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Post by spearcarrier on Aug 7, 2017 11:52:47 GMT -8
Right now I'm just fishing for information, and I thought I'd ask the pro's who definitely know more than me.
Currently I have a Blue Yeti Pro microphone. Love love love it. It's the best mic I've ever owned. But I often see audition posts and comments that a Blue Yeti isn't professional enough, I'm guessing because it's USB. On the other hand, the voice acting "class" I'm slowly going through (by someone whose been in the business seriously, not just a little bit) mentioned that the instructor started out with a Yeti Snowball, and that's what they had when they broke into the business. They have a much better microphone now.
So I have these questions:
Why not a Blue Yeti if a pro can break into business using an older mic even?
And suppose I wanted to take a very tiny step up from the blue yeti. A tiny step, and I mean tiny. What would you recommend?
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Post by Rebekah Amber Clark on Aug 7, 2017 12:02:54 GMT -8
1. Absolutely NO reason why you can't break into the business using a Blue Yeti, let alone a Blue Yeti Pro. I also broke into the business with a USB mic and have only just recently upgraded to XLR. There is absolutely an unfair stigma against USB mics, especially lately. USB mics have a much shorter "ceiling" of how good/expensive a mic you can get that is USB, but I'm quite sure there are XLR mics out there that are worse than a Yeti. There are also amazing mics out there that are XLR -- and everything in between.
2. I would recommend saving your money and energy until you're ready to take a bigger step than "tiny." At least until you're ready to spend about another $100-200 or so above your current setup. Less than that and I feel you're wasting your time and money.
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Post by cbdroege on Aug 7, 2017 13:46:19 GMT -8
The bias against USB mics is totally unfounded. There is nothing wrong with a USB mic at all. USB is just a way to get the data from the mic to the PC, and for most (home) set-ups it's better than XLR because it's digital all the way from the mic to the PC, which makes it less prone to electronic interference. Your PC is just going to convert the signal it gets over the XLR into a digital signal anyway, so it's not like you lose anything.
Saying that XLR is better than USB is just like saying vinyl is better than CD for music reproduction. Some people might like it better personally, and it might reproduce more accurately in some very specific professional-level situations, but for most people it's actually worse.
If your mic is accurately capturing the sound of your voice without added noise on the line, then you've got a good mic, that's what matters.
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The Uncertain Man
Member
Looking for some gentle feedback on how to improve my demo.
Posts: 164
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Post by The Uncertain Man on Aug 7, 2017 15:05:53 GMT -8
The bias against USB mics is totally unfounded. There is nothing wrong with a USB mic at all. USB is just a way to get the data from the mic to the PC, and for most (home) set-ups it's better than XLR because it's digital all the way from the mic to the PC, which makes it less prone to electronic interference. Your PC is just going to convert the signal it gets over the XLR into a digital signal anyway, so it's not like you lose anything. Saying that XLR is better than USB is just like saying vinyl is better than CD for music reproduction. Some people might like it better personally, and it might reproduce more accurately in some very specific professional-level situations, but for most people it's actually worse. If your mic is accurately capturing the sound of your voice without added noise on the line, then you've got a good mic, that's what matters. That is really heartening to hear. Thanks CB!
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Post by spearcarrier on Aug 7, 2017 15:16:47 GMT -8
1. Absolutely NO reason why you can't break into the business using a Blue Yeti, let alone a Blue Yeti Pro.,.... 2. I would recommend saving your money and energy until you're ready to take a bigger step than "tiny." At least until you're ready to spend about another $100-200 or so above your current setup. Less than that and I feel you're wasting your time and money. Ah, see that's a relief. I just spent nearly a full grand on buying a sound booth set up (one of the kinds I can pull around my desk) and was doubting my decision. LOL. I do see an increase in quality ever since we started putting things up (we're not done yet) but if the mic was a problem then I was going to panic. Of course now I'm suddenly doubting if I even have a pro mic and not the regular mic. They look the same to me, but the husband assures me it's the pro as it has the black coating. I'd gotten it from a pawn shop - lucky find!!! As for "tiny" - the price range you quote is... tiny. Large to me would be the $1000 and up range. Medium would be $500 to $1000.
