Best mic placement for voice (spoken word) recording

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I recently picked up the MXL 990/991 package from Guitar Center to do
some podcasting (internet broadcasting) with. The setup will be me and
a co-host sitting next to each other, both talking and probably
occasionally talking over each other. What's the best way to arrange
the mics here? I don't have a studio or anything, just a couch and a
large coffee table. If I give each of us a mic, how far away do the
two mics need to be? Or should we put one mic in the middle of us and
boost the levels a bit? (If it matters, we're recording onto a laptop
via a Eurorack mixer and a Sound Blaster USB 24-bit.)

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks--

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"psalter" <psalter@opry.com> wrote in message
news:1115424229.386632.58280@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Not familiar with the MXL's, but a lavalier would have been
> prefferable. Regardless, trying to work with what you have is going to
> be tough unless you use something roughly the height of a dinnig room
> table where the mics can be approximately 6" from your mouths. The
> closer the better.
> Hey, you can go for the Howard Stern look and put boom stands right in
> your faces.
>

get 2 mic stands with booms and 2 pop filters. then adjust mic position and
gain for the best sound in you headphones.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

> You two should sit facing each other

or at angles across each other - sitting directly facing can make things a
little confrontational, especially if theres any nerves at the big show

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

<<Why that? >>

The large diaphram mics will require so much gain to get the necessary
input signal that the room ambience will render the signal washy and
phasey.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

<<Close but not accurate, try again. >>


I think if you have two people sitting on a couch and two large
diaphram microphones on a coffee table and you'd gained them up enough
to see zero VU, the results would indeed be washy and phasey. Just my
opinion.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

psalter <psalter@opry.com> wrote:
><<Close but not accurate, try again. >>
>
>I think if you have two people sitting on a couch and two large
>diaphram microphones on a coffee table and you'd gained them up enough
>to see zero VU, the results would indeed be washy and phasey. Just my
>opinion.

That's true for the most part.... but there are some large diaphragm mikes
thave have good directivity. The U87 in figure-8 mode can be surprisingly
good for this sort of thing.... the null on the U87 is excellent.

You can't do that sort of thing with a Shanghai special, though. You
might even be pushing it with a 414 in figure-8.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On Fri, 6 May 2005 19:49:39 -0400, Nick wrote
(in article <1115423379.153538.270340@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> ):

> I recently picked up the MXL 990/991 package from Guitar Center to do
> some podcasting (internet broadcasting) with. The setup will be me and
> a co-host sitting next to each other, both talking and probably
> occasionally talking over each other. What's the best way to arrange
> the mics here? I don't have a studio or anything, just a couch and a
> large coffee table. If I give each of us a mic, how far away do the
> two mics need to be? Or should we put one mic in the middle of us and
> boost the levels a bit? (If it matters, we're recording onto a laptop
> via a Eurorack mixer and a Sound Blaster USB 24-bit.)
>
> Any advice is appreciated. Thanks--
>

Hi,

Give a listen to the real audio files in my Audio>Sonia directories on my
Online archive. Get to them by going to my website and clicking on the On
Line Archives link in the second column, then Audio, then Sonia. See how you
like them.

They were for a webcast, recorded as we sat on my studio couch.

Regards,

Ty Ford

-- Ty Ford's equipment reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric
stuff are at www.tyford.com

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I saw a 990 this weekend and although it was not the large diaphram
that I had envisioned I still think the closer you can get it to the
talking heads the better off you are going to be. You say this is not
a studio you are working out of so once you have enough gain to send
0vu to the podcast you'll be picking up air conditioning, floors
creaking, cars passing, dogs barking and so on...
I see where my previous choice of words was a bit misleading
regarding microphone diaphram types but the audio problems I'm
predicting will apply to any microphone used in the original poster's
scenario with the couch and coffee table set up.