George Michael
New Member
I've done voiceover and radio/tv commercial production for 25 years, been thru a number of mics--Neumann '59 tube, AEA R84, Korby FET, and settled on Lawson's L47MP II tube about five years ago.
I record vox to an Otari 5050 w/dbx 150, very nice, dub to Fostex standalone digital multitrack thru dbx 263X de-esser inserted in channel strip on board, parallel compress between 12:1 and 24:1 with an RNC in SuperNice on mixdown, adding music and effects tracks with 2-3dB attenuation of mids that compete with the vocal, thence thru a Rocksonics (remember them?) multiband comp @ 2:1 w/a small amt. of brickwall, then kissing the final product a little with an spl Vitalizer for increased transparency.
I like the result. The RE-20s, SM7s, and 421U's the radio stations use sound thin and edgy and get fatiguing quickly contrasted with what I get.
But I'm missing that float-on-the-front-of-the-speakers presence I hear in some commercials. It's not present in most of what I hear nationally, but oh, the difference when it's there! It makes the voice stand out in a pleasant, intimate sense, with no in-your-face arrogance.
I'm being told by salespeople at pro-audio dealers that I need a UA comp to achieve this presence.
May I have opinions on this? I don't have a Teltronix bank acct. I need a mono unit only and no need for mic pre. I had an ME-1NV, and the only difference between it and the pre's in my Tascam 1516 board was that the board's pre was muddier if you cranked 100Hz up 12dB (!), otherwise I could hear no difference in a double-blind test. The Lawson is such a beautiful-sounding microphone that I don't see any need to try to improve what it does by itself; that all-important 4.7K can be taken up or down by changing the mic's infinitely-variable polar pattern. I have it set between cardioid and figure-of-eight, just right for my voice. No problem from front-wall reflections that the polar setting might cause.
Will a UA / Urei provide this Holy Grail presence I'm after, or is there something else I'm not aware of, not being an engineer?
I'd upload my voice reel to this post if I knew how to do it.
Thanks! GM
I record vox to an Otari 5050 w/dbx 150, very nice, dub to Fostex standalone digital multitrack thru dbx 263X de-esser inserted in channel strip on board, parallel compress between 12:1 and 24:1 with an RNC in SuperNice on mixdown, adding music and effects tracks with 2-3dB attenuation of mids that compete with the vocal, thence thru a Rocksonics (remember them?) multiband comp @ 2:1 w/a small amt. of brickwall, then kissing the final product a little with an spl Vitalizer for increased transparency.
I like the result. The RE-20s, SM7s, and 421U's the radio stations use sound thin and edgy and get fatiguing quickly contrasted with what I get.
But I'm missing that float-on-the-front-of-the-speakers presence I hear in some commercials. It's not present in most of what I hear nationally, but oh, the difference when it's there! It makes the voice stand out in a pleasant, intimate sense, with no in-your-face arrogance.
I'm being told by salespeople at pro-audio dealers that I need a UA comp to achieve this presence.
May I have opinions on this? I don't have a Teltronix bank acct. I need a mono unit only and no need for mic pre. I had an ME-1NV, and the only difference between it and the pre's in my Tascam 1516 board was that the board's pre was muddier if you cranked 100Hz up 12dB (!), otherwise I could hear no difference in a double-blind test. The Lawson is such a beautiful-sounding microphone that I don't see any need to try to improve what it does by itself; that all-important 4.7K can be taken up or down by changing the mic's infinitely-variable polar pattern. I have it set between cardioid and figure-of-eight, just right for my voice. No problem from front-wall reflections that the polar setting might cause.
Will a UA / Urei provide this Holy Grail presence I'm after, or is there something else I'm not aware of, not being an engineer?
I'd upload my voice reel to this post if I knew how to do it.
Thanks! GM