Vocals sound like I'm in a tunnel, tin can, weird!

[philbagg]

Well to the original statement of use a dynamic you will get less room noise.
While inherently not the case that dynamics pick up less room, lower sensitivity of a dynamic necessitiates very close proximity mic technique often less than an inch leading to less room to vocal mix. (i suppose if you had a pre with over +80db of Gain then you could distance mic with a dynamic and room noise would be more of an issue)
Condensors are more sensetive and generally LDC mics used for vocal are placed further away,more than a foot because of sibliance, plosives and clipping, so the mix of room to voice is more room heavy than a close mic'd dynamic.

So while not specifically designed for the purpose of eliminating room noise the low output and necessary proximity of a dynamic generally results in Dynamic for vocal recording = less room noise than condensor. So as a general rule/statement this is very often true, Using a dynamic will result in less room noise, even if the semantics behind it are not completely transparent or technically accurate. There are of course exceptions plus all the pros and cons of the more mid rangyness of dynamics, the added bass of proximity effect, more flat frequency response with (good) condensors etc etc etc.

While I do kind of agree, it is only true if you use it like this. If you say "Use a dynamic with lips to the grill, you'll get less room, than a condenser that's a foot away" of course it's going to be true. It still has nothing to do with the mics and whether they're dynamic or condenser. It's all to do with the distance.

If anybody says that condensers pick up more room, they are wrong on a technical point of view. Really, they should go on to say "If you use a cardioid condenser microphone for a vocal performance, you will have to distance yourself further from the microphone than you would have to with a dynamic microphone. This is due to plosives, which condensers are more sensitive to. As a result, the microphone will pick up more room sound" - because that makes sense. It's science.


For example... this link says:

Generally, you should position the vocalist roughly 6 - 8 inches away from the microphone. Getting too close to the microphone tends to increase bass response and can create problems with plosive sounds - those popping Ps, Bs, Ds, and Ts (more on this in a moment). Getting too far away makes the microphone more subject to picking up room ambience - a sound that creates the effect of the vocalist being in a bowl. While vocalists may need to move about in order to hit those high notes, make every effort to maintain a constant distance from the microphone, as this will provide the greatest tonal balance. (see Fig. 1)

The part about sounding like being in a bowl might be the problem that the OP is having? Or it could be what XLR said about singing into the back of the mic, where the source sound is almost completely nulled and there's nothing left but room sound (like a bowl or tunnel).

Oh, and a smiley face just to stop sounding like an audio nazi

 

[mixsit]

Well to the original statement of use a dynamic you will get less room noise.
While inherently not the case that dynamics pick up less room, lower sensitivity of a dynamic necessitiates very close proximity mic technique often less than an inch leading to less room to vocal mix. (i suppose if you had a pre with over +80db of Gain then you could distance mic with a dynamic and room noise would be more of an issue)
Condensors are more sensetive and generally LDC mics used for vocal are placed further away,more than a foot because of sibliance, plosives and clipping, so the mix of room to voice is more room heavy than a close mic'd dynamic.

So while not specifically designed for the purpose of eliminating room noise the low output and necessary proximity of a dynamic generally results in Dynamic for vocal recording = less room noise than condensor. So as a general rule/statement this is very often true, Using a dynamic will result in less room noise, even if the semantics behind it are not completely transparent or technically accurate. There are of course exceptions plus all the pros and cons of the more mid rangyness of dynamics, the added bass of proximity effect, more flat frequency response with (good) condensors etc etc etc.

Yes. But we also go there (that other simple' version.. ) for those times where someone is just as likely to come in and say that that 'sensitvity' is ment to mean something along the line of "picks up all that subtle background stuff 'cause the condensor element is all light and delecate' and stuff.
-rather than than the fact that they built in some needed extra gain.

 

[mixsit]

While I do kind of agree, it is only true if you use it like this. If you say "Use a dynamic with lips to the grill, you'll get less room, than a condenser that's a foot away" of course it's going to be true. It still has nothing to do with the mics and whether they're dynamic or condenser. It's all to do with the distance.

If anybody says that condensers pick up more room, they are wrong on a technical point of view. Really, they should go on to say "If you use a cardioid condenser microphone for a vocal performance, you will have to distance yourself further from the microphone than you would have to with a dynamic microphone. This is due to plosives, which condensers are more sensitive to. As a result, the microphone will pick up more room sound" - because that makes sense. It's science.


For example... this link says:



The part about sounding like being in a bowl might be the problem that the OP is having? Or it could be what XLR said about singing into the back of the mic, where the source sound is almost completely nulled and there's nothing left but room sound (like a bowl or tunnel).

Oh, and a smiley face just to stop sounding like an audio nazi

Hey, we're on parallel paths.

 

[philbagg]

Yes. But we also go there (that other simple' version.. ) for those times where someone is just as likely to come in and say that that 'sensitvity' is ment to mean something along the line of "picks up all that subtle background stuff 'cause the condensor element is all light and delecate' and stuff.
-rather than than the fact that they built in some needed extra gain.

Exactly. Background noise does increase with sensitivity, but so does source sound. No matter the difference in sensitivity of the mic, the ratio remains the same.

If a mic did somehow start picking up more room noise, just by design, it would either be the polar pattern, or some sort of in-built compression thing goin on

 

[AbuseTheMuses]

I used to just nail wool blankets up around the walls and used the room with the carpeting. Not much I could do about the ceiling but a guy told me once that he draped a big blanket across the middle of his using 2 clotheslines on either side to drape it between. Blankets don't look very professional (like I care) but they soak up a lot of possible reflection. It's a very jury rigged kind of thing but it worked for me and didn't cost anything except some spaccle for the nail holes when I moved out. Just a thought.