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View Full Version : Mic Eating Vocalist, Male_sm7, Md441?



Alectro Voice
05-11-2008, 05:21 PM
Hi all,
this is my first time partaking of the forum. Please welcome the new guy aboard, won't you?

As a member of an acoustic trio, playing small venues, we manage our own basic sound system from the stage. We do this without compression or other dynamic control processor's and have a mic eating_lead vocalist in our band who is beyond learning mic technique. For this reason I've been looking into a plug and go mic that will basically be the most forgiving on plosives, proximity effect and siblance.

The EV RE20 became my first potential candidate as it's seen on every T.V. channel, pressed close to the speakers lips as they whisper or yell, yet coming through clearly without the usual nasty side effects that come with that degree of mic / speaker intimacy.

In this forum I also learned enough of the SM 7 to think it a candidate as well. I'm quite partial to Shure's bullet proof road reputation that bears out with their mic's I've owned over the years with zero problems.
I read that the SM7 was a mic Bruce Sveden used on the Thriller video. Does anyone know for what purpose?

I know of others by Rode, Blue etc. that fall into this broadcast / voice over category as well and hoped another forumite could shed some more light on them for the target use of mine.
(Due to the less than favorable review of Neuman's model in the bang for the buck category I read a couple years back l never entered it in the candidate list.)

As well I'm an owner and user of the SENNHEISER MD 441U, and read in another thread that it could be considered a candidate for this use. The 441 wouldn't be my first choice for our vocalist as it doesn't seem to handle vocalist / mic intimacy without plosives well and lacks an on board low end roll off switch. Which leaves that chore to our less than adequate mixer channel EQ.

A no expense alternative I plan to try on our next gig will be to have a piggy backed pair of the standard BETA 58, SENNHEISER E855 that are already part of our stage mic cabinet, resembling the space shuttle being returned after a mission. They'll be staggered with the live mic the farthest and a placebo mic closer to the vocalist that he can be as intimate with as he wants with no negative effect on the live mic placed at a safer distance. As long as his vocal signal can get beyond the first placebo mic without detriment, I think it should work. Whether he'll go along with it upon discovery is still a concern for me.

I present this dilemma to you all in hopes of gaining from your combined experience in such matters.

soupbone
05-14-2008, 02:04 PM
Hello and welcome to the forum,

First off, I suppose it should be said that there is no replacement for good mic technique. I've had great luck with Electro Voice mics, but when someone eats the mic all the time, there are going to be plosives. The Shure SM7B is the most plosive friendly mic I've used, but it still happens. Swieden didn't use it for the Thriller video, but it was rather used as Michaels main vocal mic for the recording of the while Thriller album. Most likely because it has great plosive rejection, and all the beatbox type vocals going on with Michael would create ALOT of plosives... it is also a great sounding mic. That being said, it would not be a good or even usable choice for live performances, besides being fairly large, it also requires alot of gain just to get sound out of it. I tried it on my PA (Mackie 808M) and couldn't get a loud enough usable sound. As far as any mics you already have, heck, just try em out and see what happens.

Good luck
Greg

Alectro Voice
05-14-2008, 04:02 PM
Thanks Greg,
knowing the SM7 is not a good choice for live work and that it requires a lot of gain is very helpful to know. Thank you for the heads up and the welcome aboard.

I'm leaning now towards the piggybacked real / placebo mic idea at this point.
Al

Tarktones
05-14-2008, 06:36 PM
SM7 is GREAT for the studio, but I'd agree on using it live. It's a killer mic for screamers though.

ELP71
05-15-2008, 05:41 PM
The EV RE20 became my first potential candidate as it's seen on every T.V. channel, pressed close to the speakers lips as they whisper or yell, yet coming through clearly without the usual nasty side effects that come with that degree of mic / speaker intimacy.

Honestly, the even response you are hearing is likely from compression on the RE20, not the RE20 itself. having said that, it is the ubuquitous broadcast mic of the day.

Tarktones
05-19-2008, 04:44 PM
it's also amazing on kick and bass.

Alectro Voice
05-30-2008, 08:55 PM
Thanks to all for enlightening me on broadcast mics as possible stage candidates.