Oh my God!!!! I am rolling over in my grave reading the replies you got on this question in the Vegas Audio forum!!!!!

Drbam said:
" EV RE20, Shure SM7, Sennheiser 421, etc and if you're on a tight budget, an SM 58 will work fine as well. Also, the Audio Technica ATM25 is sometimes referred to as the "poor man's RE20."

That is the biggest crock of horse sh*t I have ever heard. If any engineer in my studio reached for one of those mics to do a voice over, I would have them thrown out before they even had time to plug in the mic cord. Don't get me wrong, these are good microphones......not for voice over/commentary work........period. The only time you would reach for one of these mics for a voice over part is if you where trying to get a deeper warmer recording for a special effect, because they have good low end response, but not a very good high frequency response.......which gives you "clarity".

You also would never reach for a stereo microphone for a voice over recording. The source (ie the voice) is a MONO recording....unless your voice over has 2 mouths.....which I'll have to assume they don't, unless they're talking out their ars, like the above recommendation. Using a stereo microphone, picks up unwanted background room ambience, where a MONO microphone is more directional and picks up the intended voice and rejects unwanted room ambience bleed.

99% of voice over is recorded using a large diaphram "Condenser" microphone. ALL the above mentioned mics are "Dynamic". Additionally your signal path of going into a phono input is all wrong. In addition to a good quality CONDENSER microphone you will need a good Mic/pre amp and compressor with phantom power for the Condenser microphone. Additionally you will need to then go into a good quality soundcard input. With your setup of going into a phono input, you might as well just go buy one of radio shacks cheapest microphones they have, because your microphone quality will not be that important once it hits that stage.

To answer your original question correctly you need to look at something like an AKG 414, or a Neuman U87 which are pretty much industry standards for doing voice over/narration work. They are large diaphram "condenser" microphones, which have a bass roll-off switch, with a selectable cardiode pick-up pattern. These 3 features are eccential for doing voice over work, and none of the above recommended mics have these 3 eccential features, and therefore make them one of the worst recommendations I have ever heard.

I agree. Even a $300 range large diaphram mic will sound fine though. I use a Cad Equitek E-100 and it sounds great. One thing good about this mic is that the output is really high which means that you don't need a super sensitive high end preamp to get good sound.

I'm expecting all sorts of hell for this from Red, but frankly, you don't need a 414 or a Neumann for this.
Large diaphragms are great, but don't need to be expensive. AT 4050, 3060 (tube) are common these days, but the best V/O's I hear are often done with shotguns. Harlan Hogan, one of the best known voices in the biz, uses an AT 835ST for much of his work, even though his website shows him using a Neumann. He's the "Voice of PBS" "Culligan Man" and many other major ads in addition to being a voice artist for many movie trailers. American Association of Advertisers calls him "The most recognized voice of our time."
We use the 3060 for most of our work, mostly because I like the warmth and the crispness at the same time. I also regularly use the Audio Technica 897 shotgun. It sounds awesome when placed about 6" from either edge of the mouth. (left or right side) It also has EXCELLENT rejection for those page turning noises that sometimes happen.
Jeffrey P. Fisher, author of the Sound Forge, Surround Sound, Home Studio Recording Guide, and co author of "VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice-Over Actor" demonstrates several shotguns in the book. The Studio Projects C1 also sounds quite nice without breaking the bank.
that said, MILLIONS of voice overs have been performed with the Shure 58. Would I do it? Not unless I had no choice. But it is a decent mic, and can be made to sound pretty good with some EQ.
As RednRoll pointed out, a good pre is critical. You don't need Hardy's like we use, but you do need more than a soundcard pre. Most soundcard pres are pretty crappy anyway, unless you get something like the Mona from Echo, the new Layla G3, or the FW410 from M-Audio. Even these aren't up to the 'serious' snuff, but they're dang good.
Remember, the two biggest groups of snobs in the world are fashion models and audio engineers. I'm a member of one group, and wish I was a member of the other. :-)

No hell back from me on that advice Spot. You basically agreed with what I had said....if you read closely, I said "something like" an AKG 414, or a Neuman U87 and dynamics could be used for a special sound if you're trying to achieve a deeper fuller voice. Everyone sees Howard Stern using a EV RE-20 dynamic mic for broadcast, but that's to give his voice an artificial deeper fuller sound, due to the accented bass response and use of the proximity effect when he puts his lips right on the mic, where it might sound thiner and not as manly using a studio quality large diaphram condenser. If that's what you're trying to achieve, then no problem use it. I suggested the U87 and 414 because they are 2 of the most popular VO mics in the industry. Then I went on to outline some of the eccential features why these are chosen. There are many large diaphram condenser microphones at different price ranges and many are good. I haven't personally used the Rode mic's but have heard many good things, same as the Shure Large Diaphram condensers. In considering the Rode Mic for Voice over or any other mic, I would first look to see if the 3 eccentials I outlined are met. 1. Cardiod Pickup pattern (ie multi pattern selection better for versatility, but more expensive.) 2. Large Diaphram condenser type of mic 3. Bass roll-off switch or built in bass roll-off for close micing which is needed for close micing VO using a directional pattern like cardiod.

