Members stereocoyote Posted March 11, 2010 Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 Hey all, I do a lot of spoken word recordings in my studio (yoga classes, meditations, instructionals, etc.). I have a motu 896 and am using those preamps for the vocals (spoken word). I'm looking to upgrade and stay within the $500 range. Any ideas? [it can be a single channel preamp] I have an ART MPA Gold, which I find good (enough for my level) for someone who is singing. But the noise floor is too high. I use a Rode NT1A as my go to vocal mic for pretty much everyone (again, spoken word). I'm looking for a QUIET preamp with good clean gain. If there is slight 'coloration' I'm ok with that, provided it's not noisy or too present. What would you suggest? And why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted March 11, 2010 Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 The FMR RNP comes to mind. A lot of people like The Brick. I don't know how it would be with spoken word...probably fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kurfu Posted March 11, 2010 Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 I have an ART MPA Gold, which I find good (enough for my level) for someone who is singing. But the noise floor is too high.I use a Rode NT1A as my go to vocal mic for pretty much everyone (again, spoken word). I'm looking for a QUIET preamp with good clean gain. If there is slight 'coloration' I'm ok with that, provided it's not noisy or too present.What would you suggest? And why? FMR RNP? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Majoria Posted March 11, 2010 Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 Sounds like you are talking about an RNP, which is 2 channels of clean pre for about $500. I haven't used the RNP with an NT1A for spoken word but on paper it would be decent. I prefer a different mic for spoken word but that's just my preference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kurfu Posted March 11, 2010 Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 Sounds like you are talking about an RNP, which is 2 channels of clean pre for about $500. I haven't used the RNP with an NT1A for spoken word but on paper it would be decent. I prefer a different mic for spoken word but that's just my preference. Dynamic for sure... SM7B... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stereocoyote Posted March 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 Hmmm, while I want to keep this conversation on track, I'd be curious as to what other mic (and maybe mic/preamp) combonation you'd suggest for spoken word. Also, why wouldn't you be interested in the NT1a for spoken word? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kurfu Posted March 11, 2010 Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 Hmmm, while I want to keep this conversation on track, I'd be curious as to what other mic (and maybe mic/preamp) combonation you'd suggest for spoken word. Also, why wouldn't you be interested in the NT1a for spoken word?[/quote A condenser is likely pick up more of the annoying sounds of smacking lips and spittle.... highly annoying when listening to spoken word. YMMV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stereocoyote Posted March 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 Totally.. that's def. what I'm dealing with a TON! I thought that it'd be good for me to get as good a quality recording of their voice as I could, but I'm spending a fair amount of time cleaning that stuff up. I had this mic suggested to me and I've used it for a while, thinking a dynamic wouldn't give me the vocal representation I'm going for.... hmmm, this makes total sense though. Ok, so in an effort to keep things on track, can anyone suggest a combination spoken word vocal mic and preamp that would be good... under $700 for both of them? [the SM7B suggested a tube preamp, any suggestions for that? in the $350 price range tops?] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted March 11, 2010 Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 Why does the preamp have to be tube? The SM7B is an excellent suggestion. A Heil PR30 works well also. The RNP would match well with either one. If you want a tube, The Brick is within your budget and is a good mic preamp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stereocoyote Posted March 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 i doesn't have to be, I just read that a tube pre with this mic works really well for spoken word... I've looked at the brick before and come close to getting it.. I just heard about the DAV Broadhurst Gardens pre, which looks interesting... trying to find out how much one costs... I was almost sold on the RNP, and continue to hear great things, but from what I've recently read, the DAV surpasses it a little and is in the same price point... I'm sold on the SM7 (tho that Heil does look good too), but I think I'll go with the industry standard Shure mic on this one... now for it's preamp? One good for spoken word... any other thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kurfu Posted March 11, 2010 Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 RNP & SM7B You don't want tube "color" for spoken word.IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted March 11, 2010 Moderators Share Posted March 11, 2010 Rane MS 1bFMR RNPGrace 101 RE20 or SM7 Personally, I like a condenser for voiceover work but you need to back off it a bit. Which in turn means you need a good sounding yet dead room. Not always easy to come by. But it you have that type room, back off the mic a little. I use a U87 frequently for this. I don't know the Rode. An RE20 or SM7 would be great though, providing you have plenty of gain from the pre which all three above I listed do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stereocoyote Posted March 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 I have a sound booth, custom built in my studio, it's a sound vacuum. So I have a good room, but I deal with a lot of mouth sounds that I have to clean... when I back them off the mic a bit, I hear the noise floor of my gear behind their voice. My gear again: Rode NT1a -> Motu 896 It's not much but it's enough to want to remedy for sure. I use a pop filter and it helps, but doesn't stop all of it at all. Am I doing something wrong or is my gear limiting my sound? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted March 11, 2010 Moderators Share Posted March 11, 2010 Back off the mic and use a quiet pre. Listen to the talent. Do the mechanics of their voice sound obtrusive in the room? If so, the talent needs to get better. If not, figure out why your ear doesn't hear the exaggerated lips smacks etc. but the mic does. Then move the mic accordingly. The whole Voice of God thing where an announcer is eating the mic and working the proximity effect, while that's great, that is not the end all. And it takes a great VO artist to do it and not make all kinds of disgusting noise. Learn to get a great sound from the talent backed off a little. So yes, I think you're right... a clean, quiet, high gain pre will do you good. Back off the mic. P.S. Are you absolutely sure the noise you're hearing isn't ambient noise? Pretty common. Crank up you mic with phones on and move the mic around and see if you might find a source of the noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zooey Posted March 11, 2010 Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 Something with a HPF would be nice. I doubt you hear the "noise floor" of your gear when you're not speaking. You probably hear the ambient noise in your room. The only thing that will fix that is a quieter environment. A HPF (see above) will help, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stereocoyote Posted March 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 I work with a LOT of recording noobs, they are great in their respective field of study, but never been recorded, so I just have to work with that... they'll get better over time, but it's a constant string of new talent ongoingly... great for business, still, I'd like to reduce my editing time by having better recording technique and/or gear. (and x-click plug in type stuff unfortunately doesn't work well at all IMO) As for the sound, there's really nothing in the room other than acoustic tiles, bass traps, the walls are 'floating' the ceiling is high NR panels, there's no air vent/port, and the house is silent. So I'm rather sure it's not the room... Would you say that the RNP or the Grace 101 pre's are better than the onboard MOTU 896 pres (old school 896 not the HD or mkIII)? Could they give me the quiet gain I need and potentially reduce my noise floor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stereocoyote Posted March 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 Zooey, ok, so this is really a noob question, but where does that ambient room noise come from then? Can I reduce it? I'll gladly post photos or explain more about the room if people think that can help (I'll start a new thread of course). But with no 'sound source' what is cause the ambient room noise? Also, HPF, high pass filter I'm presuming.. I can simply apply that with a plug in, but when I look at a spectral graph of the 'noise' is like a white noise across the entire spectrum and an HPF won't get all of it by any means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stereocoyote Posted March 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 Majoria, What mic do you prefer with spoken word? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted March 11, 2010 Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 Would you say that the RNP or the Grace 101 pre's are better than the onboard MOTU 896 pres (old school 896 not the HD or mkIII)? Could they give me the quiet gain I need and potentially reduce my noise floor? I don't know for a fact, but I would be absolutely shocked if the RNPs weren't noticeably better than the MOTUs. I've heard good things about Sytek preamps (also considered very very clean), but have never used them. Back to mics: Personally, I tend to reach for the Lawson L251 tube condenser for a lot of voiceover stuff, but then I run it through an FMR RNLA to squash some of the transients. But I also reach for the HEIL PR30 if someone makes a lot of lipsmacking sounds and that kind of thing. I also of course will often test the two to see which sounds better (and which one the talent prefers) before making the final choice. I like using the Lawson because if it works, it sounds bigger than life (if, of course, that's what we want) and with the Lawson, I have infinitely variable polar patterns, so I can widen the cardioid appropriately if I am getting too much proximity or adjust it accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stereocoyote Posted March 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 The lawson looks amazing... remind me of that in about 4 years when I've grown my studio enough to afford a mic like that... right now I'm in the $750 budget range for a better mic and pre than I'm using right now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted March 11, 2010 Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 The lawson looks amazing... remind me of that in about 4 years when I've grown my studio enough to afford a mic like that... right now I'm in the $750 budget range for a better mic and pre than I'm using right now... The Lawson L251 is indeed amazing!!!!! I don't know if it makes you feel any better (or worse), but I won the mic at an AES drawing maybe 8-10 years ago. I apparently have really great pro audio karma. I also won ADAM monitors at a recent NAMM Convention. Both these things I absolutely love and use for every recording session. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stereocoyote Posted March 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 well now you're just rubbing it in... So great man... I'm officially jealous. I just bought a SM7B from Sweetwater... My sweetwater rep Paul Lea talked me out of the Grace 101 with this mic, I'm going to look into what might be causing the 'white noise' I'm hearing... maybe it's not my 896 pres.. no idea.. either way, they should be able to push the sm7b good enough for now... at least while I figure out what that noise floor issue is. Could it be my cables? My soundbooth requires me to run about 40 feet of cable from my rig to it... hmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted March 11, 2010 Members Share Posted March 11, 2010 well now you're just rubbing it in... So great man... I'm officially jealous. Oooops!!!!!! I just bought a SM7B from Sweetwater... My sweetwater rep Paul Lea talked me out of the Grace 101 with this mic, Outta curiosity, what did he say? Why did he talk you out of it? I've heard good and bad things about those preamps. I own two RNPs (and I actually bought both of them, not winning them in a drawing!! ) and think they're great!!! Especially for the money!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrJoshua Posted March 12, 2010 Members Share Posted March 12, 2010 I'd try the SM7b through the onboard preamps of your interface first and see what you think. Keep in mind that it won't have the extended top end of the NT1A - that's a good thing but when you're used to hearing the hyped high end, the lack can make things sound dull at first. It isn't as hot of a microphone as the NT1A so you'll need to turn your preamp up quite a bit more than you're used to - if it's a noisy preamp, that will show up. But speaking as someone who owns one of each of those mics, I think you'll find that making a good voice recording is a lot easier with the SM7b. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stereocoyote Posted March 12, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 12, 2010 Excellent to hear Joshua.... Lookin forward to better recordings with a tad less sibilance/lip smacks, etc. I appreciate the foreknowledge of the high end loss from someone experience with both mics... thanks. Paul said that I should really just get the mic first, I really have two issues going: 1 - noise floor, could be my room (oddly) 2. or could be my pre's there's other factors but these are the main two. The Grace, being such a flat response pre would only add an (expensive) new factor to the equation, that might not resolve my issue. It makes sense to see if the sm7 resolves these issue on it's own.. if it does and I can use the 896 pres, I'm good and don't have to drop the cash for another pre right now.. I'll repost when with some findings.... Mic should be here Mon. If anyone does a lot of spoken word work, I'd love to know their set up. So lemme know.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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