Best Voice Over Mic for Women? It's Not That Simple

Any history. Welcome Hi. The Pro Audio Suite. Those guys are professional and motivated with text. The video stars George Wissam, founder of Souce Element, Robert Marshall, International Audio Engineers Darren, Robbo Roberts and Global Voice Andrew Peters. Thanks to Tribo Austrian Audio making Passion, her Source Elements, George the Tech Wisdom and Robbo and APIs International Demos. To find out more about us, check the Pro Audio. Suite dot com. And welcome to another pro audio suite. This week we're talking about Mike's being specific for male, female, dark, deep, light, bright, whatever, where do we start? This question was posed to me and by actually by Christy Harris from Golding Doors. She actually brought it up and it's going to become a blog post for their newsletter. And yeah, it made me really scratch my head because I was like, well, no, yeah, mikes aren't made for women or men, right, They're just made as their instruments. But the voices of mics are definitely voiced in certain ways, and some are more forward in the mids, some are more harsh, and some are more sibilant s sensitive, and so I don't know what have you experimented with you guys, I mean, I have my own a few opinions, but what have you experiment with that for? If you have a voice in the booth, and I hate to even like sexify it, I just want to say, there's qualities of voice that are pitches and things that that really stand out, but voices that really have the laser ice pick in the forehead s. You don't want a mic that has the same characteristics as your voice, right, because that's just going to accentuate whatever's going to. I've had a male company and say I have a deep baritone voice. I want to make sure I have a MIC that can pick up my bar No, you want one that doesn't want to. Pick it up, right You. You don't want to mic that's going to not be able to pick it up, But you don't need a mic that's going to because you already have it. And so yeah, the same thing with like, you know, a super sy voice, you want a darker mic. And I think you were talking about someone that actually ended up finding the best mic for them was a ribbon, right, because we're ribbons are very dark. Yeah, So for someone who's got an s or a really bright, shrill voice. I wouldn't pick a hyped up high end microphone. On the other hand, if you're a male with a big, deep voice, you want a mic that's got the full extension. But you actually might want that four K whatever, you know, maybe even up into the five and six K rise so it helps your clarity and doesn't get too muddy. But you wouldn't want that four and six k rise on someone with a. S right thing. I mean, I know my voice quality is dark ish, and you know it sounds a little bit muffly, at least to me it does. Maybe it's not the way it comes across to you guys, but and so I know that I need a little bit of lift up on the top end. So flat doll sounding mike is not a good match for me at all. I mean, for me, the perfectly flat mic works perfectly because it's just. It's got the perfect big watl. Yeah that's right, Chicago. And yeah, how about you. What do you use with your daughter ap what we were talking about last week? You mentioned the road I use. Well, it's funny because when she's here, then she used whatever I've got set up for him, which is inevitably the eight one eight. Yeah, I would not put her on a forty one six. Having said that, she went for a session in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago and I said, oh, did they use them forty seven? And she said, I don't know. It was a shotgun. I okay, interesting, So they used forty one six on her for a session, which I thought was interesting. But anyway, just because they have it set up all the time. Yeah, I think so, and they just. Like sometimes picking that mic because of some hotspot in your booth and other issues besides the voice itself, you know. And I think that's a really good point. If it's your booth in your studio and it's your mic, and you know every idiosyncrasy about that mic and how it reacts to the room, and then it's probably easier for you as an engineer to just have maybe ten different EQ curves, you know, just oh yeah this is and then just a tweak and you're you're done, you know, because like you know, you basically have a model of that mic sound in your brain, right, I mean, you know what that damn mike sounds like. You're talking about an engineer. I knew you had an LA two or some limited engaged very very lightly on your signal, and he heard it even though it really wasn't printing with much anything. But that's because he was so intimately aware of your voice. Andrew exactly. Yeah, I had an NTG three and I gave that to Somerset. That was her first microphone, which is uses and I think for her it's absolutely perfect because it has all the functionality of a typical