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i have a rather plain voice that can't go too low, anyone know how to get the most low end out of the human voice?

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moonbaby Wed, 03/07/2007 - 06:56

mikecornett wrote: Record through a tube LD condenser into a tube preamp just before bed after a night out at the hookah bar.

:lol:
Just about! You need to find the mic that suits you, and learn to "work it".
This means that you move closer to the mic to bring out its' proximity effect (bass boost close up). There are some dynamic mics that let you do this, too. The Shure SM7, the Beyer M99, and the Sennheiser 421 (the latter 2 will require an external wind/pop filter) all help give you a bigger voice. I use an E-V RE-20 (an industry standard) a lot because it doesn't have a proximity effect, it's very neutral, but keeps my deep voice big, but not muddy. There are tons of LD condensers that will help with this,
of course, and everyone out there has his/her favorites. I like the A-T AT4047 to give thinner voices a "warmer" sound.

RemyRAD Wed, 03/07/2007 - 22:18

None of these people know what they're talking about!!

To get that vocal sound you want. It's simple! You only need a fifth of Jack Daniels and a pack of Chesterfield's. After that, you'll have the sound of Clanging Brass Balls!

Lookout!!! You almost hit that equalizer!

I prefer Scotch but have no balls
Ms. Remy Ann David

moonbaby Thu, 03/08/2007 - 06:21

RemyRAD wrote: None of these people know what they're talking about!!

To get that vocal sound you want. It's simple! You only need a fifth of Jack Daniels and a pack of Chesterfield's. After that, you'll have the sound of Clanging Brass Balls!

Lookout!!! You almost hit that equalizer!

I prefer Scotch but have no balls
Ms. Remy Ann David

:lol:
Well, I have the balls, and I'm Scotch...Maybe THAT'S it!

RemyRAD Thu, 03/08/2007 - 21:02

A good suggestion from me should have been, procure a reasonable large diaphragm condenser microphone. For announcers I generally grabbed the Neumann U87 or sometimes a KM86 sdc. Reasonable microphone preamp is next, which does not have to be with tubes. On the contrary, I like transistor preamps better for announce tracks. The extra "edge" allows them to cut through broadcast dynamics processing better. You'll want to use after the preamp, a little filtering and equalization. Engage the microphones bass rolloff filter and make sure your filter or screen pop filter is in place. I like to add a little extra bump at 100 hertz and maybe some at 4kHz and/or some 10kHz. Then into the compressor. Try a medium attack and release time otherwise press the auto button. Start with something like compression around 4:1. Adjust the threshold control so that when you are speaking in a normal tone of voice, you should be seeing between 6 and 15 DB of gain reduction.

To get that bigger vocal sound, you will need to adjust distance to microphone and the amount of compression to get that sound of a pumped up announcer. It may also help, if you can insert a downward expander, not a gate and be able to offset the background noise and gasping breath noise, by setting the downward expansion to no more than the amount of gain reduction the compressor is indicating. So about 6 to 15 DB, where you will set the threshold to "duck", only when you take a breath. Unlike the compressor, this is a much more tricky setting adjustment but the benefits are amazing! Pumped up sound with normal breaths and low background noise with no rush of noise by the compressor because the downward expander is ducking when you're not saying anything. You may even desire to add a little extra equalization, after the compression and expansion, this equalization before and after dynamics processing, yields different results?

This was a basic set up that I used for most announcers. I personally liked using the API microphone preamp with a 550A series equalizer, into a UREI 1176LN and a Allison KEPEX1. I generally like the darker coloration of the U87 wear a 414AKG, can be a little thin.

Remember to always put a condom on your microphone.
Ms. Remy Ann David

TVPostSound Thu, 03/08/2007 - 22:25

To get that vocal sound you want. It's simple! You only need a fifth of Jack Daniels and a pack of Chesterfield's. After that, you'll have the sound of Clanging Brass Balls!

How so true Remy!!!

I have worked with a big name VO talent. The name I will not divulge.
He used to sit in the bay (not the VO booth) to record, and he was smoking Marlboros, and drinking scotch, while recording!!!