Oct 9, 2023
Like phono cartridges, headphones and loudspeakers, the microphone is a transducer – in other words, an energy converter. So it should stand to reason that they all sound the same right? Well we all know that's not the case. So what colours the sound? And how can we use these "tweaks" to our advantage in the studio..
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“When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.”
Hunter S Thompson
Summary
In this episode of Pro Audio Suite, George Wittam, Robert Marshall,
and Darren Robbo Robertson explore the complex dynamics of
microphones. The team deliberates on how mic's are each
individually tuned by their manufacturers to produce a unique
sound, and the way this sound is received is subjective to each
person. They discuss how modern condenser mics are so similar to
one another and the importance lies not so much in finding the
right mic for a specific voice, but rather the right mic for a
particular situation. They emphasize the value of a flat mic which
can be customized through EQ, and argue against choosing a
microphone based on its prestigious model. They also discuss combos
that work well together like the coupling of a 41 six and a neve
like preamp. Listen in to gain more insight into the world of
professional audio. To connect with the hosts and find out more,
visit theproudiosuite.com.
#ProAudioSuite #FindingTheRightMic #AudioEngineeringInsights
Timestamps
[00:00:00] Introducing the Pro Audio Suite Team
[00:00:35] How Microphone Sounds Differ Based on User
Perceptions
[00:05:20] The Versatility of Flat Mics and Helpful Recording
Tips
[00:09:04] Choosing the Right Microphone: Mics vs Preamps and
Selling Opportunities
Transcript
Speaker A: Y'all ready be history.,Speaker B: Get started.,Speaker
C: Welcome.,Speaker B: Hi. Hi. Hello everyone, to the Pro Audio
Suite.,: These guys are professional.,Speaker C: They're motivated
with tech. To the Vo stars George Wittam, founder of Source
Elements Robert Marshall, international audio engineer Darren Robbo
Robertson and global voice Andrew Peters. Thanks to Triboo austrian
audio making passion heard source elements. George the Tech Wittam
and Robbo and AP's international demo. To find out more about us,
check theproudiosuite.com welcome to another Pro Audio
Suite.,Speaker A: Now, this week I saw on a very large voiceover
forum a question about someone wanted to buy a microphone and
wanted to get a microphone that suited their voice. And another
conversation happened when I was doing a session with Adrenaline in
Vegas and we talked about U. Everybody expects you to have that
because that's the industry standard. But the point was that if I
had a U 87 and Adrenaline's got a U 87, they would sound completely
different because they're in different environments.,: Yeah. This
is where things get really interesting, right? What is it that
makes a mic sound the way it sounds? Right. There's a lot of
factors, right? There's the capsule, there's the electronics,
there's other factors. There's the actual designer. A mic is tuned
to sound a certain way. It's tuned by the manufacturer, it's tuned
by the designer. They make an aesthetic judgment right, of how that
mic should sound. How a mic should sound to that person is a unique
subjective thing. That's why vintage microphones especially are so
varied. And this is why I think modern condenser mics are so non
varied. They're all way more like each other because the
commonalities are. So they're just table stakes now of what a
modern condenser mic sounds like. And that could be because of a
couple of mics, could be because of a 41 six, could be because of a
U 87. But whatever it is, there are sounds that of mics, there are
voices of mics that are now considered like a reference point. And
everything that's different is now just considered a vintage sound
or a different sound. There are variations, the word colored,
color, there's coloration.,Speaker A: Exactly.,: The thing is funny
though, is like, we don't want a non colored mic, right? If we
wanted a non colored mic, we would be using dead flat omni mics or
something, right. But we all kind of agree that's not exactly what
we want the sound of our voices to sound like either. Right.,: We
want the boost and like the hyper reality thing. And a mic can
bring that focus. But I kind of think the difference isn't so much
like the right mic for the right voice. I think much more that it's
the right mic for the right situation.,: Yeah. And situation, the
space, the context, like.,: The space for you to deal with the
microphone if you're traveling, like your whole situation and all
the appropriate stuff.,: The background noise, is it going to be an
outdoor setting.,: One mics sound better than the other. But if
this one's better at cutting out noise or focusing better in a
tight booth, then this one the pros outweigh the cons. Then every
now and then you get that weird thing that happens where something
like the 416, which was, sorry, the 40 116, where something like
the 4116 was designed to reject noise and be a mic for a specific
purpose which might have some compromises. And then over time,
people find that they actually like the compromises for the effect.
And there we come back to the word color and the color and the
sound that it has. And so you have something like the 41 Six that
has that cut, which was really a byproduct away of its initial
design to reject noise and record just the voice and made it a less
ideal microphone in a true I'm flat kind of respect and more here I
am for the situation.,: Yeah. It's not a quote unquote musical mic.
