rode nt1, my recordings sound cheap

plautus

plautus

New member
I dont know if it's the microphone or room treatment, or the fact that im not using any effects.

My voice in my recordings sounds thin. My mic is set to mono. Might that be a reason? If i dont set it to mono however the sound only comes out of one speaker.
Is the room not treated well enough?
Is the mic not expensive enough?

pls help
 

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Your voice doesn't sound particularly thin to me - and while there is a bit of room sound in the track - it's not distracting - the sound coming out of one speaker - something is odd in your setup - do you have the track completely panned to one side? - Your room is not hurting your recording - but you could use a Vocal Shield - like a Stage Right by Monoprice - and that will dampen your reflections.

BTW What Microphone is it?
 
I think the vocals are fine, what I suspect is there is probably no compression, or treatment. I did not hear any room in your recording. Maybe some EQ to remove parts you don't like.

I think from what I heard, it sounds fine, just need to do some polishing, which is the point of mixing.
 
Sounds ok to me, too. Sounds like you're in close proximity to your mic when speaking, trying for that radio announcer, low booming voice. Maybe a Shure SM7B would work there - put your mouth right up on that and BOOM!
 
I don't know what you are using for a "reference", but if you are comparing the recorded sound to the sound "in your head" then you haven't considered the contribution of bone conduction. Put on a good sealing pair of headphones or even put your fingers in your ears and start singing, Hear all that bassy sound? That's the sound traveling through the bones in your head, and your ears pick that up and mix it with what comes in from the air. Hence what you "hear" is not the same thing as other hear from you.

You need to get accustomed to hearing the real sound of your voice,

A couple of other issues I heard were some annoying plosive sounds, which are wind blasts from your mouth to the mic. Are you using the pop filter that came with the NT1? You need that. You can also move the microphone slightly to the side, or put the capsule so that it is about level with your nose. It will still pick everything up, but any strong breathes will be directed below the capsule, so you won't hear them the popping sound.

Finally, there is quite a bit of high frequency sound, particularly with sibilant sounds, F, S, T etc., You can use a bit of EQ to lower the extreme high frequencies.

The NT1 is really a very neutral sounding microphone. It really shouldn't be sounding thin, unless the source is that way to start.
 
TalismanRich said:
I don't know what you are using for a "reference", but if you are comparing the recorded sound to the sound "in your head" then you haven't considered the contribution of bone conduction. Put on a good sealing pair of headphones or even put your fingers in your ears and start singing, Hear all that bassy sound? That's the sound traveling through the bones in your head, and your ears pick that up and mix it with what comes in from the air. Hence what you "hear" is not the same thing as other hear from you.

You need to get accustomed to hearing the real sound of your voice,

A couple of other issues I heard were some annoying plosive sounds, which are wind blasts from your mouth to the mic. Are you using the pop filter that came with the NT1? You need that. You can also move the microphone slightly to the side, or put the capsule so that it is about level with your nose. It will still pick everything up, but any strong breathes will be directed below the capsule, so you won't hear them the popping sound.

Finally, there is quite a bit of high frequency sound, particularly with sibilant sounds, F, S, T etc., You can use a bit of EQ to lower the extreme high frequencies.

The NT1 is really a very neutral sounding microphone. It really shouldn't be sounding thin, unless the source is that way to start.
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if u go to voice123 and search Rode NT1 , and listen to the recordings of people, then search tlm103 and listen to their recordings who are using the tlm, ull see a huge difference in sound. THe recordings done with the NT1 always sound thin
 
I would say BS on that. I've got an NT1 and it's NOT thin. The NT1A can be bright, and I don't think the 103 is particular full sounding. I find the 103 to be on the bright, shiny side.
 
plautus said:
if u go to voice123 and search Rode NT1 , and listen to the recordings of people, then search tlm103 and listen to their recordings who are using the tlm, ull see a huge difference in sound. THe recordings done with the NT1 always sound thin
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We really can't be expected to search out the hundreds (thousands) of voice over samples there to hear what you have heard. As others have said, the NT1 is fairly nuetral on its frequency response chart. What you are probably hearing is more of an effect of proximity of the person recording.
 
