Post A Sample Of Your Microphone/Equipment

Mark Truslow · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 15

Lance, I think I didn't make my post very clear..........I mean just to post it to this forum. I hit add attachment and it just clicks me off.................M.

Jacob Ekstroem · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Jul 2007 Posts: 721

It could be the size limit kicking in. Your soundfile can't be larger than 5 mb.

Mark Truslow · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 15

Here is my current audio chain........Best, Mark T.

Bill Campbell · **Voice Talent** Joined: 27 Oct 2007 Posts: 106

Noisy and muddy. Lose the Tube Pre and Griffin. Buy a
Art Studio Projects USB pre. It has enough clean gain to vastly improve your sound, and you won't need the Griffin thing.

The Art SP USB is only $100. Preamp and A/D converter all in one.

Now, if you wanted to spend more money, the possibilities are endless. But I think the above would sound good with your SM7B.

Josh Mahler · **Voice Talent** Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 44

New mic, new sample.

Just picked up an ADK Hamburg II AU today and did a quick shootout against my RED Type B with the R8 cap.

I just got hit with some sinus issues last night, so I'm a little stuffy.

Chain...

Mic>Safesound P1>Apogee Duet>Logic Pro 8

Thoughts?

All the best!

Josh

Josh Mahler · **Voice Talent** Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 44

Mark Truslow · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 15

Any opinions worse or better...........thanks, Mark T.

Josh Mahler · **Voice Talent** Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 44

Mark Truslow · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 15

Josh, First of all, many thanks for your input. OK, here's the deal...........I've got the Shure SM7B going into the Pre Sonus pre amp.........and then going into the imic. I think I have it set to mic.......so, I should change this to line in????? I wish I knew of something that would just go from the Shure to the pre amp to the Imac without the Imic. Any suggestions????. I have no idea about the buttons on the front of the pre amp. I have them all off. M.

Mark Truslow · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 15

Josh, The audio software is either Garageband or Sound Studio.............M.

Josh Mahler · **Voice Talent** Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 44

Well, if you have the white iMac with the half sphere base, it doesn't have a line in port, so the iMic is the only option until you buy either a USB or firewire audio interface like Bill suggested earlier. More on that in a sec.

Have you tried the iMic set to line in yet? Try that and see how it sounds. Your sound should clean up some. As for the settings on the Presonus, having all four buttons off is fine for now. Just adjust the 2 knobs until you have a good level coming in to your recording software. I would start by having the Drive knob all the way down, and just use the Gain knob. The Drive knob routes the input signal through the toob. The problem with this is that cheaper tube pres are not really tube pres. There is a tube, but it's not actually powering the pre. It's there purely for color and marketing, and usually the color cheap tube pres imparts on the audio is not pretty. It's just fuzzy distortion, and not the good kind, USUALLY. Smile

You may have to turn up the Drive knob some because the clean gain on the TUBEpre may not be enough juice. The SM7b needs A LOT of clean gain to get a nice level, as do most dynamic mics. The problem with cheaper pres is that the louder you crank them, the noisier they get. That goes for ANY mic pre, but a cheaper ones are going to be a lot noisier than a nice pre. So with that said, you're probably going to have to find a nice balance between the Gain and Drive knobs. Loud enough that you get a good level in your audio software, but not so loud that it noisy (like the samples you posted). If using Garage Band, 1/4 the way up the level meter should be fine on the gain. That gets you to about -15dB or so, which is loud enough for a clean recording. You might even want to download FreeG from Sonalksis. It's a free AU plugin that you can insert on a Garage Band track and see what your level coming in is.

As far as an audio interface, Bill mentioned an ART interface earlier in this thread. That is an option, and there are many options out there. What is your budget is the real question. You could spend $100 to thousands of dollars. The Presonus Firebox is a pretty good option from the reviews I read. It's a firewire interface with 2 mic pres. I've never heard or used on though. It costs around $300. I personally really like the Apogee Duet which is around $500. For an all in one unit, you'd be hard pressed to find a better unit at that price point IMO. But the options are endless. You could spend a good couple days or WEEKS researching all the gear. Smile

Presonus, MOTU, M-Audio and Digidesign are just some of the companies that make affordable audio interfaces.

Ok, my fingers are tired. I hope at least some of that helped. I look forward to hearing more samples of your mic!

Best,

Josh

Mark Truslow · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 15

Josh, I just listened to your samples for the 5th time............man, they sound great. I'm envious. M.

Josh Mahler · **Voice Talent** Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 44

Thanks Mark!

The good thing is, for a relatively small amount of dough, you can get a decent sounding setup. You already have a great mic, now it's just getting a decent pre and/or interface with built in pres that are decent. A dead room is the other part of the equation. That can be done fairly cheaply too.

BTW, did setting the Griffin to 'line' help?

Mark Truslow · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 15

Josh, I did adjust the GriffinIMic but I think I'm going to go after the pre amp that Bill suggested. I just bought the pre sonus tube pre a week ago and I have a window of 14 days to return it for store credit. I'm more than likely going to return it for the credit and use it toward the purchase of the Studio Project pre amp. I'll post a sample that I did a few hours ago up later. I was going through the samples of everyone else and noticed that a few people have the SM7B. That makes me feel a little bit better. Thanks again for everything. M.

Josh Mahler · **Voice Talent** Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 44

You're very welcome.

Go deal on taking the TUBEpre back. Can't wait to hear you with the ART.

And yeah, the SM7b is a great mic!