T' & Vocal compression

[jens]

Uh, i've just totally duplicated GaryG's post haven't I?

nope - the thing with the mixer was a nice new variation ...

[GaryG]

I've a rode nt1a, joemeek vcs1q ... don't know why, but nt1a through meek sounds way too thin

well optical compressors can make things brighter (generally good) but if the NT1 is a thin sounding mike already... maybe not a good combination.

.g

[DAVERKID]

If you were gonna buy a Rode..... i HIGHLY suggest.... the K2 .... amazing all round mic.
But it can be a bit budget intensive.

MXL V69 mogami isnt a bad choice or lower end AUDIO TECHNICA.. like AT3035 , which by the way is on sale at 8thstreet.com for $199 and includes a boom stand for free at the moment. ON THE BUDGET END...
JUST MY 2 CENTS

[PaulG]

Alright, then...what about the best vocal mic ~$200 or so? Not the Rode?

Anybody heard if the Behringer outboard gear, very budget-oriented, is any good? Like the MDX2600 Composer Pro XL Processor? It's only about $120..

Thanks, a lot of good info here. Hope I can contribute significantly in the future also.

- Paul

[Lunch Money]

I've heard that the Studio Projects stuff is phenomenal for the price, though I've never tested it. Since I'm skint, the one I'm looking at is THIS humble guy. MSRP is out the window, as I can get it for $100 CDN (what's that... $75 US?). Complete with shock-mount!

One store I went to were pretty keen on the Apex stuff as good for the budget. I'd be more interested in their small-diaphragm than their large-diaphragm, though.

Truth be told, I haven't tried a single one of these out in practice, but I'm always on the research path, ya know?

Greg

[james]

It's not fair to lump all the Rode mics in one review. They make products for different price ranges - same as any other business. In my opinion, the NT1 wasn't a great mic but it sold like hotcakes because it was cheap. The NT1 suffered from quality control issues related to the chinese capsule.

Soon after, Rode built a fantastic factory and makes everything themselves now. Thanks to these changes, the NT1A is a much improved version but can't compare with the NT-1000 which has a street price of around 300.00.

Check out the Rode reviews at
http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.n ... query=rode
It's an education. You really do get what you pay for.

[simpletim]

I have a behringer B1 that I paid about $100 for. I think it sounds great for the price. it came with a windscreen, shockmount and case. It also has a low end rolloff and a -10db cut that can really help in project studio.

[P.T.]

Isn't there a way to use a software compressor in the host to compress the signal on the way in?

[Lunch Money]

Nope.

Greg

[unknown user]

best vocal mic ~$200 or so?

I really like my CAD Equitek E-100. It's got rolloff, pad, on/off, and a battery, but I always use phantom. It's the old one not the new E1002.

[soulata]

It's not fair to lump all the Rode mics in one review. They make products for different price ranges...

absolutely right. I'm not saying NT1A is a bad sounding microphone at all. for the price it's ueberexcellent. all I wanted to say was either:

1) try to stretch for a higher model if possible (which would still be excellent value)

2) tame it with a nice preamp (presonus tube pre that I have isn't too bad and it doesn't cost much

so

k

[IIRs]

There's a lot of BS talked about analogue vrs digital compression IMO.

The price of a pretty average hardware compressor could buy you some fantastic dynamics plugs..

If you record at 24 bit you can afford to leave 12dB or more of headroom without losing any significant resolution, so who needs to push the converters hard?

Keep your options open I say.. you can always add more compression in the mix, but you can't take it away if you regret recording with it..

One area where a hardware compressor may help however, is monitoring: people often point out that reverb in a singers headphones can help with their intonation & performance: well, compression can make it easier to create a good headphones mix, and if the vocal sounds a bit "polished" that might inspire a better performance too..

[MelodyMan]

I use the JoeMeek vc6Q exclusively (which is not made anymore, but you could get second-hand)with a Samson C03.
If you wanna hear how that sounds, here's a mp3 of a song of mine:

http://members.chello.nl/r.stuurman/RAF.mp3

[chico.co.uk]

It's not fair to lump all the Rode mics in one review. They make products for different price ranges...

absolutely right. I'm not saying NT1A is a bad sounding microphone at all. for the price it's ueberexcellent. all I wanted to say was either:

1) try to stretch for a higher model if possible (which would still be excellent value)

2) tame it with a nice preamp (presonus tube pre that I have isn't too bad and it doesn't cost much

so

k

Hi mate,

Soon as i have any spare cash again, i'm in the market for a decent-ish preamp to go with my NT1A (which I love, but I'm comparing it to my previous mikes, which were 1970s Shure things that I'd inherited from me dad)

D'you reckon the presonus suits the NT1a better than the tfpro then? Need advice really from someone who's tried both

Cheers

[soulata]

D'you reckon the presonus suits the NT1a better than the tfpro then? Need advice really from someone who's tried both.

I think tfpro should be close in sound to joemeek so I'd say yes, presonus does a better job on this one.

TLaudio ivory series II is ok too (I've a quad pre 5001), maybe you can get it s/h somewhere.

on the other hand, eq on my joemeek is quite pleasing, I use it often as an insert fx out of comp and back in.

k

if you're not in hurry I can do short bits of all three preamps that I have, with sax, voice and rhodes. not today though