Help Choosing Microphone

[TylerRific]

Currently i have the Shure SM7B with a CloudLifter and a Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen, the mic is wonderful for livestreaming and recording videos but it's the WORST possible microphone for trying to do Voice Acting because it is a dynamic microphone the best type of microphone for professional voice acting is a condenser microphone so i just wanted help finding what is the best possible conderser microphone under i would say $700, $1,000 is the max i would pay nothing more.......maybe.

 

dont confuse voice acting with voice over yes the Shure SM7B is good for voice overs, but voice overs are for speaking over an ad or something like that, voice acting is for an animation or cartioon.

[The Flying Sloth]

If you're looking for a VA mic the common culprits are your industry standards, U87, U67 and the like from Neumann. The question moreso becomes which mic sounds best for your voice? I'd strongly suggest going to a high-end studio audio store that lets you have a go before making a purchase BUT instead of dropping the big bucks on a Neumann get a Warbler from 3U audio in the same style. Multiple voicings so you can change the tone on the fly, much cheaper and IMO sound just as good (take a look at this 200+ page thread dedicated to them over at GS).

If you're looking for other options take a look at the guide in my signature, I go though a few of my favs. Personally I use a GT67 for all vocal/VA work but that sits at the upper end of your price range while a Warbler would be closer to $300. If you really want to spend the extra cash GZ (owner of 3U) has his own signature line of mics within the brand that beat just about anything else no matter the price. It's rumored he's the engineer behind the capsules used by Rode and Warm Audio as well as being lead engineer over at Feilo when they made the legendary Z series of mics (alongside some ex-neumann designers) for SE. He's a good guy too if you just wanna have a chat about mics.

Otherwise, feel free to quote me or message privately and I'll try and talk you through what I can

[TylerRific]

2 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

If you're looking for a VA mic the common culprits are your industry standards, U87, U67 and the like from Neumann. The question moreso becomes which mic sounds best for your voice? I'd strongly suggest going to a high-end studio audio store that lets you have a go before making a purchase BUT instead of dropping the big bucks on a Neumann get a Warbler from 3U audio in the same style. Multiple voicings so you can change the tone on the fly, much cheaper and IMO sound just as good (take a look at this 200+ page thread dedicated to them over at GS).

If you're looking for other options take a look at the guide in my signature, I go though a few of my favs. Personally I use a GT67 for all vocal/VA work but that sits at the upper end of your price range while a Warbler would be closer to $300. If you really want to spend the extra cash GZ (owner of 3U) has his own signature line of mics within the brand that beat just about anything else no matter the price. It's rumored he's the engineer behind the capsules used by Rode and Warm Audio as well as being lead engineer over at Feilo when they made the legendary Z series of mics (alongside some ex-neumann designers) for SE. He's a good guy too if you just wanna have a chat about mics.

Otherwise, feel free to quote me or message privately and I'll try and talk you through what I can

hmmm well the reason i asked this question was because i'm making a game in Unreal Engine, it's going to be a horror game and i obviously need a nice microphone for voice acting but one problem is that like you said it depends on your voice, well multiple people are going to be using the same mic so i can't really buy 10 microphones that suits everyones individual voice. So i was thinking of just using VoiceMeeter Banana since you can really configure it to go with any voice and then after the recording just clean it all up in Adobe Audition, And obviously most of the voices are going to be changed pretty drastically to suit the setting, like if someone is inside an old mansion i will need to add some echo to make it sound like they are actually there and not just talking into a microphone, and there are going to be parts where a person is going to scream into the microphone (cause they're getting killed) so i need a microphone that will not distort the recording.

 

So is there any mic you can think of that would be best for what i am going to do?

 

and sorry if i responded late usually people take a long time to respond to these type of things so i wasn't paying attention.

[The Flying Sloth]

1 minute ago, TylerRific said:

So i was thinking of just using VoiceMeeter Banana since you can really configure it to go with any voice and then after the recording just clean it all up in Adobe Audition, And obviously most of the voices are going to be changed pretty drastically to suit the setting, like if someone is inside an old mansion i will need to add some echo to make it sound like they are actually there and not just talking into a microphone, and there are going to be parts where a person is going to scream into the microphone (cause they're getting killed) so i need a microphone that will not distort the recording.

First of all, no, with hardware like this you shouldn't even be considering using Voicemeeter, it's a relatively low quality audio solution that really should only be used for livestreaming where you need extra routing options but don't have money for dedicated hardware. If you're developing in Unreal there are audio solutions within the engine to deal with reverbs and the like so I wouldn't worry about that to begin with. First step is always to get the highest quality clean signal possible and then you can think about effects and whatnot later (whether in-engine or otherwise). If you're concerned with 'cleaning up' the recordings I'd suggest using the money saved by purchasing a warbler to help acoustically treat the room you'll be recording in, with a treated room there should be very little clean-up to do but Audition (or Izotope RX) should handle it just fine.

