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Hi Gang,

I have a home based studio which I am using for voice-over work. I am having a hard time getting a good quality sound, can you help?
It's mainly for audition purposes, but yet I want good quality sound.

I need to have an idea about the proper settings for my equipment. I am using a BEHRINGER C-1 microphone and an M-Audio MOBILEPRE USB in a voice isolation booth. Can someone shed some light on the proper settings for the preamp? The M-Audio set up page for the software has USB RECORD, etc. I don’t know what to set to achieve a good sound, +3 +6?

Also, where exactly should the pop filter be placed in relation to my microphone? How many inches back from the microphone? And having set that, where should my mouth be in relation to the pop filter.

Please help,
Newsguy

Comments

moonbaby Fri, 08/11/2006 - 07:23

Welcome to the forum. Sorry, but "good quality sound" and the Behringer mic line are not simpatico!
You need to ditch that mic and pop as little as $100 for a Shure SM58 or an A-T 2020 condenser. Either one of those budget mics will knock the Behringer off it's block. And, if you can spend more$$, there are some real nice mics out there (Beyer M99, EV RE20, Shure SM7, Sennheiser shotgun). The sky's the limit on 'em.
How big is the iso booth? Are you getting too much chest or nasalliness? A small, tight dead booth can really kill the quality of your sound. Sometimes standing in a larger area with some acoustic treatment will yield better results.
1"-2" on the screen, depending on the talent and the mic.

anonymous Fri, 08/11/2006 - 07:35

I second the AT 2020... it's probably more of what you're looking for, and they're about $100 - $130.

If you want to go to $200, look at the StudioProjects C1.

Either one of those will probably fill out your sound well. If you're using a compressor, that could kill the sound as well. Don't over-do it with the compression, it will suck the dynamics out of your voice.

moonbaby is spot-on about the vocal space, too... sometimes a little "natural" sound makes all the difference.
Just for the hell of it, try a decent sized bathroom... honestly. If it's got too much reverb, throw a rug in there, but sometimes it allows the lower frequencies to fill in a little bit more without cranking an EQ. That's a cheap way to test... and sometimes record, without remodeling.