Your recommendations meet all these and you have personal experience in your recommendation. I personally use the AKG 414 for voice over work, and use an Audio Technica 4050 on music vocals, because of the slight bump it has in the presence range. That bump makes the 4050 slightly sibilant for VO work, but works great in a music mix. A great mic, and nothing a little EQ can't fix when mixing if you use it for VO.

Whenever the question "Which is the best?" comes up, the real answer is dependent on many, many factors. Since I depend on microphones for my income (I make my living soley through voice-over work) having a good microphone to work on is, of course, rather important to me.

I generally sound best on one of the $4000.00 Neumans. I don't own one of those, however, 'cause my $200.00 Audio Technica 3035 sounds almost as good, and not $3800.00 better. Besides, I'm not in the studio business, anyway. My little "mini-studio" is primarily for auditions and demos.

Microphones should be matched to the job -- they are like musical instruments. Each microphone model "colors" the sound in its own unique way -- and it isn't just a matter of frequency response - there are many other subtle factors which change the sound as well. These should be matched to the style of the production, and the sound and personal announcing style of the voice talent. Some performers I know sound terrible on Neumans, while RE-27s make them sound great.

Just as important to the final sound is the studio environment. A small "live" studio might call for a directional "shotgun" microphone, where a large "soft" studio might sound best with a large diaphragm Newman. Optimum distance from the talent is also a factor, and influenced by the microphone type.

I am constantly amazed at video production people who will spend a huge portion of their budget on sets, studio space, talent, and everything else, then the call me into their office to narrate their piece - and they have me talk into a lavelier microphone that's taped to a light stand in the corner of an editing room or closet. Or they want me to cut something at my little mini-studio, and send them an .mp3, which is a better solution -- But the best thing to do is take me to a "real" recording studio, where there will be a selection of microphones, a good acoustic environment, a good working situation (director on one side of the glass, me on the other with a good monitor/talkback system, good lighting and a copy stand and a place for me to put a bottle of water) and an audio engineer who truly understands the nuances of audio.

For most projects, going to an outside audio studio will only add a couple of hundred dollars to the budget.

Of course if you're on a truly limited budget, then it might be wise to get a "shotgun" mic that you can also use on location.

The question of "Stereo" microphones is an interesting one. Over the years, I've read a few articles (don't ask me, I can't remember where) by some experienced audio engineers about recording voice-over with stereo microphones and stereo pairs. Although they produced interesting, results, these were done by people with a great deal of experience and skill in audio. Unless you're really into spending time experimenting, don't even think about it.

Travis
Travis Voice Services www.Announcing.biz

Travis,
You make some good points. And you are 100% correct in the debate of "what is the best mic?". When asked this, I give the same answer that it basically depends on the question, "what are you recording" and "what are you trying to achieve?". For your voice over needs you are using the AT-3035 and this is a great choice for the price. This mic is a large diaphram condenser mic, with a cardiod pick-up pattern and a bass roll-off switch. Exactly what I had previously mentioned as "eccentials". Will this mic sound great on every voice over?.....probably not, some others will sound better and a mic is a lot like an instrument as you mentioned and depends on the voice put infront of it. If I was on a budget and had to choose ONE mic in my closet for voice over, it would be the AKG 414. Not an inexpensive option by no means, so if I had to make my decision based off of price, I would try to find something similar to the 414 at a lesser price and test it out. The thing that makes the 414 worth the extra mulla is it's versatility. You can use it in OMNI mode for micing a singing quartet, put it on acoustic guitar, drum overheads, micing 2 background singers in bi-directional pattern and I even have used it for micing snare drums and applying the pad switch. So a little versatility goes a long way in cost savings over having to buy 5 other mics speciallizing in one recording task. It also has a great rejection to it. So if you are micing 2 voice overs in the same room with 2 different mics, you can get a good rejection of the other voice bleeding into the unintended mic. This is a problem I find with using the Audio Technica mics, while they sound great their rejection is marginal causing excessive bleed from the other voice over in the same booth.

