- Robustness & Quality: The crew revisits the Rode NT1’s evolution—from early plastic models to today's sturdy iterations. They ponder its surprising collectability today.
- User-Friendliness: A cheeky chat unfolds about how budget gear manufacturers should assume nothing when it comes to user knowledge, advocating for painfully obvious product instructions, especially with mics like Rode’s NT1.
- Consensus emerges around headphones as one area where low-budget options haven't improved as dramatically as microphones. The crew reckons that decent studio cans rarely dip below the $100 mark without significant compromises in sound and build quality.
- Austrian Audio gets a shout-out for their entry-level headphones offering decent quality, but it's noted that paying a little more generally delivers much better audio.
- Robbo's downsized rig is highlighted, having moved from larger interfaces to compact solutions like the SSL2 and the Centrance PASport VO.
- An important insight shared is that cheap interfaces often share internal converter chips with much pricier gear, meaning the sonic differences can be surprisingly subtle.
- Andrew points out the rise in cost of entry-level interfaces from brands like Focusrite, thanks to feature-creep.
- The group chats about bargain-basement gear flooding Amazon, discussing surprising finds like a $30 dual XLR-to-USB-C interface cable.
- Robbo humorously advises caution, noting that certain inexpensive gear—particularly cables and mic arms—can still be absolute rubbish.
- George brings up affordable Chinese-made hardware like camera mounts and mic arms, now significantly cheaper yet surprisingly robust compared to premium brands. The "magic arm" clamp is a notable budget win.
- However, the consensus firmly recommends against skimping on headphones and cables. Quality connectors from Neutrik and Mogami cables are touted as essentials worth investing in.
- Debate surrounds stock plug-ins vs premium offerings, questioning the necessity of higher-priced plug-ins from brands like FabFilter.
- Healthy skepticism about AI-enhanced plug-ins and noise reduction is expressed, particularly regarding Adobe Podcast's AI noise reduction.
- Opinions split on whether mic emulation is beneficial or just a feel-good factor. Townsend Sphere and Antelope Audio's mics spark a conversation about whether emulated models truly rival their inspirations.
- Cheaper gear today often does punch above its price tag compared to the past, especially microphones. But there remain clear lines where quality is non-negotiable (headphones, connectors, and build quality in general).
- Ultimately, the episode reinforces the idea that good engineering practice and knowledge still win the day, regardless of budget constraints.
00:00:00
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Y'all ready to be history?
00:00:01
Get started.
00:00:01
Welcome.
00:00:02
Hi.
00:00:02
Hi.
00:00:03
Hi.
00:00:03
Hello, everyone.
00:00:05
To the Pro Audio Suite.
00:00:06
These guys are professional, they're motivated.
00:00:08
With Tech the VO stars, George Witton, founder
00:00:11
of Source Elements, Robert Marshall, international audio engineer,
00:00:14
Darren Robbo-Robertson, and global voice, Andrew Peters.
00:00:17
Thanks to Tribooth, Austrian Audio, Making Passion Heard,
00:00:20
Source Elements, George the Tech Witton, and Robbo
00:00:23
and AP's international demos.
00:00:25
To find out more about us, check theproaudiosuite
00:00:27
.com.
00:00:28
Line up, man.
00:00:30
Here we go.
00:00:32
And welcome to another Pro Audio Suite, thanks
00:00:34
to Tribooth.
00:00:35
Don't forget the code, T-R-I-P
00:00:37
-A-P-200, to get $200 off your
00:00:40
Tribooth.
00:00:41
And Austrian Audio, Making Passion Heard.
00:00:45
We're talking about budget gear, because historically, budget
00:00:49
gear was always pretty average.
00:00:52
But has it improved?
00:00:53
I think so.
00:00:54
Let's discuss.
00:00:55
I'd say yes.
00:00:57
Yeah.
00:00:57
I would totally add.
00:00:59
You know, the original Rode NT1 was made
00:01:01
of plastic.
00:01:02
Oh, I didn't know that.
00:01:03
Mm-hmm.
00:01:04
Yeah.
00:01:04
I did not know that.
00:01:06
That's funny, because I always thought the Rodes
00:01:07
were, like, made very robust.
00:01:09
If I type in eBay, do I type
00:01:11
in plastic Rode NT1?
00:01:12
Will it come up?
00:01:14
It could.
00:01:14
It may.
00:01:15
It just may do that.
00:01:16
Yeah.
00:01:17
And, in fact, the weird thing is, they've
00:01:19
actually become collectible.
00:01:22
Well, that's what I was thinking, like, if
00:01:23
you had one of those, that sounds like
00:01:25
it's relatively not common.
00:01:28
That one sounds even more like a 460.
00:01:30
Look at me now.
00:01:32
There you go.
00:01:33
Look at that.
00:01:33
Yeah.
00:01:33
That's a fifth gen.
00:01:35
That's the fifth gen, exactly.
00:01:36
Oh, you have a fifth gen now?
00:01:37
Yeah.
00:01:38
Well, I've had it for a while, thank
00:01:39
you, Rode.
00:01:41
But do you know what's missing on that
00:01:42
box?
