dynamic mics

[mousdrvr]

Ok before you guys kill me this is not really a gear post, well ... it is but hopefully not the annoying kind.

A while back Otek made a post in which he recommended using a top shelf dynamic over a mid-line LDC if you're tracking vox in a less than stellar acoustic space. Well I am, and as I read the points he made, I realized that each one had been a major issue for me when trying to use my U-195 in my "space". So, I decided to pick up an M-88. And I can tell you that it absolutely does everything Otek said it would, shocking uh?

Anyway it also does, or sure seems to be doing, something else and that's really what I'm posting about.
With the U-195 I had a VERY difficult time with my gain staging. I was inclined to think that this was an issue with my vocal technique until I had the opportunity to record other singers whose dynamics I respect and had the same difficulty. There always seemed to be a very narrow window where I could have enough dynamics in the performance without just "mashing it like retard" to keep things in line. Now I'm assuming this speaks more to my skill than the problem itself but, I've been screwing around with the M-88 a bit and now all of a sudden it's just WAY easier, I feel like I have some choice now in terms of how hard to hit the pre and how I set up my compressor. It's almost like I have a second super quite super fast compressor in the chain. Seriously staring with my usual set up, I noticed it right away I wound up being able to raise the threshold on my RNC 6db and still got stuff that was not all over the map dynamically. Admittedly I'm just getting over a bad flu and I'm still pretty weak vocally but I just know that's not the whole story.

So, what gives is this just an inherent property of a moving coil? Am I smoking crack? I never heard this discussed.



Thanks,



-mous

[otek]

Well, since I seem to be the man most directly responsible for this fiasco.... :lol:

I think what you may be experiencing is the typical sensitivity difference between a dynamic and a condenser. Condensers are more sensitive particularly in the upper frequency ranges, which makes sharp, transient sounds like consonants really jump out.

[mousdrvr]

Thanks Otek,

That makes perfect sense. You know the odd thing is how deeply conditioned I was to think of "less sensitive" as somehow worse. In this case it really is "not a bug it's a feature". I love the sound of the U-195 but really I spent 3x the cash to get frequency response I don't currently have the tools to deal with.
This is showing me how important it is to look at the whole picture. Like Brendo said once "everything effects everything else"


-mous

[otek]

I love the sound of the U-195 but really I spent 3x the cash to get frequency response I don't currently have the tools to deal with.

The U-195 is a great sounding mic, and believe me, there will be plenty of occasions when you may prefer that sound. For example, out of the several mics we tried for Tammikuu's voice on Team Mystic, the M-88 and the U-195 stood out - the reason I picked the latter in her case was that the extra top end seemed to work well with her naturally darker tone.

[Palewailer]

I got to track some tenor sax through a U-195 once.
I don't know shit about mics, but my ears loved it.

[mousdrvr]

Otek,

Yeah, right before I got the U-195 I had noticed that I had a tendency to want to goose the high end on a lot of things especially vox. I thought "hey my eq plugins suck and in any event the canonical wisdom says that it's better to cut than to add" so I looked for a mic that more or less had the curve I had been trying to create. The closest fit was actually the Blue Kiwi but I didn't hear anybody loving on that mic so I went with the general consensus and checked out the U-195 first. Glad I did.

But I think it's impossible to understate the advantages of the M-88 of which you spoke in the other post. I was going to quote it here but I can't find it was it back at the old place?


Anyway thanks, and btw Tammikuu sounded dead sexy.



Hey PW,

sup bro?



-Mous

[Brendo]

This is showing me how important it is to look at the whole picture. Like Brendo said once "everything effects everything else"

I believe I was paraphrasing Slipperman when he was talking about how even a guitar pick makes a difference.

That said, I'd also worked this out on my own by that point...