Yay! New Microphone! Need suggestions/comments

[Great Plains]

It's an AKG Perception 120 condenser microphone. It looks cool and sounds pretty good to me. But I would like some unbiased ears to let me know how it sounds.

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/xx/great_plains_mic_test.mp3

Thanks for your help!

[PaulW]

Sounds great with one exception...the ending "T"s are almost lost (last sounds like lass, past sounds like pass). I don't know if this is because of some processing that is happening in the mic or because of some processing in Audacity, or if you just aren't enunciating the ending "T"s. Other than that, it's a great sound!

[Great Plains]

Sounds great with one exception...the ending "T"s are almost lost (last sounds like lass, past sounds like pass). I don't know if this is because of some processing that is happening in the mic or because of some processing in Audacity, or if you just aren't enunciating the ending "T"s. Other than that, it's a great sound!

I'll keep an eye on that. Thanks!

[sjmarky]

Sounds absolutely great. Very low noise - which interface did you go with?

I don't think you're necessarily dropping your T's. You tend to taper off your volume towards the end of each sentence so the end T seems to fade. Try to keep your volume up through to the end of each sentence.

[Great Plains]

Okay. Thanks for the tip!

I have the XLR version. I wasn't sure what I would need, so I didn't get any cords or accessories, figuring I could get some at the local music shop when the mic arrived.

Well.

XLR cables are hard to find. I managed to find one at Radio Shack. But it took me a while, and since I seem to be very last on the UPS route, I didn't get my packages until about 6 PM last night It was a race against the clock.

Also, I don't have a mic stand, so I currently have to hold the mic with my hands. As a graduate of the headset mic, how this new mic would be supported wasn't something that really crossed my mind. I'll have to find a base or stand or something for it. And I don't have any kind of windscreen or pop filter or sibilant filter, but I'm not certain I really need those, at least not yet.

[sjmarky]

You can get a solid desktop mic stand for $10 mail order at MusiciansFriend.com. They also have a clip-on pop screen for about $20. Or, you can try getting a foam wind screen for about $3 (MF has them), cut the closed end off with a pair of scissors and slip it over the mic so that it covers the capsule. Works surprisingly well, although not quite as good as a regular pop screen.

[Great Plains]

Is the threaded interface that connects the microphone to the stand a standard? My microphone came with a "stand adapter" (http://www.akg.com/site/products/powerslave,id,943,pid,943,nodeid,2,_language,EN.html).

Also, I recorded a chapter from At The Earth's Core using my new mike. I can't tell if it has too much reverb and/or bass. I can probably attenuate the reverb using a porta-booth. And I can probably reduce the bass using the Audacity EQ.

I've listened to the recording over a variety of speakers and headphones, and it sounds okay in some and it sounds too boomy or too live in others. I'm just not quite sure. Perhaps I'm just getting used to my voice all over again.

One thing is for sure: it sounds 1000% better than my USB headset mike. Wow. I didn't realize how tinny my headset mike sounds.

I want to sound my best. What's the point of going to all this trouble recording if no one listens to my chapters because they're too boomy to be comfortable or too live to be understandable, etc.

Overall, I am thrilled with my purchase. Thank you for all your help in the other thread, sjmarky.

[sjmarky]

Is the threaded interface that connects the microphone to the stand a standard? My microphone came with a "stand adapter" (http://www.akg.com/site/products/powerslave,id,943,pid,943,nodeid,2,_language,EN.html).

Also, I recorded a chapter from At The Earth's Core using my new mike. I can't tell if it has too much reverb and/or bass. I can probably attenuate the reverb using a porta-booth. And I can probably reduce the bass using the Audacity EQ.

I've listened to the recording over a variety of speakers and headphones, and it sounds okay in some and it sounds too boomy or too live in others. I'm just not quite sure. Perhaps I'm just getting used to my voice all over again.

One thing is for sure: it sounds 1000% better than my USB headset mike. Wow. I didn't realize how tinny my headset mike sounds.

I want to sound my best. What's the point of going to all this trouble recording if no one listens to my chapters because they're too boomy to be comfortable or too live to be understandable, etc.