00:01:43
And I'm going to tell Rode right now,
00:01:44
if anybody's watching, you know what's missing on
00:01:46
the box?
00:01:47
A picture of a person standing in front
00:01:50
of the correct side of the microphone.
00:01:53
Oh, okay.
00:01:54
Yeah.
00:01:54
Yeah.
00:01:54
You're supposed to talk into the top of
00:01:55
it, right?
00:01:56
Yeah, I can kind of see that.
00:01:57
People get it wrong all the time, all
00:02:00
the time.
00:02:01
Definitely.
00:02:01
Because they talk to the logo.
00:02:03
We used to have a mic in the
00:02:04
voiceover booth for all the video editors, and
00:02:06
we had a picture next to the mic
00:02:08
with arrows showing where to speak into it,
00:02:11
and they would constantly talk into the top
00:02:14
of this side address mic.
00:02:15
No matter...
00:02:16
Yeah.
00:02:16
You can't even...
00:02:17
Just pictures, like, no words.
00:02:19
Yeah.
00:02:19
Yeah.
00:02:19
I know, it's off topic, but this is
00:02:21
a big problem.
00:02:22
It's like, when you sell a product, make
00:02:24
it painfully obvious.
00:02:25
If it's an entry-level price point product,
00:02:28
pretend in your mind's eye that there's actors
00:02:31
that are beginners or podcasters who are beginners
00:02:34
buying your beginner priced product and put a
00:02:37
picture on the box.
00:02:38
Don't assume.
00:02:39
Don't assume.
00:02:40
Because we're all engineers.
00:02:41
We get it.
00:02:42
But typical users, it's not so obvious.
00:02:45
Yeah.
00:02:45
It's interesting how, yeah, like we're saying, yeah,
00:02:48
technology has come a long way, but the
00:02:50
user side of things, their knowledge hasn't really
00:02:52
come a long way.
00:02:53
Like the amount of voiceover artists who you
00:02:56
see with poor mic technique and those sort
00:02:59
of things still sort of wows me.
00:03:02
It goes back to the same thing, where
00:03:04
you could give a good engineer just a
00:03:07
pile of SM57s, and you can give somebody
00:03:10
else all the gear they want, and that
00:03:12
engineer who knows where to put the mics
00:03:14
and how to set the gain and everything,
00:03:17
they're going to get a better drum sound
00:03:18
than someone who has whatever they want, because
00:03:21
it's not the gear, it's the voice talent.
00:03:26
Well, look at the Beatles, you know, four
00:03:28
tracks and a few microphones.
00:03:30
Yeah.
00:03:31
The only thing I can see that would
00:03:32
be an issue is entry-level stuff is
00:03:36
headphones.
00:03:37
That's the only thing you kind of go,
00:03:38
oh, no, because you're just not hearing properly.
00:03:42
Cheap headphones are still cheap headphones, I think
00:03:44
you're right.
00:03:45
Not that I use a lot of them.
00:03:46
Thank you.
00:03:46
It's funny how cheap mics have gotten better
00:03:48
than cheap headphones.
00:03:49
Yeah.
00:03:50
Yeah, I agree with that, yeah.
00:03:51
And there's an entry point on headphones that
00:03:54
you really almost never can drop below, and
00:03:57
that's around $100.
00:03:58
$100, yeah.
00:03:59
The $30 headphones sound like $30 headphones.
00:04:03
Yep.
00:04:03
Yeah, I mean, there's some exceptions.
00:04:06
I know people like the Cosporta Pro, which
00:04:08
are the, they look like 80s Walkman headphones,
00:04:10
you know, with the little foam, you know,
00:04:12
and they sound really good, you know.
00:04:15
But those are outliers and they're not studio
00:04:17
cans.
00:04:18
If you want proper studio cans that fully
00:04:20
encase your ear, enclose your ear, you know,
00:04:23
not on ear, but around the ear, circumoral,
00:04:27
you know, it's, the cheaper ones, they can
00:04:29
sound okay, but they're crackly, the plastic is
00:04:32
cheap, you move and they creak.
00:04:34
There's just so many issues with the build
00:04:36
quality.
00:04:37
So it's hard to get something better than,
00:04:40
or under that.
00:04:40
And I think even the response, like usually
00:04:44
in the high end and the clarity, the
00:04:46
low end, they're just not really as flat
00:04:48
and as wide response.
00:04:49
They tend to have a more peaky kind
00:04:51
of thing going on.
00:04:53
Yeah, well, case in point, the Austrian Audios.
00:04:55
I'm still rocking these, at least the 15s,
00:05:00
is that the entry level can from them?
00:05:02
Yeah.
00:05:02
And I think they're pretty great.
00:05:04
Well, the 20s came out, right?
00:05:06
And they're just a little more expensive.
00:05:08
But they have an extended top and an
00:05:11
extended bottom.
00:05:13
Not without sounding in any weird, weird colored,
00:05:15
not sounding exaggerated.
00:05:17
They just have a little bit more of
00:05:20
both ends of the spectrum, you know, and
00:05:22
that little extra price is going to give
00:05:24
you that.
00:05:25
So there are things you may miss out
00:05:27
on if you don't pay a little bit
00:05:28
more.
00:05:29
Yeah.
00:05:29
Well, then there's the interfaces too.
00:05:31
I mean, Andrew's, and you've downgraded in the
00:05:33
last couple of months, not, sorry, I shouldn't
00:05:35
say downgraded.
00:05:36
You've reduced the size of your interfaces.
00:05:40
I mean, the SSL2 is an amazing interface,
00:05:43
but half the size of what you used
00:05:45
to have and what, half the price probably?
00:05:48
Yeah, well, I've actually moved the SSL2 out
00:05:50
now.
00:05:50
Well, you're still using the Audient, right?
00:05:52
I've got the Audient for all the big
00:05:53
stuff.
00:05:54
Yeah.
00:05:54
And then for the laptop, I use the
00:05:57
Passport, which I used to have the SSL2.
00:06:00
And I think what people don't realize a
00:06:03
lot about this gear is like, let's take
00:06:06
for example, converters.
00:06:09
If the company is not making their own
00:06:11
converters, which very few companies are, then really
00:06:14
they're using converters that are built on a
00:06:15
chip, typically from like, there's a company called
00:06:18
AKM that makes most of the converters.
00:06:21
So your cheap Behringer gear has the same
00:06:25
converter as some of your really expensive gear.
00:06:29
And unless you really fuck up the analog
00:06:32
side or the power supply, you're going to
00:06:35
get the same sound, because it's the same
00:06:38
chip.
00:06:39
Like, give it five volts of electricity, give
00:06:42
it the audio from the input, and all
00:06:46
this gear is using the same little tiny
00:06:48
chips and the mic preamps, the same thing.
00:06:52
Whatever it is, like I'm going to get
00:06:53
these wrong, but like the 72, I forget
00:06:57
the chip numbers, but there's a few chips
00:06:59
that are mic preamps on a chip.
00:07:01
And again, you just implement it properly, which
00:07:04
half the time when you buy the chips,
00:07:06
the manufacturers give you an example of how
00:07:08
to make a mic preamp on it, and
00:07:10
half these things will use the same implementation
00:07:12
of, there's a mic preamp.
00:07:14
Yeah.
00:07:15
I mean, part of that's just because of
00:07:17
the way China flaunts intellectual property, right?
00:07:22
So the same exact circuitry is being replicated
00:07:25
and used over and over.
00:07:27
And usually what happens is the cream floats
00:07:31
to the top.
00:07:31
So they're going to use the circuits that
00:07:35
people like the most, you know, because they
00:07:36
can do it so cheaply.
00:07:38
And I think that's another reason.
00:07:40
But I'll argue to say too that the
00:07:42
low-end audio interfaces that people like are
00:07:45
not getting cheaper.
00:07:46
They're actually getting more expensive.
00:07:48
Let's take the Focusrite Scarlett Solo and the
00:07:51
2i2, for example.
00:07:52
They've gotten more expensive because they're feature creeping
00:07:57
them now.
00:07:57
They're adding more functionality.
00:07:59
They're adding auto input gain level control and,
00:08:02
you know, other functions that were never there
00:08:04
before.
00:08:05
So it's interesting to see there isn't that
00:08:08
$100 audio interface that you can really go
00:08:13
for anymore.
00:08:14
Now it's $160, $170.
00:08:17
Well, no, but there is that $100 audio
00:08:19
interface.
00:08:20
I mean, have you spent any time on
00:08:22
Amazon looking at some of the cheap gear
00:08:24
that's out there?
00:08:25
No, I know.
00:08:25
But I mean, these are offspin brands, not
00:08:29
the big leaders.
00:08:30
They're all offspin brands and they all make
00:08:32
their interfaces with red and they make them
00:08:35
look like a Scarlett and all that other
00:08:37
stuff.
00:08:38
But again, they're probably just same chips.
00:08:41
They do sometimes luck into a good product.
00:08:44
Let me get something.
00:08:46
OK.
00:08:46
Yeah, there's a microphone called the Stellar X2
00:08:49
and they just kind of lucked into getting
00:08:53
a decent sounding $200 mic and now that
00:08:56
microphone is extremely popular and people will go
00:08:59
buy that mic that have a better mic
00:09:02
because they heard that this mic is so
00:09:04
good, which is the weirdest thing.
00:09:07
People are buying cheaper mics to supplement their
00:09:10
better mics and I'm like, I don't get
00:09:12
it at all.
00:09:13
Because they want to travel with a cheap
00:09:14
mic or they don't want to worry about
00:09:16
it.
00:09:17
But well, that's some of it.
00:09:18
But it's also that they just heard it's
00:09:20
a good mic.
00:09:20
So they went and bought it with no
00:09:22
real thought about why they bought it.
00:09:24
Well, OK.
00:09:25
So I've been trying to figure out like
00:09:26
Sage is doing music composition and she's now
00:09:29
in the position where she's got a whole,
00:09:32
practically a whole orchestra working on an arrangement
00:09:35
that she did.
00:09:36
And I'm like, record that.
00:09:37
And she's like too bothered to record it.
00:09:39
So I'm trying to figure out how to
00:09:40
get it easy for her to record.
00:09:41
I'm on Amazon.
00:09:42
Yeah.
00:09:43
Notice here, USB-C cable, right?
00:09:46
Yeah.
00:09:46
Two XLRs.
00:09:47
No way.
00:09:48
30 bucks.
00:09:48
You make that now?
00:09:49
30 fucking dollars.
00:09:51
And this thing will sample at 384, 384
00:09:54
kilohertz.
00:09:55
Wow.
00:09:56
24 bit, 384 XLR cable for $30.
00:10:02
No phantom.
00:10:03
This is line input.
00:10:05
Yeah.
00:10:05
Most of those are.
00:10:06
Oh, it's a line input.
00:10:08
OK.
00:10:08
So it's a pair of balanced line ins
00:10:11
at super high sample rate into USB-C
00:10:14
for $30.
00:10:15
Just jam it into your phone.
00:10:17
Yeah.
00:10:18
Just jam it in there.
00:10:19
I would love to have that.
00:10:20
Yeah.
00:10:21
Even if it doesn't fit, jam it.
00:10:23
Even if you've got a lightning port, just
00:10:24
jam the USB-C in there and you'll
00:10:26
be right, mate.
00:10:27
Well, no, you get a little $10 USB
00:10:31
-C to lightning adapter and there you go.
00:10:34
It doesn't use enough juice, so it doesn't
00:10:36
even need a power adapter.
00:10:39
Yep.
00:10:41
Yep.
00:10:42
And I'm trying to still figure out exactly
00:10:44
what preamp I set her up with, but
00:10:45
yeah.
00:10:46
Yeah.
00:10:47
I mean, some of it is just that
00:10:48
there's just a race to supply these problem
00:10:53
solver things.
00:10:55
And that's cool.
00:10:56
If that cable you held up was made
00:10:59
by Sennheiser, there would be $100.
00:11:01
It'd be $200.
00:11:02
$200, right.
00:11:03
Yeah, exactly.
00:11:03
Yeah, $200, yeah.
00:11:05
But it doesn't need to be made by
00:11:07
Sennheiser because they're so good now at making
00:11:10
things like this in China.
00:11:12
Now does it have Neutrik connectors on it?
00:11:15
They're probably Neutrik ripoffs.
00:11:16
They're not quite Neutrik.
00:11:17
That's what I mean.
00:11:18
They're not Neutrik.
00:11:19
Because a Neutrik connector, each one's $10.
00:11:22
Yeah.
00:11:23
But check this out.
00:11:24
How can you do anything differently?
00:11:26
There's the business end of it.
00:11:28
The only thing that's in there is a
00:11:30
chip.
00:11:30
Like one fricking chip is about all you
00:11:33
have room for in there.
00:11:35
They just hooked up a chip to the
00:11:37
cables and- By the way, if you
00:11:39
go to Apple Store to get a Thunderbolt
00:11:41
cable, $70 US for a one meter Thunderbolt
00:11:45
cable.
00:11:46
Wow.
00:11:47
Yeah.
00:11:47
That's all of us.
00:11:48
I buy them used for $20.
00:11:50
Yeah.
00:11:51
Yeah.
00:11:51
But if you have to go to the
00:11:52
Best Buy because you forgot to tell your
00:11:54
client to go buy a Thunderbolt cable for
00:11:57
their Apollo, guess what you're running out to
00:11:59
Best Buy to buy?
00:12:00
A $70 Thunderbolt cable, right?
00:12:03
So yeah.
00:12:04
It's a...
00:12:05
And how about in terms of just accessories
00:12:08
too?
00:12:09
I can say that there's a lot of
00:12:11
mic booms that have come out because of
00:12:14
the podcasting revolution.
00:12:16
Yeah.
00:12:16
Dude, I got a good one for that.
00:12:17
And so many people have these $20 mic
00:12:19
booms and they are garbage.
00:12:21
They're rubbish.
00:12:22
Dude, hold on.
00:12:22
They're crap.
00:12:23
Look at this.
00:12:24
Yeah.
00:12:25
Okay.
00:12:25
First of all, you see these connectors everywhere
00:12:27
and they're 20 bucks.
00:12:29
They're blurred out.
00:12:30
But it's so good.
00:12:30
So you're holding up one of those clamps.
00:12:32
It has the two kinds of camera mounts,
00:12:34
like the quarter inch and the eighth inch.
00:12:35
What they're good at doing in China is
00:12:38
metal.
00:12:39
They're good at steel and aluminum in China.
00:12:42
They had the machining down.
00:12:45
That stuff has gotten really affordable.
00:12:47
Like I'm no longer buying Manfrotto this and
00:12:50
this and that.
00:12:52
I'm like buying SmallRig or a newer with
00:12:55
two Es.
00:12:56
You know, all these like Chinese brands.
00:12:58
It's the same thing.
00:12:59
You find these like mic arms that are
00:13:01
like, you know, $40 for an adapter, right?
00:13:03
And I had to buy a pair of
00:13:05
speaker mounts for our booth and I did
00:13:08
not want to spend a hundred bucks on
00:13:10
speaker mounts.
00:13:10
So I'm on Amazon.
00:13:12
Here's this thing.
00:13:14
It's a short leg and another short leg
00:13:17
with that clamp on it.
00:13:19
And the thing is great.
00:13:20
On one knob, when you tighten this one
00:13:22
knob here, it tightens all the knuckles, including
00:13:26
all the little- It's called a magic
00:13:28
arm.
00:13:28
Yeah, 15 bucks.
00:13:29
See, if you bought that at a grip
00:13:31
store in Hollywood, that would be a $150
00:13:34
magic arm.
00:13:35
No more, way more.
00:13:37
It's called a magic arm.
00:13:38
But now they've figured out how to duplicate
00:13:40
these in China, like really inexpensively.
00:13:44
And those are the things I'm not worried
00:13:46
about buying from China is the hardware made
00:13:48
of steel and aluminum.
00:13:50
They can't mess those up too badly.
00:13:53
And so I don't mind that stuff.
00:13:54
But mic cables, that's kind of where I
00:13:57
tend to draw the line.
00:13:58
I would much rather have a mic cable
00:14:00
that's made with Mogami or some kind of
00:14:04
a reputable conductor and a Neutrik or something
00:14:07
on the end.
00:14:08
Until you get a RJ45 Bloom and send
00:14:12
it down a freaking wire that's as big
00:14:14
as a molecule.
00:14:16
Sorry.
00:14:16
Say that again.
00:14:17
Right?
00:14:17
What do you guys use?
00:14:18
Yeah, explain that again.
00:14:20
You've lost all of us on that one.
00:14:22
Okay.
00:14:22
Okay.
00:14:22
We did a whole episode about basically converting
00:14:25
RJ45, like you have the RJ45 breakouts at
00:14:29
one RJ11.
00:14:31
Oh, yes, yes.
00:14:32
I'm sorry, RJ45 cables.
00:14:33
The Cat Box, the Balans that go from
00:14:34
RJ45 to Balanced.
00:14:37
Yeah.
00:14:37
And, okay, quite frankly, that cable is running
00:14:40
at megahertz, sending shitloads of data.
00:14:43
There's not a lot of tolerance there for
00:14:45
how space, eh, like, what is it doing?
00:14:49
Does the copper, oxygen-free, blah, blah, blah
00:14:52
matter that much?
00:14:54
That's the question, right?
00:14:55
And it probably doesn't.
00:14:57
Cables are not about the wire.
00:14:59
Cables are about the connectors.
00:15:01
What are the big brands for cables in
00:15:03
Australia that people commonly use?
00:15:06
Probably the same as yours.
00:15:08
I mean, um, I use Kanair, Starquart.
00:15:13
Oh, Kanari, you mean?
00:15:14
Oh, yeah, Kanari.
00:15:15
Kanari, Kanari.
00:15:16
Kanari's very good.
00:15:17
Yeah, that's what I use, but I make
00:15:20
my own cables and then Neutrik connectors.
00:15:24
Oh, do you, are you handy with a
00:15:26
soldering iron, Andrew?
00:15:27
He's very good with a soldering iron, unlike
00:15:28
me.
00:15:29
He's got a steady hand.
00:15:31
Steady hand.
00:15:32
I've just never had the patience for it.
00:15:34
No, no, we, like, we have cheap stuff
00:15:36
like Rapco and Horizon.
00:15:38
Horizon's really junk.
00:15:39
The cables you gotta watch out for, the
00:15:41
ones with the molded ends that you can't
00:15:43
do anything with after they go bad.
00:15:45
Yeah, that's right, that's right.
00:15:46
Those are the super cheap ones.
00:15:48
Yeah.
00:15:48
But, yeah, so with cables, you know.
00:15:51
But the wires, where's the wire?
00:15:52
I buy mine from Cable Chick.
00:15:54
Cable Chick?
00:15:54
Cable Chick.
00:15:55
There you go.
00:15:56
There's a plug.
00:15:57
Oh, really?
00:15:57
Is that an Aussie distributor?
00:15:59
Yeah.
00:16:00
She's the best.
00:16:01
Oh, dear, that doesn't sound very...
00:16:04
Get your mind out of your gutter, AP,
00:16:07
seriously.
00:16:07
Won't be taking her out again.
00:16:09
No, exactly.
00:16:12
But, yeah, the things I would not cheap
00:16:14
out on is headphones and cables.
00:16:17
Yeah.
00:16:18
Yeah.
00:16:18
You can get away with a microphone, you
00:16:21
can get away with an interface.
00:16:22
I have to agree with that.
00:16:23
Yeah.
00:16:24
There is one brand of cable that's been
00:16:25
distributing on Amazon called WBC, or World Best
00:16:28
Cable, and they are doing like their equivalent
00:16:31
of a Mogami Gold, you know, which is
00:16:34
like a $780 US dollar, my cable, and
00:16:36
it's $30 US maybe.
00:16:39
And they sell the quad cable, so they're
00:16:42
the plus and the minus, or the pin,
00:16:46
what do you call it, pin two and
00:16:47
pin three.
00:16:48
They're each a twisted pair.
00:16:50
You're talking about quad star cable?
00:16:51
Yeah.