shotgun, so for directional purposes, just a top patch, but it doesn't have that, you know, e ableeding toothpick in your ear. Yeah, I guess Road just decided, well, let's make our version of a four to sixteen, but let's voice it the way we want to voice it, which is more I don't know is accurate the word or is it just more flat. It's hard to say any of that, like accuracy and flat, and it's it's their version of what they like to hear. I find NTG three's to be rather muddy, I think in comparison, I'm not a huge fan. But the NTG five I think has a wonderful balance of deep lows and a nice, pretty smooth top end. It's the top end is there. It doesn't it's I don't think the NTG five is as harsh as the four sixteen, for example, the way and it definitely has a better base. Yes, I think they looked at the NTG three. They know the four sixteen is just so pervasive, and they're like, let's kind of meet it in the middle. Let's you know, let's voice it all closer to a four sixteen, but still have our own unique sound. Thing about the four sixteen is just just the cut that it does. If you have a spot that has anything going on, it's just like, yeah, it's not necessarily welly, but it cuts through. Because I use forty one six here for primos, I use a eight one eight for commercional long reads. And my rud Caisse is an NTG five. And that's mainly because NTG five it travels easily. It's kind of more neutral than it's not as neutral as the eight one eight, but it's. And it's an RF mic uses as too, so it's a pervious to humids it r F which makes it a pretty good travel MIC two. For that reason, it's very light. The only problem with those GG five's is that they do seem to have a reputation for just shitting the bed. Yeah, they have some a few clients with them. Plan out dying. Yeahend they always replace it. Yeah, I was going to say exactly that. I was going to say that the thing about road is if it does ship the bed, then they'll buy you. And do they Yeah, maybe checking a pillow. Yeah, that is true. Well, I've in the past I've found a few mics that I thought were really smooth and not overly hyped. The att seven SV I think it is. Yeah, Well, that one's got a transformer in it. The forty forty seven's got a nice like saturation transformer. That's why. Yeah, So a transformer saturates and thereby smoothed out transient. Yeah right, it's good stuff out. It just gives it that harmonic complexity that makes it less. The forty forty seven specifically has got a transformer in it. That's its thing. You know, when you compare it to the forty thirty three or the forty five or the forty fifty, I believe those are all yeah, probably transformerless. Sure, Yeah, how about forty Anything with forty seven in the title, isn't it's supposed to be evoking the tone of a U forty seven. It's hard in the audio to use that number and not end up. Somehow that way. Yeah, and the forty seven it's voiced a little bit dark. The same thing with the sixty seven too. The forty seventy. Seven is a little bit brighter, isn't it is? Yeah, forty seven is a little dark, and the sixty seven is like, yeah, it's gonna lift. It's smoother, So Mike' said, So people like. The forty seven because it has a certain naturalness. I think that it's kind of. Yeah, and it was designed in forty seven, right, Yeah, hence the model number. Yes, the dates, I believe those are the dates. Sure, it doesn't that blow your mind that we still love that mic and it's eighty years old, Yes, exactly. It's it's mind blowing. It's really incredible. But how much of that is like placebos? Like I mean, I really wonder you take a really good mic, like I mean, honestly, like an eight one to eight and it's so smooth. It's very clear. I don't know if that hurt anybody ab an actual U forty seven against an OCO and eight, but I would imagine they would compare very favorably. I'd say the one night would be more like you say twelve. Actually, this twelve comes up too, because my my friend was an engineer and he when digital came out, and he was an engineer all through the sixties and seventies, and he's like, you're always fighting noise, You're always fighting tapists, and then these digital systems come out and there are no noise, and it's like, holy shit, we finally have what we want. And then all you kids are like, no, it doesn't sound as good as the old stuff. And he's like, do you know what the old shit was? It was? You know, did you work on it? Do you really know what you're asking for? And he was convinced that actually people fell in love love with the sound of a we were talking about tape decks at the time, but just they fell in love with the sound of a tape deck that hasn't been biased and aligned in three weeks. And yeah, you know, it's like or where people have it's a famous thing with sixty sevens and forty seven so you can get ten of them and all ten of them sound different, especially at