Making my microphone sound professional?

[JordanDoyle]

Hi there, I recently bought a Blue Yeti but it doesn't sound anything like what you hear on the reviews or Youtube videos. I bought the microphone for amateur radio - I use SAM Broadcaster, how do I make it sound like radio station microphones like Radio 1 for example? I have the microphone in cardioid mode with gain pretty low and volume in Windows at 40. I assume I need a ton of compression and other nifty features, what is the "magic" settings to make my microphone sound as good as Radio 1's? I'm seriously considering replacing the Yeti.

I was considering buying a preamp but I can't seem to find any that are compatible with USB microphones.

 

[Guitar Hack]

First of all a USB mic will only sound good if you have a proper sound card designed for recording in your computer. Usually the sound card in the computer is not designed for serious recording. First of all try getting a computer interface which is really an external soundcard designed for recording. I don't own a USB mic because my computer interface does not work with one. I am not familiar with Blue Yeti quality. I have heard they are good but the real gold standard is the Neumann mics. I have had my mics modified to replace the cheap chinese components at the least and also to replace the capsule with a Neumann copy. They do a nice job. A pre-amp is not going to help you on a condenser mic. It can be helpful on a tube mic and sometimes on a ribbon mic. I have a ribbon mic that I use that does not need a pre-amp.

 

[Seafroggys]

A USB mic has nothing to do with the sound card in the computer. Its a microphone/preamp/converter/interface all in one. You can disable your sound card and it'll still work.

 

[Chili]

First of all a USB mic will only sound good if you have a proper sound card designed for recording in your computer. Usually the sound card in the computer is not designed for serious recording. First of all try getting a computer interface which is really an external soundcard designed for recording. I don't own a USB mic because my computer interface does not work with one. I am not familiar with Blue Yeti quality. I have heard they are good but the real gold standard is the Neumann mics. I have had my mics modified to replace the cheap chinese components at the least and also to replace the capsule with a Neumann copy. They do a nice job. A pre-amp is not going to help you on a condenser mic. It can be helpful on a tube mic and sometimes on a ribbon mic. I have a ribbon mic that I use that does not need a pre-amp.

Wow, just about everything in this post is wrong. Let's break it down.

First of all a USB mic will only sound good if you have a proper sound card designed for recording in your computer.

Wrong!! As Seafroggy's noted, a USB mic has nothing to do with the computer sound card.

Usually the sound card in the computer is not designed for serious recording

This is true.

First of all try getting a computer interface which is really an external soundcard designed for recording.

An audio interface will not work with a USB mic. Bad advice.

I have heard they are good but the real gold standard is the Neumann mics.

Comparing a Blue Yeti to a Neumann is really pushing the extremes. But okayyy.

A pre-amp is not going to help you on a condenser mic.

What?? Every mic needs a preamp. USB mics have them built in.

It can be helpful on a tube mic and sometimes on a ribbon mic.

again... What?? Every mic needs a preamp.

I have a ribbon mic that I use that does not need a pre-amp.

I would like to know which one you have and where do you plug it in.

 

[hannanahmad]

Use some sound treatment software while recording or using the mic for live performance. The mic has nothing to deal with performance of the sound you produce with it. That's why be cautious.

 

[jimmys69]

First of all a USB mic will only sound good if you have a proper sound card designed for recording in your computer. Usually the sound card in the computer is not designed for serious recording. First of all try getting a computer interface which is really an external soundcard designed for recording. I don't own a USB mic because my computer interface does not work with one. I am not familiar with Blue Yeti quality. I have heard they are good but the real gold standard is the Neumann mics. I have had my mics modified to replace the cheap chinese components at the least and also to replace the capsule with a Neumann copy. They do a nice job. A pre-amp is not going to help you on a condenser mic. It can be helpful on a tube mic and sometimes on a ribbon mic. I have a ribbon mic that I use that does not need a pre-amp.

Not to throw out a second knife, but this is almost all wrong.

Please refrain from giving uneducated responses to new members. It is one thing to give opinion, but completely misinformed advice does not belong on this forum.

 

[JordanDoyle]

Thanks for the replies so far. Do I need to run my input through a compressor or something similar?

 

[TimOBrien]

A condenser usb mic will not sound like a 'radio mic'.

The standard radio mics are dynamics - Shure SM7, EV RE-20 or Sennheiser MD-421's on far better preamps and gear than in a usb mics.

