Microphones
robflores
Pro Posts: 18
Hey guys, I currently have a MXL 990 microphone(I'll be upgrading soon). I feel like it is a really bad mic. I feel like it really compresses the sound of my voice and it can't handle volume. Can microphones make you sound worse than you are? I like the way I sound through my Voice Recorder on my phone better than through the 990. It is the cheapest mic you can buy. What do you guys think?
Comments
Rob,
I have never tried any of the MXL mics. Mics today are fairly high-tech compared to days gone by, but if you think the mic stinks, you may very well be right.
The microphone needs to sound good.
With recording, you are definitely in a situation of Garbage in, Garbage out.
Ken has a vintage Neumann mic that he takes with him to the studio for all of his recordings. That should tell you something about the importance of a good mic. It's the first element in the recording chain. Each mic has its own characteristic sound.
I've corresponded with a number of recording engineers that are fairly happy with the Rode line of mics. That said, their cheaper versions are probably cheaper for a reason. I would advise you to go to a big music store or audio store and do side-by-side comparisons, with the preamp or mixer settings set the same as you try different mics and listen through good headphones.
You may have to spend several hundred dollars to get what you're looking for. There are some mics I'd like to get my paws on that cost several thousand dollars. I think Ken's mic is in that category.
You get what you pay for in a mic, and if you want your voice to record sounding like a million bucks it's going to cost you a bit.
Then there's the preamp that the mic plugs into. Again, quality preamps are the next important thing in the signal chain, and they really do matter. You can get some that sound good, and you can get some that sound great. Affordability can range from a few hundred, to again into the thousands.
All that taken into consideration, I think you could shop around a bit and make a significant upgrade over an entry-level MXL without breaking the bank.
In the end, you can put an expensive mic on a voice that doesn't sound good, and it still won't sound good. Once we get our voices sounding really good, we want to find recording equipment that helps our voice to sound its best on recordings.
Bob
Greetz
I have been using an extremely flat mic which can be morphed to mimic very expensive, top level studio mics. For recording basics for benchmarking your progress, the flat mic is perfect reference. If you are recording in a small studio and want "that sound", it does that as well! Check out the VMS-1 from Slate Digital. It does what it says it will do! I love it!
http://slatedigital.com/virtual-microphone-system-2/
Studio mics are designed to be used at a small distance from the singer. They aren't good for rejecting feedback, and won't work very well in a live situation because of that.
Live mics are designed to reject off-axis sound, so they are better at rejecting feedback while picking up the voice of the performer in a loud environment.
Live mics are generally designed to be hand-held, and used at close proximity. They will normally have a pop filter built-in to the end of the mic. You sing directly into them, with a small gap away or with the lips nearly in contact with the mic. Most hand-held mics are "dynamic" mics, so they don't require phantom power. Their frequency response is typically more like about 90 - 15,000 hz. So they don't pick up as low or as high sound as a condenser.
Live mics are typically more rugged for handling, and have shock-mounting built-in so that they won't pick up as much noise from handling the mic, or jostling it around. They survive being dropped better than studio mics.
Generally speaking, a really good sounding live mic will sound pretty good on non-critical recording applications and also do really well on stage.
A studio mic will have a cleaner sound, clearer on the ultra highs and lows, but poor performance regarding feedback in the monitors. A studio mic is generally going to get a better sound for recordings.
Each mic has its own characteristic sound. You really have to try them on your own voice to decide whether you like it more than or less than another microphone. I like to hear them through headphones AND through monitor systems, as well as sound systems, to judge them.
My favorite mic that I own to record with is an older mic that I bought used on eBay. It's a "groove tubes" GT66 Large-diaphragm condenser mic. Sterling audio has bought out the company now and I think they may still make them. This one actually has a vacuum tube inside it to give a really warm, mellow sound, as well as a crisp high end. I paid about $350 for it, used. I think they were about $600 new, originally.
Audio Technica and AKG make some mid-price affordable mics, as well as a lot of other companies.
The high-end studio mics can get really spendy, up in the $5,000 dollar range or higher.
For starters, plan on investing around $200 if you want something that you'll like for a long time. If you're going to be in a band, think about a good dynamic mic for about $250. You'll probably be able to get decent recordings with something like that, as well.
With digital recording, your preamp needs to be converted from analog audio into digital, to be compatible with digital recording programs.
Studio-grade preamps can be as outrageously-priced as studio mics.
There are some interfaces being sold these days that can be used with a smartphone or computer (digital output) as well as having analog outputs for other outboard analog equipment processing.
The reason for a preamp, is that microphones have very low-level electrical signals that need to be amplified before going to your recording program or machine. You can get interfaces that will preamplify your mic for around a hundred dollars, but these won't be super high-quality. They'll get the job done, though, unless this is for a critical recording.
Some preamps are of the variety of a "channel strip" that essentially has all of the controls on it that a single channel on a big studio mixing console would have, but it's just One single channel of a board that would possibly have 32 or more channels on a big studio console. So it might have gain, compression, tone equalization, de-essing, noise gate, and other features. These are pretty handy, especially if the preamp section of the unit is of a high-quality.
The Preamp takes the tiny signal of a microphone and inflates it to larger proportions. Good preamps will have high gain and low noise characteristics. They will take that tiny signal from the best mic you can afford and multiply it to a signal suitable for a recorder to make a great recording of your voice.
Bottom line, you need some kind of preamp to boost the signal of the mic and maintain its integrity. It can be a simple mic mixer, or a boutique super preamp, or somewhere in-between. But all mics need a preamp stage on the way into the recording system or live sound system.
Does this qualify as a preamp? Saw it in a related mic thread.
Steinberg UR22MKII 2-Channel USB Interface https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017MVUAHM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_sWDnzb81JZET5
My fav is Shire 58 - for live performances. Always makes my voice deeper and tastier.
just saying what I know..... note that there is a huge difference in price from one to the other.....others here can probably tell you more about them
Cheers,
Nath
I am now singing in a jazz band and I am looking for a good quality live microphone. I find that the Shure SM58 sounds cheap and is not good for my voice, I need a micro that also takes low notes, I was thinking to buy the Sennheiser E865 but now I read that it might not be so good for live performances. Many thanks for your feed back.
https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/microphones/pga58
I've tried time and time again to help my lead singer expand his range into the 4th octave, but he just won't listen, even when they hear me kill everything from Smokey Robinson, to Glenn Frey to Chris Cornell during vocal soundcheck. My favourite thing is when they take jabs at my Sennheiser E945 that doesn't need gain boost or much EQ'ing to cut through the mix... while they rock their Line6 wireless mics
~ C'est la vie.
I always work very closely with our dedicated soundman to give him the best signal to work with, and in turn he goes the extra mile for me. This is composed of me keeping my out-of-cab guitar volume close to his 85Db stage limit, and really taking the time beforehand to EQ my tone at the source to really get my dual SM57's placed in an optimal Fredman technique pattern.
I also painstakingly EQ my tone to what the mic is hearing as opposed to what I hear in the room. Most people don't understand how widely that differs.
I know you'll get it though!