I've been watching lots of videos recently and decided some are offering very strange advice to people about all things microphones - and I'm sure many comments on forums are often made by people who have never even touched these mics in person. I've started to produce a series of youtube videos that use the various microphones and let you hear them.

Although I don't personally like them very much, I decided to use a Shure SM7B as a comparison mic in each video so there's a common element to them - and this mic is all over Youtube at the moment. The first video has the SM7B up against the modest SM57, and video 2 features the AKG 414. I decided that voice alone was not enough - so the video is linked to the mic being used on a guitar - so even though I'm not a guitarist, I've played a few things that show off the sound of the mics - and the difference between close and more distant mic positions. The main video is a chatty walk through, highlighting and explaining a few things as the video progresses, and the associated guitar video does close and medium distance. No processing, no EQ - just what comes out of the mic. Tomorrow I should be able to get the Neumann TLM 103 and cheap Samson C01 completed and the plan is to add U87, EV 320, AKG 451 and lots more over the next few weeks. I'm also going to do a few shotguns - from very short shotguns as we find on some Sony and Panasonic camcorders, through to ridiculously long ones we find occasionally - I have CK9 somewhere that is seriously long.

If anyone has suggestions - that would be appreciated too - I'm guessing what people will find useful, but so many I have watched make crazy claims and quite a few get important things badly wrong - I might see if I can produce some good results from the shotguns compared to the others, because so many videos promote the rule that you don't use shotguns indoors, because they always sound dreadful. If I can find them I'll do a commentators ribbon too.

I think what I want to do is show the differences - like the TLM 103 compared to the Samson C01 - because considering the difference in price, the difference is not huge. My favourite condenser is the AKG 414, and the SM57 gets my vote as most useful dynamic and is still good value.

I'll also dig out some odd mics - Maybe a dual capsule D202, the old AKG D190s and some less common Shures like the SM61 and 63 omnis.

The results from what I have recorded so far are encouraging - The SM7B vs the SM57 produced an unexpected result, and the guitar recordings show more differences than the voice. I'm also trying to be honest - can I recommend people spend their cash on certain mics, or not.

I'm sure many will disagree with my opinions - that's fine and healthy, but I'm basing my comments entirely on what I've experienced. If a £30 mic performs well, then people should know it's not rubbish. On one forum a guy spent over £1000 on a microphone, and had enough money left to monitor on a pair of £60 computer speakers! I just feel we've lost perspective on audio, and loads of people waste their hard earned cash. Here's the first one.
https://youtu.be/sqe-2QKALKc

Only had time to glance at it. It's pretty cool to put a face and voice to a forum member. Curtis Judd look out. Maybe you can create a video explaining why all these Youtubers use large diaphragm mics. Here I thought video killed the radio.

Nice!

I think most would be better off with a lav. Some I think probably use those anyway from the sound, and have weird ones for the look? One had a SM7B and clearly thought it a side fire and it was pointing at the ceiling. Already, I’m getting the impression from just recording 4, that we pick mics because through experience we use this for that and a different one for something else, in one of the guitar recordings I had to redo it because the SM7B at a distance actually sounded better to my ears, and I’d got the two mics reversed on the timeline in the editor! Already I’m now whispering into each one just before I do my sync clap.

I have also sorted for my own use, an issue we talked about a few weeks back, sync accuracy. I’m using a simple clap. The two audio tracks are recorded together, then three or four video tracks with the camera audio, which I don’t use. Usually half of these tracks align visually perfectly but some are always half a frame ‘wrong’. In the old topic, people said they could hear this, but I’ve discovered that as long as the earliest track is video, having audio up to half a frame late isn’t an issue at all. It doesn’t work if the earliest source is audio. I have no idea how people find this tiny delay a problem, and my quick clap sync, if all cameras are on the screen, doesn’t look like a stutter on the ones about a 50th of a second late.

For spoken word, a few frames of difference in alignment of the audio doesn't make much of a difference. When there's a drummer hitting the snare, I can see that degree of misalignment. And camera audio tends to be early by about two frames, I think because video buffering or processing takes longer. I find audio being late by a frame or two is less noticeable than it being early, perhaps because that's consistent with natural acoustic delay.

I think there might be a bit of retro in there at 0:25 with interlacing movement artifacts. Is this intended?

Andrew

Some renowned VO artists like the Sennheiser MKH 416 short shotgun. The MD-421 is occasionally seen at radio stations, but the the EV RE-20 is the standard for many stations in the states. A few RE-27s are around as well.

I didn't actually spot the kit in the background! It had been in a clients premises for easily 12 years, but got returned when covid hit and places were closing up - sadly, I doubt it will ever be used again - 4:3 on a video screen that shape!

Mic wise, it's just tiny details, really but I put up a couple today - a U87 and a Samson C01 and the difference is not really justifiable. I just found myself wondering why I ever bought it?

A good friend of mine is a VO artiste and she uses a Sennheiser 416 in her home studio sounds really good.Suits her voice, that's the real thing isn't it!

Here's a link to the cheapest mic I've tested so far.
https://youtu.be/RKelkvVrhOQ