the age Yeah, what are we all falling in love with here because there's no consistency. Yeah, the stuff that we are true supposedly thinking we're in love. With talking about microphones, I saw a message someone sent us and I wish I could find it because I could tell you who it was. But I've forgotten now. But there was say. I can't believe in the next couple of weeks that no one is going to mention the new Bond Scott edition of the forty seven Fat Bond Scott ac DC, the ac DC late Bond Scott, who would have turned. Eighty naming a naming licensed to Mike. Yeah, you check it out. It's it's really interesting. Martin Mahoney. Does rock Star and license they do? Now do they now that they're owned by Sennheiser. They do. It's a black version. There's the forty seven fet Their first albums were recorded in Sydney. That would have been on a knee and maybe they had forty seven's there, but then they recorded the forty seven. Fat is more known for a kick drums. I think I fed someone at Noyman is going you know what, There is a market out there for product like this. There's plenty of money to go around. Thanks to the market. Now let's tap in. Let's let's let's go take that fine mic and put body on it. This is not the this is the U forty seven. So this song. I mean, what are these things going to map at twenty grand? I mean, what are they going to be selling for? No, probably about two or three grand, will probably be two or three. But it's not a tube mic, it's a it's a fat oh I apologize. Yeah, it's a fence. It's not a tube. H fascinating. I think actually the proper they usually call it a fet forty more than a forty seven. Yeah, yeah, okay, still, yeah, it would be in the two to three thousand I think range for that. Yeah, I mean putting a signature on a mic. I mean they've been doing this on guitars and everything you can imagine. I guess Annoyman's fine, like, okay, let's do it. You know, they've probably been thinking about it for years and they're like, no, we're not crossing that line, you know, And they're like, we're crossing that line. Across the line. I'm just trying to find a price on the thing. I've found the link. Well, what else is I mean? What else do we What else is there to do if a woman says I want it mic for my voice, I mean other than say here's three mics, go buy them and try them. That's the thing to do with anybody is go get some mics, record yourself and see what works best for you and how you want to sound. Because you can make some generalizations, but inevitably those are generalizations. Women are going to have a brighter voice, They're gonna have a less low end. You can maybe have a higher high pass setting if you want, and get away with it. Because there's a less body and chest. Maybe they have a brighter sound and you don't want to accentiate accentuate that as much. But that's that's why I really right one night. It just sits in that perfect spot between it's very smooth forty seven and something really brought you. Know, yeah, sweet spot Goldilocks just right. It is a Goldilocks yet it is Yeah forty seven feed is for five thousand, which. Yes, whoa it is Jesus Really that's expensive man. Yeah. But going back to that Goldilocks thing, I think it's interesting because the eight one eight heritage comes in a sense from the from the four fourteen and the CED twelve and the four fourteen I think was always a desert island mic if you could only have one mic at four fourteen, Yeah, to do it all? I mean, it really is. When it's just the spiritual successor of that, which. It's almost like an improvement of it. Yeah. Yeah, Well I put the two together because I got a full one full EB and I put it next to the one night and you can hear the relationship between the two mics, even though they eight. One night sounds much more. Motiple has a higher output to I don't remember. Yeah, but you can hear it. You can hear where that heritage. You can hear it in the mics. Oh that's nice. I don't have any other specific mics that I've thought of for for female voices over the years. I think that covers most of them for me. I remember recording a friend's girlfriend who was doing theater theater performances. She had that very very mid range forward vocal and I did you actually use my octava? I think it's an m L fifty two ribbon mic. Oh see, one's very dark ribbon vocals, and it worked. That was one of the very few times that I pulled that mic out for a vocal. I'd used it on horns, but never on a voice. If that it worked, well, Here's the other thing about any of these mics. You can get the wrong mic or the mic that's not necessarily as good maybe as other characteristics that you like. And you can get around some of this with a gentle EQ setting. That's why I always tell people don't overthink it so much, because you can. We can sculpt it, we can smooth it, we can compensate for certain things. But I don't know. Sometimes