The other point you made was needing a nice mic, I completely aggree but just remember that 'Nice' doesn't have to mean expensive. Quite honestly I'd happily do a whole recording session with mics under $200, there is very little you can't achieve between 3U Audio, Oktava and T.bone in that price range. I strongly suggest you decide which mic 'character' you're looking for, personally I enjoy a dark microphone so ribbons and edge-terminated condensers are a go-to (well, that and abusing proximity effect) but if you take a look at the thread I linked previously it has sound samples of the whole series (otherwise this is a thread dedicated just to demos of their mics), from there just decide which you like the best and you're good to go. Honestly they're all great so you won't be disappointed no matter what so just pick what you like. So far as recording screaming, just have the actor move away from the mic, turn on the pad (on your mic) and turn down the gain on your interface, should be fine.

If you're really worried about peaking it might be worth checking out the offerings from ADK, another boutique I quite like, the CEO Larry V is a great guy and drops by the GS forums to weigh in every once in a while. The mics from them that should never have any issues with peaking are the MK8 line, 14 decibel pads are crazy good at reducing volume. The -10db pads on 3U are more than good enough IMHO but it all comes down to preference.

[TylerRific]

7 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

First of all, no, with hardware like this you shouldn't even be considering using Voicemeeter, it's a relatively low quality audio solution that really should only be used for livestreaming where you need extra routing options but don't have money for dedicated hardware. If you're developing in Unreal there are audio solutions within the engine to deal with reverbs and the like so I wouldn't worry about that to begin with. First step is always to get the highest quality clean signal possible and then you can think about effects and whatnot later (whether in-engine or otherwise). If you're concerned with 'cleaning up' the recordings I'd suggest using the money saved by purchasing a warbler to help acoustically treat the room you'll be recording in, with a treated room there should be very little clean-up to do but Audition (or Izotope RX) should handle it just fine.

The other point you made was needing a nice mic, I completely aggree but just remember that 'Nice' doesn't have to mean expensive. Quite honestly I'd happily do a whole recording session with mics under $200, there is very little you can't achieve between 3U Audio, Oktava and T.bone in that price range. I strongly suggest you decide which mic 'character' you're looking for, personally I enjoy a dark microphone so ribbons and edge-terminated condensers are a go-to (well, that and abusing proximity effect) but if you take a look at the thread I linked previously it has sound samples of the whole series (otherwise this is a thread dedicated just to demos of their mics), from there just decide which you like the best and you're good to go. Honestly they're all great so you won't be disappointed no matter what so just pick what you like. So far as recording screaming, just have the actor move away from the mic, turn on the pad (on your mic) and turn down the gain on your interface, should be fine.

If you're really worried about peaking it might be worth checking out the offerings from ADK, another boutique I quite like, the CEO Larry V is a great guy and drops by the GS forums to weigh in every once in a while. The mics from them that should never have any issues with peaking are the MK8 line, 14 decibel pads are crazy good at reducing volume. The -10db pads on 3U are more than good enough IMHO but it all comes down to preference.

what do you think of the Rode NT1 or the Rode NT2-A?

[The Flying Sloth]

2 minutes ago, TylerRific said:

what do you think of the Rode NT1 or the Rode NT2-A?

NT1 is basically a budget U87, NT1-A is overly bright and the 2A is just a multipattern version of that from memory.
The NT1 is the same price as a Warbler so I'd strongly recommend getting a Warbler instead but if you're worried about cost (despite the price range from your original post) the CM1 from 3U Audio is a tad over $100 and it's the best value workhorse mic I know of, I have mics that cost many times more than a CM1 and I'd still happily record vocals with one.

Really, just listen to some samples from those posts, once you've got that figured out just shoot GZ a message and you should be sorted.

[TylerRific]

2 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

NT1 is basically a budget U87, NT1-A is overly bright and the 2A is just a multipattern version of that from memory.
The NT1 is the same price as a Warbler so I'd strongly recommend getting a Warbler instead but if you're worried about cost (despite the price range from your original post) the CM1 from 3U Audio is a tad over $100 and it's the best value workhorse mic I know of, I have mics that cost many times more than a CM1 and I'd still happily record vocals with one.

Really, just listen to some samples from those posts, once you've got that figured out just shoot GZ a message and you should be sorted.

i was just asking about the Rode NT1 because it's 32% off on amazon right now so it's only $269.00 which seems like a steal

[The Flying Sloth]

4 minutes ago, TylerRific said:

i was just asking about the Rode NT1 because it's 32% off on amazon right now so it's only $269.00 which seems like a steal

That's a normal price
As a general rule it's a bad idea to buy things just because they're discounted, 
So far as U87esque mics go the NT1, Aston Spirit, Black CM1 and Warbler are all options to consider.
If you want to look for a mic you like the sound of, between the two posts I've already linked and this service you should be all set.