VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[tokyofan]

When narrating in my home booth, I'm getting some weird intermittent vibration noise off the mic (U87), mic stand, or pop screen (Stedman proscreen 101, metal). This results in a little noticeable distortion in the mix. I sometimes sense this vibration at another studio (with U87s). Is this caused by the resonance in my voice, mic placement, or something else? Any suggestions?
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www.chriskoprowski.com/en

[Deirdre]

Can you post a sample of the sound?
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DBCooperVO.com

[tokyofan]

I'm not sure how to post a link to a sample but would be happy to email anyone with permission.
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www.chriskoprowski.com/en

[Deirdre]

Chris—

You can send me an MP3 of the sound in context of your recording. I'll host it and help you post a link.
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DBCooperVO.com

[Gerry D]

hi Chris,

the U87 is a pretty quiet mic and with very low (negligible) self noise/handling noise.

Is this vibration something new or has this always been there? What is your booth setup like? How far/close are you from the mic? what levels are your vocal sessions at? what make/model is the mic stand? The first suspect is the mic stand is not secure and stable; the second is that the floor is not floating or isolated (a quick fix is the Auralex ISO pack)

[tokyofan]

Thanks! Someone in my own time zone!
I sent Deidre an mp3 and a pic of my set-up so you can listen and see what i'm dealing with.

>Is this vibration something new or has this always been there?
Something new. I think it's more noticeable with the U87. I had been using a TLM103 but didn't really notice any vibration. In the booth I can actually HEAR something vibrating when I speak at times.

>What is your booth setup like?
Should be a pic available soon. A very small closet. Acoustic foam on walls. Small stool. Mic stand with U87 pointing down.

>How far/close are you from the mic?
about 10 inches

>what levels are your vocal sessions at?
using Pro Tools LE...getting good levels and no peaking anyway

>what make/model is the mic stand?
it's Japanese...don't really know the make and model

>The first suspect is the mic stand is not secure and stable; the second is >that the floor is not floating or isolated (a quick fix is the Auralex ISO >pack).
Yeah, the mic stand seemed a little wobbly. I raised the boom so on end is against the ceiling which seems to keep the whole thing steady but not sure that's gonna help or hinder.
I'm not using any high-end foam at this point.
The floor is not floating or isolated...just using a piece of carpeting over wood.

As a producer I'd love to get your opinion of my general sound...
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www.chriskoprowski.com/en

[tokyofan]

Deidre posted my stuff:

short clips of what I THINK i'm hearing:

http://www.vo-bb.com/demos/sample.mp3

pic of booth:


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www.chriskoprowski.com/en

[Gerry D]

tokyofan,

I listened to the sample clip, the noise/vibration you are referring to is at the end of the clip right? my guess...

If this is a recent occurrence, have the U87 checked.

some questions.

Have you experimented using the high pass filter on the U87? does the sound of your voice suffer with it engaged? Your voice has really prominent lows.

What Digidesign interface are you using (002, Mbox, 003)? Are you using this as your preamps?

[tokyofan]

in the first clip, i hear slight distortion on "FORMerly"...second clip: on "PROject"...third cip: on "HOSpital" and "conFIRMed"....

Am using the Grace 101 pre-amp, RME AD/DA converter, and MBox 1, with some Waves plug-ins (R Vox, R EQ, R Comp, L1) . Have the HPF engaged on the Grace.

I just had the U87 "overhauled" the other week...hmmmm. Can't recall if I heard vibration before that or not...

>Have you experimented using the high pass filter on the U87? does the >sound of your voice suffer with it engaged? Your voice has really >prominent lows.

Have not tried that but will play around with it tomorrow and let you know. I think the small booth makes things kind of bassy so I roll off everything under 80 Hz with the plug-in.

Does that extra info help?
Thanks!
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www.chriskoprowski.com/en

[tokyofan]

I recently started to aim the mic down because I heard that it won't be as bassy sounding. I normally tack a script to the back wall (lower right) so perhaps my voice to bouncing off the script. Hmm.

I'll play around with variables....
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www.chriskoprowski.com/en

[Gerry D]

[Frank F]

What you are hearing is not related to the mic, but the processing... try lowering your gain a touch on your pre-amp. Just a (verY) little bit, revise the angle of your U-87 (my mic too!) to be in line with your nose at a 30 degree angle to the left or right and approximately 5" to 8" from you face while recording.

The reverberation is from the resonance of your voice on some hard surface in your booth. Try moving the script further away from you or lower than it is currently.

Let me know the results.

F2
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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

[tokyofan]

Hi Frank,

Great suggestions! I lowered the script and turned the mic off-axis slightly and turned down the gain a bit. I think it's helped somewhat but noticed a couple places of distortion when reading news this morning:

http://www.vo-bb.com/demos/sample2.mp3

Am I being paranoid or is there something resonating in my MOUTH? Hard palate, teeth, etc? Hm.

Will keep tweaking and taking suggestions...thanks!
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www.chriskoprowski.com/en

[tokyofan]

I now believe the vibrations were coming off the wooden paneling behind the foam...maybe from the corners. I put up some extra foam behind the mic and in the corners and that seems to have solved things for now. Thanks!
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www.chriskoprowski.com/en

[Deirdre]

Yay! Phantom noises are so irritating.
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