What about EV RE20?

W

white

New member
Hello everyone,

Im thinking to buy ev re20 for my voiceover works. I love its features like being able to get good sound even in off-axis, great noise reduction etc. But its expensive ($449 + $92 shipping and import fees.). There is rode procaster which is half of that price. What do you guys think, does RE20 really worth the money? Is it reasonable to spend x2 more money than procaster?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Look man, the RE20 is widely used not only for recording...but for radio work as far as I know (there is a major radio show here ir Brazil which the lead reporter uses this mic).

Thing is...the other mic you mentioned is a USB mic, so you dont really need an audio interface to record anything. Now the RE20 cant record by itself...so you'll need a medium to record and store digital data (maybe you already know that...).

I, personally, would go for the RE20.
 
CMolena said:
Look man, the RE20 is widely used not only for recording...but for radio work as far as I know (there is a major radio show here ir Brazil which the lead reporter uses this mic).

Thing is...the other mic you mentioned is a USB mic, so you dont really need an audio interface to record anything. Now the RE20 cant record by itself...so you'll need a medium to record and store digital data (maybe you already know that...).

I, personally, would go for the RE20.
Click to expand...

I know man, RE20 is a broadcast standart and procaster is a xlr mic, not usb (podcaster is usb). I have scarlett 2i2 interface and dbx 286s preamp. The only reason i ask this question is, if the quality difference is that much? Because the gap between the prices are huge.
 
white said:
I know man, RE20 is a broadcast standart and procaster is a xlr mic, not usb (podcaster is usb). I have scarlett 2i2 interface and dbx 286s preamp. The only reason i ask this question is, if the quality difference is that much? Because the gap between the prices are huge.
Click to expand...

The RE20 is not magic: it sounds quite good on most sources in most circumstamces. It tales a ton of gain though so a cloudlifter or fethead might be necessary. Also, for voiceover, post processing is key.
 
I agree with Cafe.
Whether you like the mike or not will be purely preference. Yes, it's a standard particularly in the US (as far as I know) but there's nothing magic about it.
It just does its job well, as do many other mikes.

The variable-D thing is cool for minimising proximity effect, but plenty of broadcasting houses use cardioid condensers.

I know all things aren't equal in demos but there's a lot of good quality youtube demos out there. Maybe have a look and see if you can get an idea of the mike's character?
 
It is also NOT good off mic, sounds like any other cardioid. It's good because the tone stays the same as you go in and out, not left or right. I'm pretty uninspired by these mics. The lack of proximity effect is good, but I don't use it anywhere near as much as I thought I would.
 
I listened some demos. RE20 was way more better. Also i came across with Sennheiser MD420, it's crispy and present which was sounding good but re20 was more balanced and warm to be honest. MD is cheaper but Amazon does not ship to my country :/
 
The RE320 is a slight bit less $$$ than the RE20 and comes close to the same sound. The RE320 also has a hotter output that the the RE20, so an inline pre such as a Fethead or Cloudlifter doesn't need to be used (I've used a Fethead with my RE20, but not really needed). The RE20 is about on par for output with an SM57. RE320 also has a switch to scoop the EQ to give a different tone. I have both mics.
Some demos here for comparisons.....
Ultimate Podcast Microphone Shootout | recording hacks
 
re-20 is really good, but i don't consider it a great value. i'd buy (and have) many other mics first.
 
RE20 pros: great sound, good noise rejection; less expensive than a Neumann BCM 705
RE20 cons: the EV shock mount is big and cumbersome; when the foam filter in front of the capsule deteriorates, you have to have it repaired professionally

The highest paid radio broadcaster in the United States (who calls himself the "center of the broadcast universe") uses a gold-plated RE20. He can afford a much more expensive mic, but sticks with the RE20. I'm pretty sure that NPR in the United States has used EV RE20 mics when they aren't in their studio.

I love Rode mics, but don't like their Podcaster at all (a USB dynamic mic). If the Procaster has similar internal structure, you might be disappointed.

That said, I do like the Heil PR40 and AT BP40, and really don't care for the Shure SM7B.
 
I bought an RE20 a year ago. I love this mic and use it primarily on guitar amps and bass amps. I have never used it on any vocals lol.
 
I use the RE20 for almost all of my long form narration and audiobook recordings. However as it was mentioned, it takes a ton of clean gain. I run mine RE20>>Cloudlifter>>Symetrix 528E>>Lexicon Alpha to Computer. I have used it with my DBX286A and the 528E, without the Cloudlifter, and find that it taxes those two strips. The CL really helps feed the hungry RE20 to my channel strips.
Dale
 
DaleVO said:
I use the RE20 for almost all of my long form narration and audiobook recordings. However as it was mentioned, it takes a ton of clean gain. I run mine RE20>>Cloudlifter>>Symetrix 528E>>Lexicon Alpha to Computer. I have used it with my DBX286A and the 528E, without the Cloudlifter, and find that it taxes those two strips. The CL really helps feed the hungry RE20 to my channel strips.
Dale
Click to expand...

does the cloudlifter's impedance added to the chain change the tone a lot?
 
