Microphone for Voiceovers?

[cryophonik]

So, in addition to our real jobs, my wife and I are professional photographers who also dabble in videography. My company (I'm a scientist with an environmental consulting firm) is aware of this and has asked me to assist with a series of safety training videos. It's going to require me to record videos on location and voiceovers, which will be done by two different narrators (one female, one male) in my home studio. I haven't been doing much vocal recording in the past 4-5 years and haven't recorded very many voiceovers at all. The vast majority of my vocal recordings has been female vox for my own music and I currently just have my Mojave MA-200 condenser mic. It's a fantastic mic, but it picks up so much detail, background noise, etc. that I'm concerned it might not be the best for this task.

I owned a Shure SM7B for many years and it was fantastic, but sold it when I took a break from music, so I'm considering just buying another one, since I would probably use it again for recording vocal tracks in the future. But, I wanted to get some advice from people who routinely do voiceovers. Should I just stick with the MA-200, go for a SM7B, or is there something else that I should consider that costs less than the SM7B (i.e., ~$400, and I'm not looking to spend more than that).

Oh, and I'll be running it through my Focusrite ISA 220, so I have plenty of gain for the SM7B or just about any other mic.

[justin3am]

I hear a lot of people recommend SM7B for this kind of thing but honestly, I'm not a fan. I prefer an RE20 for VO but it's better suited to lower voices. My favorite in terms of versatility is the Heil PR40.
I've also seen some folks using shotgun mics. That could be a good option if you also plan to record in the field.

[cryophonik]

Thanks Justin! It's funny, for some reason I thought that I recalled the RE20 being a lot more expensive. I owned one many years ago and used it in my live rig as a kick drum mic. May have to reconsider that, since it's only slightly more than an SM7B. I wasn't familiar with the PR40 and thought it was a condenser at first, but now see that it's a dynamic, so I may have to give that a closer look, too. Thanks for the suggestions!

[pdxindy]

So the only voice recording will be done in your studio? or on location too? It wasn't clear to me from your post.

[cryophonik]

Yeah, all voice recording will be done in the studio

[khanyz]

For radio work, I started with an SM57 and it’s still my go to. Combined with Hindenburg (Journalist) it covers most areas. I’ve never needed to use a more expensive mic, though I occasionally use an sE Electronics R1 Ribbon (with Reflexion Filter as it’s figure 8 ) for a specific colour. I also sometimes use a dbx 376, but only with voices I know well so can dial in with confidence.

Even if you go with a more expensive mic, I’d recommend getting an SM57 as a backup and setup test.

Hindenburg is good for interviews, so will probably be handy with mixing 2 narrators. There are different versions aimed at specific purposes but there is a lot of overlap and core set of tools. The basic versions are only 16-bit audio though, not an issue for me but noisy or uneven recordings will probably need to be processed before importing.

[pdxindy]

Yeah, all voice recording will be done in the studio

Seems like you could just use what you have then... the Mohave. I have the same mic and it works well in the studio for voiceovers, for podcasts, etc. Is your studio particularly noisy of something?

[cryophonik]

For radio work, I started with an SM57 and it’s still my go to. Combined with Hindenburg (Journalist) it covers most areas. I’ve never needed to use a more expensive mic, though I occasionally use an sE Electronics R1 Ribbon (with Reflexion Filter as it’s figure 8 ) for a specific colour. I also sometimes use a dbx 376, but only with voices I know well so can dial in with confidence.

Even if you go with a more expensive mic, I’d recommend getting an SM57 as a backup and setup test.

Hindenburg is good for interviews, so will probably be handy with mixing 2 narrators. There are different versions aimed at specific purposes but there is a lot of overlap and core set of tools. The basic versions are only 16-bit audio though, not an issue for me but noisy or uneven recordings will probably need to be processed before importing.

Lots of good thoughts to consider here. I have an Aston Halo, which is similar to the Reflexion Filter (I owned one of those for years, but I like the Halo MUCH more!). I'm not sure if I'll use it for this purpose, since I was planning on having the narrators sitting at my desk in front of the videos and the Halo would be difficult to place there and still see the video, but it's certainly something to consider.

Re: Hindenburg, I'm not familiar with it, but just gave the website a quick look and it does have some attractive features. I was planning on using a combination of Final Cut and Logic for the production and voiceover work, so I'm not sure how/where I would fit that into the workflow. Any thoughts?

Yeah, all voice recording will be done in the studio

Seems like you could just use what you have then... the Mohave. I have the same mic and it works well in the studio for voiceovers, for podcasts, etc. Is your studio particularly noisy of something?

To be honest, I'm not sure. When I was doing a lot of recording, we were in our old house and I was using a PC that was not the quietest, a lot of background noise from the A/C or furnace, kids and cars outside my home office/studio (it was in the front of the house), etc. and the Mojave would pick up EVERYTHING! It wasn't a big problem for song vocal tracks because the SNR was so high that I could gate/expand most of the ambient noise out to where it wasn't audible in the mix, but it most certainly would have been problematic for video voiceovers. I haven't recorded much in our new house, but the room seems to be pretty quiet and my iMac is dead quiet, so the Mojave might be ok. I guess an obvious solution would be to try the Mojave before I make a decision.

