Dec 4, 2023
Last week AP unboxed the new Mi Creatore set from Austrian Audio, this week we are putting it through it's paces. While its name implies that it might not be up to the rigours of professional voice over work, our tests might convince you otherwise...
A big shout out to our sponsors, Austrian Audio and Tri Booth. Both these companies are providers of QUALITY Audio Gear (we wouldn't partner with them unless they were), so please, if you're in the market for some new kit, do us a solid and check out their products, and be sure to tell em "Robbo, George, Robert, and AP sent you"... As a part of their generous support of our show, Tri Booth is offering $200 off a brand-new booth when you use the code TRIPAP200. So get onto their website now and secure your new booth...
And if you're in the market for a new Mic or killer pair of headphones, check out Austrian Audio. They've got a great range of top-shelf gear..
If you haven't filled out our survey on what you'd like to hear on the show, you can do it here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZWT5BTD
Join our Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/proaudiopodcast
And the FB Group here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/357898255543203
For everything else (including joining our mailing list for exclusive previews and other goodies), check out our website
Hunter S Thompson
Summary
In this episode of Pro Audio Suite, we explore the audio
capabilities of the Tributh vocal booth and Austrian audio
equipment. On offer is a $200 discount code for listeners,
invigorating discussions on the mastery of mic technique, a review
of the sound quality of an Austrian Audio microphone, and the
fantastic audio benefits of using a cardioid and hypercardioid
pickup. Our panel pointed out the similar sound quality Austrian
audio provides across varying price points, the possibilities of
using the equipment in a stereo pair setting, and the pros of using
a heavy-weighted stand. The episode concluded with an appreciation
for the Pro Audio mic's simplicity, without any DSP, and its
excellent headphone amplifier. This might just be an addition to
your audio equipment wish list!
#ProAudioInsights #MicTechniques #AustrianAudioReview
Timestamps
(00:00:00) Introduction to Tributh & Austrian Audio
(00:01:01) Sample of Austrian Microphone
(00:02:30) Cardioid Vs. Hypercardioid
(00:04:46) User Feedback Request
(00:08:31) Integrating Multiple USB Mics
(00:11:53) Pro Audio Weight Material & Origin
Transcript
Speaker A: Y'all ready?,Speaker B: Be history.,Speaker C: Get
started.,Speaker B: Welcome.,Speaker C: Hi. Hi. Hello, everyone, to
the Pro Audio Suite.,Speaker A: These guys are professional,
they're motivated.,Speaker B: Thanks to Tributh, the best vocal
booth for home or on the road. Voice recording and Austrian audio
making passion heard. Introducing Robert Marshall from source
elements and someone audio post Chicago. Darren robert Robertson
from Voodoo Radio Imaging. Sydney to the Vo stars. George the tech
Wittam from La.,: And me.,Speaker B: Andrew Peters, voiceover
talent and home, studio Guy.,Speaker C: Learn up, learner. Here we
go.,: And don't forget the code trip a P 200. That will get you
$200 off your purchase of the fabulous Triboof and Austrian Audio
Making Passion Heard. And George.,Speaker A: GeorgeThe, tech TPAs
for your discount codes and on over. If you need help.,: We all
need help. I desperately need it, I'm told.,: Now, talking of
Austrian audio, though, we did an unboxing on camera. That was last
week. But anyway, this week we're giving you a sample of what it
sounds like. And I keep popping. That's really naughty. This is the
my creator. This is what the microphone sounds like. Any thoughts,
chaps?,Speaker A: So this is just absolute, because right now
mine's a bit hyped. I'm going through my 8118 and I'm definitely
hyping it up quite a bit more than probably is necessary. So I'm
going to flatten mine because I want to have a really good
comparison. Okay. This is the eight one eight with no processing.
Totally flat.,: Okay.,Speaker A: And let me hear you again.,: I'm
on an unprocessed OC 16 then for a comparison, too.,: There you
go.,Speaker A: Got it?,: Oh, yeah. And I've got a feeling I know
it's like it's a bit of a weird test because different voices, but
my feeling is listening in the headphones to both of you two. This
one is closer to the OC 16 than the eight one eight.,: That was my
first thought, the first time I heard you on it. Was it's very
close to the 16?,: Yeah.,Speaker A: I'm looking to see what pattern
I'm into because you guys would be on cardioid. I may not be. So
I'm going to check mine.,: When you guys keep talking this one,
because I'm pretty sure see, I keep popping.,: There's no
professional on the other end of the microphone. That's the
problem.,: Yeah, that's right.,: There's also no pop shield.,: If
you've got shit mic technique, get a pop guard.,Speaker A: All
right, well, now I'm on cardioid, which sounds a bit more natural.
I was on a hyper before.,: It does, but it's not as hyped. It's not
quite as 4160 sound.,Speaker A: Well, here's the thing. Like on the
A one eight, when you're in cardioid, it's a true single capsule
cardioid pickup. So you're actually only using the front capsule.