00:16:51
Yeah.
00:16:52
And they're each a twisted pair, you know,
00:16:53
and they're better shielded, and they're only slightly
00:16:56
more expensive than the standard cable.
00:16:58
So, I tell everybody, just get the star
00:17:00
quad, you know, cables, and, you know, you'll
00:17:03
be a happy camper.
00:17:04
And those are still not that more expensive.
00:17:06
There you go.
00:17:07
Oh, we're seeing cable chick now.
00:17:08
So, we now know it's a real thing.
00:17:10
We don't all think Robbo's crazy.
00:17:13
She's cute.
00:17:14
I think she's cute.
00:17:15
That's why she gets my business.
00:17:16
She's a cute cartoon girl.
00:17:19
If you're plugging the stuff in, it goes
00:17:21
behind your desk, it's never going to get
00:17:22
moved, you can get away with less expensive
00:17:25
cables.
00:17:25
But if you're going to be plugging in
00:17:27
and out, traveling, you have no room for
00:17:29
them to mess up, then you want to
00:17:31
get something better, because it's, I think it's
00:17:34
a lot to do with the build and
00:17:36
the connectors.
00:17:37
If you're working on the road, if you're
00:17:39
on the travel kit, or you're doing a
00:17:41
stage travel show, you got to have the
00:17:43
best gear, best cables, bar none, because that
00:17:46
stuff does take a lot more abuse that
00:17:48
way.
00:17:49
Yeah, that's absolutely true.
00:17:50
And also, the other thing is with cables.
00:17:52
If something goes wrong, it's just eliminating possibilities
00:17:57
of failure.
00:17:59
The one thing that I do have, on
00:18:01
Andrew's point, is I do have a cable
00:18:04
tester that sits in my bottom drawer, and
00:18:06
if something's not working, that's the first thing
00:18:07
I drag out, is, okay, well, let's just
00:18:10
make sure the cable's right, you know?
00:18:12
Yeah, I've got one of those multi-testers
00:18:14
that has a nine-volt battery, and it's
00:18:15
got two XLRs, two quarter-inch, two RCA,
00:18:19
and yeah.
00:18:20
Yes, indeed, because then that takes the guesswork
00:18:22
out of it.
00:18:23
It's like, okay, the cable's fucked, time for
00:18:25
a new one, or the cable's working.
00:18:26
And a good one will tell you if
00:18:27
your cable's in phase or out of phase.
00:18:29
Yes, mine does that.
00:18:30
Yeah.
00:18:32
If you've got a home studio, that's one
00:18:33
thing that's definitely worth investing in, is a
00:18:35
really good cable tester, because it will just
00:18:37
save you so much grief.
00:18:40
That is very true, that is very true.
00:18:42
But the other category we didn't touch on
00:18:44
yet, before we wrap it up, is plug
00:18:46
-ins.
00:18:47
Yeah, yeah, well, I don't know.
00:18:50
I think some of the stock plug-ins
00:18:52
are doing really, really, really well.
00:18:54
EQ7, Pro Tools, what's wrong with it?
00:18:57
Oh, look, well, nothing.
00:18:59
Nothing's wrong with it.
00:19:01
I mean, I've been using the Waves...
00:19:02
Who makes a whole album with EQ7 and
00:19:04
D-Verb?
00:19:05
Yeah, well, I've been using the Waves F6
00:19:07
for years now, almost as long as it's
00:19:10
been out.
00:19:10
It's my go-to for voiceover and vocals
00:19:15
and stuff.
00:19:16
You know, I don't know.
00:19:17
I mean, AI's slowly creeping in there.
00:19:19
Is that a good thing?
00:19:21
In noise reduction, I feel like it is,
00:19:23
but I mean, you know, the Waves, Horizon,
00:19:28
you know, AI, EQ, shit, is that necessary?
00:19:32
Is it good?
00:19:35
Maybe.
00:19:35
Maybe?
00:19:36
I'm not so...
00:19:37
I'm gonna be extremely skeptical about AI.
00:19:39
Yeah.
00:19:40
Yeah, I'm really skeptical, because I'm gonna throw
00:19:44
Adobe under the bus, because I was at
00:19:46
a podcast conference and I listened to one
00:19:49
of the Adobe higher-ups, you know, showing
00:19:53
how amazing their...
00:19:54
I think they just call it Adobe Podcast
00:19:56
is the name of the tool now, and
00:19:58
it has this insane AI noise reduction thing,
00:20:02
right?
00:20:02
And the thing is, is like they're leaning
00:20:05
on that and saying, this is the penultimate
00:20:08
of technology, right?
00:20:11
And I listened to the results and I
00:20:13
go, that does not sound as good as
00:20:16
doing it correctly the first time, or using
00:20:19
a proper mic the first time, or me
00:20:21
as an engineer tweaking the sound myself.
00:20:24
None of what you're doing sounds that good,
00:20:27
but you're deciding for us, the users, that
00:20:31
that is good enough.
00:20:33
We're good.
00:20:33
It's like, this AI thing is good enough.
00:20:34
You're changing expectations as opposed to making your
00:20:38
products better.
00:20:39
Yeah, absolutely.
