VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

Glenn Moore · Been Here Awhile Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Posts: 240

The studio is in development. Slowly but surely. Just got me a nice Mackie board (slightly used) and now I want to buy a very good mic. Anyone want to give me their Top 5 list of the best mics for VO? Say $5,000 and under...??

Glenn

Hart · Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:59 am Post subject:

Wow, I wish I had your mic budget. If I had that kind of cash I would be looking at the Neumann mics, like the M147, M149, the U87, maybe the Sennheiser MKH 416 Shotgun since a lot of people like it too. I've recorded on the M149 and I liked it but can't speak for the others than what I've read.

I would also compare them to a few less expensive mics. You may very well find that something that suits your voice perfectly will cost you a lot less. Do a search around here. Lots of posts on what mics people are using. Find a vendor that will let you test them out before you buy.

Oh, just because you didn't mention it in your post. Don't forget to research good preamps too. If you're going that high end on the mic I'd think long and hard about just plugging it into the Mackie's pre.
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marko · Guest

I would have to agree with Hart on the M149-simply awesome! Bang for the buck though, the TLM103 is an excellent choice for roughly $750. The U87 is of course, the industry standard and I have nothing but good things to say about it. The TLM149 has my curiousity piqued and I plan on researching that one a bit further as I'm going to let my BCM 104 go within the next
couple of months.

One thing that has worked for me in the past is going to a studio that I work with rather frequently and ask them if I can do a 'mic test' in between sessions sometime. Not only do they oblige, but they will burn a CD for me to listen to the differences in the mics. Most engineers are nice guys and will do this for you IF you have a rapport already established with them.

Best of luck, and let us know which one you decide upon!

Deirdre · Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:02 am Post subject:

Yeppers-- I'm doing a mic test now.
One of my producers asked me to try out some other mics and I've been running down a very short list.

The third consideration after mic and pre is YOUR ROOM.
I have a quiet room, not a dead room.

I gave up my Røde NTK because it just didn't sound good for me at all.
The Studio Projects C1 is dandy.
I have an El Cheapo Berringer B1 which actually sounds pretty nifty.

My LA pals are steering me hard away from the TLM 103.

You can do a search in the archives here for just this topic as it seems to appear about every 5 weeks or so.
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Tom Greenlee · Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:10 am Post subject:

DB...just out of curiosity, why are they steering you away from the TLM103?
After I saw your previous post about looking into that particular mic, I started researching it too. I didn't find any terribly negative things about it. What was their reasoning behind staying away from the TLM?
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Hart · Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:26 am Post subject:

I can say for my voice I just don't like the TLM 103. It seems to bright or something.

I seem to recall somebody saying once that the TLM 103 was the mic that you bought when you couldn't afford a Neumann but wanted the "name" or something to that effect. I'm not slamming the mic, just pointing out the statement for conversation's sake.
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Deirdre · Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:33 am Post subject:

I may still need to try it out because one of the studios I work for out east via ISDN uses them in all their in-house studios and they want a sonic match.

The guys at Buzzy's said the TLM 103 " is for people who have no mic technique. "

Banksey said in an earlier thread:

Rob Ellis · M&M Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 2385 Location: Detroit

DB-I am looking at a Rodes NT1...what problems did you encounter with it? Was it background noise?

Deirdre · Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:09 am Post subject:

I had a Røde NTK-- a different mic. It had a bump in its pickup spectrum at an odd place for my voice-- it actually sounded like I was talking into a coffee cup.

You're going to encounter MUCH MORE SOUND with a tube mic than with a dynamic mic.
It isn't "background noise"-- it's "room tone".
It's the actual sound of your room.

I use an Electro Voice RE20 every day for the broadcast stuff I do. It's a Dynamic mic. It picks up a lot less of "the room " than any large diaphragm mic. It's the nature of the mic and the way it works.
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TC · Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:12 am Post subject:

For some reason, my Rode NTK makes me sound just like DB. Wink

Seriously, I'm quite happy with how it makes me sound, though I'm finding I have to be a little more careful about sibilance than I normally have with other mics in the past.

marko · Guest

Boy, I couldn't disagree more about the TLM103. I absolutely LOVE mine and have used just about every high end Neumann there is. Mics are definitely a personal thing, so testing them is mandatory. I still have an Audio Technica 4033 that I really like as well. Not sure where those audio engineers got off on saying that the 103 is for people without mic technique, because some of the premiere studios here in Atlanta use them nearly as much as the U87's.

The M149 would have to be at the top of my wish list, though!

Glenn Moore · Been Here Awhile Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Posts: 240

thanks for all the info guys and gals. I should actually re-phrase....I dont necessarily want to spend 5 grand on a mic. 5 grand is about what I will probably spend on the entire studio. But I dont want to spare expense on the mic. Then again I dont want to buy an expensive mic and have it sound like suck with my voice either. so that is why i was asking. any advice is always appreciated.

Philip Banks · Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:14 am Post subject:

Buy the best mic you can afford and then spend the rest on all the other bits and pieces.

Do not buy a valve/tube mic. Using post production techniques or settings on you pre-amp you can get a condenser mic to sound like a tube but not the other way around. If a producer ask for a crytal clear, clean mic sound, with a tube you can't give it to him. It's for that reason I have not bought a Manley Gold reference mic or a Neumann M149.

Now this one is bound to be a good one!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Neumann-U87-Microphone-Sounds-Great-Worlds-No-1_W0QQitemZ130019532141QQihZ003QQcategoryZ15198QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hart · Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:24 am Post subject:

dhouston67 · Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:36 am Post subject: