Mic shoot out. and mic pre shoot out

[Jonesfromindia]

At my work on tuesday the 30th, i will be conducting a mic shoot out between some awesome mics and a mic pre shoot out. they will be from different price ranges, and different styles, but for the most part, all vocal mics. and "vocal" pres.

here is what ill be using:
U87AI
Blue Cactus
TLM67
Blue Blueberry
Blue Dragon Fly
AKG C214
Sterling Audio ST79
Blue Baby Bottle
Shure SM7b
MXLv69me
Sterling Audio St69
" " ST55
Audio Tech AT4040

Mic Pre's

Presonus 900TP tube
M-audio Audio Buddy
Presonus Studio Channel
Presonus Eureka
Focusrite ISAONE
U Audio Twin Finity (my fav)
U Audio LA610
Avalon VT737


here is the chain: i didnt choose it, i HAVE to use this chain.

All mics into>Yamaha MG166CX mixer (i might use the A&H Zed Console instead)
From Mixer>Apogee Duet>Garage Band

For mic Pres
Aux sends from board>each mic pre

nothing will be added to anything other than amplification and cables and a stedman pop filter.

I might not be lazy and post the clips.

If you live in San Diego, shoot me a PM, cus you can attend the shootout at the store.

-Josh

[Jonesfromindia]

oh ya, and ill toss in an Art Pre too.

[psykostx]

Nice, awesome idea. Yes it definitely depends on style and voice which mic and pre to use. How many artists are performing/participating in your test? And also why the insane signal chain if you're just doing vocals? Why not go right from pre to converter and skip the middleman console?

I would be interested to hear the pre's on the ZED console compared to a MixWizard if you can pull that off too (Mackie VLZ3 and Soundcraft Spirit m12 also? ). Maybe you could put console pre's on your list? How bout throwing in some snare drum too

[psykostx]

oops, missed the "i have to use this chain" part. out of curiosity, may i ask why?

[Chris Lago]

Damn, too bad I'm not in the San Diego area next week. I might have to go there soon though... Well, closer to LA

[dejacky]

results?

[dysenterygary]

Originally Posted by dejacky

results?

patience young grasshoppa.

[Jonesfromindia]

Originally Posted by psykostx

oops, missed the "i have to use this chain" part. out of curiosity, may i ask why?

Its a California wide event, all the Guitar Center retail stores have to follow the way the instructions say.

And the Board is just for the sake of demo purposes. Dont want to waste half my time pluggin and unplugging mikes.

I might not have gotten this across, but this is like a class. I will be talking about microphones, and more importantly about the ones I am demoing.

I will have a male "talk" into each mic, the same sentence into each mic. Record in GB, then have a female (hopefully she doesnt back out) come in and do the same thing.

Its been too hard to find a true "singer" who wants to sing infront of a bunch of strangers.

[Jonesfromindia]

Originally Posted by chrislago

Damn, too bad I'm not in the San Diego area next week. I might have to go there soon though... Well, closer to LA

At first no one was really looking at this thread, so i was not gonna post samples. but if all the people in here want them, ill take my time and bounce them all.

with no processing, for chris' sake

[dickiefunk]

I'd be interested in your findings.

[Jonesfromindia]

Originally Posted by dickiefunk

I'd be interested in your findings.

thats enough interest for me.

So ill post what i recording. dont really know a way to post the mic pre's without being biased...

I am not giving my opinion, nor choosing any mikes to be my favorite. Same with mic pres..even though i said the 710 is my fave already. I am completely unbiased.

how about you guys choose a mic, and ill run that one mic through every pre and record it..

cool?

[2Loud]

[Heartfelt]

[Jonesfromindia]

votes for the mic that you want me to run through the pre's?

[Chris Lago]

Just sucks that's it's speech only, because there's a huge difference between speaking into a mic and singing into a mic.

[Heartfelt]

I vote SM7B.

Being that most of the pres are low to mid range and that most people know the sound of the SM7b or have one, I think it would be the most revealing as it takes a variable out of the equation.

