Mic test

keith.rogers

keith.rogers

Well-known member
I got a mic to try out yesterday but I'm in the throes of pretty disgusting sinus infection. (Be careful not to slip on the slime trail.)

Anyway, after laying around all day, I got tired of feeling sorry for myself and downed a couple good ales - amazing recovery :). (Well, except for the fact there's a a bit of impairment from the CO2 and pseude-ephredrine running around in my brain.) So, I plugged the mic in and did a couple rough acoustic guitar tracks and a talking vocal. I'll probably regret this in the morning, but here it is. Mic's a little sibilant, but I'm leaning toward keeping it if it holds up in a week when I hope to be able to do more than croak.

This is one of my favorite Guy Clark songs (sorry Mr Clark!).

The Guitar (Guy Clark Cover - EV RE320 Test) by Keith.Rogers | Keith Rogers | Free Listening on SoundCloud
 
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mixsit said:
Yeah though, that's the mic flat? That is a lot of top end.
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According to the spec sheet, the mic has a pretty good bump between 3-6k. I pulled it down a bit on the guitars because I tend to be pretty metallic (for lack of a better word) in my picking but the vocal was pretty well left alone. The jury's' still out, but it's interesting. (It's an EV RE320 - can't afford the 20 + a preamp, and could use something that will work on a kick well, which this supposedly does.)

P.S. According to the doc my ears had a pretty good fluid backup (I know, TMI), so my hearing's even more damaged than usual right now!
 
Ha! It's amazing what a couple of ales can do. ;)

What acoustic are you playing here?
Have to agree with your own thoughts - I think it sounds quite brittle and metallic, whether that's the guitar, mic, or placement, but the voice sounds great!

320 should do well on a kick.
I have an re20 here that gets used on voice a lot but I've never liked it on acoustic instruments. Sounds like the 320 is in the same box.

I do love some of that old talkin' country...More of that please! ;)
 
Steenamaroo said:
Ha! It's amazing what a couple of ales can do. ;)

What acoustic are you playing here?
Have to agree with your own thoughts - I think it sounds quite brittle and metallic, whether that's the guitar, mic, or placement, but the voice sounds great!

320 should do well on a kick.
I have an re20 here that gets used on voice a lot but I've never liked it on acoustic instruments. Sounds like the 320 is in the same box.
....
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That's my Martin GPCPA3. I know the mic was really just a few inches off the neck around where it joins the body. Probably should have been back a bit more and angled to get more of the body, but I can probably EQ it to be a little less grating. It's not my intention to use it for guitar, though, so not likely to impact the ultimate decision.

Thanks for the listen and feedback on your RE20.
 
keith.rogers said:
That's my Martin GPCPA3.
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Oh wow, very nice!

keith.rogers said:
I know the mic was really just a few inches off the neck around where it joins the body. Probably should have been back a bit more and angled to get more of the body.
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Yeah, to be fair maybe I'm unfair blaming the mic. Any time I tried an re20, or anything like it, I've been very close to the guitar because a: they're not that hot and b: my room sucks.
The only guitar recordings I'm ever happy with are in a deader room with stereo pair at a bit more distance.

You've got the voice for that stuff man. Doesn't work the same when you're from N.I. :p
 
Keith, your post my curiosity rekindled re a few things about the RE320, and compared to the RE20's which I'm very familiar with.
One- the brightness.. Apparently the top eq is much more aggressive in 'kick mode. Is that what you used on your track(s)?
Second is EV's calling this mic a 'Variable D - "low proximity effect.
And yet the spec' indicates a second 'close trace with a big low bump' typical of about any cardioid!
(Very odd ..looking like double speak ..from EV WTF :confused:
Thanks :>)
 
mixsit said:
Keith, your post my curiosity rekindled re a few things about the RE320, and compared to the RE20's which I'm very familiar with.
One- the brightness.. Apparently the top eq is much more aggressive in 'kick mode. Is that what you used on your track(s)?
Second is EV's calling this mic a 'Variable D - "low proximity effect.
And yet the spec' indicates a second 'close trace with a big low bump' typical of about any cardioid!
(Very odd ..looking like double speak ..from EV WTF :confused:
Thanks :>)
Click to expand...
Yeah, looks like they're "talking out of both sides of their mouth at the same time." When I get my real voice back I'll give it more of a test. Was hoping for a little more of the RE20 effect but not sure it's going to work out like that, but who knows.