Overall, I am thrilled with my purchase. Thank you for all your help in the other thread, sjmarky.

Mic stand adapters are standard. The one that came with your mic probably has an insert that allows attachment to a smaller-threaded stand. If you remove that it will fit any standard mic stand.

The recording sounds very good to me. In part, you need to get used to how you sound on a condenser mic. They pull out much more bass and resonance than your old mic. This is normal and desirable. If it still sounds too much to you, you can try adding some EQ to the recording post-recording. For male voices, this usually involves reducing the bass slightly, and boosting the mid-range (around 3 - 5000hz). But very gently. A couple db reduction in the bass and likewise increase in the midrange should be all. Me - I'd leave it alone. Your volume is good (was this normalized?), but might benefit from a little compression. If you haven't done this before I can send you some sample settings. Kayray also has some good settings for compression.

There might be a little room echo in your recording. It doesn't sound too pronounced to me, but some additional baffling/padding around your mic may be in order. A condenser mic will pick up more room echoes than your old mic, simply because it's more sensitive.

Overall you should be happy. Seriously, it sounds really good. The comments above are just tweaks and could be ignored.

[Great Plains]

The recording sounds very good to me. In part, you need to get used to how you sound on a condenser mic. They pull out much more bass and resonance than your old mic. This is normal and desirable. If it still sounds too much to you, you can try adding some EQ to the recording post-recording. For male voices, this usually involves reducing the bass slightly, and boosting the mid-range (around 3 - 5000hz). But very gently. A couple db reduction in the bass and likewise increase in the midrange should be all. Me - I'd leave it alone. Your volume is good (was this normalized?), but might benefit from a little compression. If you haven't done this before I can send you some sample settings. Kayray also has some good settings for compression.

There might be a little room echo in your recording. It doesn't sound too pronounced to me, but some additional baffling/padding around your mic may be in order. A condenser mic will pick up more room echoes than your old mic, simply because it's more sensitive.

Overall you should be happy. Seriously, it sounds really good. The comments above are just tweaks and could be ignored.

Excellent! Thank you for the information. I would like some information about compression. I usually go through my recordings and do some "manual compression" for the parts that are notably loud (amplify to -3db). But if that can be automated, all the better.

Normally, for baffling, I use old mattresses. These are obviously very bulky and inconvenient. But they work (much, much better than blankets). I'm looking at the porta-booth right now. But oddly, the acoustic foams come in two varieties: very expensive and very cheap. I'm sure you get what you pay for, but is the Auralex $90 better than the generic brand?

What do you use for baffling? Or do you have a naturally good room?

[sjmarky]

The space I use for recording is a former photo darkroom I converted into a sound booth. I use Auralex foam myself. I tried cheap mattress pad foam at first, and it was just as ineffective as I'd heard it would be.

Before I had the separate room, I made a sound box with foam core board backed with Auralex. I put some self-stick Velcro on the edges to stick them together so they'd stand up around my mic. This actually worked very well. When not in use, I just pulled them apart and stacked them under my desk. I still use the same panels stapled to the walls in my new room.

I'm not familiar with the product you found at Amazon, but I suspect it will work just fine. Spoken word isn't very loud so it creates fewer echoes than say a violin or a singer. Auralex is used in recording studios for uses like those, where the result will go onto a music CD. I'd go for the less expensive option. Your sample doesn't have the telltale ringing sound that blurs the recording, so I wouldn't obsess over it.

If your software has a dynamics compressor filter, try these settings to start:

Peak
-8 db threshold
2:1 ratio
Attack .002 seconds
Release .380 seconds
Post gain +3db

What all this gobbldigook means is wherever the volume exceeds 8db, the software reduces the volume, so the difference between the loudest and softest parts of the recording is less. The overall volume is then boosted 3db to make up for the maximum volume loss from the compression. The recording is smoothed-out a bit, and is a little less spiky. I use 2.8:1 and a 6db threshold, but then I tend to get a bit loud at times. Too much compression, like 8:1, can exaggerate background noise, breath sounds, etc. Like EQ and alcohol, use sparingly, if at all. I think this may have been covered in one of the Community Podcasts, but I'm not positive.