Looking for a mic for recording in a noisy environment

[Mad Scientist]

Hi everyone \o
New to Sound On Sound and this site looked like the right place to ask for advice.

I'm looking to get a mic for the purposes of voice recording and podcasts, the quality is reasonably important as I want to use the voice recordings for video productions. I actually already have a Rode-NT USB mic but I don't think it's suitable for the purposes I want.

My problem is that I live in a somewhat noisy area there is nothing I can really do about this, my Rode mic is a very good general purpose mic but it's extremely sensitive and if I can hear something like a dog barking really far away or footsteps downstairs so can my mic.

I'm looking for a mic that if possible, will only record sound within a very close distance to the mic and would appreciate any advice. I've seen a lot of people recording with small clip microphones, would that work? If this is not possible then is there any way to mitigate these problems with the equipment I already have?

[jamedia.uk]

From your post it sounds like ( ) you live/ work in an appurtenant/office that has no sound proofing and a lot of external ambient noise.

You have the choice of make your location, or a part of it more sound insulated or record somewhere else. I recall reading a book on voice over where the author when in a similar fix (trying to work on the road away from his studio ) did his audio in his car. Either in motel car park or drove somewhere quiet.

The alternative is to make a sound booth at your location. It does not have to be expensive.

[ore_terra]

And a cardioid dinamic mic sm58-ish?

[molecular]

The alternative is to make a sound booth at your location. It does not have to be expensive.

I don't know about that, myself. My own experience has been that treating the acoustics of a space can be worthwhile cheaply and easily, but trying to isolate/soundproof a space is completely different and acoustic treatment has basically no effect on distant barking dogs unless you're doing something very intrusive to the building.

I have had the best results in this kind of circumstance with an EV RE20 which you can get right up to with a great natural sound. Others on here, I think, recommend a Beyer M99 or a Shure SM7 for similar reasons.

For spoken word stuff I would normally then put on a carefully placed high pass filter and either gate the results or use Pro Tools' "Strip Silence" feature which is sometimes better than gating.

[Mike Stranks]

The alternative is to make a sound booth at your location. It does not have to be expensive.

I don't know about that, myself. My own experience has been that treating the acoustics of a space can be worthwhile cheaply and easily, but trying to isolate/soundproof a space is completely different and acoustic treatment has basically no effect on distant barking dogs unless you're doing something very intrusive to the building.

Quite so...

If you want good voice recordings then the environment is ultra-important. Unless you rebuild your room (and I do mean 'rebuild') then you'll probably always have issues with dogs, trucks, sirens, aircraft and so on.

By using a mic that's designed to be used up-close then you can ameliorate the problem, but never completely eradicate it. To the list of candidates already given I'd add the Rode Podcaster/Procaster.

The 'ultimate' mic for this situation is the Coles 4115: http://www.coleselectroacoustics.com/microphones/4115-broadcasters-microphone

Its designed to be used touching your top lip... in all probability you'll have heard it used countless times without realising... They (or their 'commentator' equivalent) come up on EBay from time to time. The downside is that - for obvious reasons - you have to hold the mic rather than having it stand-mounted. Unless you can use a different room this is probably the best in terms of isolation that you'll achieve.

[Bob Bickerton]

If you can't improve the space in which you are working, then one option would be to use a microphone which you can work very close. This will be no magic bullet - it'll be better because you're working it very close, so your voice will sound louder RELATIVE to external noise. (Though using a cardioid or hypercardioid in this scenario will appear to attenuate lower frequency distant sounds as the mic's frequency response is tailored to compensate for proximity effect, an effect that emphasises lower frequencies from close sources).

So I'd recommend a stage dynamic cardioid or hypercardioid microphone and my picks would be a Beyerdynamic M69, M201, or maybe an Audix OM7. You may need to use a 'pop sock' if you generate plosives when speaking and also you'll need a simple audio interface to get the signal from your microphone into the computer.

Studio condensers are designed to be used at a greater distance, so the relative difference between voice and noise is not as great. The 'clip on' mics you refers to are generally Omni directional, so would be worse. Much as I like the SM7 and RE20 mentioned, their capsules are set back from the grill and so not as useful for noise attenuation.

Have set this up an 'expander' plug in could be useful. This sort of plug in attenuates the signal under a certain threshold, so is not as severe as a gate. Waves PSE plug in or something similar would do the trick.

Bob

[Tim Gillett]

As already mentioned, getting close increases the voice relative to the background sounds but maintaining a "close micing" distance consistently for long periods can be hard work.

You may find a headset mic helps in this regard. It can be set up close and the distance doesnt change. It frees you to move your head and body without worrying about the mic distance, and if you're reading a paper script there's no mic shadow to worry about.
There are good quality models attached to headphones. Normally you'd need headphones for monitoring anyway.

[Bob Bickerton]

But if you do get a headset microphone, make sure it's a cardioid or hypercardioid model like an AKG C520. Most of them are omnidirectional, so not as effective in attenuating external noise.

Bob

[Guest]

From my mic collection the picks for such an application would be Shure Beta58, Beyer M102 and Audix OM? (I have an OM3). Dedicated hypercardioid stage mics often have a tailored sound designed for being used up close (such as the Beta58), whereas a bona fide classic like the M102 is more balanced (but does have a serious bass lift when used real close, so you may need to apply a high pass filter). Bear in mind that hypercardioid mics are very sensitive to the position of the source - if you move your head around whilst speaking, you'll hear the sound changing, often radically so.

[jamedia.uk]

I wasn't thinking of building a studio or booth in the apartment but there must be some things he can do to improve the room so that when combined with the {new?) mic and improved technique give a substantial improvement.

for example http://www.flightcasehardware.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=62_127&product_id=885
with a quilt suspended behind the speaker could damp pout a lot of it. maybe have some suitable (licensed) music playing in the room to obscure the rest?

Of course the tother thing is to "use" the ambient noise as part of the background atmosphere. It depends on what the videos/podcasts are about?

[Mad Scientist]

Thanks so much for all the replies everyone! Lots of useful advice. After looking at some of the suggested mics I think I've narrowed it down to between the Shure Beta 58, Beyerdynamic M201 or maybe even the Shure SM7B at the upper budget end if I can raise the money. Maybe I should add that I'm looking for a clean voice recording sound that distinct 'radio sound' you get with a lot of podcasting mics, or maybe that's more to do with the recording techniques used?
e.g. I need to be able to record my voice with a clean sound like this: https://youtu.be/dgM8pjHl5bE instead of a radio sound like this: https://youtu.be/5vX2l8VnzWc

[John Willett]

What Mike Stranks said - Coles Lip Mic (it's the one boxing commentators use at the ringside) - best there is.