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plautus said:
if u go to voice123 and search Rode NT1 , and listen to the recordings of people, then search tlm103 and listen to their recordings who are using the tlm, ull see a huge difference in sound. THe recordings done with the NT1 always sound thin
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Trying to keep you from getting written off as a troll here... Voice123 is a site where folks are advertising their service. You can assume that many of these folks employ professional studio engineering practices in producing the recording you hear. And, the cost of the microphone they use is probably a good \proxy of how professional that extra bit of work on the recording might be.

A while back there was someone doing voiceover work here that was chasing that sound and the question of the microphone's impact on the recording. It's one of those things that typically "generates more heat than light" because there's simply a bias toward those classic names and microphone models. The differences are extremely subtle when all else is equal. Go to Audio Test Kitchen and compare mics there and see how much difference can really be attributed to the microphone is my suggestion.

But, if your mind is made up, go buy the Neumann!
 
I’ve been listening to lots of YouTube stuff while doing other things and while every one sounds different it’s impossible to identify mics by sound. Some sound good some bad but so often it is their recording space and the mic we hear. It’s personal and individual. Famous singers often change microphones for each of their songs in the studio. Live they tend to stick with just one and the audience don’t notice?
 
plautus said:
ｉ　ｓｈａｋｅ　ｍｙ　ｈｅａｄ　ｉｎ　ｄｉｓｂｅｌｉｅｖｅ　ｏｆ　ｗｈａｔ　ｉ＇ｖｅ　ｊｕｓｔ　ｒｅａｄ
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I am not sure how you meant that. But I hope in a good way. German humor is hard to read for the rest of the world.

I hope your get a positive feeling that, these guys know what they are talking about and they are telling you don't go and piss away more money to get something that most likely won't sound better, unless you do a lot of other stuff.

Play with the compression, adjust your distance from the mic, try EQ'ing the areas that you feel don't sound good. On EQ'ing, removing is better than boosting as a general rule. Therefore before compression, EQ, then once that sounds good, add some compression (experiment) see how you like it.

But don't kid yourself into buying a new mic and get disappointed. It might help, but "probably" not in this case.
 
Technique first! There are other issues that need to be addressed before you start spending lots of cash. Spending big money isn't a guaranteed means of getting a professional result. Improperly used, a U87 can sound like crap! As I said earlier, there were severe plosives, and it sounds like you are very close, speaking directly into the microphone at a short distance, and not using a pop filter. Those issues need to be addressed FIRST.

Mic choice next. Friday, I was just with a fellow who was a professional announcer for many years. He also sings. His voice is pretty deep. The first thing he told me was that I would probably have to adjust the EQ on his voice since it usually sounds a bit muddy, so he cuts the lows and ups the mids. I asked what mic he normally uses, and he said SM57. I told him to check out my Sennheiser 935. It worked fine without touching the EQ. Both mics can give acceptable results, if you set them properly.

I'm somewhat confused about your statement "My mic is set to mono. Might that be a reason? If i dont set it to mono however the sound only comes out of one speaker." The microphone has no bearing on a "mono" setting. It is controlled by the interface and recording software. How are you monitoring your signal? Monitors can make a tremendous difference in what you hear. What software are you using? That is where adjustments need to be made for channel selection.

What is your ultimate goal? Karaoke vocals? Voice Over? Classical music? Those will be other factors that need to be taken into account for your mic selection.

As Keith Rogers mentioned, Audio Test Kitchen will let you hear multiple controlled test samples of different microphones. It's a much better way to make starting judgements than listening to 20 random users with totally different conditions, voices and equipment.
 
I belong to the era when open reel tape recorders became cheap enough for many families to have one. The CLASSIC situation was that after being recorded the individual would say "That's not me!"

Something is also missing from the replies AFAICS? What FFS is the OP listening to his voice on? The accurate reproduction of speech is one of the hardest things to get right in a speaker. Headphones? Forget it! "Tres unnatural"

So chap, heed the sense from peeps like Rob A and then go record SOMEONE ELSE. Then check the fidelity.

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
I belong to the era when open reel tape recorders became cheap enough for many families to have one. The CLASSIC situation was that after being recorded the individual would say "That's not me!"
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A bit off topic, but I have transferred a bunch of tapes from the late 50s that my dad did on his tape recorder. There was a point while listening to my mother talking at the tender age of 25, that had I not known who it was, I would have sworn that I was listening to my youngest sister. It was really strange!
 
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