I had it on the "flat" setting, not the kick one.
 
keith.rogers said:
Yeah, looks like they're "talking out of both sides of their mouth at the same time." When I get my real voice back I'll give it more of a test. Was hoping for a little more of the RE20 effect but not sure it's going to work out like that, but who knows.

I had it on the "flat" setting, not the kick one.
Click to expand...

Thank you!
 
That's a cool song...I haven't heard it before. The guitar kind of walked on the vocal. I think either the vocal should come up or the guitar come down, depending on where the overall level is now. The vocal track sounds very good!
 
Thanks for the feedback [MENTION=7780]jimistone[/MENTION]. I'll probably go tweak that a bit later this morning.

Sadly, I'm not going to be able to keep the sound of that vocal unless I keep myself in a state of constant infection (which has been suggested by a few of my *close* friends! ;)), but it did turn out Ok, surprisingly, considering how I felt on Saturday.

Here's the late [great] Guy Clark with Verlon Thompson doing the song.
YouTube
 
Hey Brother, I just watched the video above my post. He is a Champ among Champs, but, I like your version better and I mean no disrespect towards him. As far as your voice goes, it reminds me of Phibi on Friends when she had that cold and she was huffing tissues to get her voice back where it was, when she had her cold. Props to both Guy Clark as well as yourself! You did Guy a great service with your cover!
 
andrushkiwt said:
This was my first thought too.
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Well, regarding the guitar tone, honestly a fair amount of it has to do with simply my picking style/attack (not to be confused with my *ability* ;)) - think more Norman Blake than Tony Rice. That, and the fact that the guitar was capo'd a bit loosely (I realized afterwards) so a little rattly on open string hits, of which there were lots.

But, overall, this is not a mic I'd pick for acoustic guitar - the high end bump is a little bothersome. I might have enough voice back later this week to try some vocals, which were my first hope for it, anyway.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
sparky123 said:
A few good effects and eq on the guitar and you got it
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Well, it wasn't quite an attempt to get the same guitar sound as the recording - more of a test of whether it worked for guitar.

TBH, I'm not wild about the tone of Verlon Thompson's guitar in that [video] recording - it's direct from the pickup (unknown type) in that wonderful guitar, and to me it's a bit too electric sounding. I do kind of wish I'd plugged my guitar in so I'd have a version of my track with more of that direct sound, just to hear what I might have done with it. But, it's kind of a once and done thing at this point.

Thanks for the listen and feedback!
 
I thought it sounded OK. I thought the guitar was a little muddy and boomy. But not bad.

The vocal was nice and clear. But just a bit crispy. It was also a lot more reverby than the guitar.

The lead part was very much in front of the rhythm guitar.
 
TripleM said:
I thought it sounded OK. I thought the guitar was a little muddy and boomy. But not bad.

The vocal was nice and clear. But just a bit crispy. It was also a lot more reverby than the guitar.

The lead part was very much in front of the rhythm guitar.
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Out of curiosity, what were you listening with?

The lead guitar (right channel) is actually lower than the rhythm (left) except for the break in the middle. It's pretty clear in the mix, at least dB-wise. It's playing a bit higher and is a little more heavily picked, of course.

Thanks for listening and commenting.
 
keith.rogers said:
Out of curiosity, what were you listening with?

The lead guitar (right channel) is actually lower than the rhythm (left) except for the break in the middle.
Click to expand...

I was listening with Event PS6 monitors. I was commenting about the lead guitar during the middle break. I thought it was a bit too loud through that section.
 
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