For voiceover-Brauner Phantom C or new Neumann TLM 49 ???

[SveNaj]

Hi everybody

OK, what is general opinion regarding comparing these two mics in terms of using strictly for V.O. and/or narration/spoken word-not for singing or for micing instruments.

Anybody by any chance made some A/B comparison between those two ?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Sven

[dbbubba]

I worked for eight years at a facilty that had five rooms running 9 to 5, five days a week cutting nothing but radio/TV spots. Our clientel was made up of all of the major U.S. ad agencies and because we did many digital patches where the client would be in our studios and the producer and session was run from L.A., NYC or Chicago we had to follow the status quo as far as mic'ing and processing went.

There were basically, three mics used: Nuemann U87 (80% of the time) AKG 414 (19% of the time) and occasionally a Sennheiser shotgun mic (the model I now forget.)

In radio/TV spot produdtion V.O. work consistency is the absolute priority.
The reason is because a spot usually will have elements recorded at different times during it's lifetime. More often than not there will be multiple versions created that feature different products (ie. a home improvement center may be pusing lawn mowers and rakes in the summer and paint or apploiances in the winter.) The product slugs are often recorded months after the shell of the spot is recorded.

Since it is not un-common to have the voice talent record V.O. months or years later it is VERY important to have a continuity in the sound. There are standards used in voice recording studios that lend to an easy interchange of material. Good production houses know how to record and edit where it is virtually impossible to tell that the elements are edited into the spot. Good voice talent and consistent equipment/recording techniques makes this posible.

A common U.S. chain is Nuemann U87, John Hardy mic pre and a UREI 1176 with light compression. EQ is light and usually done in mixing. EQ is usually a hi-pass filter and maybe a slight boost at 5k. In digital patch/remote recordings the compression and any EQ is almost always added at the receiving studio. There are variances, but the U87 is pretty much a standard.

If you are not expecting to record V.O. for broadcast the mic wouldn't matter as much, but if you want THAT sound then the signal chain I described is the way to go. If you are recording experienced vocal talent they will expect to see the U87 or an AKG414. Experienced vocal talent know their craft VERY well (there are not that many that work consistently) and view their "sound" in a VERY important way. They can make your life much easier or MUCH harder.

If you ever plan to interface with other production houses they will expect the sound of this chain as well. I have seen situations where a competent studio failed to get V.O. business because their sound did not match up with the standard sound. If the client is working in L.A. or a major studio and the studio has trouble making your recordings fit into the spot they are working with there will be questions asked. It is pretty much expected.

There you go!

Danny Brown