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Post by spearcarrier on Aug 7, 2017 15:18:24 GMT -8
The bias against USB mics is totally unfounded. There is nothing wrong with a USB mic at all. USB is just a way to get the data from the mic to the PC, and for most (home) set-ups it's better than XLR because it's digital all the way from the mic to the PC, which makes it less prone to electronic interference. Your PC is just going to convert the signal it gets over the XLR into a digital signal anyway, so it's not like you lose anything. Saying that XLR is better than USB is just like saying vinyl is better than CD for music reproduction. Some people might like it better personally, and it might reproduce more accurately in some very specific professional-level situations, but for most people it's actually worse. If your mic is accurately capturing the sound of your voice without added noise on the line, then you've got a good mic, that's what matters. As said ahead of me, that is heartening to hear. And it's common sense. But barring that, I thought perhaps it had to do with the soundcards or something. I remember in the old days when I got my first microphone, I had to spring for a more upend soundcard.
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Post by Rebekah Amber Clark on Aug 7, 2017 15:39:10 GMT -8
1. Absolutely NO reason why you can't break into the business using a Blue Yeti, let alone a Blue Yeti Pro.,.... 2. I would recommend saving your money and energy until you're ready to take a bigger step than "tiny." At least until you're ready to spend about another $100-200 or so above your current setup. Less than that and I feel you're wasting your time and money. Ah, see that's a relief. I just spent nearly a full grand on buying a sound booth set up (one of the kinds I can pull around my desk) and was doubting my decision. LOL. I do see an increase in quality ever since we started putting things up (we're not done yet) but if the mic was a problem then I was going to panic. Of course now I'm suddenly doubting if I even have a pro mic and not the regular mic. They look the same to me, but the husband assures me it's the pro as it has the black coating. I'd gotten it from a pawn shop - lucky find!!! As for "tiny" - the price range you quote is... tiny. Large to me would be the $1000 and up range. Medium would be $500 to $1000. Oh, sorry, I wasn't very clear haha! By 'setup' in this case I meant *just* your mic setup and not the whole sound booth. And by $100-200 more than I meant, add that to the total price. For example, if you're using a $250 USB mic (so, with no audio interface) then I'm talking about waiting to upgrade to a $350-500 or more microphone + interface combo. Of course, it's not all about the price sticker either -- I'm just saying there's no point in an upgrade if the new equipment is equivalent to what you have now, with only a tiny little improvement.
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Post by spearcarrier on Aug 7, 2017 17:27:54 GMT -8
I admit I feel like I'm in water that's too deep when you start talking about an interface that goes with the mic. I am suddenly picturing a mic with a mixing board, but maybe that's not correct.
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Post by Lady Stardust ★ on Aug 7, 2017 23:18:11 GMT -8
If you're mainly auditioning for online projects, a USB condenser mic such as a Blue Yeti is 100% fine. Remember, a lot of your quality depends less on the mic itself and more on your settings and your recording environment. If amateur content creators are complaining about high-quality USB mics such as the Yeti, Samson C01U, Audiotechnica, etc (the Snowball is a lower end mic and can be a little iffy so I understand complaints about that one a bit more), their standards are honestly too high for not paying their actors in my opinion (And they probably won't realize what kind of mic you're recording on unless you tell them for some reason, anyway.) That being said, if you are regularly doing work for paying clients who have specific audio requirements or auditioning for pay-to-play sites where "broadcast quality" is favored, you can always think about upgrading to an interface with XLR mic. I used a USB mic for many, many years with little issue, but finally upgraded to a Blue Baby Bottle with Scarlett FocusRite (still a USB interface but the microphone itself is not USB.)
