COMPLETE [Group] Microphone Showdown 3 - RuthieG

Solo or group recordings that are finished and fully available for listeners
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lurcherlover
Posts: 1206
Joined: November 10th, 2016, 3:54 am
Location: LONDON UK

Post by lurcherlover »

Algy Pug wrote:
lurcherlover wrote: As you Like it - William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
ACT II Scene VI
All the World's a Stage

Peter
Thanks Peter

Reading is PL OK.

I have added a few seconds silence at the end and re-uploaded the recording. Duration is now 2:33.

The NT1A is an excellent piece of kit.

Cheers
Many thanks. Sorry - i forgot to add 3 or 4 more seconds of silence at the end!

The recorder is a Tascam HD-P2 - I hope I got that right in the audio intro!

Peter
iBeScotty
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Joined: December 3rd, 2016, 2:19 pm
Location: California

Post by iBeScotty »

Hi,
If you are interested, I just took the liberty of uploading one more file with a sample of a newly acquired, used microphone. It is a Rode K2, a tube mic, and although it has a few decibels more self noise than Blue Baby Bottle I usually use, I like the more buttery smooth quality. I made one other change to my other recordings in that I recorded directly to the computer with an interface instead of the portable recorder (not sure how much difference that makes but the Audient id4 preamps seem very slightly more transparent than those in the Tascam recorder).

Title: I Dream'd in a Dream
Author: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Text URL: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1322
MP3 URL: https://librivox.org/uploads/ruthieg/microphoneshowdown3_57_various_128kb.mp3
Duration: 1:07

Note on the recording that although I started at a distance of 10-11 inches from the mic, I leaned closer at some point during the reading, so that accounts for an increase in volume part way through.
Scotty
Algy Pug
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Joined: December 26th, 2009, 10:07 pm
Location: Perth, Western Australia

Post by Algy Pug »

Thanks Scotty

I have moved your recording up from Section 57 to the vacant Section 41.

Nice reading - PL OK.

The Rode K2 certainly has a warm and inviting sound - "buttery" is an excellent description. It is definitely free from the boominess often associated with tube microphones.

Cheers
Algy Pug

My Librivox page



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Algy Pug
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Joined: December 26th, 2009, 10:07 pm
Location: Perth, Western Australia

Post by Algy Pug »

Section 57 - I wandered Lonely as Cloud.

Great reading - PL OK.

The AT2020 sounds excellent.

Cheers
Algy Pug

My Librivox page



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bluechien
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Joined: January 6th, 2017, 6:58 pm
Location: Laurentia

Post by bluechien »

Algy, thank you so much!

(I only found that this mic exists due to threads like this one.) :thumbs:
Eva D
If we do meet again, why, we shall smile;
If not, why then, this parting was well made.
Algy Pug
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Joined: December 26th, 2009, 10:07 pm
Location: Perth, Western Australia

Post by Algy Pug »

Due to lack of activity in this project I have decided to ask for it to be catalogued.

Thank you to all who contributed.

Cheers
Algy Pug

My Librivox page



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aradlaw
LibriVox Admin Team
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Post by aradlaw »

Glad to help out Algy.

This project is now complete!
All audio files can be found on our catalog page:
http://librivox.org/microphone-showdown-3-by-various/
David Lawrence

* Weekly & Fortnightly Poetry - Check out the Short Works forum for the latest projects!
Algy Pug
Posts: 6966
Joined: December 26th, 2009, 10:07 pm
Location: Perth, Western Australia

Post by Algy Pug »

Thank you David
Algy Pug

My Librivox page



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lurcherlover
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Joined: November 10th, 2016, 3:54 am
Location: LONDON UK

Post by lurcherlover »

Just a little feedback on the Great Microphone Showdown.

Of the mic recordings I noted that I thought numbers 11, 41, 42,,45, 51,53 were all excellent - but of course there were many, many more that were very good. It was a very quick run through - and the conclusion I came to was that there are many mic's that are excellent and it really comes down to other things (which can be difficult to control) such as room acoustics, closeness to mic, the recording on computer or stand alone machine, and other factors. All in all, there were no recordings that were poor, and all in fact were good to excellent, as were the readings.

In the end the mic probably has less impact than the quality of the acoustic than the readers voice.

But as I say, all the recordings were very good. And I note that all the readings published and carried out by Librivox members are very good indeed, and a credit to all. The general public are VERY lucky to have such a great source, and long may it continue.
lurcherlover
Posts: 1206
Joined: November 10th, 2016, 3:54 am
Location: LONDON UK

Post by lurcherlover »

Just to add a little more, I have listened again to some of the files and I must say that I was impressed with the sound and performance of two mic's in particular. (1) Sennheiser MKH416 shotgun mic - and - (2) Blue Baby Bottle. (Of course there were other mic's that were virtually as good such as the Rode NT1A of which there was more than one recorded version).

It also of course comes down to how well the mic was set up and used, the acoustic, and the speaker's voice. But this was a very useful test and gave good indications as to how the various mic's performed.

I would trust this test over and above the mic shootouts on the internet as one can never be sure if there could be a commercial interest which might give more weight to one mic over another.
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