Voice-Over Mic Shoot-out: Phantom C vs TLM103 vs M930 (WAV's posted)

[James Lehmann]

Here are the results of a somewhat unscientific shoot-out between three mid-priced mics on some voice-over material.

- Brauner Phantom C
- Neumann TLM103
- Microtech Gefell M930

I've randomly labelled the Mics A, B & C for those who want to hazard some guesses, and I'll check back and reveal all later on!

The tests were not conducted in vocal booth so you can hear some room ambience and extraneous noise. The source material is my own voice - I started with a hard-sell commercial and switched to a softer reading from a book so you can get an idea of two very different types of material. The takes are very 'rough and ready' so I haven't really got to work cleaning them up etc and I certainly wouldn't present them as a completed job, not least because it's tough to get good artistic results when you're engineering your own session. There's a few plosives etc that I didn't have time to fix.

The tests are necessarily in pairs as I only have two pre-amps, so you're best comparing A/B within each discrete test as opposed to across tests otherwise you'll be comparing different takes. For example, as it turned out the commercial on Take 3 was definitely better than say Take 1.

I used Elemental Audio's Finis plug-in to bring up all the volumes to the same level (note, NOT to perform any limiting), to cater for different output levels. Some will inevitably object to any form of added processing but I think it's the only way to focus objectively on the sound quality rather than raw volume, and it's nothing that you wouldn't automatically do in a realworld situation anyway, and the treatment is the same for all 3 instances. I will reveal the relative 'hotness' of each mic later, as there are differences.

This somewhat unscientific test is certainly open to criticism from the point of view of positioning as it's tricky to speak into the sweetspot of two LDC's simultaneously, and the optimum distance from the mic is clearly different for each mic. As any self-respecting engineer will point out with complete justification, fine-tuning the position of each mic individually will improve its performance, although perhaps not equally.

Making meaningful price comparisons these days is tricky as so many of us can score great deals from certain dealers on certain makes, exchange rates fluctuate wildly and eBay make a mockery of actual new cost, so for the moment I'll just say that for a "European € ballpark new price" the Gefell is easily the cheapest of these three, with the Brauner and the Neumann both costing +/-50% more.

So please don't think of this as anything definitive - it's just some fun pointers!

Right - enough excuses, here's the test!


Testing equipment was:

Metric Halo ULN-2 Pre-amps (set to +32dB of Gain) & A-D conversion
Logic 7.1
G4 Powerbook
Belden/Neutrik cables
(Sony MDR-7509 Cans)

All files are mono WAV's at 24/44.1k and are around 7MB each.

For each TAKE I slung up two different mics as close as possible, armed the tracks, hit record and started speaking...

TAKE ONE: Mic A vs Mic B
Mic A
Mic B

TAKE TWO: Mic B vs Mic C
Mic B
Mic C

TAKE THREE: Mic A vs Mic C
Mic A
Mic C


NB: Thanks to Nico for the loan of the TLM103, the other two mics I already own myself.



EDIT: I have now revealed the identity of each mic later in this thread so if you want to blind test don't scroll down!

[Offender]

Slightly confused about the test files. Couldn't you have just uploaded 3 files?

Anyway, test one A and B are the exact same wav file. I'm too confused to comment with much detail.

[James Lehmann]

Originally Posted by Offender

Slightly confused about the test files. Couldn't you have just uploaded 3 files? Anyway, test one A and B are the exact same wav file. I'm too confused to comment with much detail.

Just to recap for you - I shot-out the mics in pairs; A vs B, B vs C and A vs C, and posted the results of each shoot-out as two mono files.

The waveforms may look the same as I have level-matched them but they don't sound the same.

I just double-checked all the links and everything is as it should be!

[Resonater]

I was (am) also a bit confused about the format of your files, but maybe it was just that I was tired last night when trying to listen. I'll try again today.

Could you shorten the files? The file sizes are pretty large and even on my DSL takes minutes to download.

Thanks for posting, though. I do really want to hear this shootout.

[matucha]

So I will start. I didn't like the esses on any of them. I'm listening through minidac>akg k270 headphones (my adam s3a are at prague collecting dust ;( )

The mics A & B were my favourites and I prefer B a bit more. C sounds harsh to my ears.

so:

B best
A
C worst

[James Lehmann]

Originally Posted by matucha

So I will start.

Good man!

Care to have a guess at placing which is which?

[matucha]

I didn't record with any of those, so my guess is very VERY irrelevant.

I wish it is: B - M930, A - PhantomC, C - TLM103

[matucha]

bumpola

[Brian Middleton]

My highly uneducated guesses:

A--TLM103
B--M930
C--Phantom

BTW, anybody who uses Philip Pullman for mic sample readings is my kind of gearslut.