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Post by cbdroege on Aug 7, 2017 23:48:29 GMT -8
In the old days, when you had to spring for a more upend soundcard, it was because of the analog signals. A digital signal, like USB or optical will run true from the mic to the software, and won't get corrupted, but an analog signal, like mini-jack or XLR, can be impacted by lots of things, especially near a home PC, which puts out lots of EM radiation. If you wanted to go with an analog cabled mic in a home studio, you would need well-shielded cables and isolated sound-card or board, the job of which is to take that clean signal and convert it into digital sound format for the PC to understand, the same thing that the USB mic would have been outputting from the get-go, so it's really a waste of equipment if you are putting the raw recording on a PC anyway.
A cheap digital output mic, like the one that came with your webcam or with your SingStar Nintendo game, are going to either be poor pick-up mics in the first place (the web-cam mic) or will have poor transducers in them (the SingStar mic) so, I mean those are out, but you also wouldn't want an analog mic that's so cheaply made.
The stigma against "USB Mics" I think, comes from lots of beginners thinking they will be okay just using whatever cheap mic happens to already be laying around their house, and it's much more likely in our current world, that that mic is digital. Not many people have a cheapo XLR mic just laying around in the bottom of a desk drawer, but almost everyone has about 5 cheapo USB mics laying around by now. I have a whole box of the stupid things. I'm not sure why I don't throw them all away.
But if we really compare apples to apples, here - The same model and quality microphone but one outputs XLR and the other outputs USB - the USB mic is going to be the better choice for 96% of recording environments.
The only time an analog output mic might be better is if - for some reason - you need to record the raw session onto a high-fi analog format.
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Post by Kyotosomo on Aug 8, 2017 8:15:57 GMT -8
I started off with a Blue Snowball, and for my desk (and on the go) I use a Samson C01u Pro; both USB mics. The strength in USB mics is how easy they are to setup, but at most people's level; they absolutely are inferior to XLR microphones. Right now (although I'll be upgrading soon) I use an AT2020, a really common XLR microphone due to it's great sound quality at an affordable price, and guess what? XLR mics like the AT2020 not only offer way better sound quality than mics like the Blue Yeti, but are cheaper too! Including stuff like the audio interface, shock mount, stand, popfilter, and all that other good stuff you need to get going; you can have a great setup offering professional quality at less than $200 (meanwhile something like a Blue Yeti is almost 75% of that in price). The reason USB microphones have a stigma (besides the kind of people who stereotypically buy them) is that unless you get a REALLY high end USB microphone; the problem is you're not letting a high end analog to digital converter handle your audio. USB mics work with your computer to do this themselves, but obviously when you try to stick a bunch of technology in a small space you have shortcomings (just like with any other device). But with XLR mics you let an audio interface focus on converting the sound to data instead and it does a much better job. If you're always recording in the same place, and you want to do this at least semi-professionally (or hell, you just don't want to lose gigs over poor audio quality) then make the jump to XLR. Nice move on the environment though, because that arguably makes the largest difference of all and even the best mic in the world will sound terrible if it's in a bad environment.
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Post by spearcarrier on Aug 8, 2017 8:56:12 GMT -8
I just looked up the Blue Baby Bottle and the Scarlett FocusRite, and the set up reminds me of my first microphone - which I can't remember the models now. I had donated them to an aspiring actress last year after I'd gotten the Blue Yeti. The Blue Yeti threw me off at first because it felt a little nekkid, missing a part.
The Samson C01u Pro was actually listed by my "teacher" as a good microphone to go to. Cardioid midcrophones like those listed here were the preference, though. I just looked up the AT2020 and I notice that it's got a cable out of the bottom, and it looks like the kind of cable my Yeti has a port for.
Although I have to say the benefit of my pro is being able to set it to cardioid mode. I accidentally had it on omni when we first got it on it's arm and shock mount and I was very confused where the new background noise was coming from... until I figured out it was picking up the box fan four rooms over on the other side of the house!