It's a utility mic that makes voice rise above or cut that Robert
mentioned. That is what makes that mic character work for many
voiceover scenarios. But maybe isn't the best mic for a voiceover
where it's not a voiceover, it's an audiobook. There is no music,
there are no effects. It's a voice and a vacuum that isn't you
don't necessarily want a mic that cuts. So it is a little bit of
that. There's also mics that I will hear on a voiceover's, voice
that I don't just subjectively, I don't like the way they sound. I
don't like the choices of how that mic is voiced. I don't like the
EQ. Again, sometimes they call it a vintage sound. Right. And some
of those quote unquote vintage sounding mics to me are
subjectively. Not what I would want. Will they work? Yeah. Can I EQ
it later? Sure. And we've said on the show before, the flatter the
mic is, the better you can EQ it, the better you can get the sound
you want.,: You're not fighting someone else's EQ. The way I think
of it, if someone gave you a nice flat piece of metal and basically
said, give me a curve, you'd have a pretty easy time doing it
because you'd have one thing to create. If someone gave you a big
curved up piece of metal and said, give me a smooth curve, you'd
have trouble making a smooth curve out of it because the thing's
already curvy in a different way.,: That's a good analogy. Yeah. If
that metal had several little bumps and bends in it and they said,
make it a perfect smooth curve. What a pain. How much work you have
to put into that thing to get that piece to yeah. I don't know. The
science of it is it's not a science. It's completely subjective.
You can chase the perfect mic for your entire life, Andrew.,Speaker
A: Yes, you can.,: Is that a problem.,: I think you can play to
certain mics and use them in different ways. It's not like Bob
Dylan with harmonicas, but if you're doing a certain type of read,
really, you can get more out of a 41 six than some other mic that
doesn't have that same proximity in that focus or something at the
same time. If you're going for a really smooth pillowy kind of
thing, maybe an 87, but probably not a 41 six.,Speaker A: But I
wonder, if you were just if you could only have one mic to do
everything, would it be a 41 six, OC eight, one eight? An OC eight
one eight, and then you can do everything. But it's funny, this
discussion the other day, though, where it said if you actually put
in the gear you have in your home studio and you had 41 six, u, 87
Avalon, everyone would go, oh, yeah, well, they're professional,
they got all the right gear. Right, but it might be all the wrong
gear because it might not work in their situation.,: Yeah, exactly.
I would say, really, if it's really a valuable pursuit for you,
it's just something you've always wanted to do. Maybe you've been
in this for ten plus years. It might be worth it for you to invest
in a modeling mic. Because now you get to have the fun, the
pleasure, the pain, whatever, of trying out a humongous variety of
microphones and trying them. Now, here's the thing. Do not record
these models of mics to impress yourself. You will end up picking
the sparkliest, shiniest, prettiest sounding microphone, I'm
guaranteeing you that, and that is not necessarily what you want.
So you may want to do that exercise and then send that recording to
somebody else, a trusted producer, engineer George the tech, offers
mic check. We will evaluate and rank a whole bunch of mic samples
and we will tell you subjectively, or I would say subjectively,
what is the best of the top, maybe the top three for your voice,
ranked from best to worst. So that's what you want to have. Don't
try to impress yourself. Unless you are a producer and you spend
your days producing and you've heard a lot of voiceovers and a lot
of different contexts, I would not try to evaluate yourself. I
think that's a tricky spot to get yourself into.,Speaker A: Well,
interestingly, out of the choice I did for a session the other day,
I offered the OC eight one eight through the Neve and I offered the
40 116 through a Grace and they went with the 4116 through the
Grace and loved it.,: And this was an industrial yeah, it.,Speaker
A: Was actually a training industrial film medical thing.,: Did you
read it all in a vacuum or did you hear the music that they were
going to put behind it?,Speaker A: No, I didn't hear it, it was all
in the vacuum.,: Yeah, but I can see why it's funny, because after
you get like a long form thing, in a way, you probably end up
wanting the smoother mic after a while.,Speaker A: It certainly has
something and depending on the voice, it certainly brings things
out in a voice that could be quite appealing.,: Yeah. It's also the
combination, because I don't know if you spent the extra energy to
do the other combination, the neve.,: And the little bit of too
many variables, but.,: A neve is a colored preamp. A Grace is an
uncolored preamp, so that combination of color and uncolored could
be a pro and a con, depending on what you're doing, too. So you may
have found out that the 41 six neve was the best combination. Yeah,
it's hard to say when you're changing multiple variables, it's just
a matter of luck and opinion. They're going to say, you gave me two
choices, I picked choice B in that case was what really worked out
well. So, yeah, I think some people find the coupling of a 41 six
and a neve like preamp is a good combo.,: I think it was the 41
six. It was the 41 six with the Grace, wasn't it?,Speaker A: Yeah,
and it sounds great. I mean, it must admit, it does actually sound
really good.,: Sure, it's clean and just on a dime. I imagine it'd
be pretty similar to like a John Hardy and a 41.,Speaker A: Six,
which is yeah, or a millennia.,: Or millennia, yeah, millennia
especially.,Speaker A: Yeah. But it's got that there's something
about it that the combination of the 40 116 and the Grace just has
this kind of and it's a really weird term, but kind of a 3D thing
going on, if that makes any sense.,: That is one of those audio
terms. It's funny.,: Yeah, it is a funny audience term. I don't
know how to describe things as 3D yet, but I'm working on it.,:
They pop out.,Speaker A: So, anyway, the conclusion is there isn't
one. Really?,: You're not going to like our answer.,: The right mic
for the voice in the right situation, in the right time, in the
right place.,: Yeah, I think the bottom line, there is no right mic
for the voice, because the voice is not in a vacuum. It's working
in a context of a space and of a production script. A script, a
style. Yeah, right.,Speaker A: Oh, on that note all right, anyone
want to buy some mics? I've got plenty.,Speaker B: Well, that was
fun. Is it over?,Speaker C: 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
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