Sphere L22 sounds wrong

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JesperVindberg

New Member
Hi everybody. Perhaps some of you can help me? I think there's something wrong with my Sphere L22. I use it to record vocals at home, but i (and the guy who mixes my records) think my recordings have startet to sound weird recently.

I've attached sound samples of Sphere recordings..direct into Apollo Twin..one with the plugin on LD 47k mic, one that just the Sphere front and to compare one of my Shure SM7.

Does the Sphere L22 sound right?
 

Attachments

F

flandybob

Venerated Member
What do you find weird about the recording? I’m also having issues with my sphere where audio is distorting (see my topic just below yours)
 
J

JesperVindberg

New Member
The vocal just sounds thin and hard, without warmth and body..And it gets much worse when you start mixing. So I'm just curious if people here agree with me, before i send the mic to service..
 
UniversalAudio

UniversalAudio

Official UA Representative
JesperVindberg said:
Hi everybody. Perhaps some of you can help me? I think there's something wrong with my Sphere L22. I use it to record vocals at home, but i (and the guy who mixes my records) think my recordings have startet to sound weird recently.

I've attached sound samples of Sphere recordings..direct into Apollo Twin..one with the plugin on LD 47k mic, one that just the Sphere front and to compare one of my Shure SM7.

Does the Sphere L22 sound right?
Click to expand...
Took a quick listen.

Sounds like you're very far away from the mic in a poorly treated room. So it's hard to evaluate the mic for me.
 
UniversalAudio

UniversalAudio

Official UA Representative
JesperVindberg said:
Okay, how bout this?
Click to expand...
A little better. But now perhaps you're too close?

Not sure what we'll accomplish here with mp3s. This is your voice in your space through your chain. None of us know what that's supposed to sound like.

If you suspect something is wrong with the mic, maybe you can get another from your dealer to compare?

Also, get a ticket open with Support.
 
J

JesperVindberg

New Member
UniversalAudio said:
A little better. But now perhaps you're too close?

Not sure what we'll accomplish here with mp3s. This is your voice in your space through your chain. None of us know what that's supposed to sound like.

If you suspect something is wrong with the mic, maybe you can get another from your dealer to compare?

Also, get a ticket open with Support.
Click to expand...
Yeah. ok, thanks. I was just curious if you guys could hear the same as me.. The recordings are just the Sphere directly into Apollo Twin with no further plugins.. So it should be as clean as possible. And if i compare it to a similar recording of my voice through an Shure SM7, i just think the SM7 sounds much more warm and natural.
 

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UniversalAudio

UniversalAudio

Official UA Representative
JesperVindberg said:
Yeah. ok, thanks. I was just curious if you guys could hear the same as me.. The recordings are just the Sphere directly into Apollo Twin with no further plugins.. So it should be as clean as possible. And if i compare it to a similar recording of my voice through an Shure SM7, i just think the SM7 sounds much more warm and natural.
Click to expand...
SM7s can the perfect mic in a poorly treated room.

In fact, that's how they earn their reputation.

I've done countless mic comparisons over the years, and in a good space, it NEVER wins.

There's a reason there are thousands of mics being made. You need that many to find the match for all the voice/situations etc out there.

See here for more:

Sphere DLX / loud voice and saturation

Hi, I have a sphere DLX and I’m having an issue for vocal recording, not sure if it’s user error or something wrong with the microphone. I’m recording a singer who has a very powerful voice. Recording chain is sphere dlx into a silverface apollo, neve pre in unison (gain at 30 or 35 so fairly...
uadforum.com
 
J

JesperVindberg

New Member
UniversalAudio said:
SM7s can the perfect mic in a poorly treated room.

In fact, that's how they earn their reputation.

I've done countless mic comparisons over the years, and in a good space, it NEVER wins.
Click to expand...
I agree, that's why i supect there's something wrong with my Sphere.. because i used to do fine recordings with the Sphere here in my homestudio..
I bought the Sphere because I wasn't happy with the SM7..
 
UniversalAudio

UniversalAudio

Official UA Representative
JesperVindberg said:
I agree, that's why i supect there's something wrong with my Sphere.. because i used to do fine recordings with the Sphere here in my homestudio..
Click to expand...
Gotcha. Do you have old recordings to compare it to now? As mentioned, be sure to get with Support.
 
J

JesperVindberg

New Member
Chris Townsend said:
Can you post a recording with the front and rear output of the L22? Might help diagnose but nothing sounds obviously wrong to me. You might get some help by using IsoSphere to minimize room reflections.
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Hey Chris. Thank you for your time. I know that the room could be better etc, I can work on that as long as I'm shure the Sphere mic is OK. Here's a stereo file directly from Sphere into Apollo twin and no plugins.
 

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mjresc

Member
Hi Jesper,

Sorry if I'm completely in the wrong here, but I thought your name sounded very danish: I will move into my new studio in Vesterbro, Copenhagen in May or June, and I also have a Sphere L22. If you by summer still feel like you're not getting the right output, and you're close to Copenhagen, you're more than welcome to bring your Sphere and do an A/B test with me and my Sphere in a well treated room. Sorry that it's still gonna take a little while, though!

Best,
Martin
 
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nickgcr

New Member
Hey Jesper, I have the same problem my recordings sound bad too. I feel like I have to crank the gain too much to get a healthy signal. For example if I use the neve 1073 I put the input gain on 45dbs with the output knob on maximum so 12db so I can get peaks around -12. But I still feel like it sounds bad like it shouldn't sound like that. I've seen videos of other people using it and it sounds very clean compared to mine. How much gain do you use to get a healthy signal?
 
Chris Townsend

Chris Townsend

UA Senior Software Architect
JesperVindberg said:
Hey Chris. Thank you for your time. I know that the room could be better etc, I can work on that as long as I'm shure the Sphere mic is OK. Here's a stereo file directly from Sphere into Apollo twin and no plugins.
Click to expand...
Sorry for the slow reply. The sibilance in the recording does sound unusually harsh but I don't see any obvious clipping and the rear channel looks ok so not sure how help further.
 
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