Am I stupid? Two mics?

Landon Upperton · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007, 07:37 (GMT) Post subject: Am I stupid? Two mics?

I'm doing some volunteer work and putting some religious books on audio.

I have ZERO experience, but I have tired to get the best equipment for my budget for this venture.

My question is this. I have two mics--A Heil PR40 and a Sterling Audio ST66 going into a Digi 003 in Pro Tools. I know the basic technical differences between a dynamic and condenser mic, but I can't really HEAR the difference.

I want to do a good quality job and I don't want it to be some cheesy recording. Can you tell me which mic sounds the best for my voice and this type of spoken word recording I'm going to be doing?

This is the crazy thing which I'm sure is a big no-no to everyone, but when I record with both mics and mix them down TOGETHER, I like it better than either mic by itself. Is this totally not Kosher to do and completely stupid for a mono recording? Moreover, does it EVEN SOUND better to any of you, or is it just me?

1st recording -- PR40
2nd recording -- ST66
3rd recording -- Both combined

BTW, the volume gets louder with both combined. I thought about toning that down, but didn't want to in case that changes anything you need to hear.

Thanks,

(PS: this is my first post AND will be the first MP3 I've actually made! WOW!)

Landon Upperton · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007, 07:53 (GMT) Post subject:

Oh, by the way... I didn't really do the recording for any other reason than to compare the mics, but if you hear anything super annoying, poor recording quality, etc. (the audio equivalent of a big booger on my nose), please let me know.

Jacqueline Moody · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007, 09:16 (GMT) Post subject:

I adjusted the volume to get all three roughly equal as louder volume can influence how good you think something sounds. At roughly equal volumes, I liked the PR 40 the best to my ear.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007, 13:06 (GMT) Post subject:

The Heil, definitely.

Landon Upperton · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007, 02:19 (GMT) Post subject:

So can one record with two mics? Or is this a big no-no?

Scott Pollak · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007, 02:45 (GMT) Post subject:

You can, but you might risk a bit of phasing coming into play. I'm not a geek or techie, but if you run two mike signals in, there's bound to be some variance in the wave patterns coming in and I'd suspect you'd risk getting a bit of a 'flanging' type of sound.

Next question: Why not go the simplest, best route? So far two people have both said the Heil (I haven't looked at the poll results), so why not UNcomplicate things?

Jacob Keebler · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007, 06:34 (GMT) Post subject:

I like it with both

Jacqueline Moody · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007, 10:08 (GMT) Post subject:

I heard a bit of distortion with the two mics. Perhaps that is the flanging sound? In any case, I wouldn't recommend it.

Lance Blair · Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007, 21:08 (GMT) Post subject:

The Sterling is totally off axis...there's no way that mic's diaphragm is facing in the right direction, no WAY that any dynamic mic should have that much more presence than a LCD mic unless you're speaking an inch or two away from it. I've never heard even a $100 condenser sound that messed up low and fuzzy, and that's not a levels issue. The ST66 is a $400 fixed cardioid mic, and a rebranding of the Groove Tubes mics. It can't sound like that unless you're a few feet away: if that's the case, then the Heil should be the quieter mic, since it's Dynamic.

The Heil (not "Heel") sounds great, btw.

Tyler McKellar · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007, 00:57 (GMT) Post subject:

The Heil has a smoother sound to it. The ST66 sounded like my old Samson C01. Try the ST66 further away. I know Pixar will use two mics when they are recording voice overs for their films (they tend to be in a different position depending on the person as well) but I have no particular idea why. Being an engineer if I were recording an instrument of some sort I might use a few extra mics for ambiance or to smooth the overall sound out if I need to. voice overs don't generally require any ambiance and your PR40 sounds plenty smoothed out as is.

You may find a situation where two mics is favorable though. If such an occasion arises, us nerd folk use the 3 to 1 rule. That is your second mic needs to be about 3 times the distance from the source as the first mic. So if mic #1 is 1 inch then mic #2 should be 3 inches or more from the source. That is generally the best way (other than only using one mic) to avoid phase cancellation and comb filtering.

And just out of curiosity, what are you using to monitor your recordings?

Landon Upperton · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007, 05:42 (GMT) Post subject:

Thanks for all the comments! I am using a Beyerdynamic DT770 head set for my monitoring. That's all.