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Darren Altman
Cinquecento
Joined: 17 Oct 2009
Posts: 551
Location: London, UK
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Frank F
Fat, Old, and Sassy
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 4421
Location: Park City, Utah
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 Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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Darren,
I am quite an aficinado of the U-87. I have had mine for over 25 years, and still love it today.
You discovered a part of the difficulty of working with high-end mics by yourself. Gain and settings in a pre-amp can make or break how a microphone "sounds". The next part in your journey is to take a good loook at the pre-amp itself. Some pre's and microphones go together, some do not.
The Duet is a fine substitute for a pre-amp although in my humble opinion has a darker color than I desire (on some microphones, and I include the U-87).
I have been trying a couple of different pre-amp's lately which amazed me in their color, cut, and clarity (much like a diamond).
Normally my personal favorites have been an Avalon or Focusrite Red but as I know and have worked with Cliff Maag of Maag Audio and Record Lab Recording Studios; I decided to try the MA-PreQ-4 (a lunchbox pre-amp) with Airband ( http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PREQ4-500 ) - and have been pleased with the sound - REALLY pleased. This is not a pre-amp for everyone (especially in the VO business) as it has a lot of nice toys which many will abuse - but I like it. The PreQ4 is now on my personal favorites list.
The other pre-amp is one which I am not even going to mention, as it is very high-end, very costly, and wa-a-a-a-a-a-y to much for the VO world - but I am going to be using it as a secret weapon in my personal ditty bag of toys.
Getting back to your situation, consider a better pre-amp. Look for one which is completely transparent (no color), has the power needed to bring your "volume" up as much as 60db (most pre's only amplify the signal 32-42db with some of the M-Audio's only being capable of around 28db), and finally one which can bring the qualities of the microphone (in this case the Neuman U-87) to it's fullest potentail clarity.
The Duet is a nice simple system and works well, but it does not (in my opionon) offer the qualities which a good micropne deserves/needs and I have heard the Duet with some of the finest microphones available.
Frank F
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com
Last edited by Frank F on Sun Apr 03, 2011 11:03 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Rob Ellis
M&M
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 2385
Location: Detroit
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| Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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John Hardy M-1 might be a good choice.
I know 60 db may be nice to have, but do you ever actually use that much gain?
(other than maybe with a low output dynamic like maybe a Shure SM 58, etc.) |
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Frank F
Fat, Old, and Sassy
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 4421
Location: Park City, Utah
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| Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 11:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Rob writes: "I know 60 db may be nice to have, but do you ever actually use that much gain?" |
Great question Rob. The answer is: having 60 db gain in a preamp is simply the ability to have enough headroom to allow a comfortable, less artifact, cleaner sound when compared to the need/desire to push the gain to the maximum with less db gain pre-amp's.
I often hear people tell me; "the headroom factor only applies to analog sound".
To a degree that is true, but we live in a digital world and have you ever tried pushing the limits on your DAW and recording above 100%? Or bring UP the audio level, compressing your file, and slamming it to 110%? Given the right "digital headroom" you will have a clean sound to 100% dbvu. In analog recording we could push things to 110% and have a bit of grunge but no clipping thus leaving a cleaner, fuller, more robust sound. With the right level to begin with while recording there is less need to "normalize" or otherwise process the audio file thus less chance of introducing artifacts into the recording.
Frank F
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com |
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Darren Altman
Cinquecento
Joined: 17 Oct 2009
Posts: 551
Location: London, UK
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Brian in Charlotte
Contributor IV
Joined: 19 Jul 2006
Posts: 146
Location: Florida Sun Coast
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| Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 11:32 am Post subject: |
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The new sample is night and day from the previous......very nice!
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Brian Haymond
www.TheVoiceofBrian.com
YouTube.com/VoiceofBrian
Twitter.com/TheVoiceofBrian |
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Mike Sommer
A Hundred Dozen
Joined: 05 May 2008
Posts: 1222
Location: Boss Angeles
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| Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 6:59 pm Post subject: |
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Much better. How close were you to the U87? I'm wondering what you sound like about a foot away?
I'm only asking this because I'm hearing something in the background.
A classic preamp parring for this mic would be a Neve 1073 or 1270 OR the Telefunken V76 --- Yummmy!! But all to rich.
Try the Golden Age Pre 73 ( a neve 1073 clone) for a very affordable $300 US.
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The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/
Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong. |
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Philip Banks
Je Ne Sais Quoi
Joined: 20 Jun 2005
Posts: 11076
Location: Portgordon, Scotland
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| Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:03 pm Post subject: |
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I'm going to let you into a secret. Darren's problem is his set up routine. Before every session he massages his mic with an Eider Duck.
His name's Mike Nesmith, named after the famous Monkee. I'm SO dead now I've told you. |
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