Recording SM7B for live broadcast and podcast

[G22]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and id like to know your opinion about my equipment and if I should upgrade. I'm doing Twitch live streaming as a fulltime job and I'll start a podcast soon. I already have 2x SM7B microphones connected in a Behringer XR18. It's working but I'm operating them at +50db input. I feel like it's catching as much noise and background noise than my previous microphone setup using a condenser microphone which doesn't makes sense to me.

Id like to know if the culprit would be the +50db? Would buying a Cloud Microphones - Cloudlifter - CL-2 fix this issue or help in delivering higher quality signal?

Here's my latest stream for reference

Thanks for helping me!

 

[rob aylestone]

I have an SM7B and hate it. I have a Behringer X32 and unless it's lips on the foam for speech or maybe 50mm for loud singing - the mixer does not have enough gain. For speech on the foam, it's full gain, then back off a notch or two - I can work with that amount of gain. On my Presonus studio interface it has enough gain to back off even more.

They're nice mics but just hopeless output wise, at a distance. Condensers have built in pre-amps so have much more output - some very much so, so you run the gain control much lower. Some people use Cloudlifters, to get more volume and less noise.

 

[G22]

I have an SM7B and hate it. I have a Behringer X32 and unless it's lips on the foam for speech or maybe 50mm for loud singing - the mixer does not have enough gain. For speech on the foam, it's full gain, then back off a notch or two - I can work with that amount of gain. On my Presonus studio interface it has enough gain to back off even more.

They're nice mics but just hopeless output wise, at a distance. Condensers have built in pre-amps so have much more output - some very much so, so you run the gain control much lower. Some people use Cloudlifters, to get more volume and less noise.

Well that's exactly what I'm asking. Thank you for clarifying that the XR18 doesn't have enough gain for the SM7B. Id still like to know if the cloudlifter would help reduce noise capture and enhanced signal quality.

Thanks.

 

[Papanate]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and id like to know your opinion about my equipment and if I should upgrade. I'm doing Twitch live streaming as a fulltime job and I'll start a podcast soon. I already have 2x SM7B microphones connected in a Behringer XR18. It's working but I'm operating them at +50db input. I feel like it's catching as much noise and background noise than my previous microphone setup using a condenser microphone which doesn't makes sense to me.

Id like to know if the culprit would be the +50db? Would buying a Cloud Microphones - Cloudlifter - CL-2 fix this issue or help in delivering higher quality signal?

Here's my latest stream for reference

Thanks for helping me!

Yes a Cloudlifter will improve the dynamics considerably. Just curious - why do you have 2 SM7bs?

 

[G22]

Yes a Cloudlifter will improve the dynamics considerably. Just curious - why do you have 2 SM7bs?

Thank you, ordering now!

 

[TalismanRich]

Yes a Cloudlifter will improve the dynamics considerably. Just curious - why do you have 2 SM7bs?

I'm curious of how a Cloudlifter will improve the dynamics (contrast from low to high). It is simply an amplifier, it lifts all signals equally. If you have a voice that is 40dB above the ambient noise floor and you raise everything by 25dB, you will still have a 40dB differential.

A Cloudlifter or FEThead will give you a higher signal level if you are pushing the preamp gain so high that you are getting excessive noise from the preamp itself.

 

[rob aylestone]

I think that's what he wants to do - record quiet voices and that needs the gain flat out.

 

[G22]

I just tried testing the microphone with and without the CL-2 and this is what I would say.

Advantages

• Less noise
• Expander at lower dB which cuts background noise
• More bass

Disadvantages

• Price is high for the advantages
• Less treble
• More cables

To give more information about my less noise advantage is that the SM7B on the XR18 always have a noise you can hear even when you're talking. It's annoying when you notice it and when you notice it you can't unhear it. Still this cost a lot of money and should only be considered if you're a obsessive as myself about sound quality.

At first I didn't like the sound of the CL-2 but while trying to make it sound the same I got better results and I couldn't return it by now.

Here's the EQ for the SM7B without CL-2

Here's the EQ for the SM7B with the CL-2

That's how I got first image to sound as close to my original EQ in second image.

In the end like I said, I prefer the sound which comes with all advantages with the CL-2.

 

[rob aylestone]

You’ve got lots of HF boost here so I can see how the residual noise of the mixer would become difficult. It strikes me you might maybe consider backing off the mic a little, and using your new found gain, and maybe then to get the sound you want you’d not need so much eq. I don’t think I’ve ever used such radical EQ, the need for that suggests to me it’s the wrong mic, being forced into submission. As i mentioned I don’t like that mic and a friend had had it on long term loan for over a year now and I don’t miss it at all. I know many love it, but the need you have for such radical cut and boost worries me. If you get the right mic in the right place, then EQ for me, is gentle and specific. gentle small hills not mountains.

 

[TalismanRich]

Agreed... the high frequency boost will accentuate any hiss especially if you are pushing the preamp to max gain. When G22 said background noise, I was thinking of ambient noise in the room, not from the equipment.

 

[G22]

While I understand your concerns about the EQ, I can't find a decent broadcasting microphone that I can also use as live microphones. SM7B seemed like a great choice for me as twitch streamer, musician and podcaster.

What do you have in mind? A condenser mic? Hell no!

 

[rob aylestone]

Why not? You clearly want crispness, hence the HF boost - SM7Bs are that classic deep American AM radio sounding mics. When people use them close, lips on the foam, they sound dark and dismal. If you want that, they're a great mic. If you hate that sound, the SM7B was a bad buy, because that's what they do best.

If you want to post a clip of what it sounds like - maybe that will help us?

 

[G22]

Well condenser mics are taking to much background noise for live broadcasting. I don't have a studio. The EQ is the in the middle solution here.

 

[spantini]

Do you think a noise gate might help with that background noise?

 

[R D Smith]

A podcaster I watch uses a SM7B and he speaks in a normal voice about 12" from the mike. He doesn't appear to have any room treatment as it's looks like an office. Sounds good to me.

If you have a constant background noise like a computer or fan, you can use a plugin to remove it. I use Reaper and have used ReaFIR to remove air conditioner noise in a guitar track. You don't get rid of 100% of the noise, but reduce it to a point were it is not noticeable.

REAPER Mania Removing Background Noise in REAPER (ReaFIR)

 

[G22]

I'm already using an expander which removes everything when I'm not talking. It's really tight and working almost instantly. I have a dual computer streaming setup near my microphones and they're coming in. Also sometimes the AC in the background.

I already know about ReaFIR and I've used it in the past but it's cutting a lot of dynamics by experience. I'll give it another try and see if it's better since the Cloudlifter have already helped cut through some noise.

 

[G22]

Here's a clip of the most actual mic setup you can hear as it's broadcast on Twitch.

Twitch

Twitch is the world's leading video platform and community for gamers.

clips.twitch.tv

Let me know what you think.

Here's my signal processing path

 

[rob aylestone]

Well condenser mics are taking to much background noise for live broadcasting. I don't have a studio. The EQ is the in the middle solution here.

Maybe we should tell the BBC that? Condensers are pretty much a standard broadcasters mic in Europe - many folk are now using the Neumann BCM 104. The only common dynamic in British broadcasting is the Beyer M102 - a hyper, and how I got my first one of these - they are popular in BBC regional radio.

I listened to the Twitch clip and you've EQ'd it to sound like a condenser - honest. If I had to have guessed dynamic or condenser, no way I'd have said dynamic because you've removed the warmness the proximity effect gives you and turned it into something totally unlike the characteristic sound of an SM7B - which has normally, a sound of it's own. Your recording is clean and clear and has good amounts of top end, and is not bossy and boomy.

​

 

[G22]

Well your example of the BBC is exactly what I'm saying, I don't have a studio.

I've spent the afternoon setting up the audio. First half I was thinking that this mic wasn't suited for my voice at all since everything I end up with wasn't great.

Then I forgot that there was the switches on the back of the mic as I've installed the backplate that hides them. I've cut the bass and gave the high gain and bam the microphone is sounding exactly how I want.

I'm able to run it a +15db instead of +25db with these settings

It's sounding really great and will try it on stream tonight and post a clip tomorrow of the result!

The Neumann BCM 104 and the Neumann BCM 705 seems like really great alternative/better options for the SM7B.

Thanks for replying!

 

[rob aylestone]

I have to be honest and say I have not experimented with the switches either! I left mine on the supplied setting. Glad it’s now to your taste without so much processing.