VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[MBVOXX]

I have had a Focusrite Red 7 mic pre in my VO studio for the past few days and today finally got some time to do a Voiceover Mic Shootout with it. For anyone who voices at the control area, similar to a radio production studio set up, as I do, you may find the results very interesting..

The voice: Me-Deep voiced male- late 50's - Rich-Husky-Mature.
The Room & Set up: 14 x 30 Home Project Studio with OC White mic boom mounted to the right and extending left over a large Omnirax control area. Room is treated with acoustical foam and nicely deadened.
Pro Tools LE Factory with mixer/controller/ Power Mac mounted in Iso-Box about 3 feet from the mic on the right side,(on the back side of the mics).
The Mic Pre-Focusrite Red 7 set with 1.5:1 comp, 10db threshold, +4. Exciter off, filter off, de-esser off. Optimal input/output gain .
The Mics: U87ai, TLM193, BCM104, Senn 416, Senn 421, RE 27, and a 35 yr old Shure SM5b on it's 4th set of foam.
The Results were compiled without changing any Mic Pre settings other than the in/out gain on the dynamic mics to achieve acceptable and standardized gain levels going into Pro Tools. No plug ins were used.

The goal was to analyze the individual sounds of the 7 mics and determine which one, in that room, on that mic pre, with my voice, produced the best un-plug in-tweaked sound quality with the least amount of room noise and Iso-Box fan noise and maximum room noise rejection off axis.

The same copy was read on each mic - One short paragraph of storytelling narration and one short, high energy, convention ballroom live stage introduction.

Then the recordings were trimmed to eliminate mic type slates and played back to back, with a 5 second pause between each, for 3 people, in separate sessions in a high end recording/production facility. One-an advertising agency producer. Two-a professional audio engineer. Three-a professional video editor. I asked each to score the overall sound quality/fidelity of the mics, the room noise rejection quality of the mics, and the ability of each to 'sit in the mix' without the need for EQ or Dynamics tweaks. Scoring was done on a 1-10 scale for each category, with 1 being the lowest.

I already had my results compiled.

Here are their unaimous results;

U87ai #3 Good sounding - much room/fan noise
TLM 193 #2 Good sounding-a bit dark - least room/fan noise
BCM104 #1 Great sounding - tied for least room/fan noise with TLM193
Senn 416 #4 Good sounding - nice mids - much room/fan noise
Senn 421 #5 Ok sounding - room/fan noise sounded like a low white noise
RE 27 #7 Ok sounding - room/fan noise sounded like a low white noise
SM5b #6 Good sounding - much room/fan noise

My results, after more technical anylizing, were exactly the same.

U87 - in this setting, even on cardioid, picks up too much of the room. It's a great sounding workhorse mic, but much better suited for a booth.
TLM193 - VERY efficient rear and side rejection of room noise. The best of all the mics tested. But the capsule in the 193 is known for it's darker sound than other Neumann mics. A bit of 8-10K bump and some low end roll off will cure that darkness.
BCM104 - Good side and rear rejection, not as good as the 193, but the fidelity of this mic is outstanding on both soft and forceful reads.
Senn 416 - Nice, smooth mids, not so big on the bottom unless worked very close. Just what it's known for. Sits in a mix almost perfectly, BUT contrary to popular belief, the 416 picks up almost as much of the room as the U87. Side and rear noise rejection is not nearly as good as you'd expect.
Senn 421 & RE27 - Both workhorse radio station mics, mainly due to their inexpensive price range and durability. Both these mics have capsules and built in EQ designed to filter out lower freq rumble and hi pass it in a notched freq range that resembles white noise. The room noise almost disappears....almost. The focus group found both to be irritatingly middy and the white noised room/fan noise to be bothersome.
SM5b - Almost took 2nd place for it's good fidelity and full, rich signal quality on the voice, but poor room/fan noise rejection brought it the low rating. With any more compression added it will suck the cold air out of the room. Another broadcast workhorse though.

In this test:
1st Place-Neumann BCM 104. Plug it in and get to work. No tweaks needed.
2nd Place-Neumann TLM193. With EQ it could easily be the winner due to it's extremely good off axis noise rejection.

Next time: I'll put the BCM104 and the EQ'd TLM103 up against a couple of nice tube mics....The Telefunken AK47 and Soundelux E47.

By the way---the Focusrite Red 7 is a keeper! I love this Mic Pre!

Stay tuned!


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[heyguido]

Wow.... an SM5b. My favorite broadcast mic of all time. Still have one, though it doesn't make it out of the closet very often anymore. A gem.
_________________
Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[Frank F]

The comments regarding the MKH 416 and the U87ai were stellar.

The MKH 416 does not do well for a VO - even when worked close (low end is actually an over-driven line array capsule or also known as mud). This mic is designed for location ENG/EFP audio capture and not for close-up work.

The U87 ai is not as good as it's original predecessor by any means. This mic lacks full body and is harsh on the upper mids and highs. The EQ circuit is not the same as on the original U87 and therefore is not as kind on a voice as the original. Within 90 days of the announcement of the U87ai mic mods were already being designed on the DIY market. Neuman missed the boat with this mic - and they keep making them. Why?

I used a Red for years and enjoyed the sound reproduction through this preamp. I would now prefer a Burl or Maag Audio PreQ4 with Airband.

If you have the opportunity to try a couple of other mics with the Red; try an AKG C12 and a Sony C-8. The modded version of the Apex 460 with a good capsule is noticeably interchangeable with the AKG C12. Or, try the Purple Badge U87 for a much better sound with the Red.

Great choice of a preamp, by the way. I would enjoy hearing the shootout.

Frank F
_________________
Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

[MBVOXX]

Frank, If I can figure out how to post the shootout audio here I'll do it.
or is it better to post it to a link?

[Frank F]

If you have a site to host the file, a link is a lot easier to do.

Frank F
_________________
Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

[MBVOXX]

Update! I tested a TLM49 with the Red 7 and the result was better than anything previously tested. So, for now, the 49 is on the OC White boom.
Really spectacular.