Plus, 3/4 or more of your 'sound' is the room you are in.

And finally (from someone who did radio news for a few years) your voice and presentation is a lot of it.

 

[ashcat_lt]

Yes, compress the crap out of it. Then slap on some multi-band compression. Then compress it some more.

Yes, use the proximity effect to beef up the low end. Don't use one of those windscreens that hang out in front of the mic. Put a clown nose on it and get your lips right up on it.

There's another trick that they use in broadcast that I kind of hate to give out because it's one of my "secret weapons" when it comes to vocal mixing. In radio engineering it's referred to as a phase rotator. What it really is an all-pass filter - sometimes pretty steep, or several in series - that applies a frequency dependent phase delay to the signal. It basically randomizes the phase relationships between various frequencies in the sound. This tends to redistribute the energy of the signal and can help a lot with asymmetrical waves (like those from many voices, especially deeper male voices). It can open up a considerable amount of headroom in some situations, and almost come out like an extremely transparent compression. I would tend to use this first before any other compression for what are essentially gain-staging reasons.

There used to be an all-in-one VST "broadcast processor" which basically emulated the hardware units (or chains thereof) found in typical radio rooms. I think it was called Stardust. Honestly, though, since you need a VST host anyway, I think I'd rather just use individual plugs for each stage. Reaper is super cheap and comes with all the plugins you'd need for this and much more.

 

[c7sus]

There's another trick that they use in broadcast that I kind of hate to give out because it's one of my "secret weapons" when it comes to vocal mixing. In radio engineering it's referred to as a phase rotator. What it really is an all-pass filter - sometimes pretty steep, or several in series - that applies a frequency dependent phase delay to the signal. It basically randomizes the phase relationships between various frequencies in the sound. This tends to redistribute the energy of the signal and can help a lot with asymmetrical waves (like those from many voices, especially deeper male voices). It can open up a considerable amount of headroom in some situations, and almost come out like an extremely transparent compression. I would tend to use this first before any other compression for what are essentially gain-staging reasons.

There used to be an all-in-one VST "broadcast processor" which basically emulated the hardware units (or chains thereof) found in typical radio rooms. I think it was called Stardust. Honestly, though, since you need a VST host anyway, I think I'd rather just use individual plugs for each stage. Reaper is super cheap and comes with all the plugins you'd need for this and much more.

Can you elaborate on how you would set up a VST chain to reproduce that effect?

 

[ashcat_lt]

Is that sort of similar to what a box like the Aphex Aural Exciter does? Seems I recall it did something with phase relationships in a frequency band to make the sound seemingly stand out more.

Yeah, I think the Aphex process does use something similar. Those IBP-type "phase correction" boxes are about the same thing also.

Can you elaborate on how you would set up a VST chain to reproduce that effect?

For the "phase rotator" in Reaper it's as simple as inserting an instance of ReaEQ, and setting a band or two to "All-Pass". Then you mess with the frequency and bandwidth parameters until it works. I try to put the frequency somewhere in the range of the fundamentals because it's right around the "cutoff" where there is a noticeable slope to the phase response. It's extremely subtle, but my voice almost always responds well to this type of treatment.

 

[c7sus]

Cool. Thanks a bunch.

Also, the Reaplugs are available for free download on their site.

 

[Mo Facta]

First of all a USB mic will only sound good if you have a proper sound card designed for recording in your computer. Usually the sound card in the computer is not designed for serious recording. First of all try getting a computer interface which is really an external soundcard designed for recording. I don't own a USB mic because my computer interface does not work with one. I am not familiar with Blue Yeti quality. I have heard they are good but the real gold standard is the Neumann mics. I have had my mics modified to replace the cheap chinese components at the least and also to replace the capsule with a Neumann copy. They do a nice job. A pre-amp is not going to help you on a condenser mic. It can be helpful on a tube mic and sometimes on a ribbon mic. I have a ribbon mic that I use that does not need a pre-amp.

Sorry, can't help but kick this horse.

I read this and thought, "is this guy taking the piss?". LOL

Cheers

 

[Telegram Sam]

Yes, compress the crap out of it. Then slap on some multi-band compression. Then compress it some more.

Yes, use the proximity effect to beef up the low end. Don't use one of those windscreens that hang out in front of the mic. Put a clown nose on it and get your lips right up on it.

