VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[vkuehn]

Dave: I downloaded your file from Dropbox and I am "considerably puzzled". In your description of the things you are doing you did not mention that you are hard-limiting the file, but it has a lot of "chopped-off-peaks". Are you purposely doing that, or is that something happening that you don't know about?

The CAD file has TRUCKLOADS of audio energy below 100 HZ.... and even small truckloads below 70 HZ. If I apply a high-pass filter to your file at 90 HZ or so, your file begins to sound hollow, like playing telephone through a garden hose! Are you applying a lot of bass-boost to get what is sometimes called "The Ballsy Sound"?

NOTE: I just interrupted composing this message and hunted down a file I e-mailed to a consultant tonight. I applied a 90 HZ high pass filter to a portion of that file and in playback I could not tell by listening where the filter was applied and where it was not applied.

There were some annoying clicks here and there but I didn't hear any of hums / electrical interference sounds that you have talked about focusing on.

The TLM part of the file has most of the above characteristics but maybe not as pronounced. It doesn't have quite as much of the below 100 HZ content, but it has a lot more energy down there than I ever want in my files.

Maybe you don't have a mic problem.... maybe you have an audio-chain problem to solve first before you can test to see if you have a mic problem.

[DenaliDave]

I just lost my entire reply!

Anyway, no -- I'm not bass-boosting or using any kind of "enhancers" or EQ.

I did normalize the file in Twisted Wave with Thomas Mundt's "LoudMax" and the built-in normalization function. There's a series of YouTube videos on how to meet ACX's submission requirements for audio books. Part of the requirements is to have -20 RMS and -3 peaks.

I first normalized the RMS to -20, then the entire file to 0, then the peaks to -3 just like in the video.

There wasn't any hum in the sample because of the RFI filter I have. The issue is strangely intermittent as well. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not.

I've noticed that the TLM sounds better on one of my preamps/interfaces than the other. The Apogee Duet seems to make the TLM sound better than the other, TAC-2R Thunderbolt interface.

Looking at the frequency response graph that CAD shows, the e100s should be totally flat, with a slight bump at the end.
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[Frank F]

A couple things to consider. Unless you are doing final post production, the do not add any processing to your file.

The piece of advice: See above.

F2
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[georgethetech]

No time to read thread, but likely this has been said: CAD e100s noise increases quite a lot with the high-pass filter engaged. Why?? Only CAD knows.
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[elkrafto]

I've had to return my e100s twice in the last two years due to noise issues. The first time was a bad capacitor, second time they replaced the pcb. I was slightly over the warranty period, but plead my case and they gave me a warranty repair for the second time round too.

[Lance Blair]

My CAD E100S was definitely getting too noisy after four years.

Picked up a Rode NT1. Self noise = 4.5 dBA, and you don't need as much gain to drive it as the E100S requires. Not as dark sounding either.

I'm a happy chappy.
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[sdaeley17]

I'm liking the NT1 a lot, too, Lance! I liked it so much, I made a video review!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFnzNplEqbM

Also, I really enjoyed your blog post about your new, affordable setup, I`ll be sure to share it in some of the VO FB groups.

http://lanceblairvo.com/blog/2016/01/voice-signal-chain/
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[Lance Blair]

Thanks Sean! I had my eye (or ear?) on the NT1 for a while, but wanted to see more reviews come in. Your test drive sealed the deal for me.

The top end of the NT1 isn't as smooth as the TLM 103, but it has the presence of the 103 with the focus of the E100S - but you can work it more off-axis. That's a pretty good trade-off.
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[sdaeley17]

[Lance Blair]

The CAD was great for me. Clients are asking me to do lower/deeper voices and I had to move on.
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