00:20:40
It's sort of a cheat's way out of
00:20:41
it, really, isn't it?
00:20:42
But here's what happens.
00:20:44
You know, people used to have lower latency
00:20:46
phones and cell phones, but now no one
00:20:47
thinks that a cell phone has high latency,
00:20:50
because they're just used to cell phones.
00:20:52
They don't know anything different.
00:20:53
And it's gonna get that way with all
00:20:55
this stuff.
00:20:55
Yeah.
00:20:55
Where no one's gonna know what a song
00:20:59
sounds like directly off of a CD, because
00:21:01
they only hear MP3s through Spotify.
00:21:04
Yeah.
00:21:05
And they'll just be lost.
00:21:06
Well, let me ask you this then, since
00:21:08
we're sort of semi on the subject.
00:21:10
Like, a crappy microphone, right?
00:21:13
But a good mic emulator.
00:21:16
Is that just making a bad thing worse?
00:21:19
Or is it making a bad thing better,
00:21:21
do you reckon?
00:21:21
I think it makes you feel good about
00:21:22
your cheap purchase.
00:21:23
I mean, well, that's kind of essentially what
00:21:26
the Sphere mic is.
00:21:27
The Townsend is, yeah.
00:21:28
You know, there's nobody saying that that's an
00:21:31
exceptionally good microphone.
00:21:32
I mean, I think it is a good
00:21:34
microphone, but it's not categorically amazing for the
00:21:38
price.
00:21:39
It's still...
00:21:40
I think possibly the Antelope microphone is technically
00:21:42
a better mic than the Townsend, as far
00:21:44
as mic build and...
00:21:46
I don't know.
00:21:48
I mean, the Sphere mic's amazing.
00:21:49
The Antelope looks pretty damn nice, actually.
00:21:51
Yeah.
00:21:52
Just on its own as a mic.
00:21:54
But it's true.
00:21:55
It's like, you know, you buy this cheap
00:21:57
thing, and then you want software to make
00:21:59
you feel good about it.
00:22:00
Well, yeah, like recent...
00:22:01
Like, during the pandemic, I had a client.
00:22:04
We got a Townsend Sphere L22, an Apollo,
00:22:07
and we emulated a U87.
00:22:10
The client was happy.
00:22:12
And so it was what we could do
00:22:14
at the time, and what we needed to
00:22:16
do to get away with getting the project
00:22:17
done, and it worked.
00:22:20
Is it as good as a U87?
00:22:22
I don't really know.
00:22:24
Is it truly as good?
00:22:25
I don't know.
00:22:26
Is it just another flavor, or is it
00:22:28
even anything like a U87, necessarily?
00:22:30
Is it just, you know?
00:22:32
I mean, here's the thing, though, too, right?
00:22:34
It's like, maybe some of this stuff has
00:22:37
got better, like maybe cheap microphones have got
00:22:39
better and all the rest of it, but
00:22:40
you still come back to the basic principle
00:22:44
that if you put even, you know, a
00:22:46
pretty good mic in a shit room, it's
00:22:48
going to sound like crap.
00:22:50
If you put a great mic in a
00:22:51
shit room, it's going to sound like crap.
00:22:53
You've still got to start with the basics
00:22:55
no matter what happens.
00:22:56
But here's what you can say about the
00:22:58
gear.
00:22:58
It is cleaner.
00:23:00
All the cheap gear, the noise floors have
00:23:02
dropped.
00:23:04
Absolutely.
00:23:05
So why do I keep hearing SM7Bs through
00:23:08
Cloudlifters and everything else that just have a
00:23:10
lot of hiss?
00:23:11
I hear so many people sending me audio
00:23:14
files of a SM7B through a Cloudlifter or
00:23:18
fill-in-the-blank booster because everybody's making
00:23:20
one of these boosters now, and it's still
00:23:23
noisy.
00:23:24
It's still a noisy soup.
00:23:26
Why is that still a thing?
00:23:28
I don't know, because the SM7 needs especially
00:23:30
a lot of gain.
00:23:32
Even the SM7DB, somebody sent me a recording
00:23:35
with that through a Scarlett, of course, noise
00:23:38
soup.
00:23:38
Filled with hiss.
00:23:39
Like hiss.
00:23:41
I'm like, why are people buying a $500
00:23:43
mic that's noisy?
00:23:45
The marketing is so good on that microphone
00:23:48
that people are still buying a noisy mic
00:23:51
when they could buy a $100 mic that
00:23:52
sounds better.
00:23:53
Yeah.
00:23:54
It has a lower noise floor because the
00:23:56
$100 mic has got a chip in it
00:23:59
and it's not so weighted down by the
00:24:01
dynamic.
00:24:02
I mean, that's just like nature of the
00:24:04
beast, right?
00:24:05
The SM7 is a dynamic mic that has
00:24:07
a certain physical need for a preamp that
00:24:11
pushes that preamp to the point where it's
00:24:14
making noise.
00:24:16
But I guess my point is that 30
00:24:19
years ago, you go to Radio Shack and
00:24:20
you buy a mixer and it's noisy.
00:24:23
Now, you go to Amazon and you buy
00:24:26
some unknown...