[James Lehmann]

Originally Posted by Brian Middleton

BTW, anybody who uses Philip Pullman for mic sample readings is my kind of gearslut.

LOL! Was wondering how long it might be before someone pointed that out!

[Brian Middleton]

So James, when do we get the answers?

[jajjguy]

That was fun. At first listen, A sounded a bit thin, B sounded fuller and more pleasant, C sounded like B but worse, harsher and less even. At second listen, C sounded even worse, and B even better, but A sounded perhaps the most even and workable, though you would have to work it a bit with compression and/or eq.

If I were to guess which was which, it would only be based on how you all have described them, as I've used none of these mics. So nevermind that.

[James Lehmann]

Originally Posted by Brian Middleton

So James, when do we get the answers?

Fair enough!

Blind test spoiler... >>>


































A = Microtech Gefell M930
B = Neumann TLM103
C = Brauner Phantom C

[Paul David]

Wow! I was way off. I own the phantom and I really thought that it was A... You must have done something wrong


Is it revision 1, 2 or the special edition?


BTW, I really like how the M930 brings across the low end of your voice... Nice and big. That was by far my favorite, the phantom is way too sibilant and clinical sounding and the tlm 103 was just boring.

[matucha]

So that points finger on M930 for me ;-). However all of them were silibant... and TLM103 and M930 were very close to me, the difference could be in the proximity efect.

[BobSchwenkler]

I definitely liked the sound of the M930 more than the others. The more I record, the more I really don't like mics with an unnatural high end boost. I heard samples of the M930 on drums at some point in the past, and they sounded so natural compared to the other mics used.

[James Lehmann]

Originally Posted by matucha

TLM103 and M930 were very close to me, the difference could be in the proximity efect.

Yes, you're right - the M930 has quite a pronounced proximity. I pointed this out in my introduction to this thread, ie that my method of placing two mics next to each other is a flawed test as in reality each mic works 'best' at a particular distance. I think all three mics can be micro-placed to achieve better results, although hopefully my test at least gives a 'flavour'.

Sibilance is a problem with all of them (although perhaps this means it's more my voice!), particularly on the Brauner, and whilst the Gefell does have an HF lift it probably sounds the smoother of the three, with the TLM somewhere in the middle.

[James Lehmann]

Hmm... must fix these links...

[cubivore]

Originally Posted by James Lehmann

Hmm... must fix these links...

yes, bump for link fix. i'm very curious to hear this!

[James Lehmann]

Originally Posted by cubivore

yes, bump for link fix. i'm very curious to hear this!

Fixed!

[cubivore]

thanks for the samples, james! i have to admit the differences were much more subtle than i expected. i'm very used to the tlm103 and found your samples to be close to what i expected. i didn't think it would be neck and neck with the 930. i cared for the brauner the least for this application. which mic do you prefer for recording yourself, james? sounds like the 103 would be easiest to work with since it doesn't seem to exhibit the amount of proximity effect as the gefell.

also, why doesn't anyone have the 940? i don't even see them stocked anywhere. what's so terrible about super cardioid, especially for VO?

[James Lehmann]

Originally Posted by cubivore

the differences were much more subtle than i expected.

Yes - I agree. Just goes to show that it's so much more about the source than the mic! Any half-decent mic is serviceable if you have a professional talent, place it right, use some room treatment (even then you'd be surprised what some studios get away with) and a nice clean pre-amp. Unlike music, voice-overs are rarely listened to more than once so by the time you've remarked on the subjective quality of the sound it's time to move on anyway!

For my own voice, since you ask, I keep coming back to the Gefell M930. Is it better? - I dunno. Is it familiar and easy to work with? - yes! I just like the sound of this mic and practically never need to mess with EQ to get the sound I want. The M930 is what I'd call a very good mid-range mic, that at the time I bought it was significantly cheaper than the TLM103 (which loads of studios were buying) and every bit as good if not better.

I totally accept that my preference may well have more to do with familiarity than a subjective quality or accuracy rating! This is surely true of a lot of gear and my general feeling is folks here should be more willing to embrace that concept, rather than arguing 'to the death' that Gear X is superior to Gear Y!

Anyway, based on these samples alone it's hard for even the most vehement slut to argue that the TLM103 doesn't work perfectly well for voice-over! That said, I think the M930 is a shade warmer and more musical but it's quite subtle - all other things being equal I'd still say get the Gefell.

So why did I buy the Brauner? I'm not really sure. I heard it at a friend's studio and was seduced by the incredible bass extention, but the HF lift is just too much on my voice so it sits unused most of the time.

[James Lehmann]

Links fixed again! Apologies for the broken downtime!