Microhpone advice needed: Blue/Yeti vs Rode NT-USB

[kozikowski]

Still goin' with what you got and a couple of moving blankets. That can be effective and pretty cheap. Harbor Freight had good blankets.

HarborFreightBlanket.JPG (188.74 KiB) Viewed 215 times

As it says in the studio posting, Home Depot, last I checked had pre-cut pipes and the install doesn't use glue. Stick it together and knock it apart when you're done.

What's a good microphone? That should be pretty simple.

May I ask which one do you use ?

You may, but I may not be able to come up with a ready answer. Looking.

That's it sitting on the left-hand Mac.



Can you make out the name? It's possible that even if it does turn up, it's going to be no longer made. I have a lot of stuff like that.

I do remember it came with an interface box which would do a number of neat tricks. The obvious trick was adapting from the actual tiny microphone cable to XLR. You could put batteries in it and run that way, or you could configure it to run from 48volt phantom power sent up from the mixer. No part of this runs on USB.

But that's not a killer. I like my Behringer UM2 interface.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... -interface

There is one odd shortcoming. It doesn't overload at the same place that Audacity does. It's a couple of dB off. Pay attention to the UM2 lights.

Koz

[kozikowski]

That's the UM2 in full "Studio" configuration. That's actually my outside photo studio, but it's identical to an actual shoot.



Koz

[kozikowski]

So by my count, for about $30 usd and a little microphone management, you could have a tiny portable studio and sound terrific.

Koz

[jademan]

If money was unimportant, and I needed a new headset mic, I'd go for a DPA mic. I've used them on musical stage productions, and they're the best headset mics I've ever used (but rather expensive).

Yes, rather.

Can you make out the name?

Not even when I squint my eyes. Thanks for looking.

[AF 707]

Thanks for the advice guys. I will post a more in-depth reply later when I am able.

For now, it is good (in a way) to learn that editing typically requires 5x the length of the recording itself. I was wondering whether I was being horribly inefficient in this process, and if there was some way to save time. I guess there's no way around it if one wants to produce a high-quality product (Crickets be damned!)

Anyway, in terms or mic placement, if I put the Yeti off-axis as illustrated in the first reply, should I then switch from cardioid to some other pickup mode (stereo?)?

Thanks

[kozikowski]

switch from cardioid

No. Cardioid (heart-shaped) or kidney-shaped is good. Omnidirectional will allow you to pick up the crickets much clearer and louder. Figure-Of-Eight will allow you to pick up only some crickets clearer and louder.

This is the cardioid pick-up pattern for a rock band microphone, but you get the idea. The performer is typically inside that pattern facing the microphone. There is a "dead" spot directly behind the microphone and you can make good use of that if you have two people by putting each person in the dead zone of the other. This only works well if you have a quiet, echo-free room, and it doesn't work near as well with three or more people.



Since you have no "studio" or controlled environment, you want to record the least room sound possible. As in the post, most popping, spitting and ticking sounds go straight in front of your nose. Don't put the microphone there. The company name should still face you, even with the microphone off to the side.

If you have a quiet, echo-free environment (the word "studio" frightens people), you can get almost any microphone to work. I'm still on-and-off working on getting a phone to work as a stand-alone recorder. They make it extraordinarily hard to do that.

editing typically requires 5x the length of the recording itself.

Sure. Watch. The first trip through the show is listening to make sure you know where the errors and trash are and the last trip through to make sure you got them all and the show flows smoothly after your corrections. That's two out of the five and we haven't done any corrections yet.

There's no shortage of forum posters saying things like: "I have a nine-hour podcast. What's the fastest way to filter out all the mistakes."

That's adorable. There's no one-button push (except on April First). The successful performers are all doing what you're doing. "That's a serious P-Pop. Let's cover that one up."

You can take longer. There was a forum poster who assured us he was going to edit his presentation word by word. He's probably still cutting it years later.


I wrote up a product called Professional Audio Filter (PAF) where you could record complete trash and it would come out a perfect, professional studio presentation after applying the filter. But only on April first.

There are Academy Awards® for editing. I'm not making this up.


Oh, there was one item in the repair arsenal. These microphones can be subject to "Essing." That's where each SS sound in a sentence is boosted and sounds like it could cut wood. There is software to help with that. DeEsser and Desibilator.

Koz

[kozikowski]

There is a desperation method. Record in the back of your car. Park in a quiet place and set up shop. I tell of a producer who routinely turned out good or at least workable voice tracks. I asked how he did it. He said "My Toyota."

Koz

[AF 707]

Hi kozikowski. Thanks very much for your thoughtful posts! I am happy with the sound quality on the Yeti (at least for voice), and will hold onto it for now unless someone can suggest something that would be appreciably better for my application. Regardless, it sounds as if a different mic will not save me much time in editing.

We are 100% remote since March 2020 and I cannot even work in my quiet office at work, so I record my screencast lectures at home at night. This is because I'm a nightowl, and it's generally quieter at that time (no lawmowers, leafblowers screaming kids, etc.). The crickets are not a huge deal, and I think very few of my students care about the finer points of audio quality and editing. Nevertheless, I try to do my best to make the audio as clean as possible--hence, editing out inhalations, exhalations, lip-smacking, etc. Because I have very sensitive hearing, those things annoy me a lot!

Interestingly, when I first started doing the screencast lectures in 2018, I would start with a enough slide material for a 50 minute lecture, and by the time I edited everything down, it ended up being about 20 minutes. I explain to the students that these lectures are hence very concentrated--no time for questions, discussion, funny little stories, water drinking, inhaling, etc.

In any case, we are looking at getting new windows here--double-pane, soundproof, and better climate control. I am also interested in other desktop modifications. I have the round Auray pop filter, but it does not seem to make much difference to me. I also think that the monitor itself causes a bit of echo/reverb, as it sits right behind the mic, as currently set up. I would think that setting the mic off axis would minimize that as well.

Thanks again.

[AF 707]

Also, tried to send you a PM, but I am not allowed yet.

[kozikowski]

I try to do my best to make the audio as clean as possible

Good thinking for two reasons: Who demands better respect and attention? Somebody in BBC voice, perfect diction, impeccable accuracy, and smooth presentation, or someone who sounds like they dashed off the class between episodes of Gilligan's Island?

But there's another layer as well. I know you don't do this, but nothing drives me to homicidal fury faster than watching a "How To" video that makes a mistake and then makes me sit through them correcting the mistake.

I also think that the monitor itself causes a bit of echo/reverb

Do you have a speaker/monitor running in the room while you're presenting? You're supposed to be wearing wired headphones plugged into the Yeti while you're announcing.



That does wonders for smoothing out your live volume and expression. No you can't plug into the computer and you can't use wireless headphones.

Koz