VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

jsgilbert · Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:09 am Post subject:

I've not personally used the Propellerhead Balance, but some pretty picky folks have very good things to say about it.

The Zoom H4N as a single solution is pretty cool. Using it as a USB interface, it works flawlessly plus you have the option of using it for video applications as well. On the road, it's small enough to sneak into a closet for recording. If you have a laptop with you with a card reader, you can then pop the recording back into your favorite editing software and send it off. One major benefit is that there is no fan noise or any real noise to speak of. I would recommend recording with it firmly placed on some surface, as opposed to hand held.

However, the RE 20 suffers from needing a lot of gain and some of the lower priced interfaces will just give it too much self-noise when cranked up to "11"

Many just don't have the oomph to get the job done. The Propellerhead Balance is listred as having 40db mic gain, which is not enough for an RE-20. The H4N is listed at 47db, although it sounds a tad louder than that to me. It is probably insufficient for an RE-20 as well.

Also something to consider is that not all phantom power is equal and not all microphones need phantom power. The Re-20 doesn't need phantom power, but should you wish to use something else, upgrade, etc. then this will be a consideration.

Not all microphones use a full 48v phantom power; in fact most modern microphones don't come close. And many interfaces may say 48v phantom power and list in the specs, but not deliver that much. This is one reason why so many people choose to go with proven combinations and audio chains, while others simply insist on trying out everything first.

The answer to the RE 20 dilemma is the Cloudlifter CL-1, it is a $150 gain booster that plugs inline into your existing setup. In several instances I have seen demonstrations whereby the main mic pre gain was brought down - the Cloudlifter being used to provide the main boost in gain and the recording was actually louder with a lower noise floor. In a few instances, the recording went up from an average -20db to an average -9db recording and the noisefloor had almost no appreciable gain. Other times the noise floor may have moved up by 1 - 2 db's, but was still perfectly acceptable.
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Jason Huggins · Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 10:47 am Post subject:

If all you need to do on the road is record a lecture or an organ, I'd say a portable self-contained unit would be MUCH better that lugging around a laptop, an interface, a mic, and any other gear that might be needed. Shoot, you could just use the built-in stereo mic, and call it good. I had a cheap Boss 4-track digital recorder that I could plug a 1/4" out of a DI into that would easily capture a lecture or town hall.

I personally don't see the logic in combining equipment you use to put food on the table with equipment that could be damaged or stolen while doing something that doesn't bring in the bacon.

jsgilbert · Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 11:04 am Post subject:

The laptop would be there if you needed to do editing, time compression, apply a de-esser, etc.

Certainly if that can wait until you get back to the studio, no need for lugging around a ton of stuff.

When travelling, I've ditched taking a laptop and now bring my iPad 3, with the iInterface 2 and the Oktaka 219 or the Sennheiser 416. I have a folding travel pair of Bose Headphones, which although being somewhat colored, work fine for monitoring and editing.

Although, 2 of the agents/ casting people I deal with have flash sites for uploading your auditions. Luckily I can do this with my Android phone. I just get the auditions into the Android and send them from there.

Prior to this, I had a number of solutions, which ranged from the aforementioned mics, a Toshiba 15" laptop and a MicPortpro. I then switched to H4 Zoom and the same laptop, using the Zoom as a standalone, ocassionaly even using the built in mic, and then popping the chip into the laptop chip reader. This gave me ultimate flexibility as to where to record and for awhile I had a portable Canon printer to print out the scripts. Then I switched to using my smartphone to view scripts. Now, I read the scripts right off the iPad while recording to the iPad.

There's a lot of ways to skin a cat, including

s/details?id=com.extreamsd.usbaudiorecorderpro&hl=en" target="_blank">https://play.google.com/store/a Hobo Tounge

s/details?id=com.extreamsd.usbaudiorecorderpro&hl=en

which I've played around with. It allows you to hook up many USB interfaces to your Android phone and record. This goes to the usb interface, allowing for a very clean digital recording, as opposed to most of the lousy interfaces that plug into the audio interface or headphone jack.

Like I said before - too many choices.
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georgethetech · Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 11:44 am Post subject:

Tascam DR40 + CL1 FTW.
I have them both, works amazingly well.

G
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captain54 · Lucky 700 Joined: 30 Jan 2006 Posts: 744 Location: chicago