good budget large diaphragm condenser for voice over/singing?

[Gary Nattrass]

Originally Posted by Vincent Oliver

Some good advice throughout this thread.

I remember spending hours perfecting a voice over track for a client (Rode NT1a mike). Superb sound, it sounded great on my system. Gave the job to my client who promptly placed the DVD in his player and watched the production through the TV with its in-built speakers. The sound was $#i'T ? to say the least.

The moral of this, is that you are never going to be in control of how the final production is heard. Get the best you can afford and optimize the sound quality, you can't do more than that.

Yup all the dubbing I did on ITV The Bill was viewed and judged this way, the producers and room of secretaries made the appraisal and never ever came into the dubbing suite in the five years I was there.

It used to be done on VHS but at least DVD gives you a half decent audio track these days!

[David W. Jones]

My thoughts... Many audio novices seem to think throwing money into a new microphone or preamp is a magic bullet to better sound. When in reality they should be spending their money on the room.
A properly treated recording and monitoring environment goes a whole lot farther on return on investment than any microphone or preamp. A $10k microphone in a bad sounding room is just going to give you a very good recording of a bad sounding room.

All the Best!

Dave

[Vincent Oliver]

Originally Posted by Gary Nattrass

Yup all the dubbing I did on ITV The Bill was viewed and judged this way,

It's a small world, I did the stills on many episodes of the Bill (I worked for TV Times). Gave up stills photography a few years back and am now enjoying producing DVDs and other promotional videos.

[Paul R Johnson]

Nobody has mentioned Chas' test. I was quite surprised to discover my preference was for the Rode, and not the 4033 which I thought I could spot easily!

[Jon Fairhurst]

Regarding bad sound on cheap speakers, I recommend listening to your mix on as many crummy systems as you can before releasing the final mix. One final tweak can make a big difference.

For instance, due to background noise, those fine details might now be invisible. The voice might be harder to understand than expected. The deep bass of your monitors sounded great, but the mid bass was weak so it sounds thin on cheap speakers.

After listening, I'll be thinking, "six dB more on that sound effect; duck the music a bit more during the dialog, boost the mid bass by six dB - and mix down that trumpet. It stomped on everything!" With those guidelines, you make the adjustments, but ensure it still sounds nice on the studio system. In the end, your audio will sound as good as it can almost anywhere.

And no. You don't need an expensive mic or preamp to do any of that. Just access to crummy audio gear!

[Chad Johnson]

The reason I think I like the NT2a over the NT1a is not the switchable polar patterns, but the fact that the NT2a has a very nice capsule Rode spent 1,000.000.00 developing. I own an NT1, which is very similar to the NT1a, and for me I hear lots of "essss" in the recording. Every mic can accentuate the esss sound depending on how the speaker/singer pronounces their "S". So for me I prefer the capsule in the NT2a / NT2000 (the same capsule). And the 400.00 NT2a is the better bargain, as the variable pattern adjustment isn't really a factor for vocal recording of one person.

If your room isn't treated, you should do something about that, BUT short of that there are solutions that help. 160.00 Vocal Booth, The Portable Vocal Booth Home Edition at Editorskeys.com

Or this portable booth: The Original Porta-Booth Portable Sound Booth

You need a beefy mic stand for that, but it kills the reflections coming from around the back/sides of the mic.

Like I said, check out used mics. I've seen Rode NT2000s for 400.00 and NT2as for 300.00 at B&H. The AT4050 is a staple in studios for a lot of things, and it is nice on VO & singing. I was actually surprised that I liked the NT2000 better, but man they were very close. Mics last for years and years, so there is no shame in buying a used one. They are all used after your first session...

IMO USB mics are for kids and old men who want to play DJ on their computer. No offense to anyone, I just think you can get a decent interface for cheap. Or better yet, drop some cash and get the Sound Devices MixPre-D and you can use it as an interface, or a field preamp for video work.

[Gerry Gallegos]

Hey Josh.

I live in Houston as well, and own a rode NT2a as well as an NT1, if you want to listen to them Id be glad to help you out. shoot me a PM and we can make arrangements for you to try both of them NOT in the noisy environment of GC. might even be talked into selling one of them...lol

Gerry G

[Josh Bass]

Oooh. . .I am intrigued. Let me get back to you.

[John Willett]

Late to this thread, but the new Sennheiser MK 4 is being extremely well reviewed and is right in there on the budget.

Well worth a look, I think.

[Gerry Gallegos]

Josh. hey I sent you a reply.

[Richard Crowley]

I recommended an AT-2020 to a friend who does book narration and voice-over work. She (and her clients) are very pleased with the performance. And it is now available with USB interface, making it that much easier for simple setup and operation.

[David Morgan]

Chad,
I liked mic 4 the best for all tests. Much less sibilance and most natural balanced sound. Is #4 the sputnik?

[Paul R Johnson]

back up the topic somebody mentioned figure 8 only being good for m/s, but they're brilliant when you need to record two people talking to each other - stick the mic in the middle and balance them up by shifting the mic slightly towards one or the other.

[Chad Johnson]

The Key is at the very end of the video.

Mic 1: NT2000
Mic 2: Sputnik
Mic 3: AT4050
Mic 4: AT4033a