mic shootout on soft female vocals

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crisotop

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Messages
720
Location
Linz / Austria
I'm not sure if anybody has the time to listen to a couple of mic files, I find such shootouts quite interesting every once in a while, so I thougth why not share?

It's a mixture between condenser, ribbon & dynamic mics (high and low end, hey even a DIY G7 in there) and not particularly scientific (two or three alternative vocal lines), but it still gives a good overview of different mic flavours for that "soft, smooth" acoustic-pop vocal style.

Let me know what you think,
Christoph

 
i'll have a listen
its always interesting. liked that page 'the listening files' or whatever that was. seemed pretty precise and was quite an eye opener.
i think as long as there is equal comparison its decent to make reasonable judgements.

however, the link wont work for me :(
 
I find shootouts interesting also ;D

My unscietific harvesting method resulted so that finalist are 1, 6, 11 and 16. They all sound different but good to me. Actually I think all the mic in this shoout sound usable. Might be couple of dynamics among the finalists..interested to know.
 
Interesting - thanks for posting. Please tell what was used on all 16 tracks specifically.
 
dmp said:
Interesting - thanks for posting. Please tell what was used on all 16 tracks specifically.

Cool shoot out.

16 is my favorite; smooth and present, after that it's a toss up between 1 & 2.

Also, her "ess-es" are slightly distorted and over emphasized on most of the other tracks, so in my mind that immediately discounts those microphones.

Now, putting on my producer hat for a moment...

I'm not sure if your producing this project or not but please implore the singer to change her choice of

"I felt der's nothing bigger"

to

"I felt there's nothing bigger".

I realize that's she going for a rural sound, but I think it detracts from the otherwise engaging vocal.

Can you tell us what mic's and recording chain was used.

Mark
 
I'm not sure if your producing this project or not but please implore the singer to change her choice of

"I felt der's nothing bigger"

to

"I felt there's nothing bigger".

:D - You should forgive the Austrian-english and be happy that she's not singing "I felt zer's nothing bigger"

The recording chain was:
Fairly well treated room - acoustic panels in a semi circle behind her
I always let her sing in two mics simultaneously with about 30cm space between her and the mics
Pair of Focusrite ISA430mk2 (ISA110 Impedance, no other processing) into an RME AD16
Bounced with matched gain and an UAD1176 with max. 3dB GR (just to get a feel what it could sound in a dynamic, open mix)

01: AKG C414-TLII
02: Shure SM58
03: Audio Technica AT4050
04: Beyer M160
05: Rode Classic 2
06: Sennheiser MD441 (Presence Boost)
07: G7 (Dale's M7)
08: EV RE20
09: Oktava MK319
10: AKG C451+CK5
11: Shure Beta57a
12: Beyer M300
13: AKG Solidtube
14: MXL 990
15: Rode Classic 2 through DIY 1176revD - soft compressed
16: Rode Classic 2 through DIY 1176revD - heavy compressed

Our favourites were the 05 Rode Classic (hence Track 15/16) and the 10 AKG C451+CK5. The Rode sits nicely in the mix without any eq and has something special, very smooth, airy, "breathy" - it feels like you hear the words directly from her throat. Compared to other mics the midrange, especially the honkey 1-2k area already sounds eq'd and softer. As for the C451+CK5 I'm once more impressed with the performance of that mic - doesn't sound spectacular on it's own, but always cuts through the mix without any processing. The Beyer has an incredible midrange, but needs a high shelve to be on par with the condensers. And the rest of the mics feel rather "meh" for her type of voice in my opinion.

Thanks for your thoughts,
Christoph

 

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