There's another trick that they use in broadcast that I kind of hate to give out because it's one of my "secret weapons" when it comes to vocal mixing. In radio engineering it's referred to as a phase rotator. What it really is an all-pass filter - sometimes pretty steep, or several in series - that applies a frequency dependent phase delay to the signal. It basically randomizes the phase relationships between various frequencies in the sound. This tends to redistribute the energy of the signal and can help a lot with asymmetrical waves (like those from many voices, especially deeper male voices). It can open up a considerable amount of headroom in some situations, and almost come out like an extremely transparent compression. I would tend to use this first before any other compression for what are essentially gain-staging reasons.

There used to be an all-in-one VST "broadcast processor" which basically emulated the hardware units (or chains thereof) found in typical radio rooms. I think it was called Stardust. Honestly, though, since you need a VST host anyway, I think I'd rather just use individual plugs for each stage. Reaper is super cheap and comes with all the plugins you'd need for this and much more.

Wow.

 

[JordanDoyle]

A condenser usb mic will not sound like a 'radio mic'.

The standard radio mics are dynamics - Shure SM7, EV RE-20 or Sennheiser MD-421's on far better preamps and gear than in a usb mics.

Plus, 3/4 or more of your 'sound' is the room you are in.

And finally (from someone who did radio news for a few years) your voice and presentation is a lot of it.

I have $650. What mic, preamp, 2ch mixer and soundcard would you get with that?

 

[Steenamaroo]

There was a thread exactly like this a few weeks ago with some great info in it.
To be fair, I think most of that info came from ashcat and he's provided it again for you.

It was pointed out that UK radio stations tend to favour capacitor mics and US stations often favour dynamics.
It's reasonable to conclude that the choice of mic and preamp are much less important than

• the room treatment
• the voice
• the processing

Personally I'd probably pull out a dynamic mic and get real close to it because the proxy effect mightn't be a bad thing and being close may also help reduce audible room reflections. Compress the balls out of it and take it from there.

 

[JordanDoyle]

There was a thread exactly like this a few weeks ago with some great info in it.
To be fair, I think most of that info came from ashcat and he's provided it again for you.

It was pointed out that UK radio stations tend to favour capacitor mics and US stations often favour dynamics.
It's reasonable to conclude that the choice of mic and preamp are much less important than

• the room treatment
• the voice
• the processing

Personally I'd probably pull out a dynamic mic and get real close to it because the proxy effect mightn't be a bad thing and being close may also help reduce audible room reflections. Compress the balls out of it and take it from there.

I'm not really sure what good compression settings would be, I've attempted messing with them and it made me a sound like some sort of dying cat, bear in mind I've never messed with sound engineering hence why a USB mic was my "go to". If I can get noticeably good sound from my Yeti then I save myself a few hundred pounds from a hobby, I guess

Can you point me in the right direction for compression settings or should I just order a dynamic mic now?

Thanks, Jordan

 

[Steenamaroo]

Since you already have the Yeti, there's no harm in seeing what you can do with it.
I'd recommend some proper blast shield or a foam ball so you can get really close to the mic. Bring the gain down to compensate.

Compressor settings are heard to recommend. Obviously the threshold depends on your input level.
I suppose you'd probably want a reasonably aggressive ratio. Do you know how ratio and threshold effect compression?
5:1 is pretty aggressive.

 

[johanbudiman]

Thanks for the replies so far. Do I need to run my input through a compressor or something similar?

Mostly, even with a good mic..you cannot hear so called "professional sound"...without any further processing...

if you want a "professional" sounds there are two ways :
1. by software --> get a DAW and install some necessary plugins, Compressor, EQ, Reverb, Gate, Noise Supressor and etc....
2. by hardware --> get some hardware base compressor, EQ, Channel Strip...

however...it's all depends on your need..."realtime" performance or "non-realtime" performance (recorded)...
if you just recording your vocal....Audacity will be good enough for post processing....

 

[c7sus]

I have $650. What mic, preamp, 2ch mixer and soundcard would you get with that?

You don't need a mixer unless you have stuff you want to leave connected to it for monitoring purposes or need preamps for multi-micing drums or multiple instruments at the same time.

Most if not all of the USB interfaces come with software mixers that will sum your recordings down to two tracks for playback.

Check out the Scarlett interfaces from Focusrite. They have built-in preamps with phantom power.