[justin3am]

Yeah, all voice recording will be done in the studio

Seems like you could just use what you have then... the Mohave. I have the same mic and it works well in the studio for voiceovers, for podcasts, etc. Is your studio particularly noisy of something?

If they have more than one person in a room together, the condenser will pick up a lot of rustle. That's one of the reasons you usually see dynamic mics used for radio. The RE20 and Neumann's dynamic mic are really common in radio studios.

[cryophonik]

I plan on most likely just having one narrator at a time, but I'll be in the room as well and my office/studio is a pretty small space, so there's definitely the potential for additional noise.

[justin3am]

For radio work, I started with an SM57 and it’s still my go to. Combined with Hindenburg (Journalist) it covers most areas. I’ve never needed to use a more expensive mic, though I occasionally use an sE Electronics R1 Ribbon (with Reflexion Filter as it’s figure 8 ) for a specific colour. I also sometimes use a dbx 376, but only with voices I know well so can dial in with confidence.

Even if you go with a more expensive mic, I’d recommend getting an SM57 as a backup and setup test.

Everyone who does anything related to audio should have an SM57 but... it has a pronounced proximity effect, so it gets more boomy, the closer you get to it. That can be useful in some cases but probably not desirable for VOs. That said, any microphone that you are very familiar with is better than a mic whose characteristics are unfamiliar. If you know exactly where to place a 57 to get a good sound, then keep on using it.

[pdxindy]

To be honest, I'm not sure. When I was doing a lot of recording, we were in our old house and I was using a PC that was not the quietest, a lot of background noise from the A/C or furnace, kids and cars outside my home office/studio (it was in the front of the house), etc. and the Mojave would pick up EVERYTHING! It wasn't a big problem for song vocal tracks because the SNR was so high that I could gate/expand most of the ambient noise out to where it wasn't audible in the mix, but it most certainly would have been problematic for video voiceovers. I haven't recorded much in our new house, but the room seems to be pretty quiet and my iMac is dead quiet, so the Mojave might be ok. I guess an obvious solution would be to try the Mojave before I make a decision.

Yeah, may as well try it out before spending cash...

My studio is super quiet. Basically there is no discernible background noise, so I don't have to contend with that.

If noise is an issue, you could create a 'sound booth'. Back when I was in the city and street noise was a thing, I used 4 cheap used rugs to make a little vocal booth (about 4'x5') with a piece of cutout carpet for the floor and 'ceiling'. I used some cheap conduit which has angled connector parts to make the framework to hang the rugs on. Didn't cost much in total. Last year when I was overseas for some months, I converted a walk in closet into a recording booth.

I'm not super experienced with this stuff, but I am fussy about unwanted noise. IMO, making the recording space quiet and deadened will do a lot for a recording.

[justin3am]

I guess an obvious solution would be to try the Mojave before I make a decision.

I think that is probably the right idea. It may work perfectly fine. I recently used my modded MXL condenser mic to record some dialog and it worked perfectly. If it doesn't work, it will give you a better idea of what you need.

[cryophonik]

Everyone who does anything related to audio should have an SM57 but... it has a pronounced proximity effect, so it gets more boomy, the closer you get to it. That can be useful in some cases but probably not desirable for VOs. That said, any microphone that you are very familiar with is better than a mic whose characteristics are unfamiliar. If you know exactly where to place a 57 to get a good sound, then keep on using it.

Yeah, I owned dozens of 57s and 58s back in my band/audio engineer days, but never used them in my home studio. I would probably go with a SM7B before one of those two, since I really like that mic for female vocals and sorta regret selling it now, so it would be a good long-term investment. But, yeah, I'll try a practice run with the Mojave and see where that leaves me.

[khanyz]

Re: Hindenburg, I'm not familiar with it, but just gave the website a quick look and it does have some attractive features. I was planning on using a combination of Final Cut and Logic for the production and voiceover work, so I'm not sure how/where I would fit that into the workflow. Any thoughts?

I use Logic for Jingles and it's separate from Hindenburg. I use Hindenburg purely for vocal work (interviews etc) and get a finished track from it (to send to the DJ/station). It’s easy to use and semi-automated for my use. With defaults, it's probably very quick. I use Logic when I need to arrange music behind the voice. If it’s only background music then I’d use the Hindenburg track and just sit it on top. If the voice and music are connected/interplay (i.e. Jingle) then I only use Logic, though edit the voice recording first (to clean and level, if dodgy).

As far as the SM57 goes, yes, I know it inside out and never had any real issue with proximity effect (after that first month many decades ago). I’ve found it pretty pinpoint in background rejection so for me, it works and I can tailor the sound easily with effects. I’m less enthused about the SM58 but have one because people ask. I usually do a switch with an SM48 if they want to borrow it though. They never notice

I will try an SM7B. Old dog & new tricks and all that The Aston Halo looks cool, may be pointless to resist.