Hi there! First post, hope this goes well.
My wife was a professional singer in the past with a record label...and then met me, she gave up everything to raise our child. I know she still thinks a lot of the past and what could've been with all her talent. She has an amazing range, she can do crazy voices and sound effects, she even sang her music in 5 different langauges. It's our wedding anniversary next month and I would like to surprise her with a little set up for her do voice-over, vocals, and maybe work back to doing what she really loved before I came along and she gave this all up for me.
I'd love for her not to laugh when she opens my gifts and to know that much thought went into this gift, to give her back what she once had passion doing before having to choose.
She will read this post and assume this account on here also after our anniversary since technically she is the professional not me.
Any and all help would be fully amazing and I know she would get something better than just I could come up with.
- Shure SM7B Microphone
- Cloudlifter CL-2
- Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB interface
- Gator mic desk stand
- two 3' XLR cables
- two 6' XLR cables
- Audio-Technica ATH-M50x headphones
RODECaster Pro ?
I have read the SM7b needs 60+db, I see people only using the cloudlifter CL-2 but it's not designed for that, not sure which pre-amp/amp I would need.
Thank you for any assistance, muuuuch appreciation for helping to provide her the correct setup.
Comments
paulears, post: 465627, member: 47782 wrote: There's a trend dev
paulears, post: 465627, member: 47782 wrote: There's a trend developing to automatically add a cloudlifter to every SM7B purchase. I've never had one and never needed one. The people who need them tend to have pale pink voices and are too far from the mic.
It's the combination of SM7B and a Scarlett interface that needs the gain booster. The Scarlett 2i2 has a gain of only 56dB (min -47dBu at the input), which really isn't enough for the SM7B, no matter how close you are to it. In addition to that, running an interface at full gain usually results in input noise becoming audible.
Interfaces that have microphone gains that will go to 65dB or more generally work fine with low-output mics like the SM7B and the RE20, as their input noise is comparable or less than the microphone's self-noise.
Any of the half-dozen generally-available makes of signal booster effectively turns a low-gain interface into a high-gain one.
paulears, post: 465629, member: 47782 wrote: My old Tascam inter
paulears, post: 465629, member: 47782 wrote: My old Tascam interface had -58dB as the gain figure for the mic and my current Presonus is slightly worse - both are fine with my SM7B.
The -58dB can't be a gain figure, so assuming it means a level of -58dBu at the mic input for full-scale output, that's 9dB more sensitive than the Scarlett 2i2. It could make all the difference.
The spec figure to look at is the difference between the noise floor of your pre-amp mic input and that of the booster. If the booster noise floor is lower, you will end up with less noise in the captured data whatever gain setting you chose to use.
SM7B with built in preamps
I wonder if she liked her present?
I note everyone is now getting excited about the new SM7B with built in preamps. I did a few tests a while back with the preamps I have for the SM7B and the video is here. Oddly, the preamp I didn’t like was actually better than I thought. The Zoom I used just wasnt powering it properly!
Sobepromotions, post: 465622, member: 52075 wrote: Hi there! Fir
Without hearing her voice its difficult to pick the "best mic" for her voice.
This is why i think the sm7 is an excellent choice. Its a great mic, and sounds good on a wide range of voices. Its a staple in the broadcast and studio worlds.
Everything else looks good and is capable of good results.
You may find in the future she prefers to stand and record so a wireless qwerty keyboard, longer cables and another mic stand might be needed.
Maybe a longer cable and one of those desk mount broadcast style adjustable mic booms would handle the task upfront, allowing her to record sitting or standing in front of the computer. They range from 15-100 on Amazon ect.
The scarlett is a good unit, no problems with that. The new gen has a button on the pre amp that adds some high frequencies, which can be good in some cases.
Best of luck!