there's a there's a spike in a capsule's response where it just there's one frequency that that capsule resonates at, you know what I mean, And if you have something in your voice that just lands on it, it's just brutal. For me. That's the noyman the forty nine them, not the M forty nine, the TLM one forty. Every time I hear a TLM forty nine, I'm like, why is it happen for ANAZL mid that? It's like, ugh, I don't like that. I think that's how actually an eighty seven thing, like I think eighty sevens can sound really really really really good, and then on some people and eighty seven sounds awful. It sounds like a honk. Yeah, sometimes a honk. It's just what it is. Matching that eighty seven with the wrong. Pressure to smooth out the two to three K and put a little dip in the two to three K on those mics for me, make them sound the way I want them to sound. The eighty seven at least sound a vacuum. You know, you throw it into a mix. Okay, maybe that's different, but it's just different when it's soloed out. Well, that's the thing about the forty one six is it sounds terrible until you throw it in the mix and then it cuts through and sits right, even though on its own you're just like it's you. Know what I really like is that I do like the CC eight, but you've got to have half decent mic technique otherwise it's just going to be a disaster. I mean that would be. Because it has such a small pickup pattern. Yeah. Yeah, I catch my iplosives on my YouTube videos or my web webinars. I'm like, I popped it again, But they sound that It's got a beautu beautiful sound. To them. I really like the CCI. He's the reason I'm using it right now. In fact, yeah, I mean, George, you're talking about ribbons every now and then being the right one. But for commercial industrial reads, like you know, not broadcast. Do you ever find that a dynamic MIC is actually the mic. On any voice, particularly or on a female voice. And any voice is Yeah. Is there any situation where someone I've honestly not personally found it where I would ever say like, ooh, I rather have for this commercial or an industrial video or anything that's not like a broadcast podcast kind of thing. I've never ever thought like I rather have a dynamic a SM seven, you know. Or I can't say I would fifty I mean, yeah, I would rather someone have a generic condenser mic and then just have a model or an EQ put on it, you know, like, yeah, something that doesn't have anything offense, a really really smooth mid range with no dips and bumps in it, something that's super easy to EQ. That's what I would have on any anybody, honestly. Absolutely, And most most ribbons need eqing before they're like ribbings. Do they take to EQ? Yeah? They do, because they have no they have no their their responses are like notoriously smooth right, like across the band, like really flat right. They don't have the little jagged saw toothy things going on, and they take to EQ really well. But they usually need EQ because the overall curve of that MIC is usually lacking on the extremes, mostly especially the high end. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not particular to dynamics. When I first decided to take the plunge and buy something the value as a microplane in the pre amp, I went to saw a guy Lewis, and I said to him, this is what I want. It's the voice oide of this going to be like super clean capturing everything. And he said, Brody, okay, here's the mic and he's the pre amp. And it was the Giffel M nine thirty and the Grice M one I want. That was my original setup, which. This whole conversation hasn't even gotten into pairing mics and pre amps. That's real dark art, lots and lots and lots of hours in the studio stuff, right'. That's listening and experimenting there. I mean, there's the obvious stuff like an SM seven needs something with a lot of good clean gain. But then you know, you can take a mic that's fast, I don't know, like even a four to fourteen say, and then pair it with a John Hardy and you're just pairing bright and fast with bright and fast. And you can do the same thing with mics. You can say, here's a bright, fast mic, and I'm going to put it like a smooth knave preamp on it, And these are all just kind of layers and brushes, and you're just looking for the sound that you like really. Fast about reaction time to transience. Okay, yeah, I can see would be a less crisp. Really sound is slower. If you have if you have a lot of mouth noise, then getting that grace mic preamp is probably not going to be your best friend because it's quick and fastness straight. Wise, totally honest, Yes, exactly the same as the millennium. And if you combine that with a bright mic, you're just like and so you know that those are different aspects of your voice. It's not just your overall tone, it's also your mouth clickiness. Well, what's a slow mic, A dynamic mic? A dynamic. And