Nola,
Not that I can tell. It's stay pretty true to the sound of my voice. But as was mentioned, I do have to roll off the bottom end (I get boomy at times with this mic if I'm working it close) and I have to notch out an Esse that creeps in on me from time to time.
Dale
 
JefferySmith said:
RE20 pros: great sound, good noise rejection; less expensive than a Neumann BCM 705
RE20 cons: the EV shock mount is big and cumbersome; when the foam filter in front of the capsule deteriorates, you have to have it repaired professionally

The highest paid radio broadcaster in the United States (who calls himself the "center of the broadcast universe") uses a gold-plated RE20. He can afford a much more expensive mic, but sticks with the RE20. I'm pretty sure that NPR in the United States has used EV RE20 mics when they aren't in their studio.

I love Rode mics, but don't like their Podcaster at all (a USB dynamic mic). If the Procaster has similar internal structure, you might be disappointed.

That said, I do like the Heil PR40 and AT BP40, and really don't care for the Shure SM7B.
Click to expand...

Im not an expert on mics to be honest. How much time it would take to foam filter to get deteriorated? Since im gonna order the mic from a very far country, it would be PITA to send it back and wait for it to come back. I saw that people do it by their own, so im thinking i can find someone else to replace it in my country.
 
white said:
Im not an expert on mics to be honest. How much time it would take to foam filter to get deteriorated? Since im gonna order the mic from a very far country, it would be PITA to send it back and wait for it to come back. I saw that people do it by their own, so im thinking i can find someone else to replace it in my country.
Click to expand...

I really don't think it's that big a thing. Keep in mind this mic has been around since the 60s, as far as I know.
There's a huge list of electronic equipment known to suffer from the foam degrading or, worse yet, turning to sticky goo!
Microphones, mixers, synthesisers...

I had an RE20 capsule replaced for free by Electrovoice not that long ago under their lifetime warranty.
This was a second hand microphone...They didn't even ask!
 
Steenamaroo said:
..I had an RE20 capsule replaced for free by Electrovoice not that long ago under their lifetime warranty.
This was a second hand microphone...They didn't even ask!
Click to expand...

Interesting. When I bought a used pair (1990'ish?) I had them rebuilt for $50 each IIRC. Then quite a bit later I thought they started charging much more.
 
mixsit said:
Interesting. When I bought a used pair (1990'ish?) I had them rebuilt for $50 each IIRC. Then quite a bit later I thought they started charging much more.
Click to expand...

It took a few emails to convince them and I had to go through some other company who handle their repairs, but in the end it got done.
 
The RE-20 and the Sennheiser MD-420 (that you mentioned) back in the 60s - 80s were both universally used as vocal mics.

In my own studio I choose the MD-420 (commonly called at the the time either the "electric shaver" or the "ice cream cone" mic because of their shape) because I felt that it had a much better sound and depending upon the actual model of the mic (there was often a letter after the number) the frequency attenuation feature was an added bonus.

I still use this mic.

To give you an idea of its quality, about three years ago I had the opportunity of recording an artist that in the 70's I had signed as a recording artist and whose Lp has since become a very expensive collectors recording. When undertaking the vocal part of this new recording I brought out my latest (and very expensive mic) and we started to audition for the best sound. After trying possibly 10 mics the producer was still not 100% happy with the sound we were obtaining, when the artist happened to mention if I still had the microphone that I used for his initial recording. I had no idea what mic I used until the artist stated that he thought it was called something like " the shaver". I had not use the MD420 for at least 20years and had to go searching for where I had stored it.

Finally found the mic and did a test run --- the producer almost started to cry as it was exactly the sound that he was looking for (full, rich, clean, vibrant, etc) and the finished new recording finished quite high on the Billboard charts and I believe sold something like 250K copies.

The MD -420 has not been put back into the "long forgotten" mic box, but has been used quite a few times since.

By the way it is great on guitar and drums.

Having said all of the above, there are a number of VERY good (actually excellent) mics coming out of China and at amazing prices. I have recently done a deal with one manufacturer where I am buying direct from the factory their mics (generally their own fully designed and patented units) at amazing prices (eg a Shure 58 type vocal that sounds far better than a 58 and it costs me about $AUS25 and a top of the line condenser that looks/sounds a bit like an AKG-414 that costs me about $Aus100) and am using these on most of my recording sessions.

So possibly you could consider mics similar to these in preference to the 2nd hand 30 - 40 year old mics you are considering and I am sure that sellers like Sweetwater, Guitar Center, etc would have these types of mic in stock.

Just my thoughts.

David
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top