Post A Sample Of Your Microphone/Equipment

Josh Mahler · **Voice Talent** Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 44

Sorry it took me so long to respond, JJ. I was out of the loop for the past few days.

As for recording at lower levels. When recording at 24bit, a level of -18 to -12dbfs is perfect. You're not going to gain any audio quality recording hotter. There is the thought out there that you have to record as close to 0dbfs to get maximum quality, but that is not the truth for 24 bit. That was more relevant for recording at 16bit and that is even disputed. In any case, I believe -18dbfs is the same as 0db on a VU meter.

With that said, the benefits of recording at -18dbfs are headroom for one. As a producer, I prefer to get vox tracks around -18dbfs because that leaves plenty of headroom in the mix, and compression and limiting is going to bring those levels up anyway in post. The other benefit is that you are capturing less of the preamp noise. Of course, some preamps are much noisier than others, so the benefits may vary.

As for posing auditions and demos, I will always bring my levels up to 0dbfs either through normalizing or adding compression and limiting, or maybe even both depending on the situation or what I think sounds better that day.

Remember too, even when posting on these boards, when one mic sample file is louder then another, the louder one will usually be perceived as sounding better. For whatever reason, our brains tend to think louder sounds better as far as quality, or in general for that matter.

Now to your files. After listening again to the new samples, I'm still thinking there is a cabling or interference problem. While I think room noise has a part to play, I think the bigger problem is whatever that funkiness on the top end is. I did hear a little extra noise with the tube engaged, but I don't think that is the culprit because all your samples have that high end grainy/electrical buzz sound.

EDIT: I just went back and listened again to the sample with just mic to MOTU, while the buzz still seems to be there, a lot of it does seem to be gone, but there is what appears to be loud fan noise from a computer maybe.

I've included samples I recorded with a Shure SM58. The mic pre is set to 49db, recording level is around -18dbfs with peaks hitting -12dbfs. When I do the background noise comparison, I just took the first couple seconds from the beginning your latest unprocessed sample. I record in the same room as my computer which is pretty quiet. (iMac 24")

Are you by chance recording into a laptop? I have a friend that was experiencing a similar problem with the laptop plugged in, but the problem would go away when running from the laptop battery.

If on a laptop, could you try recording in another location? Maybe even in your car or a different building? That would help determine if it's something caused by the room you are in, your house or in your actual vocal chain.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, when recording at 24bit, make sure you always dither if the file is going to 16bit. Some producers may want a 24bit files which means you wouldn't have to dither, but if not, always dither. Most applications either have a dither plug-in you would put last in the chain on the master fader, or they will give you a dither option when you are mixing down.

Josh Mahler · **Voice Talent** Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 44

Another thing to try is plugging your headphones into the output of your Summit. The output to your phones will be low, but if the interference is gone that would point the finger to your MOTU or computer causing the problem.

Mark Truslow · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 15

Let me know what you all think.............M.

Emmanuel Soussan · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008, 20:52 (GMT) Post subject:

Hey Mark ,
This SM 7 Sounds Fine with the VB1 Wink

Mark Truslow · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 15

Emmanuel, Thanks for the feedback. Very much appreciated. Best, M.

Jacob Ekstroem · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Jul 2007 Posts: 721

Hmmmm.... sorry, but I wasn't equally impressed.

The SM7B is not exactly a bright mic, but your sound is a little too dark for my taste. That can be fixed in post, so not a huge problem.

But the noise is a problem.
The SM7B has a very low output and needs a fair amount of gain from the preamp. If you need to crank the pre excessively, you get noise both from the mic and the pre.
The LightSnake USB cable, or other easy USB-connectivity-hardware, is not my cup of tea. Can't say if this adds to the noise, though. But overall, your recording is quite low and too noisy, and needs some work to be up to standard.

You got some background noise, too, most likely from the iMac, but I've heard worse. But, it still is something that needs to be fixed - you don't want to have that low howling tone on your recordings, and it's the kind of sound which is hard to supress with gates in post.

Then there's your room... you have issues with reverberation, which is literally impossible to fix in post.

Basically, if I were a studio engineer, I had to work hard to get a decent sound out of this. Not sure I would bother.

Here's a few suggestions, in that order:

1) Treat your room acoustically. Use foam or heavy blankets if you have to.

2) Move the mic as far away from the computer as possible. The only thing you really want on your recordings... is you.

3) Experiment with your mic/pre/interface combo. You have (at least) two good pieces of gear, that doesn't seem to match very well. If that doesn't work, consider an upgrade. A low noise condenser mic and a PCI or USB interface with great signal-to-noise ratio doesn't have to be expensive.

Lance Blair · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008, 21:42 (GMT) Post subject:

I agree with Jacob (as is usually the case).

Here's a clip of the Heil Sound PR40 with the Speck Electronics 5.0 Mic Pre going through some biomed copy.

It is processed with a light compander and limiting.

Emmanuel Soussan · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008, 19:34 (GMT) Post subject:

This SPECK MIC PRE seems to be a sweet piece of gear ! Is it better than the GREAT RIVER ME 1 NV

Lance Blair · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008, 20:34 (GMT) Post subject:

The GR is heavier sounding and can be driven harder for character - it can also be run with a cleaner sound.

I prefer the "image" or sense of space that the John Hardy or the Speck makes. The GR is very upfront and less spacious sounding.

The Speck has a input impedance of 4.6k, while the GR is switchable between 1.3k and 300 ohms...I like the higher impedance for dynamic microphones.

For the money, the Speck as a solid-state pre really can't be beat and it's only beat by the pres that cost a couple hundred dollars more (GR, Hardy and up).