So this would be more similar to you guys, because now I'm actually
using a single capsule. When I go to hyper, the rear capsule comes
into play and that's being mixed in out of phase to create that
hypercardioid. So it definitely changes the way you sound on the
mic.,: Did you flick it across it in.,: While I was talking, didn't
you?,: Yes, it's the opposite to what you were telling. What I was
hearing was the opposite to what you said, Robbo, because I think
in hypercardioid there's more top end.,Speaker A: In static, it
might be a more scooped sound, like more bass and more treble.,:
Yeah, maybe that's.,: Yeah, could be.,: Maybe that's.,Speaker A:
And this is more mid forward. Yeah, this sounds more mid forward to
me.,: Yeah.,: But to me it's not as sort of hyped as this 16 or the
creator that AP is on.,Speaker A: And we're hearing your mic, Robo,
flat or are you still going through a change?,: No. I'm sending to
you guys on source. Connect unprocessed. So I do have some
processing in Pro Tools, but you guys aren't hearing that?,Speaker
A: Yeah, for sure. It definitely sounds more hype.,: Let me turn it
off. Hang on, maybe you are. Let me turn it off.,Speaker A: Hang
on.,: Does that make a difference? Hello.,: Oh, yeah.,Speaker A:
You sounded a bit like I was pretty hyped sounding earlier. When I
turn this on, you get that extra sizzly top end. Yeah, I'll turn
that off. And now I'm flat.,: Okay, so now we're all flat. Some
kind of a noise gate going on there because all of a sudden I can
hear.,: I did have a gate on.,Speaker A: Oh, yeah, me, too.,: Yes,
I should have a gate on.,Speaker A: This will be an interesting
post mix. You have to decide, Robbo, now, whether you process it in
post or leave it. Totally.,: Well, that's the thing. I think I
might just have to leave it.,Speaker A: Perhaps disclaimer this
episode is raw.,: Is raw. Absolutely.,Speaker A: Just some limiting
for the master.,: We're going bareback, but don't Google that.,:
Isn't it interesting, though, that and we talked about this in the
preview when AP was unboxing. It that Austrian audio have taken the
time to make sure that all their products have a pretty similar
sort of sound, regardless of price point, even, really, isn't it?,:
Yeah.,Speaker A: The voicing of the capsules.,: Yeah.,: I mean,
when you can say that an eight one eight, which is what, $1,500 or
something, would that be right?,: I don't know. US?,Speaker A:
About 1200.,: Yeah. So one $200 US. And you can say that it's
reasonably close to the My creator, which is whatever we said that
was 100 and something. Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it?,: I'd be curious
how this would sound. As I mentioned, when we're doing the unboxing
in not a perfect environment. I mean, I've got to say that I'm
sitting right next to a laptop computer screens. There's nothing in
here that's diffusing any sound whatsoever except my buff head. But
apart from that, there's nothing else. So it's not ideal, but I'm
kind of thinking of more of a tight sort of environment where
you're trying to obviously control some kind of ambient noise in a
room that's pretty lively if you're traveling. How this would take
to that, that's what I'd be interested in. And the other thing is
how it takes to EQ as well. Could be an interesting one.,: So the
other thing, though, is that, I mean, this is effectively also a
stereo pair, right?,: Yeah.,: Because it comes with the stereo
pair.,: Yeah.,: So it'd be interesting to hear it with that open.,:
Well, imagine if you were doing here's an example. If you were a
voice that did animation.,: Yeah.,: You could space these two mics
out by maybe 18 inches or something, and then you've got one
capturing the loud source and one if you could actually split them
because they can be stereo. So I guess you do, you just monitor
left for the one and right track for the other one. And then if you
did start overloading the mic that's closest to you, you've got the
backup behind you.,: Yeah.,Speaker A: There's a lot of clever ways
to use it when there's two separate mic capsules versus a mic that
has a stereo mode. Like the ever popular The Yeti from Blue has
that multi pattern switch where you can go from omni to cardioid to
stereo to figure eight.,: Right.,Speaker A: Well, the mic like
this, you have way more flexibility. You can make an XY pair, you
can make a Blum line, I think, whatever it's called. You can adjust
how you want to use those two mics. Like, you could literally put
up a stereo XY pair in front of a string quartet or something and
record that.,: But you could even fake it with if you had the two
like, instead of doing XY, you just reverse one, stick it basically
so the capsule is almost touching each other right. And get some
kind of weird omni going. I don't know how that would work.,Speaker
A: Yeah, that should work. It's two hemispherical patterns
connected in the center. You might have some phasing issues at the
center, but yeah, it's more flexible to have two separate
microphones to manipulate and do. You can just do so much more.,:
Yeah.,: I'm just curious how this microphone actually does sound to
the people listening. I mean, if you're listening to it and you
like it, just leave a comment down below the notes and stuff. But
what I'm hearing is very pleasing, actually. And I'm quite
surprised because I did think being a USB mic, that there was going
to be inherent issues. The price point, I thought, was going to be
an issue for it as well. But I can't really hear anything
now.,Speaker A: Roblo, now, I'm not trying to make more work for
