VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Lance Blair]

I currently use mostly a Studio Projects CS5 and I love it...but it's a bit too smooth and vintage sounding (without sounding dark). Even some sessions I've done with vintage U87s (not the AIs) in studios sound a bit on the crispy- crunchy side in comparison.

So I feel like I'm set for my narration and corporate mic, but it just doesn't mesh with the hyped sound one hears with a lot of commercial work these days. Any suggestions (outside of a 416 or 103...been there, done that) for a crisp cut-through the mix mic with a bit o' the "air" above 10kHz??? I'm not too worried about sibilance. My current preamp is the Focusrite ISA One.

Or, should I just EQ the heck out of the CS5 (which takes EQ marvelously) while riding the higher input impedance settings on the ISA One and not tell anyone?
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Skype: globalvoiceover
and now, http://lanceblairvo.com the blog is there now too!

[Mike Sommer]

Lance I love the Gefel UM70s or the MT71s they both have a nice midrange punch, perfect for general announce duties- very mature sounding mics

If you want to add air to the upper end, an Aural Exciter like the APHEX 204 can do the trick.

If you have ProTools, or any good DAW that has buses and sends, you can use this little trick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH0WYZwZPN4

(You do not need to have protools to do this, I do it in Logic all the time. )
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The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

[Lance Blair]

Thanks Mike, I'm a big fan of keeping the original track in the mix but adding in extremely altered versions.

So, add (or send) a track that's nothing but over 5kHz and compress the daylights out of it to taste, and then add that to taste alongside the original. Should work great. I'll record some tests Monday morning before my afternoon sessions.
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Skype: globalvoiceover
and now, http://lanceblairvo.com the blog is there now too!

[Deirdre]

The SP C-1 is nice and bright.
I love mine.

Not sure how well it would work for a man, but it might be worth a try in your space.

I'm eager to see how your layering technique will work, too!
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DBCooperVO.com
IMDB

[Mike Sommer]

Yep, can't get any simpler then that Lance.
As you heard in the video, and will hear as you play with with your audio, you'll get a nice clean breath of air in your voice, without peaking. And the best part is... It's free!


I love the C1 also. But what I love about it, is also what I hate about it- It lacks maturity. And therefor lacks control. Where the CS5 has a more "refined" sound, as does the Gefell.

When Lance mentioned wanting "air" in the hi frequencies, I knew there's only two ways to get that; do it in post or put an Aural Exciter in the chain.
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The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

[Rob Ellis]

Any tonal differences (other than variable patterns) between the

MT 71 and UMT 70?

[JBarrett]

The C-1 is my main mic as well, DB. I feel that it works well with my voice, though the only other thing I have on-hand to compare against it is an AKG Perception 400. Haven't used that one since I got the C-1, largely because I like the C-1's added brightness.

Mike: thanks for the link to that video. I really need to dig out my notes (if they still exist) from an audio production class I took years ago. It was an elective I took while studying animation, and I did pretty well in it, though I never actually thought I'd use any of the techniques seeing that I was aiming at an animation career. Now that my audio work is increasing, I want to do a lot more, but need a serious refresher on audio engineering.
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Justin S. Barrett
http://www.justinsbarrett.com/

[Mike Sommer]

[Lance Blair]

The CS5 is taking various EQ well - that should do the trick, and the higher impedance settings on the ISA One livens things up too. Thanks.
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Skype: globalvoiceover
and now, http://lanceblairvo.com the blog is there now too!

[Mike Sommer]

Post some screen shots of the settings too.
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The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

[ricevoice]

Great video Mike, thanks for posting!
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Chris Rice - Noisemaker
www.ricevoice.com