Inexpensive setup for voiceover work…

[John Fishback]

I’d checkout the MXL mics. They sound very good for very little money. Dynamics will be noisier than condensers. I’ve never tried the usb mics so have no opinion. I’m sure others will have good info. Another thought is to find VO talent who have their own studio (like Ty) and hire them to do your VO. They will have invested a lot of money into their studios and you’ll get a high-quality track.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.5 QT7.5.5 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 2 (FCP 6.0.5, Comp 3.0.5, DVDSP 4.2.1, Color 1.0.3)

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN

[Ty Ford]

Hello Shane and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.

::thanks for the nod, John::

Shane, you can get good inexpensive sound with an Audio Technica AT2020USB mic. In addition to having good talent who can bring life to the written words, the quietness of your space and the acoustical “niceness” of your space are integral to getting a good recording.

The AT2020USB is a good place to start.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar

[Greg Curda]

I have the Blue Snowball, and while I’m not 100% crazy about the sound, the convenience of a USB mic is fantastic. Naturally, you may have to treat the sound in some way once on the timeline. The Snowball requires a “angle of the dangle” thing to get the sound I want, but is is good (accidentally) for a quick ADR line or two. But you can’t beat the plug and record convenience, where absolute quality is not the issue.

Try the AT and see…may the Rode deserves a listen also….

G

[Uwe Engel]

HI,

the MXL 2003 is almost as the Neumann U87 which is quite common for voiceover work. You can get 20 MXL 2003 for a U87… As a preamp the Focusrite ISA 220 is often used or for less budget the other focusrite stuff. Use just good cables and a good converter. That`s all there is to it. Uwe

Uwe Engel
https://www.mixwerk.com/

[Ty Ford]

Hello Uwe,

Interesting to note your take and that your sig line doesn’t show fully. The one that says, ” Home Studio Musical Gear: MAC G5, Neumann U87, TLM 149, Mindprint DTC preamo, LA2A, Urei 1176, Neve 33609, Jünger Converter D02, BSS, Drawmer, TLA EQ 2,Höfex Mastering Exciter, ISDN APTX with APT Milano and Mayah Cnetauri 3001.”

So If I send you a MXL 2003, will you send me you U87? In as much as they’re so close.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar

[Jordan Wolf]

Audio-Technica 3035 – $200 or less, check Ebay.

Presonus TubePre – $100 or less, check Ebay

3′ XLR(F)-1/8″ cable – $10? Use this for patching the preamp’s output into the computer.

Pop Filter – $15-$20

Wolf
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[Shane O’brien]

Thanks for all the feedback…

I notice no one has commented on using one of the various USB adapter out there (rather than a USB mic). Does anyone have any thoughts on USB adapters like the X2U? How would a regular mic connected by a USB adapter like this be versus a USB mic like the AT-2020 USB?

If I used an adapter, I could go with one of the MXL mics. I did notice on the Canadian MXL site, there was no MXL 2003 – is that a discontinued model / has it been replaced?

Jordan (or rather Wolf) – I will look into the items you mentioned.

Let me add another quirk into the mix. My girlfriend would like to do some rough vocals using the mic. So ideally I’d like something that sounds decent for singing as well as v/o. Not sure if there would be any difference. For that purpose I’d probably also want to get a mic stand.