00:24:27
Amazon Radio Shack.
00:24:28
Well, there's no Radio Shack, but you go
00:24:30
to Amazon and you buy some unknown Chinese
00:24:33
brand mixer and it might be made out
00:24:36
of plastic and it's wholly just junk as
00:24:39
far as how it's built.
00:24:41
But it's not noisy like that Radio Shack.
00:24:44
Yeah, exactly.
00:24:45
Yeah, that actually is true.
00:24:46
That is true.
00:24:47
There's been definitely an optimization of circuit design
00:24:50
that's happened.
00:24:51
There's an intellectual sort of...
00:24:54
What's the institutional knowledge around the design of
00:24:56
these circuits now?
00:24:57
And it's been passed around.
00:24:58
And these chips have been commodified?
00:25:01
Yeah, they're commodified and they're not closely guarded
00:25:03
anymore.
00:25:04
So that's all changed.
00:25:06
But I'll use TDR Nova free over FabFilter
00:25:11
Pro-Q 3 any day of the week.
00:25:14
I know there's certain things FabFilter probably can
00:25:16
do that TDR can't, but I haven't found
00:25:19
one that I need for...
00:25:20
I'm not on the Pro-Q bandwagon, I'll
00:25:22
be honest.
00:25:23
I don't even own any of that stuff.
00:25:26
I see people jumping up and down and
00:25:29
making noise about how good it is, but
00:25:30
I don't know.
00:25:32
I don't see it.
00:25:33
I've played with the demo.
00:25:34
I am perfectly happy with Waves and Plugin
00:25:36
Alliance.
00:25:37
That's the thing.
00:25:38
People seek out a new EQ because they
00:25:40
have not learned how to use an EQ.
00:25:43
Fix your head, not your EQ.
00:25:46
They're like, well, that one doesn't sound very
00:25:47
good.
00:25:47
Yeah, it's like, well, it's doing the same
00:25:49
thing as the other one.
00:25:50
He's like, seriously.
00:25:53
I don't get it.
00:25:54
I think the hype's just around because it
00:25:57
looks cool or it is cool or it's
00:25:59
trendy or whatever.
00:26:01
I think it's become like a fashion brand.
00:26:03
Pro Tools Expert did a really good article
00:26:05
recently about EQs, digital plug-in EQs and
00:26:08
what the difference is with how some of
00:26:11
the math happens.
00:26:12
And the really good ones will oversample because
00:26:16
if not, you get some reflections and some
00:26:18
things that happen.
00:26:19
But I think that even that, again, just
00:26:22
like with the chips, and oh, you can
00:26:24
just buy buckets of these good chips now,
00:26:26
same thing.
00:26:27
You go up on the web and there's
00:26:29
just all this open source code.
00:26:31
You want to make a good EQ?
00:26:32
There's open source code that will give you
00:26:35
a good starting point for building your own
00:26:38
EQ.
00:26:39
And a lot of this knowledge has gotten
00:26:42
commonplace.
00:26:43
And I think what happens because of that
00:26:45
also is that it makes everything more disposable.
00:26:48
So these mics are so much better now
00:26:50
that now it's like, oh, I bought a
00:26:51
mic.
00:26:51
Oh, I bought another mic.
00:26:53
I didn't like that mic anymore.
00:26:55
And you end up with like 80 microphones
00:26:57
in your closet.
00:26:58
Whereas back in the day, you'd buy a
00:27:01
414, and that was your mic for life.
00:27:05
And some people still do that.
00:27:08
But now you can buy 20 mics for
00:27:11
the same price as your one 414, and
00:27:13
each one has a slightly different character and
00:27:14
a different form factor and works in the
00:27:16
bag here and works for traveling there.
00:27:18
And they're all almost that really kick-ass
00:27:21
414.
00:27:22
Not really, but they're so close that you're
00:27:27
willing to spend the money on multiple items
00:27:30
and flexibility, and it's become disposable, unfortunately, I
00:27:34
think.
00:27:35
There's also drum mic kits.
00:27:37
You can see drum mic kits that are
00:27:39
entire kit.
00:27:40
Everything's mic for $300.
00:27:42
200 bucks.
00:27:44
Yeah.
00:27:45
Oh, yeah.
00:27:46
Those are very common.
00:27:48
Yeah, I think it all comes down to
00:27:50
your skills.
00:27:51
Your skills as an engineer and the basic
00:27:54
skills.
00:27:54
A good engineer can take the junkiest gear
00:27:57
and get a really good sound out of
00:27:59
it, unless there's something that's technically wrong with
00:28:02
that piece of gear.
00:28:03
I manage to save Robert every week, so,
00:28:05
you know, there's a start.
00:28:10
And that's starting, that's not even the gear,
00:28:12
that's just, like, the talent and the voice.
00:28:15
That's right.
00:28:16
There's a lot to fix.
00:28:17
Just mute his track, it's pretty easy to
00:28:19
fix, Robert.
00:28:20
Just mute that track.
00:28:21
Yeah.
00:28:23
That's all right.
00:28:24
Well, that was fun.
00:28:25
Is it over?
00:28:52
All right.