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Mic/Preamp Combos

Winwahoo said:
Jeff...what microbrews are you indulging in these days? :)
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oh, don't get me started ! but for the record: Ipswich IPA.. Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA.. had a Trappist Ale the other night that should be banned as a narcotic :)
 
Emmett said:
Jeff Berlin said:
usually I tweak the VO further in ProTools - so what's here won't be as loud as what you'd get if you were a client - I've found even the fussy purist clients like a little more juice added than this "RAW" setting imparts.
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Jeff,

I gotta tell ya...As a producer, I would want your audio EXACTLY as it is. Not so much because I'm a purist, per se...But because I like the control. And I think it sounds outstanding as-is. It's bright with big bottom-end, but not boomy at all. I love it.

Jeff Laurence...Outstanding, as always. Your "S" sounds are always so clean. I have a friend that describes that sound as "seeing the tongue coming from the woofer", so that's what I strive for. You've nailed it.

Chuck...I like your home chain MUCH better than your work chain. Your work chain has too much "oomph" for my testes, but your hom chain sounds superb!

I have more listening to do, but this is great so far!!!

Emmett
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Emmett, thank you. Still tweaking this new NT5. I got it for sh*ts n giggles. I had the low end rolled UP. I'll try with the EQ off. Or, back to the NT2 here at work.

I like the M5 here at work, but prefer the ISA220 at home.

I want Emmett's knowledge, and Jeff's voice when I grow up :0)
 
Jeff Berlin said:
http://www.chuckmatthewsvoice.com/downloads/sample/chuck_home%20studio%20mic%20chain.mp3
Dude, you've got some cajones ! Lots of processing, not sure I'm diggin the 528 - I can hear a room reflection slapping back before the gate cuts it off - but it's not sibilant, splattery, and the bass is raw power ! What kind of a dog is that?
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Jeff,
Thank you for the feedback. What can I do to improve the sound? Something with the 528? I thought the gate too tight. Maybe tighter?

After all these years the one thing I am NOT good at is setting up a mic pre. Especially EQ. In fact, I really don't know what I'm doing in general.

Any pointers, please fire away.



The dog? LOL! It's an Akita. She's 8 years old, weighs about 105. Looks like a bear. Love her to death...except when I'm recording LOL!
 
I hope you guys are not tired of listening yet! This has been such a helpful session. I thought I was the only one afraid my chain is not set up right. I appreciate anything you guys can give me. Thanks in advance for listening.


www.xdjproductions.com/JDean.wav

SE Z5600A
Voicemaster Pro
DBX166a
Mackie 1402 VLZ
Echo soundcard
Audition 1.5


Thanks!
Johnny
 
Great thread! Longtime lurker, thought I'd join in the festivities today. Probably will be doing some upgrading in the next few months (gotten some great ideas from this thread), any recommendations are welcomed and appreciated.

Rode NTK
dbx 286a
Focusrite Saffire firewire interface
SoundForge 8

Pretty basic, the file has no additional processing in SoundForge.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/10231092e6a76ebf/

Thanks!
Chris
 
xdjproductions said:
I appreciate anything you guys can give me.
www.xdjproductions.com/JDean.wav

SE Z5600A
Voicemaster Pro | DBX166a | Mackie 1402 VLZ | Echo soundcard | Audition 1.5
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Hey Johnny! I used a Z5600z for awhile. A very bright, clean mic - with nice warmth that tube mics give you. Your track sounded fine, but I'd add a layer or two of compression if i was working with it. No EQ necessary unless for effect. If you increased use of compression available on your Focusrite, your track would sound "fuller" - but as a producer I'd be happy to add that on my end as well. All depends on the types of clients you're working with, and how the end result sounds compared to adjacent spots.

VODood said:
Thank you for the feedback. What can I do to improve the sound? Something with the 528? I thought the gate too tight. Maybe tighter?
Click to expand...

Naw, your gate is just right. The improvement comes from an issue not yet addressed in this thread: room acoustics. That's a big fat topic. To be honest, I only noticed the reflections when you the L1 kicked in - the compression brought out the room reflections, but the voice track was still plenty powerful. Not sure what your setup is, but if you've got a dog barking in the background I'm guessing you're recording in a room with drywall, wood floor, plaster ceiling, furniture - maybe some foam. The easiest and quickest solution is to get Auralex MaxWalls - a wall of 4 inch thick foam held up on mic stands. Out of the box you can have it set up in 5 minutes, put your mic in the corner of the Max Wall and talk into the corner. I'll bet the room reflections will get cut dramatically. You can go nuts treating acoustics, but in my opinion, when recording voice, you want the room to be as dead as possible.
 
