider using the built in stereo mics. While recording some street ambiance however, I decided to try 4 channel mode (which records from both the stereo mics and the XLR's), and was surprised to find that I actually preferred the built in mics to the external I was using.

I know others have already tackled this test more scientifically, but I wanted to get a sense of what this thing could do for a voice over talent, so I put it up against one of my studio's work horse mics the RODE NT1a.
Using an intro from a project we recently produced (apologies in advance 'Surf Patrol', I'm not a VO talent) I recorded myself using the Zoom and the Rode at the same time.

Here are the results:

Rode NT1a:

Zoom H4n:


Now listening between the two myself, I prefer the RODE ever so slightly, but I really do feel the Zoom is a bit more accurate.
For those of you that care about such things, The Zoom was recording straight to SD card at "75" (I'm not really quite sure what their gain metric is, one draw back I suppose) with the mics set to 90 degrees, and using the AC Adapter.
The Rode was plugged into an ART TPS, run through a Mackie board, ending in an M-Audio Fastrack Ultra. I really do think the tubes in the ART add to the slightly more pleasant sound, but detract from the accuracy of the recording.

No other alterations were made to the recordings other than to mix the zoom down to mono (combining both tracks), and converting both files to MP3.

Conclusions?
Well, the Zoom has just become my favorite USB mic. Of all time. Really.
I've never liked the Snow Ball, and the AT2020USB is decent, but I usually end up recommending people go with something like the MicPort Pro.

No longer.

The Zoom fulfills ALL criteria for a beginning VO talent, and I say this without hyperbole. It comes with an excellent pair of microphones built in. It can power a pair of microphones when the talent wants to upgrade (we routinely use it to power an MKH416 and C414XLS with EXCELLENT results), and it can also function as a talent's audio interface, even accepting signals from preamps and mixers.
For $300 this little Zoom is easily the most versatile bang for buck anyone could hope for, which makes it even more satisfying that it's versatility does NOT come at the expense of it's quality.

Buy the Zoom H4n from Amazon!

Lastly, I would just like to extend a quick thanks to The Voicecaster in Burbank for allowing me to use their facilities to conduct this test!

A post on Microphones, Sound Cards, and Sound Proofing

MICROPHONE!
Digging through some of the old equipment at one of the casting studios I work at (the oldest voice over casting studio in LA Woot!) I stumbled on a box of old microphones. Most were crap, but tucked away was an original capsule SM56! Had to tinker with the impedance, but got it set up, and it's now enjoying full time use. Near as I can tell, the mic is almost 40 years old!










SHURE SM57

SOUNDCARD!
I love Stumbleupon. It sucks so much of my life away, just stumbling round teh intarwebs.
Caught this Flickr pic from sneeka2 comparing the Firewire410 (my soundcard) to the Mac Mini. I was actually kinda surprised.

mini
Originally uploaded by sneeka2

I've been kinda disappointed in soundcards of late. Besides some of the Mixer/Interface hybrids, there's been depressingly little development. Is there anything you readers are looking forward to? Let me know!

M-AUDIO NRV10


SOUND PROOFING!
For those of you trying to set up your own recording booths, check out this vid from the Revision3 Gazette, and you can see what they went through to reduce echo in their studios. Now obviously this is reinforcement on an industrial level, but the lessons here are still valid for us closet junkies.


someaudioguy some audio guy voice over demo production voice acting adr dubbing animation anime narration