.02
Rob

[Jonesfromindia]

Originally Posted by chrislago

Just sucks that's it's speech only, because there's a huge difference between speaking into a mic and singing into a mic.

why dont you come down and sing!

[Chris Lago]

Yeah I'd love to, but I'm going on vacation soon, and I need to finish 6 projects. Fly me there and I'll do it .

[Jonesfromindia]

ok so i had to cut down on my mics...

EDIT!!!!!!!!!! FINAL MIC SHOOT OUT LIST!!

U87ai
Cactus
blueberry
C214
bluebird
sputnik
SM7b
SM27

CHAIN: A&H zed mixer>003 factory>mac pro>pro tools>adam A7's

[Jonesfromindia]

so i did the shoot out tonight.

was fun. no one showed up to the actual event, but i still had the "singer" record.

it was kind of a fast job. the guy is a drummer by nature, so there are some goof ups (me having to turn up/down pre amp). i did this mostly by myself. only had help recording on a couple mics.


if anyone can host the files for me, or show me a site..i would love that..

[Chris Lago]

Originally Posted by Jonesfromindia

so i did the shoot out tonight.

was fun. no one showed up to the actual event, but i still had the "singer" record.

it was kind of a fast job. the guy is a drummer by nature, so there are some goof ups (me having to turn up/down pre amp). i did this mostly by myself. only had help recording on a couple mics.


if anyone can host the files for me, or show me a site..i would love that..

I'll host them, how big are each files? I think a 44.1/16bit wav would be good.

[Jonesfromindia]

Originally Posted by chrislago

I'll host them, how big are each files? I think a 44.1/16bit wav would be good.

ya thats what i bounced them at. 9 files at ~5.2mb per song.

[Jonesfromindia]

The mics will remain anonymous for a little while, i want to hear what people think first.

chris brought to my attention that there is some distortion in the preamp's. i apologize, this was only me doing everything, except singing, all within an hour. And trying to do a presentation on each mic. I used a pop filter on each mic, and a reflection filter behind it.

please be understanding. its just a general feeling for the mic, his voice sounds great on certain mics, your voice might not. so take it how you want it. im not saying any mic is better than another.

www.chrislago.com/1Track.wav

www.chrislago.com/2Track.wav

www.chrislago.com/3Track.wav

www.chrislago.com/4Track.wav

www.chrislago.com/5Track.wav

www.chrislago.com/6Track.wav

www.chrislago.com/7Track.wav

www.chrislago.com/8Track.wav

www.chrislago.com/9Track.wav


thanks to chris lago for hosting the files.

[Jonesfromindia]

really? no one?

[jrubb42]

i say the best are 2, the end of 3 started to sound good... and 6 and 7... 7 sounded the best to me though... can u post what mics they all were or pm me if u dont wanna ruin it?

[xmarkm4x]

pm the results?

[Jonesfromindia]

since no one is really biting...

1. U87AI
2.BLUE CACTUS
3.BLUE BLUEBERRY
4.AKG C214
5.STERLING ST69
6. M-AUDIO SPUTNIK
7.SM7B
8.BLUEBIRD
9.SM27

there is the order pertaining to the track number.

[radiospace]

Thanks for posting this.

My favorites were 3, 7 and 2. I already knew I dug the SM7B but was surprised to have liked the Blueberry and Cactus.

Least favorites , with the notes I made to myself (least favorite first):

4 - "horrible"
5 - "bad, bad esses, cheap-sounding"
6 - "awful"

Funny thing is I heard female vocals through #4 (AKG) recently and thought it sounded great. Shows how idiosyncratic the marriage of mic and voice is.

Is the "SM27" a Shure KSM 27? Too bad you couldn't do the TLM67, that would have been real interesting against this group...

[radiospace]

By the way, how close was the singer to the mic? I.e. was he working it real close or at a bit of a distance?

[Jonesfromindia]

Originally Posted by radiospace

By the way, how close was the singer to the mic? I.e. was he working it real close or at a bit of a distance?

this is what also made distortion....

i put the pop filter ~4 finger lengths away. and the stand made him stand about 3-4 inches away from the filter...well he ended up grabbing the filter and kinda moving back and forth, getting closer at points. causing distortion.