I also worked in a music recording studio where we had a $3500 AKG tube microphone to record vocals. Almost every singer I put this mic on it sounded like crap. I eventually started using it on micing kick drums and it sounded great for this.....don't tell the owner of that studio that, he wouldn't appreciate his $3500 mic being placed on a kick. One day I was recording a female R&B singer and we didn't like the sound of the AKG 414 or the AT-4050, I first put up. I then decided to try the AKG tube and she sounded awesome. So it's just like you say, "microphones should be matched for the job." But if you don't have the funds, then you should find the one microphone that matches 90% of the jobs.

I worked in the largest production advertising recording studio in the Detroit area consisting of 13 seperate studios doing national voice over work. We exclusively used the AKG 414 in all the rooms. The main reason we didn't choose a specialized mic for each talent was so that sessions could easily be moved between studio's and previous recorded sessions could easily be matched up. So if we recorded a VO in Studio A on Monday, and the client wanted to make Voice over updates on Wednesday and Studio A was booked, we could easily move the session into Studio C and do transparent punch-ins without tonal differences. Did the mic sound best it could on every voice over talent walking through the door? Probably not, but it did work well on 90% of all the voice over work with professional results.

I also did a large amount of 3D-2 recordings working with various other studios around the U.S. and other countries, where either I was recording a voice over talent located in another studio across the country, or sending their voice to the other studio via a live 3D-2 patch session. Usual conversations between the engineers at each studio at the start of the sessions, where "what mic are you using". 95% of the time it was either an AKG 414 or a Neuman Condenser.

Regards,
Red

How do you guys think the Sennheiser ME66 shotgun might fare as a voiceover mic used off to the side of the mouth? Obviously that mic would have a lot more use than just for voiceovers and would be a nice compliment to my next camera which will be a PD170 or it's successor.

I think you have to be careful using shotguns in small spaces, from what I understand the side pickup of reflections can do wierd things.

When I want somewhat better audio I use my Rode NT1A, either into a PD150 or into my Firewire 410 (MUCH better S/N). If nothing else it looks pretty good in shot. Is this the ideal?
Hells bells no!
But for the money it's just so much better than on camera mics, even they are way better OFF the camera, even the mic on the PD150 will perform way better for nothing more than the cost of an XLR lead and a stand. As SPOT has ably demoed even a $5 Radio Shack mic up close to the subject will sound better than using the on camera mic.
I think for most video guys who don't have the luxury of good monitors in a properly setup environment spending heaps on mics and preamps is just a waste of money, I'm not saying they don't need better gear it's a matter of where to spend the limited budget and bang for the buck, the money saved would be better spent on decent monitors for both audio and video and a bit of acoustic treatment around where you work.
Just to keep things in perspective, most videos audio is going to be heard out of 3" speakers, that's a sorry state of affairs but that's what we have to work with, add to that it's going to be listened to in a noisy environment.
I'm not knocking Red's advice, if you've got a VO booth with a constant stream of clients then for sure you can justify the money, if you're shooting video on a $1000 handycam me thinks any more than $200 on a mic is a bit misplaced.
Bob.

Large diaphram mics give you that boomy 'radio dj' voiceover sound. Sometimes you just want it to sound like somebody talking. In that case, an Sennheiser ME66 or if you have the money, a Sennheiser 416 will give you a really natural voice that sounds like somebody just talking to you in the room. Lately I've been avoiding the "radio dj" voice in favor of the natural sound of a short shotgun mic. I do like it better personally.

"Large diaphram mics give you that boomy 'radio dj' voiceover sound."

Don't forget that the pickup pattern will mostly be responsible for the boomy sound, a cardioid pattern will have what is called the proximity effect which will result in an increase of the bass response as the talent gets nearer to the mic. Your mic can either be small diag, large, dynamic, condenser, if the pattern is cardioid you will get the proximity effect.

I've been a 414/U87 snob all my working life, but at this very moment I'm using a borrowed AT897 for a V/O, and I have to say I'm tremendously impressed. Even with so-so pre's, it sounds great & the rejection is pretty amazing.

How do you shotgun users position your mics? Diagonally to your head (viewed from above)? How far away from your mouth? Any pop shield?

To update, and in my usual style of being as cheap as possible while not buying junk, I got the AT3035 (thanks VOGuy) and the M-Audio Fire Wire 410. This will meet all of my needs. Thanks for the input.

I constructed a "sound box", I can't place the website but I'm sure someone here can help you out with this. I got some acoustic foam and lined the box with it, all round inside and allowed a small opening in the rear for mic positioning. Also, I used some nylon hose to cancel out any pops and the end result was very good. BTW, I used a Sony shotgun for the vo and the quality was very acceptable.

There is a high-speed video of Spot making a box like this. I have not done so because I have not found a place where I can buy five 2'x'2 shets of auraflex foam. Anyone know? I buy from B&H but they jaut have large sheets and large quantaties.