VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[RickReid]

Awhile back I had a "big time" v/o pro in Atlanta listen to my commercial demo. His biggest criticism was that the sound quality from clip-to-clip was too consistent. (I thought that was a good thing.) He said the spots sounded like they were all recorded with the same microphone in the same studio, therefore, they gave the impression that they were all just demo spots and not "real" work. (He was right. It was all with the same mic in the same studio and it was all just demo material.)

I've swapped out a few clips since then with some "real" work, but I don't have enough national-level or national-sounding stuff for a full 60-second demo. So, I decided to buy a couple of additional mics so that I can rotate through them when I record new demo spots. My main mic in my home studio is a Neumann TLM103, identical to the mic I used for my previous demo (which I produced at my "day job" with the help of a professional sound designer/editor.) There's no way I can afford any more mics in that price range. So, I popped into Guitar Center the other night and picked up an AKG Perception 100 for $99. Then I went to CompuUSA and got an M-Audio Nova for $99.

Both of these are large diaphragm condenser mics. Their output level is the same as the Neumann so I don't have to fiddle with the trim knob on my mixer when I switch between mics. My initial impression of the AKG is that it has pretty clean sound but that it over-emphasized the high end and doesn't have much bass. My natural voice is already like that without any help, so this mic makes me sound too bright and sparkly. It might be an interesting experiment to record a naturally deep voice with this to see how it alters or balances out the sound. On the other hand, I was really impressed with the M-Audio mic! I thought it sounded nearly as good as my Neumann. It seems to lack some of the bass and proximity effect and the overall richness of the Neumann, but held its own better than its price tag would indicate.

Anyone setting up a home studio who's hesitant to drop a thousand bucks on a mic might want to try out the M-Audio Nova. I wouldn't recommend the AKG as your main mic, but it may have a place in your collection just for the reason I bought it -- to change up the sound quality on parts of your demo reel.

[billelder]

My favorite mic thread is this.

[jrodriguez315]

One of my favorite Mic threads can be found here.
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Joe Rodriguez, Bilingual Voice Actor | The Voiceover Thespian Blog

[Yoda117]