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Old 10-05-2016, 11:41 AM   #41
clepsydrae
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I love shootouts! But I'll agree on a few points: multiple performances greatly diminish the quality of the results; your reading on each take was pretty different in some sections. But obviously recording all four mics at once is hard if you want to be close to the mic, and you need 4 channels into the DAW, etc.

Also, shootouts where the respondents can see previous respondents' answers corrupt the results. I know we're just doing a casual poll here, so i'm not worried about it, i just feel that it's my duty to point that out. :-)

I used my shootout software (see sig) to do 10 trials. On each trial i chose my favorite mic, and also scored each mic with points (0-10).

In terms of favorites per trial:

Mic 1 - 5 favorites
Mic 2 - 5 favorites
Mic 3 - 0 favorites
Mic 4 - 0 favorites

In terms of scoring:

Mic 1 - 61 points
Mic 2 - 70 points
Mic 3 - 0 points
Mic 4 - 34 points

So it looks like my results largely mirror SonicAxiom. I narrowly chose mic 2 over mic 1, but it's within the error of the test, I'd say.

In the "all mics same sentence" clip, the second one has a popped plosive. Might just be random chance, but I noted it.

Just for the hell of it, I'll guess which mic is which, but I agree with SonicAxiom that it's kind of a crap shoot:

Mic 1 - NT1A
Mic 2 - NT1000
Mic 3 - SM58
Mic 4 - SM57
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Old 10-06-2016, 06:02 AM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clepsydrae View Post
In terms of favorites per trial:

Mic 1 - 5 favorites
Mic 2 - 5 favorites
Mic 3 - 0 favorites
Mic 4 - 0 favorites

In terms of scoring:

Mic 1 - 61 points
Mic 2 - 70 points
Mic 3 - 0 points
Mic 4 - 34 points

So it looks like my results largely mirror SonicAxiom. I narrowly chose mic 2 over mic 1, but it's within the error of the test, I'd say.
So Mic 2. Very interesting. I thought 2 was a bit clearer and more detailed than 1, so I would have chosen 2. I'll try the software :-)

Quote:
Just for the hell of it, I'll guess which mic is which, but I agree with SonicAxiom that it's kind of a crap shoot:

Mic 1 - NT1A
Mic 2 - NT1000
Mic 3 - SM58
Mic 4 - SM57
I don't think anybody else is going to listen to it so I'll post the results:
you're very close :-)

Mic 1 - NT1A
Mic 2 - NT1000
Mic 3 - SM57
Mic 4 - SM58

Well done!
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Old 10-06-2016, 06:03 AM   #43
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SonicAxiom View Post
Personally, I find mic 1 has the best potential (low noise, overall sound balance). Mic 2 is 2nd. It has some artifacts coming from silence removal between the phrases. Mics 3 and 4 are way too noisy and have also captured too much unwanted room reflections.
I liked 4 better because I thought it was dryer, i.e. less resonances.

I'll have to trust your ears over mine I guess :-)
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Old 10-06-2016, 06:04 AM   #44
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I would definitely look into some of the envelope noise gates by spk77 and mpl....
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Old 10-06-2016, 06:13 AM   #45
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4 blind tries on the same sentence.

Mic 1 :-)

(which is the only one I had :-D)
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Old 10-06-2016, 09:17 AM   #46
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Brian Merrill View Post
I would definitely look into some of the envelope noise gates by spk77 and mpl....
Trying out the one from spk77. Looks good but I am getting an error, posted on appropriate thread.

