Recommendation on affordable studio monitor and flat frequency response microphone

[monsieur_ninja]

Hi , I am not a master engineer or anything like that but I am working on a project where I want to replicate a person speaking saying the same thing in different environment and getting the audio recorded in those environment. In order to do that, we record the person in a professional studio using a flat frequency response microphone like the Sennheiser MKH 40 and the we play that recording in those environment using a studio monitor. In order to accurately replicate the person speaking, we were recommended to use a coaxial studio monitor like the Presonus Sceptre S6 https://www.presonus.com/en-US/monitors ... 00301.html. I was wondering if people had any recommendation for a studio monitor that could do a good job but at a lesser cost. I came accross the Fluid FX50 https://fluidaudio.com/fx50/ . Could that be a decent alternative? I am also looking for microphone alternative to MKH 40 with a flat frequency response. Any idea?

[Wonks]

The Tannoy Gold range are affordable coaxial monitors. There are models with 5", 6" and 8" main drivers.

Be aware that any speaker is going to introduce its own colouration, and the way it emits sound isn't the same as the way a person emits sound in the same space. I realise that if you can't take the same person with you then you have to make compromises, but do realise that you won't get quite the same results.

As for the speaker colouration, you'll really need to record the monitor in the same studio environment as the person originally recorded, playing back the recording made with that person, and using that recording of the monitor as the reference.

Given that you've already compromised the sound by playing it back through a monitor, you could use a mic with a less-flat response than the MKH 40 for all the monitor recordings (you can use the MKH 40 for the original voice recording) as you'll end up comparing the differences between the recordings anyway.

Ideally you'd use the same mic throughout for the initial and monitor recordings, as the term 'cardioid' covers a wide range of general heart-shaped pickup patterns, with different patterns at different frequencies for different mics. So one cardioid mic can pick up quite a different quantity of room sounds compared to another cardioid mic.

If this is a short-term project, to be carried out over a few days, you could consider hiring an MKH 40, rather than buying a less expensive microphone.

[James Perrett]

For the natural reproduction of speech I would suggest a BBC style monitor. While one of the LS series (which were sold by multiple manufacturers) would be the obvious choice, there were also cheaper alternatives from the likes of Graham Audio, Falcon Acoustics and Wilmslow Audio. The original LS3/5 was designed for acoustic modelling although it also soon found favour in its slightly modified "a" form as a small monitor and hifi speaker.

I would add that to my ears the Neumann KH120 gives a similar presentation to the LS3/5a but with a more extended bass response.

If these are too expensive then Wonks' suggestion of the smaller Tannoys is worth investigating. I use a big pair of Tannoy speakers which give pin sharp stereo imaging but I've not heard those smaller ones yet.

[Wonks]

If you don’t have the mic at a reasonable distance from the speaker, any two- or three-way speaker isn’t going to give the same response at the mic position as a coaxial speaker will. I don’t know how close the OP plans to record the voice from, but their initial choice of a coaxial speaker would indicate they plan to have the mic fairly close.

[Arpangel]

I would definitely stick with the MKH40, hire one.
On speech they are scarily realistic, some of the most realistic recordings of speech we’ve done with them.
As for monitors, James is right, the LS3/5a is hard act to follow on speech, only eclipsed by older Acoustic Reasearch speakers, which were like having the person sitting next to you.

[ef37a]

Decades ago a lab published the construction of a device to reproduce the human voice as accurately as possible in the AES journal, not only the actual sound but also the polar radiation that a person's voice produces.
The result looked like no other speaker you have ever seen! In fact it more closely resembled a person's head and shoulders.

The LS3/5A was generally recognised to have just about the most natural speech capability but they cannot be remotely called "budget" and you still need a decent power amp. I dimly recall a review of a speaker it was said (Phil?) that it was one of the few he had heard that could pull off the "person in the room" trick but, f'th'loif of me I cannot remember the speaker.

Da

[Arpangel]

Decades ago a lab published the construction of a device to reproduce the human voice as accurately as possible in the AES journal, not only the actual sound but also the polar radiation that a person's voice produces.
The result looked like no other speaker you have ever seen! In fact it more closely resembled a person's head and shoulders.