Jeff Berlin wrote
Naw, your gate is just right. The improvement comes from an issue not yet addressed in this thread: room acoustics. That's a big fat topic. To be honest, I only noticed the reflections when you the L1 kicked in - the compression brought out the room reflections, but the voice track was still plenty powerful. Not sure what your setup is, but if you've got a dog barking in the background I'm guessing you're recording in a room with drywall, wood floor, plaster ceiling, furniture - maybe some foam. The easiest and quickest solution is to get Auralex MaxWalls - a wall of 4 inch thick foam held up on mic stands. Out of the box you can have it set up in 5 minutes, put your mic in the corner of the Max Wall and talk into the corner. I'll bet the room reflections will get cut dramatically. You can go nuts treating acoustics, but in my opinion, when recording voice, you want the room to be as dead as possible.
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I do have a "ghetto booth" I built... 6x6x4, three sided with a curtain. Lined with Aurlex and egg crate. Cost? Just $97.00...not counting the Auralex.

I've seen the MaxWall on eBay. About $800 to start, yes? Perhaps next year. It does look cool, and can be built upon with other pieces.

Perhaps the curtain isn't thick enough? I'll get some towels or a moving blanket.
 
I've seen the MaxWall on eBay. About $800 to start, yes?
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No, not that much.. half that actually. There are cheaper solutions than Auralex. Moving blankets being the cheapest. Old upholstered sofas are also supposed to help a lot. I've heard Egg crates do nothing, though. Auralex's LENRD Bass Traps are also great for absorbing mids, you can stack them up inside your booth.

My setup involves a WhisperRoom filled with Auralex and Real Traps - virtually an anechoic chamber.
 
I also use a Whisperroom with panels from GIK Acoustics out of Atlanta. It was weird, when we move here I had been looking on the internet at different companies that produced vocal booths and decided I liked the specs on the Whisperroom the best. After scrolling down to the bottom of thier page I realized the factory is in the town we moved to. I pass there all the time, it's about 2 miles from our house. I stopped in and asked if they had any set up and they said they really didn't get many people stopping by to check them out, but they would be back from the NAB convention the following Monday and would leave a couple of booths set up for me to come check out. From my experience with them, they are great folks to work with. I found the room (5 by 7) to have a boxy sound to it. So I contacted GIK and they had me fixed up with what I needed and had them here in a couple of days, they, also, were a pleasure to deal with.
 
sound very good and clean.good voice.which of the izotope features do you use?.i cannot get the knack of it.Most of my stuff sounded cleaner going in than out of izotope.goota to be missing something there.
 
Mitchell said:
What the hell...I had nuthin to do for the moment....so here ya go:

416-Manley Vox Box-528e-Mackie-Delta 192-Adobe Audition-Izotope 3 plugin:

www.stevemitchellvoiceworks.com/mychain.mp3

Please pardon the pollen-encrusted voice.

Steve Mitchell
www.stevemitchellvoiceworks.com
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I'm teaching today, so I'm only listening on PC speakers...But I'm getting some fuzz here that sounds a little heavy. Are you using the harmonic exciter in Ozone? If you are, I don't recommend the "Retro" setting. Tape is much cleaner and even tube is cleaner. If it isn't that, it could just be that a compressor or limiter release is set too fast. Or it could just be the cheap speakers and soundcard here, but I'm not getting the fuzz on the other files.

Emmett
 
on the Harmonic Exciter....the default is "tube". tick that box over to "tape". On the Loudness Maximizer I selected "smooth" compression and threshold of about -3.5

By the way, someone noticed a "buzz"....that's actually the rattle in my throat due to the pollen. Today it's approaching 3,000!
 
Steve that's the sound of all that pollen actually hitting the roof of your building! Jeezamama you need a friggin spatula to scrape that crap off the cars in Ga. How have you been doing? Give a holler and let's catch up. File sounded great on this end.
 
Emmett said:
Mitchell said:
What the hell...I had nuthin to do for the moment....so here ya go:

416-Manley Vox Box-528e-Mackie-Delta 192-Adobe Audition-Izotope 3 plugin:

www.stevemitchellvoiceworks.com/mychain.mp3

Please pardon the pollen-encrusted voice.

Steve Mitchell
www.stevemitchellvoiceworks.com
Click to expand...

I'm teaching today, so I'm only listening on PC speakers...But I'm getting some fuzz here that sounds a little heavy. Are you using the harmonic exciter in Ozone? If you are, I don't recommend the "Retro" setting. Tape is much cleaner and even tube is cleaner. If it isn't that, it could just be that a compressor or limiter release is set too fast. Or it could just be the cheap speakers and soundcard here, but I'm not getting the fuzz on the other files.

Emmett
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Much better on my studio monitors. Something about those tiny PC speakers didn't care for your sound!

Emmett
 
Rick Hunter said:
I love this combo and it really seems to cut through for imaging and TV topicals.
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After listening I understand why you say you are happy with it. Good sound.
 
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