EQ vs noise floor

[BillSimpkins]

Originally Posted by cyberman

would raising the EQ by those "equal amounts" still give you what's considered a "flat" EQ?

Probably not, because it would be difficult to raise everything equally. If you could raise them equally, you might as well just turn up the volume instead.

Originally Posted by cyberman

And one more question pls: I've read tons on mics... from cheapies to Neumanns. Even if you had a U87 in the chain, don't the characteristics of such a high end mic go out the window the moment you change EQ, compression... etc?

No. If that was the case, we would all use $100 mics. There are many characteristics of a mic. For instance: dynamic response, transient response at different frequencies, harmonic distortion, capsule patterns, noise floor, EQ curve etc....
You can use EQ and compression to some extend to manipulate these, but you are still better off with a good original source signal.

My recommendation is to go to a REALLY GOOD studio, pay for an hour or two, and try out different microphone/preamp combinations so you can find out which combination works for YOUR voice. Your noise floor will mostly be determined by: room, performance, microphone, quality of preamp.

[KRStudio]

The Mackie has a high noise floor to start with. For VO work get a better interface like Apogee, API or Focusright.

[Gamelan]

Originally Posted by KRStudio

The Mackie has a high noise floor to start with. For VO work get a better interface like Apogee, API or Focusright.

Really? The Apogee duet has the same noise specs as the 802vlz3. Those Mackie boards are pretty well known for being quiet.

To the OP, raising volume with EQ may introduce as much or more noise than leaving it flat (not to mention coloring the sound unevenly). If you are really having noise floor problems with the 802, look at cables and other things along the signal path which may be introducing noise. A bad cable or connector can generate quite a bit of crud in the line.