just just a I think so. Well, they don't have a big coil hanging off the back end of the diaphragm. Right, yes, yeah, they have. They're just like they're just gold plated, yeah, extremely extremely lighter. The diaphragm, right, yep. Yeah, ribbons same thing somewhere in the middle. Ribbons aren't Ribbons aren't really fast? Yeah, I don't think for whatever reason. Yeah, I don't associate a ribbon like the condenser condensers are fast, and then as the condensers get smaller, they get faster and more transient. Yea. You know, because it's a ribbon mic that if you could get a ribbon MIC that had the pickup pattern of a you of a I don't know, a CARDI already pick up ribbon, what would be the ultimate cardioid ribbon mic? I think those AA, those AA ribbons I hear a lot. I've not owned one, but I've seen some of those almost not need EQ, so they either have some EQ going on in them. But I've seen and heard some really good stuff from the AA ribbons ribbons. I don't have a lot of experience with royers, but I get the feeling that royers are very ribbon ere and not necessarily Yeah. The one I always want to the test and never could get my hands on. One was the road ribbon the NTR oh is that production like really expensive? It was like a flagship kind of MIC for them, and they just never sold. It's I see him because it's gone. The ribbon i'd like to try is the Audio Technica. Audio Technica made a super high end ribbons. It's interesting with ribbons because the less expensive ribbons they really really get dark. Yeah, I used NTR by the way, it's four hundred and fifty US. Not too bad. Yeah. How much is that Audio Technical ribbon? Though? That thing's like to g I don't know, but I did see and did you see that? What's that? Lap being my company and they used to make when I had a hole in the middle ribbon? Yeah, it's inside the same head basket. Like literally there's a ribbon and a condenser in the head basket next to me. The ribbon MIC I want actually is the Fostacs printed ribbon? Really that? No kidding? Yeah, you can't get those anymore. And they are a distinctly different type of ribbon MIC like the construction and everything. I'm not even sure how they're made, but they're kind of like the hybrid between a dynamic mic chese traditional ribbon mic. Yeah, oh okay, Oh they're. Rare as shit, the Fastacs printed ribbon. But they're also like two grand you know, you don't associate Fastacs with like that kind of gear. But yeah, that's a really interesting one. And they're supposed to sound really good. And so the road is the road I heard was not like any other ribbon I don't know what's different about it, but people loved it. And Sure also has a series of ribbon mics that are supposed to be really good and they actually make it out of some material that makes it so that you can put them in front of kick drums and they don't get destroyed. But I think they didn't sell enough of them, and I think they're just like who cares about that line? Like they're not. Yeah, I think sales is always going to be a thing. They could come up with the greatest mic, but if it just doesn't grow legs and then and then is expensive to manufacture, you know, and it's difficult to repair and all this kind of stuff, it's just they're gonna be like it's not worth it anymore. This is one of the fast Tex ones this is called the M twenty RP. Yeah, it's like the M eleven RP, m AD eight RP. Yeah, but it says here it's a hybrid diaphragm uses a thin membrane with a photo etched metal coil, acting like a cross between a dynamic voice coil and a ribbon element. Like I said, where is fast X out of anyway? FASTEX is Japanese? Yeah, I believe fast X was people that came out of TX oh, okay, I believe. Yeah, very interesting. Yeah, never ever came across that mic. It's got a voicing control on the bottom as well, sort of like an SMS. Well, oh it's got to roll off. It's got a low end or a low cut switch show in the bottom of it. Yeah. Yeah. I still feel like the O C A one eight is pretty close to a Desert Island voiceover mic. I think I think it is. I mean, geez, and that's before you even crack open their plug in, you know, and start playing with the polar pattern designer, because geez, if you you start using a pattern designer, now you can completely sculpt the five bands on the mic. Per frequency response, which which you can use that on other mics too, any an, he's got the dual output just to use that plug in on it. No, it is. It's I have something else I want to talk about, but I'm not going to do it on the show. Oh Okay, Okay, I haven't done. That's the perfect out. Okay, it's the perfect job I'm doing. Shut Down. The audio and Austrian audio recorded using Source Connect, edited by Andrew Peaches and mixed by Go to your own audio issues just ask robo dot call him text report from George the Techwow. 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