Warm microphone for male spoken voice (rap/slam poetry)

singerRecorder

New member
I need to buy a microphone for rap/slam poetry. It needs to give a good warm, round effect, like a deep narrator voice.

I need to buy it now, without being able to try it, so I need your advice !

I have been advised the Rode NTK. Would you guys agree?

Thanks!
 
It's a nice mic, but the problem here is we'd be guessing if it suits the voice. Normally people have tried this and tried that and can make comparisons. I've got a number of 'warm' mics - and in my book, they're the dull ones. The bright ones by comparison are a bit tinnier sounding.

If I have somebody with a certain sort of voice, I pick a darker mic if their voice is a bit thin or nasal sounding. If they have a deep boomy voice lacking definition, I might use the tinnier/brighter ones I have. Equally, I'd use gentle EQ to mimic the other mic and bring the mic's sound back on track.

I'm NOT a convert to valve mics at all. To delicate for my clumsy, cable tripping tendencies. I personally have no need for them at all. Other swear by them.

You're in a difficult position. My feeling is that maybe just buy from somebody who takes returns if you hate it - we cannot predict if you'll like it's sound or not. To be fair, the room you record in is far more important and a real impact on the sound.
 
It's a nice mic, but the problem here is we'd be guessing if it suits the voice. Normally people have tried this and tried that and can make comparisons. I've got a number of 'warm' mics - and in my book, they're the dull ones. The bright ones by comparison are a bit tinnier sounding.

If I have somebody with a certain sort of voice, I pick a darker mic if their voice is a bit thin or nasal sounding. If they have a deep boomy voice lacking definition, I might use the tinnier/brighter ones I have. Equally, I'd use gentle EQ to mimic the other mic and bring the mic's sound back on track.

I'm NOT a convert to valve mics at all. To delicate for my clumsy, cable tripping tendencies. I personally have no need for them at all. Other swear by them.

You're in a difficult position. My feeling is that maybe just buy from somebody who takes returns if you hate it - we cannot predict if you'll like it's sound or not. To be fair, the room you record in is far more important and a real impact on the sound.
 
I'll bet your warm round sound will come easier from a compressor/limiter than a mic.
Try a mic through your interface preamp, then the same mic through a preamp/compression (LA2A or something)

I agree with Rob, the mics are all over the place and Im not even convinced more expensive is better at all.
Check the Sweetwater Massive Mic shootout...and download the raw samples of a few mics into your DAW tracks.
The RAW clips are unprocessed....the ones on the site have some processing.
I just posted clips of a U87 and KSM32 from there, I cant hear a difference.
Even the Behringer CO1 sounded close to the U87.imo.

I did the tube mic thing too, someone here told me it wasn't much difference and they were right.

Hardware: Even a mic > preamp> FMR RNC is a nice sound, little crisp rounded off, smoothness...professional sounding.

Software: Plugins Klanghelms are simple to use and nice, won several awards, and $free or $39 for the whole suite of 3.

that's my 2 cents...compressor ...it can make a lot of mics have that FMradio, smooth studio sound.
 
I record a lot of hip-hop artists. Although it's not my most expensive mic, I almost always use an old CAD E-200. The current version of that mic is the E-300. I've tried using my NTK on hip-hop, and it sounds good but can be a little fussy if the artist gets aggressive. Also not quite as fat and round a sound on the bottom end. The CAD is not a super clean mic, it actually has some character, weight, and body to it that always seems to work when other mics don't. Also, if the artist is reading from a cell phone, I will occasionally have noise/hum problems with tube mics like the NTK. I recommend solid state mics for the hip-hop guys.
 
Warm voice = warm sounding vocal. The narrators you hear with that rich voice actually have a rich voice and would actually sound good with almost everything.

Alan
 
Why does it seem to always start with a condenser mic as a recommendation? A quality dynamic is always going to give a warmer and much more controllable sound to voice. EV RE20... Heil PR40... I won't say Shure SM7b since I don't know the chain. Sennheiser MD 421....Neumann BCM 705....

If the preamp is the weak link then you might have to gain the mic too much and get some noise. Then it's time for the Cloudlifter.

As for tube mics.....It's what I use. But then the cheap mics around here start at $1500usd and go up from there......
 
Shure SM7b with a cl-1. Or even a Shure SM57. To me, dynamics sound better on male voice than a condenser. Though depending on the situation, I do like a tube condenser.
 
Thanks a lot for that. And thanks to everyone who replied, that's very helpful.

It sounds like the easiest thing I can do is try the compressor. To be honest I am not very familiar at all with any of that. I've downloaded this one : MJUCjr - variable-mu compressor

I have tried applying the effect, and I didn't find that it gave a warmer voice... Did you have another one in mind ?

Thanks
 
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Those are fun and easy compressors and work well. You can go through presets and keep it clean or squashed.

Theres another free one called Limiter No. 6.
Limiter №6 | vladg/sound

If you aren't hearing anything your seeking, your experience is different than mine.
Cranking a 1176 clone type comp and/or a LA2A type plugin compressor cranked up, should definitely make things sound different..which I found to be the "studio" sound.

Maybe your wanting some Sparkling EQ?
 
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