you, but I'm going to propose something, is that we leave part of
the show unprocessed and then you process the remainder of the show
the way you normally would. So we can hear what it sounds like raw,
and we can hear what we all sound like through your production.,:
Through the magic of podcasting. Let's move to the processed show
now.,Speaker A: Exactly.,: The point I was going to make was that
as a podcaster, if you were a podcaster and you were on, I don't
know, let's just pick out a yeti, or you had a chaonica eyeball or
something that you were sort of using and you wanted to up your
game audio wise.,: I mean, step one, tick hello for.,: 100 and
whatever bucks we were just talking about, you've got a new mic.,:
That'S automatically going to do that.,: Yeah.,: And it's got an
interface built in, so you're set that's it exactly.,Speaker A: I
like that. Oftentimes we'll kind of shy away from a USB mic for
anybody that's producing content, because it's just a mic. So if
you want to add a second person or you want to interview somebody
else on site, in physical person, it's not as easy to integrate
multiple USB mics, but here you just have that second mic and
you've got a two mic system and away you go. It's a clever way,
it's sort of an analog, old school way of doing it, but the
simplicity of it, I think, is the key here.,: Well, the other
thing, too, thinking about.,: That without thinking too deeply, but
hearing.,: You say that, and it occurs to me that even if you had
more than two people, with some clever placement of those two mics,
you could almost.,: Mic up maybe three or four people.,Speaker A:
Well, yeah, you could have two and two.,: Yeah, that's right,
exactly.,: If you had three, you could have the host on his own and
then with some clever mic placement, you could place the other one
so that you.,: Were picking up two.,: Yeah.,Speaker A: It all comes
down to the room. The room has to be good.,: Yeah, absolutely.,: If
you were in a concert hall or something, you probably wouldn't want
to yeah.,: But you can also get lav mics. I think they're doing a
lav mic as well. That goes with know, that kind of podcasting and
all that kind of it's. It's really clever. Here's a thing, I always
watch Bandru do this.,Speaker A: Podcastage. Is it podcast age or
podcastage?,: Podcastage. It sounds like sort of being tied up and
pod hostage, kind of, yeah. I'm being held hostage, so I'm going to
tap on the desk. He always does that. So tapping on the desk and
this is not ideal, as I said.,Speaker A: No, I mean, I can hear
that you're tapping on the desk, but there's absolutely no thumping
or rumbling or anything.,: No, it's not actually in the mic
stand.,: Oh, now you can hear it now on the stand.,Speaker A: I'm
getting it.,: Yeah.,Speaker A: And what stand are you using? Are
you using that?,: The gravity?,: Yeah.,Speaker A: So that thing
actually is helping a lot to isolate the mic from your desk.,:
Yeah.,Speaker A: See, what helps a lot is mass, right. Weight.,:
Yes.,Speaker A: So if you have that mic on a very lightweight
stand, like a little folding tripod, it probably wouldn't do as
well. But putting on a very heavy weighted stand on rubber like
that, that's a pretty good package.,: Yeah, yeah, I think it
works.,: A I will. I'll stick the link to that mic.,: Stand you're
talking about in the show notes.,: The gravity. Yeah, it's a German
design. I don't know where it's made. Probably China, but it's
certainly designed and engineered.,: It's made out of heavy
steel.,Speaker A: Chances are it's coming out of China.,: Yeah.,:
Where's the steel from? Oh, I'd say probably a hole in the ground
in Australia. But anyway, that's another story.,Speaker A: Another
story.,: Yeah. But the conclusion for me of this mic is just bloody
good. It sounds fantastic.,: I have no issues with it.,: I like
it.,: Absolutely.,: Yeah.,Speaker A: No issues at all. It sounds
like you it sounds like you unmested with.,: Yeah.,Speaker A:
Because we've all heard the USB mics. We've tried a lot of things,
and some of the other companies are trying to be really clever with
lots of onboard processing DSP, and sometimes those settings are on
by default. You don't even know it. So now you're already mucking
up the audio without even realizing it. And these guys are going on
a more purest way, just like we're not going to muck with it.
There's no DSP. It's just this is the way our mic sounds. This is
the way it sounds. And that is a very familiar sound, which is a
very good thing. That's what we want to hear.,: Yeah, great.,: And
also, if anyone's interested, the headphone amplifier is extremely
good, so that's a plus.,: Yeah, very nice.,Speaker A: So we figured
out the knob is a multifunction knob that controls your headphone
level and the monitor blend or mix or balance, as they call it.,:
Okay.,: So the mix between you and me. Okay, very good.,: Well,
there you go.,: Austrian audience, well done.,: Something else to
add to the shopping list.,Speaker A: Christmas needing to just add
it to their shipping list and send one to.,: The rest of us.,:
Well, that was fun.,Speaker C: Is it over?,Speaker B: The Pro Audio
suite with thanks to Triboof and Austrian audio recorded using
Source Connect edited by Andrew Peters and mixed by Voodoo Radio
Imaging with tech support from George the Tech Wittam don't forget
to subscribe to the show and join in the conversation on our
Facebook group. To leave a comment, suggest a topic or just say
G'day. Drop us a note at our website. The Pro Audio weight.