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I tried an Avalon M5

 
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Jason Huggins
The Gates of Troy


Joined: 12 Aug 2011
Posts: 1846
Location: In the souls of a million jeans

PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 4:28 pm    Post subject: I tried an Avalon M5 Reply with quote

I've always wanted to give the 416 -> M5 a shot so I got my hands on one. I was quite surprised at what I found. Compared to the Audient iD22 pres on my voice in my studio with the 416, the M5 was more sibilant and had a grungy midrange. I have read a lot of people saying that the M5 is very detailed an accurate, which leads me to believe that my voice is quite sibilant and not so pleasant in the midrange and that a mic/preamp combo that tames some sibilance and smooths out the mids is a good bet for me. As of right now, the 416 with the iD22 pre is a much more pleasing combo.

Are there any perspectives that I am missing when considering the best mic/pre combo for me?

On a side note, I was recently in a studio that had me on a 416 with a Presonus Eureka and the engineer that I've work with regularly remarked that it sounded fuller. It was also a much smaller booth (mine is 8x8 and his was 4x6ish) with only Auralex foam and Auralex bass traps. This is kind of making me think that I should be trying to design a "fuller-sounding" space rather than considering different gear. I don't the the Eureka was responsible for the fuller sound.
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vkuehn
DC


Joined: 24 Apr 2013
Posts: 688
Location: Vernon now calls Wisconsin home

PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How should my voice sound! Isn't that the question we all deal with?

What color should I paint my bedroom? What color do you like?

Those of us who started in radio "back in the day" grew up in a world where we all knew that the fuller, the deeper, the "rounder?" the voice, the better. Many of us learned to place ourselves and the mic in the control room where we could get some proximity effect to work.

Then came the era when the guys working FM circa the 1980s said "To hell with the booming voice. Among other things it get's lost in the road noise for automobile listeners." And we had the birth of the era of "The cracked-voice FM announcers".

If you are doing broadcast oriented work and your clients have let it be known they like your fuller voice.... GO FOR IT!!!

But those of us doing book narrations, corporate training scripts, long form in general..... does the market place demand the traditional full, deep, booming "radio" voice for these genre? If your product is likely to be heard via ear-buds... will your full "boominess" survive the process?

If your target audience contains a lot of middle age and older listeners, people who tend to have hearing loss in the upper frequencies.... is it possible that the not-so-full voice let's them hear better?

It may be easier to pick paint for your bedroom than it is to pick the right mic for your voice.
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FinMac
Lucky 700


Joined: 14 Jan 2013
Posts: 705
Location: In a really cool place...Finland!

PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 2:29 am    Post subject: Interesting to hear Reply with quote

Jason, it was interesting to hear about your test of the 416 with the M5.

There are various mic/micpre combinations that would be interesting to try, sort of like various flavors of ice cream.

Recently got a 416 which I am liking more every day.

I know first hand that the 416 and iD22 combination work well together Smile
The micpres are very clean so that makes for a good combination. If you still want to try different flavors here are a couple of suggestions.

The first is the High Speed MicPre by Jim Williams. See the comments by Kevin Genus in this link...

http://www.vo-bb.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15633&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=women+102&start=30

And the second is the Martech MSS-10. See the comments by Rick Riley...

http://www.vo-bb.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14649&highlight=martech

I have the HSMP and am liking it a lot now. Would highly recommend it with the 416.

As far as the "fuller sound"...

someone pointed out that in some of my recent postings there had been too much bass in the recordings. That was a byproduct of how my small room was covered. Even though the walls are covered with Ecophon panels, and there were bass traps, there were also reflective bass frequencies that built up. All that to say that it made my recordings sound "fuller" in a sense. There were just more bass frequencies to roll off. So, I would suspect that the smaller studio space was the reason for the "fuller" sound and not the Eureka.

Don't try to get the "fuller" sound from a bad room. Make sure that your room is right before trying out more flavors Smile
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www.scottsvoiceover.com - An American voice in Finland

"If you want to get to the top, you have to get off your bottom". (Unknown)
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Rob Ellis
M&M


Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 2385
Location: Detroit

PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 6:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've always liked the 416/UA 610 Solo sound. The tubes really seem to smooth it out.
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