VOCAL MIC SHOOTOUT
By Lynn Fuston,
Sweetwater Manager of Written Content
THE GOAL
Our goal with the Vocal Mic Shootout was
to select a wide variety of mics, set them
up side by side, and record vocals so we
could not only listen to the differences, but
also share the files with our friends. Our
hope was that we (and you) might discover
some vocal mics that we otherwise might
not have had a chance to hearotherwise.
THE CHALLENGE
flat. There was no audio processing in RECORDING THE PERFORMANCES
the signal path whatsoever. All mics were In order to preserve the singers’ voices (who
connected using 30′ Sweetwater mic cables. were performing the same 60-second sample
50 times), we didn’t try to produce perfect
The fundamental challenge when setting up a
shootout to compare mics with each other is THE STUDIO
these
vocal takes. There was some punching
assuring a level playing field — presenting each For
recordings,
we
worked
in when lyrics were forgotten or misplaced,
mic with the same (or extremely similar) source Sweetwater’s Studio A, a large Russ Berger- but most of what you hear will be single
material. So tThe best source for comparing designed room with well-balanced acoustics, takes from start to finish. The tracks were
vocal mics is the human voice, recognizing that not too live or too dead. It’s also very, very quiet. selectedand, recorded, and mixed by Mark
Hornsby. You’re hearing raw vocal tracks just
no two takes will ever be absolutely identical
in level, inflection, passion, pitch, etc. And THE GEAR then we dido everything in our power to make All mics were recorded using the incredibly sure that mic position, singer position, and clear and transparent Millennia HV-3R mic FIFTY (YES, THAT’S 50) MICS!
microphone levels weare all as close to uniform preamp. We recorded through the industry- We had a staff of four engineers who worked
as we canould get them. standard Avid HD interface set to 24-bit/96kHz for two days to handle the technical bits, not
like you would with any singer in the studio.
with an Antelope Trinity master clock. counting the unboxing and reboxing that took
THE MICS The incredibly transparent 8-channel Millennia another two days. Several of the microphones
We decided to limit the selection to a very HV-3R preamp was used on all the mics. offer features including highpass, lowpass, pad,
different voicings, multiple patterns, or even an
specific type of micsubset. We specified
ALIGNING THE MICS internal preamp in the case of REDD Mic (we
mics. Then we whittled the list of over All mics were positioned at a uniform height used the REDD with the +4 setting into the
100 mics down to a list of just 50 that we (61.5″) on Latch Lake mic stands that Millennia preamp), but we decided to listen to all
were most interested in hearing, based on allowed for very precise adjustments without the mics in cardioid pattern with all switches in
A) popularity, B) availability, and C) price. worrying about the boom arms sagging and the OFF (bypassed) or normal position without
changing the mic position. Why 61.5″? That any filters or alternate voicings. While having
Once we hafinalized a master list, we set them was judged to be the right height for our first lots of sonic options in a single mic can be a
up in the studio in groups of eight on the same singer, Nick D’Virgilio. Once the mics were real asset, exploring all those options for each
horizontal plane, approximately 12″ apart, positioned and calibrated, they stayed in mic was not a possibility during this time frame.
so they would all pick up similar but minimal the same place for Kat Bowser, our female reflections from the room, but not so close that singer. She stood on a riser to get her mouth I hope it is clear that we went to great lengths
they might interfere with the sound of adjacent to the same height so that we didn’t have to to make sure this was a fair and unbiased
mics. The studio glass was 17′ behind the mics. reposition and recalibrate all 50 mics. The comparison, showing each microphone in the
singers stood on a rug that extended the full same light. We think you will find this a very
The signal path was microphone > preamp length of the mic positions to keep reflections educational and informative resource and that
> analog-to-digital converter (ADC). All the from bouncing off the floor into the mic. you will learn a lot as you listen to all the sound
large-diaphragm,
side-address
condenser
files of 50 mics.
sound files of the solo mics are completely
July 2017
WorshipMusician.com
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