New recording technique ?

[analogguru]

In my life I recorded succesfully tons of broadcastings, and for these I never used a microphone arrangement as can be seen in the picture. But it is never to late to learn. So I would be really thankful if someone could explain me the benefits of the special microphone arrangement which was used for recording an audio-book. Especially I don't understand the purpose and the effect of the pop-filter....

 

[Khron]

Not "off to the side", but i've seen U87's "in front and above" voiceover performers (famous actors etc), in random clips i've come across.

There's no guarantee a blend of both mics ends / ended up in the final product though. Might be that they didn't wanna take the time to shoot out between x number of mics, and just threw up a couple of "safe choices", deferring the decision for later.

Now that i think of it a bit better, off to the side may well avoid reflections between the performer and the desk / lectern, more / better than from directly ahead-and-above.

 

[ccaudle]

I don't understand the purpose and the effect of the pop-filter....

You don't understand the purpose of a pop-filter in general, or the purpose when the microphone is above and to the side rather than directly in front of the mouth?

 

[Ricardus]

I can't tell where the mics are in 3D space from the pic. But just hang one good mic. It'll be fine. I promise.

 

[ubxf]

In my experience placing the microphone to the side is to be able to get really close and get the proximity effect without popping .
2 mics in the same place is done so one of them is a safety mic (adjusted with lower gain /pad) in case of loud outburst

 

[analogguru]

You don't understand the purpose of a pop-filter in general, or the purpose when the microphone is above and to the side rather than directly in front of the mouth?

I don't understand anything in this setup:

There is a half reflecting room, with foam on the damped half. It is well known since ages, that foam doesn't damp much below ~ 800 Hz. already from the size it cannot even be seen as a LEDE-system....

If you listen to the sound of this cabin:
https://www.mikerindersblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Mike-Rinder-Short-Studio-Excerpt.mp4?_=1
One wonders why are there these expensive microphones at all ? Even two of them ? How could they be able to improve the sound over a $ 15,-- chinese one ?

Ok, they don't have a serious speakers cabin. But why then place the microphone (more than ?) half a meter away ?

Now the microphones a (more than ?) half a meter away from the speaker..... sideways.... so no danger of any pops from the speaker.... maybe from a fan in the speaker cabin ? Or from hurricane Ian ?

A pop-filter or in reality more a spit-filter was invented to protect the microphone by keeping some singers in a safe distance (> 5cm) from the microphone.... And yes, the ones we used were made of nylon stockings over a wire hanger.

So why use a pop-filter ? To show that they have two expensive microphones and even a pop filter ?

For two microphones side by side the pop filter is too small, why not use a second one ?

>>> Now that I think of it a bit better, off to the side may well avoid reflections between the performer
>>> and the desk / lectern, more / better than from directly ahead-and-above.

You forget the reflections of the glass window which should be in front of the speaker. Why not use carpet on the desk ? Why not use in this environment a cardiod microphone from front-below the speaker ?

 

[zamproject]

If the sound is good with off axis and distant miccing in a dedicated voice over room what is the problem ?

I'm not a voice over or voice -speech- specialist, But I notice few time ugly combing when a -talker- have the notes on paper in between him and the mic, small and slow movement introduce moving comb filter in the worst frequency range for voice recording.
If you put the notes behind the mic you can't read it (not like a singer that just can have a look sometime as a reminder between two lines, notes behind the mic)

I have friends working there and visit once a big kultur TV, headquarter in my town (TV well know by french and german, starting with a A)
The rec room in the voice over studio is big enough to have air and decent matt, IIRC the U87 was distant, the desk was totally punched with big hole (and carpet ?). They use tube pre !!! (MP2A IIRC) don't remember the comp.

 

[zamproject]

If you listen to the sound of this cabin:

considering the dramatic mp3 compression I can't comment on the sound of the record

 

[ccaudle]

But why then place the microphone (more than ?) half a meter away ?

Less proximity effect, less pickup of quiet sounds from the speaker, such as swallowing, lip smacking, etc.