The LS3/5A was generally recognised to have just about the most natural speech capability but they cannot be remotely called "budget" and you still need a decent power amp. I dimly recall a review of a speaker it was said (Phil?) that it was one of the few he had heard that could pull off the "person in the room" trick but, f'th'loif of me I cannot remember the speaker.

Da

I had a pair of bookshelf AR (Acoustic Research) speakers Dave, I’ve also owned a pair of LS3/5A’s. The AR's were frighteningly realistic on speech, in one case I had some people in and one of them asked where that voice was coming from it was so realistic!
The LS3/5A's are great little speakers, but I sold mine because I thought they sounded a bit too coloured, and a bit too pronounced in the upper bass, a bit too warm.
Acoustic Research were an amazing company, a friend of mine still has his mid-sized AR's, and they still freak me out when I hear speech through them.

[James Perrett]

The LS3/5A's are great little speakers, but I sold mine because I thought they sounded a bit too coloured, and a bit too pronounced in the upper bass, a bit too warm.

They do have a slight upper bass hump but with my setup I find that this is minimised if you keep them well off the desk (mine are on 42cm stands) and have the tweeters above ear height.

[Tomás Mulcahy]

Decades ago a lab published the construction of a device to reproduce the human voice as accurately as possible in the AES journal, not only the actual sound but also the polar radiation that a person's voice produces.

Oh that sounds really interesting. I must see if I can find it. If you happen to remember the ref please let us know!

[ef37a]

Decades ago a lab published the construction of a device to reproduce the human voice as accurately as possible in the AES journal, not only the actual sound but also the polar radiation that a person's voice produces.

Oh that sounds really interesting. I must see if I can find it. If you happen to remember the ref please let us know!

I have the copy SOMEWHERE! Will go and look stat! " H F Olsen Field Type Artificial Voice. JAES vol 20 pp 446-459 July/Aug 1972" But I am yet to find the actual book. When I do "Oil be bek"

Dave.

[ef37a]

Got it! If you cannot find the paper Thomas PM me and I can scan it for you.

Dave.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Share the details, Dave. Issue, date, author, title. Saves a lot of Googling...

Is it the one related to DPAs work with Chris Woolf?

[ef37a]

Share the details, Dave. Issue, date, author, title. Saves a lot of Googling...

Is it the one related to DPAs work with Chris Woolf?

I have done that Hugh, have you not seen my post?

Chopped Liver.

[James Perrett]

HF Olsen - I thought I'd heard that name before. There's an interesting biography at

https://www.nasonline.org/publications/ ... -harry.pdf

which mentions some of his achievements.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Apologies, Dave, I missed that.

Yours wasn't the one I was thinking of which was post millennium and by Chris Woolf and DPA. I'll try and find it next week.

[ef37a]

Apologies, Dave, I missed that.

Yours wasn't the one I was thinking of which was post millennium and by Chris Woolf and DPA. I'll try and find it next week.

Nay worries.
Dave.

[Arpangel]

The LS3/5A's are great little speakers, but I sold mine because I thought they sounded a bit too coloured, and a bit too pronounced in the upper bass, a bit too warm.

They do have a slight upper bass hump but with my setup I find that this is minimised if you keep them well off the desk (mine are on 42cm stands) and have the tweeters above ear height.

It’s strange, LS3/5A’s have always fallen in my lap, my first pair I found in a charity shop, for just a few pounds, they were like new, the Rogers version.
The second pair I had for a few weeks, they belonged to Mike Skeet, he asked me to sell them for him, and a guy from a local radio station bought them. They were really beaten up, very badly scratched, there was hardly any veneer left on them! He used them for location monitoring, on small sessions, he sold them and replaced them with K+H 120’s.

[Tomás Mulcahy]

I have the copy SOMEWHERE! Will go and look stat! " H F Olsen Field Type Artificial Voice. JAES vol 20 pp 446-459 July/Aug 1972"

Thank you! Found it in AES online archive. I am familiar with Harry F Olson (with an O not an E), he was very very influential in the invention of the interference tube/ shotgun microphone and I struggled to read his book Music Physics and Engineering. I am not sure of the full history of the mic though.