VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Ed Fisher]

Here is something I never do.

Let someone hear my recording environment as it really is...

That's why I'm partial to a noise gate/downward expander.

I have the DBX 286 and also the Focusrite Voicemaster Pro. Both do a decent job. What follows is a recording made this evening. First with the Gefell M71 and then the Sennheiser 416. Both are through identical chains of only the Grace 101. Nothing else. No compression. Clicks. Pops. Breaths are all there. I didn't even adjust the levels when I changed mics. Nor did I normalize. It simply is...what it is. However, the Gefell M71 does have it's high pass filter engaged. Plus I also had the HP on the Grace 101 engaged as well for both of these recordings. because I was working the mic so close.

So, now you can hear my room.

This is my totally Naked Sound.

Comments and/or suggestions are welcome.


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/868362/VOBB%20GEFELL%20M71%20VS%20SENN%20416%20W%20GRACE%20101%20NO%20PROCESSING.wav
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"I reserve the right to be completely wrong."

[vkuehn]

I record naked now and then, but I never tell anyone... not even my wife!

I have a question if you are willing to answer it: What hardware digitizes your sound? Do you have a sound-card or an external A/D device?

As I listened, I had the perception of hearing a bit of difference between the first half and the second half. But Audition was set to keep repeating, and when it went from the second track back to the first track, I didn't hear a difference. Then I realized: maybe that is because the transition in the middle is not going from one mic to the other mic... but going from the "comment" between tracks. The second track does indeed have a slight boost at about 135 hertz.

I wasn't hearing much "room" but I don't think my ears are as sharp in that area as a lot of folks are. (sorry for the poor grammar in that last sentence.)

[Jacob Ekstroem]

Nothing to be ashamed of there, Ash. Your "naked" sound is better than a lot of other people's "fully dressed".
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Regards,
Jacob - Danish Voice Overs (try it... it sounds really funny, too!)

[Scott Pollak]

Man, I agree with Jacob. Wish my environment sounded that good even AFTER I've 'dressed it up' (although the ONLY processing I apply is very, very slight noise reduction). And that 416 sounds sweet. I've been told a number of times I need to try one and I'm beginning to think I just might.

Very nice sound.
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

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[captain54]

the natural EQ curve of the Gefell rolls off @ 500hz, and Hi Shelves @ 10khz

if you match EQ'd the Gefell to the Senny I'd bet you could get the Gefell to sound fuller like the Senny and cut more like the Senny as well..
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Lee Kanne
www.leekanne.com

[Rob Ellis]

yeah I would say don't use the cutoff switch on the Gefell. I'm not a fan of cutoff switches on mics.

if I have to cut, prefer to do it either with software or at the pre

[captain54]

you have the HP engaged on the Gefell as well as the Grace, plus the Gefell has a natural roll off.. so that's three places where the low end is getting jacked around
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Lee Kanne
www.leekanne.com

[heyguido]

Good catch, Cap'n....
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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[Ed Fisher]

[vkuehn]

Thanks for the info. In this era of web pages where it has become "social custom" to list the exotic gear that makes up a V-O studio, it can be easy to get carried away with making the the "Equipment Page/Studio Page" look good.... whether the sound is good or not.

I am currently using the PreSonus AudioBox VSL22. I was rocking along happy as a lark... knowing is was a lesser grade of equipment that what many folks are using, but I assumed it was as good or better than my voice skills. Then I sensed just recently that the box is like me: it wakes up every morning in a slightly different world than yesterday. From previous posts I have started, it is observable that I have been working on the "noise floor". Then I woke up one morning realizing that I could no longer hear my room-tone clearly (to identify what to fix next) because the internal noise of my FSL22 appears to be equal to or maybe a bit louder than the room tone.

So the day this week that I sat down to record samples for Tech Support at PreSonus, guess what: The box was on it's best behavior. It refused to create a noisy track to send them. (I did send him one from the previous week which got his attention.)

All of this is what prompted a new stand-alone post yesterday or the day before: For those of us want to move beyond the Presonus and the Scarlet 2i2 and other boxes in the $150 to $200 range, what is the next leap up the food chain, and the leap after that. For people who invest $800 to $2,000 in a pre-amp, what is the logical A/D converter-input device?

And has anyone declared a level where the conversion is so good that no amount of additional spending can make the conversion any better? Once you have a legitimate conversion from analog to Xs and Os of the digital domain, there are no shabby Xs and Ox as compared to silk-stocking Xs and Os. Keeping that "white noise" hiss to a minimum... maybe down -92 db or so becomes the goal.

P.S. I will send you a royalty check for infringing on your copyright on being long-winded.

[georgethetech]

As for gradations in quality, I can't help you there, but there seems to be a big price jump from entry level Focusrite 2i2 to the Forte at the "mid-level" tier. From there you're looking at stuff from RME, Apogee Rosetta, Prism, etc for significant improvements (a waste of money because home studio).

I can safely say that your room's noise floor will be the limiting factor long before you exploit the low noise qualities of a premium A/D converter or solid state mic preamp. Unless your studio was designed by an acoustician and required a 2nd mortgage to build, or it's in an abandoned missile silo 800 feet under ground, you likely won't hear the benefits of a +$1K A/D converter.

In fact, the 96dB range of a 16 bit recording is already well beyond the dynamic range capabilities of a home studio, for that matter, but that's a different thread (jack)
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If it sounds good, it is good.
George Whittam
GeorgeThe.Tech
424-226-8528
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[Jason Huggins]

I've never even heard of a studio with -92db. Is there a studio with those kind of numbers? Also, on that db scale, what is actual silence?

[vkuehn]

[heyguido]

Jason hasn't jumped in with the Propellerhead Balance, so I will. Clean and crisp.

$400 retail, but you can find it for as little as $270 on eBay this week.

One caveat.... NOT for the SM7b. But makes a good condenser sound great.

+2 for the Forte and Babyface. Though a little pricier at around $600, worth it.
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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[Ed Fisher]