If you listen to the sound of this cabin:

That sounds awful to me. I don't know how to describe it, but it sounds like low frequency sounds not quite in sync with the upper frequency sounds. Almost like there is a slight delay or some kind of harmonizer effects processor used.

So why use a pop-filter ?

Just to give the benefit of doubt to the audio technician, perhaps it was attached to the microphone stand, and he did not want to take the time to remove it, since it caused no harm. Or perhaps it was to keep the speaker from being tempted to touch the microphones.

You forget the reflections of the glass window which should be in front of the speaker.

The picture does not show enough of the room, perhaps that is just part of a larger room with no window in front. To me it looks like it could be ad-hoc acoustic treatment stood up in a normal office room.

 

[k brown]

Answer to the question posed in the thread title:
"No".

 

[Tubetec]

Sometimes in Radio drama an off axis mic is used to portray the sound source from a distance or far corner of the room .
The main part of the story might be read at a distance of a few feet from the mic , to give it that home told story feel , then during moments of drama the performer might zoom right in on the mic , maybe with a whispering voice right next to your ear drum .

I was involved in recording a few radio dramas years ago , it was lot of fun ,
Another time we did a voice over for National Geographic ,an American husband and wife team came down to the studio , the guy had that neutral mid western accent which is all over N.G.

If you have a studio its worth thinking about doing spoken word productions , typically there a lot less hassle than rock bands , Any decent engineer should be able to handle the technicalities of radio drama under a producer with a bit of experience . Creating the incidental sound effects is a lot of fun ,

 

[Pariah Zero]

Especially I don't understand the purpose and the effect of the pop-filter....

A thorough inspection was done, and after a lengthy cost/benefit analysis, the consensus of the Neural Cortex Committee to Remove Plosive Filters was to recommend removal of the filter, however the contracted labor's response was "nah."

 

[swpaskett]

Hmm... has it occurred to anyone that maybe they just don't have a clue what they are doing?

 

[Tubetec]

Sound recording practice by John Borwick has a good chapter on spoken word productions , my copy is in a box somewhere I cant access just now . Well worth a look for anyone who wants to know more about the various micing techniques involved though ,where often sound quality takes second place to creating an atmospheric recording .

 

[MicMaven]

I am enjoying the discussion about recording radio drama programs. My wife and I collected 80,000 old time radio programs, and we listen to a couple of them practically every evening. Some of them were really well produced. I once participated in a recording session, and timing dialog and special effects is a real challenge. As a rookie, I was not very good, so I had a really easy bit ... Microphone placement and timing is all important. Location, location, location - sound off NOW. Just saying. James

 

[Tubetec]

I did manage to dig out my copy of Sound Recording Practice , theres a chapter called 'The Spoken Word' by Derek Taylor .
I couldnt find any previews or ways to download it online , I guess I could scan the chapter and privately make it available to the people who are interested here , although Im not sure if that creates copyright issues or not .

 

[kingkorg]

Well, if Lady Gaga can get away with this...
It's all about the vibe

 

[JohnRoberts]

Don't overthink it... they are doing what works for them in the moment.

JR

 

[zamproject]

Well, if Lady Gaga can get away with this...
It's all about the vibe

First look... well what's the issue with off axis ? -good- singer can have momentary move for dynamic handling or whatever pop or ssshhhfffff managing
Second look... the mic is inverted... great they use omni and select the better side of the capsule for the job
Third look ....H..S... the mic is in cardio

Fift... so what ?!? maybe its on purpose for backing or indirect sound / room FX.
I can't count the number of time where I placed a mic to have no direct path to the sound source

Cheers
Zam

 

[Tubetec]

The science behind radio drama is fairly mature at this stage , the theory behind live side /dead side is covered in the chapter in Sound recording practice , along with how the mics are used , in particular figure 8 pattern .
I might chance reproducing some of the diagrams from the chapter tomorrow . I can scan the whole chapter and send it in PM to anyone who wants it but I'd be hesitant about reproducing the entire thing in public .
Its an entirely different game to music recording where the vast majority of the time your trying to reduce room reflections to a minimum . Ive a feeling it was most likely the BBC who pioneered radio drama as we know it , probably going back to the foundations of wireless in the very early 1920's .