Hypnotherapist needs Mic selection help

[yoderconsult]

After perusing the internet for the last several days, I have to say that all of you have the best and most informative forums of all for sound equipment.

I am setting up a office recording system that will accomplish several tasks, first the system will allow my clients to listen to "Trance" music thru a set of headphones. They will also be able to listen to my voice as I lead them into a trance state.

My plan is to have the trance music on track one then play the track with the client listening and then lay down track two (my voice) on top of the music track.

I am building a new computer that will be devoted to this system, I have purchased Cakewalk Home studio 2004, Sony MDR7506 large-diaphragm headphones and a M-AUDIO FIREWIRE 410 Audio Interface.

What I am having difficulty deciding on is the Mic. I really want top quality recordings that can be burned onto a CD for the client of each session.

I am thinking a large Condenser type, possibly a M-audio Luna or a Rode nt1-a or a Shure KSM32?

Any suggestions or pro and cons for each of these models?

How close would I need to have my mouth to each one of these to produce good quality sound?

Thanks for any help that you can give.

 

[DJL]

Wow, that sounds like it would be a trip... anyway, you may want to checkout something like the EV RE20 or Shure SM-7... both can be very good voice-over mics.

 

[Massive Master]

Right in this forum is a thread...

Oh, here it is...

Look for the sample file about halfway down the page.

A pretty amazing recording from an amazingly inexpensive mic through a TRULY amazingly horrible preamp.

 

[TexRoadkill]

I'd go with a dynamic mic for that situation. A condensor will pick up every movement, the AC, breathing etc. DJL's picks are good.

 

[ausrock]

Definitely look at dynamic mics first.

In your proposed situation you want as little background noise coming through as possible. Virtually any condenser mic will pick up a sparrow fart at 20 paces.............. . Each extra bit of noise will only make full relaxation and entering a deep trance state more difficult.

Obviously, this really should only be an issue the first couple of times you use this system on each client as you can easily suggest (under trance) that they will ignore any background noise and only hear the music and your voice.

 

[noiseportrait]

I agree, a good dynamic like an sm7, m88, or re20 would be much better suited to this application. Don't forget to get a decent clean mic pre for it too. A rane msb1 would be an excellent choice for one good clean channel that won't break your bank.

 

[Richard Monroe]

For your purposes, I think the above suggestions are overkill. I would use an M-Audio Audio Buddy for a preamp ($80) and a Sennheiser e835 (variable- $50-100) for a mic. These are solid basic items that will get the job done. I agree that a dynamic will be a good choice.-Richie

 

[noisedude]

I think I agree with Richie ... but maybe I was hypnotised into doing so ...

 

[ausrock]

Richie,

I want you to sit back comfortably and relax.........take nice even breathes,.....in and out, in and out. You are very relaxed..................now I want you to think of all the good advice you have given on the forums here and I want you to realise you have even more to give..............yes you have. You are going to realise that you want, NO you need to give you gear collection to Ausrock.............you know you will feel sooooo much better for doing so.................

 

[noisedude]

 

[noisedude]

PS - On the topic of mic sensitivity, a football commentator lost his job here today because of a racist comment he made after switching his headset off. His co-commentator's mic was still switched on and it broadcast him calling a black player a hip-hop word starting with 'N'.

 

[DJL]

Nut?

 

[brich2929]

When I get bored in the studio, I mess around with voice overs and pretend to be an anchor from time to time on our newsradio station, KYW NEwsradio 1060. (I've been told I have a great radio voice).

Anyhow, I like the Sennheiser MD421 on the "M" setting. Even with no preamp it sounds good. Strangely I also like the Shure SM48.

 

[noisedude]

Nut?

Indeed.

brich2929 - No preamp? Does it sound nice when it's not doing anything?

 

[noiseportrait]

For your purposes, I think the above suggestions are overkill. I would use an M-Audio Audio Buddy for a preamp ($80) and a Sennheiser e835 (variable- $50-100) for a mic. These are solid basic items that will get the job done. I agree that a dynamic will be a good choice.-Richie

Yeah, Richard is probably right. We were just trying to give you suggestions in the same price and quality range as the mics you initially said you are interested in, but for voice over work you could probably get away with just a cheap dynamic and an audio buddy. I doubt your clients will ever know the difference. The atm25 also makes a decent voice over mic for only $125.

 

[noisedude]

If you actually want to spend a bit more, the e845 is another excellent mic ... or you can go way up the price range to the Shure SM7.

 

[yoderconsult]

Great Info!!

I like the synergy that goes in your dialogs, powerful for "info" processing. What I have gathered from all of this is the following:

1) Do not use a large condenser type mic (Too much background noise)

2) Don't spend a fortune as my application doesn't justify it

3) Possible recommended mic's are:
Shure SM-7
EV RE20
Sennheiser e385
Sennheiser MD421
Sennheiser e845

I think that between these mics it is a matter of how much I want to spend for the small difference in the quality of recording that I will gain.

One question that I was not aware of was the need for an additional mic preamp. The M-AUDIO FIREWIRE 410 Audio Interface that I have purchased does have a builtin "dual mic/instruments preamps w/ gain control (66dB available gain) and phantom power ". Should I add another preamp ahead of this one? IF so will the two preamps have an interaction problem?

I really appreciate all of the info that you have shared. I honestly did not even know that this "other world" of microphones and sound systems even existed before I started on this home studio journey, it's amazing that we all think we know everything, but really only know what our tunnel-vision view of reality allows us to see and know (So the argument goes that we are all in a state of "hypnotic" trance at any given moment).

Remember that each time you see the color red (Apples, taillights, stoplights, etc) after reading this post you will think about how broad or narrow your tunnelvision is and how you can expand it :<)

Many thanks,

Ron

 

[noisedude]

That's about the size of it. One other piece of info is that (if I'm right, and to be fair music audio is far from my specialist subject ...) the SM7 is primarily a broadcast mic which people have since realised works extremely well in some musical applications.

Sounds like your external sound card will be fine without anything extra. I don't know the setup on that particular model, but unless you can bypass the onboard pres there would be no point in buying an outboard pre anyway.

 

[brich2929]

Indeed.

brich2929 - No preamp? Does it sound nice when it's not doing anything?

I meant no outboard preamp (Sorry). Just the lousy ones that are included with the mixer strip. I imagine if I were to use a good tube mic preamp that would really make the mics shine but its not in the budget as yet.

 

[brich2929]

That's about the size of it. One other piece of info is that (if I'm right, and to be fair music audio is far from my specialist subject ...) the SM7 is primarily a broadcast mic which people have since realised works extremely well in some musical applications.

Sounds like your external sound card will be fine without anything extra. I don't know the setup on that particular model, but unless you can bypass the onboard pres there would be no point in buying an outboard pre anyway.

Yes, I have worked stage crew at some concerts in my area and on a Leslie speaker cab the lower rear horn (rotary) was mic'd with an SM7 and the 2 upper horns were mic'd with SM57's. I'd never heard a leslie in person before. The sound was deafening coming from that cab at full blast. So I know that the SM& handles extremely high SPL's without a hitch!