Thanks for the tip :-)
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Old 10-06-2016, 09:25 AM   #47
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vinnie, did you turn around your dampening stuff prior to the last recording? If so, I'd have expected a bigger (and better) sonic impact. I still hear a considerable amount of room reflections and to me, they were especially unpleasant on mic 3 and mic 4.
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Old 10-06-2016, 10:55 AM   #48
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vinnie2k View Post
Mic 1 - NT1A
Mic 2 - NT1000
Mic 3 - SM57
Mic 4 - SM58
Funny, the 58 vs 57 choice was the one i was most sure about, and that's what i got wrong. :-)
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Old 10-07-2016, 07:10 AM   #49
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SonicAxiom View Post
vinnie, did you turn around your dampening stuff prior to the last recording? If so, I'd have expected a bigger (and better) sonic impact. I still hear a considerable amount of room reflections and to me, they were especially unpleasant on mic 3 and mic 4.
I did, here is a picture of my current setup:

https://1drv.ms/i/s!Am8tbZP7CVWGjMVfRwuKNNStTAkymQ
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Old 10-07-2016, 07:22 AM   #50
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vinnie2k View Post
Trying out the one from spk77. Looks good but I am getting an error, posted on appropriate thread.

Thanks for the tip :-)
did you work that out?
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Old 10-07-2016, 09:05 AM   #51
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No, did not get an answer form the other thread.
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Old 10-07-2016, 01:57 PM   #52
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vinnie2k View Post
I did, here is a picture of my current setup:

https://1drv.ms/i/s!Am8tbZP7CVWGjMVfRwuKNNStTAkymQ
I see. I'd probably add still a lot more dampening material and diffusing objects into the room and maybe a kind of a ceiling above your head. If possible, I'd rather try to set all this up towards a corner of the room so that there will be less reflections coming into the mic from the open sides. Btw, the perfect thing to absorb and also diffuse is vinyl slipcases (incl. the LPs, of course!).
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Old 10-08-2016, 02:10 AM   #53
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The magic of acoustic treatment:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Am8tbZP7CVWGjMUa7eZccPE20qE34w

Here's a pic of the new setup:

https://1drv.ms/i/s!Am8tbZP7CVWGjMVjnRAzaINBrOkUgw

Might have to do an ABX to compare to make sure it's not my confirmation bias :-)

Note that the sound is raw and will need bass roll-off but it does look like most of the reflections are gone.
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Old 10-08-2016, 09:11 AM   #54
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Sounding good. Cute vocal booth. :-)

Are you closer to the mic now as well?

I'm always in support of ABX tests. :-)
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Old 10-08-2016, 06:52 PM   #55
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vinnie2k View Post
The magic of acoustic treatment:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Am8tbZP7CVWGjMUa7eZccPE20qE34w

Here's a pic of the new setup:

https://1drv.ms/i/s!Am8tbZP7CVWGjMVjnRAzaINBrOkUgw

Might have to do an ABX to compare to make sure it's not my confirmation bias :-)

Note that the sound is raw and will need bass roll-off but it does look like most of the reflections are gone.
Congratulations, vinnie! You've made a quantum leap with your latest setup! Only thing to keep an eye on are two high peaks at 25 and 50 Hz. You should dial rather small notch filters to these frequencies. Other than that, I think you have found the optimal setup.
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Old 10-09-2016, 01:03 AM   #56
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clepsydrae View Post
Are you closer to the mic now as well?
I might be a bit too close (15cm), I'll put the mic back to 20cm and see if there is a difference.
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Old 10-09-2016, 01:05 AM   #57
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SonicAxiom View Post
Congratulations, vinnie! You've made a quantum leap with your latest setup! Only thing to keep an eye on are two high peaks at 25 and 50 Hz. You should dial rather small notch filters to these frequencies. Other than that, I think you have found the optimal setup.
25 and 50? That can't be proximity effects, can it? Maybe an external source, I know my wife sometimes starts the washing machine at inopportune times :-)
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Old 10-09-2016, 01:06 AM   #58
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I want to thank everybody in this thread for helping out.

Small gift incoming ;-)
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Old 01-02-2017, 03:36 AM   #59
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... and we're done.

http://www.howaudioworks.com/listen-to-how-audio-works/

Thanks again for helping, I learned a lot from this thread.
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Old 01-02-2017, 06:04 AM   #60
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Happy New Year, Vinnie and congratulations on the completion of your sophisticated work!
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Old 01-02-2017, 12:59 PM   #61
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Congrats!
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