So what I'm gathering here is that going to something like the AT2020 would be a small to medium sized upgrade because I would need the microphone and possibly something like that FocusRite? I am wondering now if donating out my old mic was a mistake.
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Post by benedict on Aug 8, 2017 10:12:23 GMT -8
The AT2020 is a little confusing to use as an example because there are two versions of it. One, the AT2020, is an XLR mic. The other, the AT2020 USB is a USB mic. Same form factor, similar electronics, except one has a preamp, A/D converter, and USB interface in the mic body as well. If you decided to go this route, be sure of which one you're ordering.
Something that hasn't come up yet bears mentioning: Interfaces offer flexibility. The range of microphones available in USB format is limited compared to the range of microphones available with an XLR plug. The reason is simple: XLR microphones have been around longer than personal computers, much less the USB standard, so there are more of them out there. Using an interface allows you to tap into the entire range of microphones available in the XLR format.
Which can be a strength and a weakness. cbdroege already pointed out one of the issues with going this route: Your RF rejection depends entirely on the quality of the components you put in your signal chain. One bad cable is enough to ruin the ride. The other weakness is that once you have this box plugged into your computer that can talk to practically ANY microphone out there, it's very very easy to fall into the trap of becoming a microphone hoarder. (See? You're already wishing you could get your old mic back! Here there be dragons!)
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Post by Kamran on Aug 8, 2017 12:28:50 GMT -8
On the subject of the quality of USB mics, or the AT2020 specifically, and the odds of success with said mics, from the end of 2008 until the start of 2015, I worked with an AT2020 USB Mic. And as stated earlier in this thread, it's often times about having a proper setting to record in. For a while, I had that, but when I moved, I had to do a lot to kind of counter-act the compression that comes with USB mics and the echo that was domineering in my old apartment. NCH Suite WavePad Sound Editor (currently $29.99, I believe?) went a long way towards killing a lot of background static, as did having a VoxGuard for a while, then eventually, upgraded to a Kaotica Eyeball, which helped out TREMENDOUSLY.
Until the beginning of 2015, I was getting fairly consistent work with my USB Mic, and in one case, actually landed my biggest pre-production gig with Disney as a scratch recording actor.
In projects like that, it was more about the performance and the setup around the mic. I had landed a number of video game roles, a couple pilots, one internal promotion video, and a number of other various projects, both paid and unpaid, and did a lot to counteract some of the compression or increased static. So, yes, it is entirely possible to land work with a USB microphone.
In fact, these were some samples of video game work done with said AT2020 USB:
That said, it required a tremendous amount of post-processing before I could ever send anything off. And when it came to pay-2-play sites like voices.com, that limited audio quality, even after all the post treatment, always came up short because I was up against able actors with vastly superior mics, and that does end up playing a factor with more commercial and broadcast work.
Long term, I ended up swapping out my USB for an AT2035 XLR, then eventually upgraded from that to an AKG, with a Scarlett 2i2 Pre-Amp, and since then, I've seen a tremendous turnaround in work landed, because now, my audio quality was improved upon immensely, and required FAR less post treatment, which was a huge time saver, sufficed to say.
Ultimately, if you intend to really try and increase your turnaround rate, booking more work for paying clients, you may, one day, want to upgrade from a USB to an XLR and Pre-Amp setup. It can get pricy, but you can save a lot, based on what you know your needs specifically as an actor end up being, and naturally, mics are ultimately a necessary investment to see some form of turnaround.
But as it stands, you can still get very positive results with a USB Mic, like the Blue Yeti. Just know your recording environment, make full use of the soundproofing equipment you've purchased, and do your best to kill whatever static may turn up whenever you can. I always swear by NCH Suite's WavePad sound editor, namely because it's such a strong piece of software for proper Noise Reduction, but also because of how delightfully cheap it tends to be.
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The Uncertain Man
Member
Looking for some gentle feedback on how to improve my demo.
Posts: 164
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Post by The Uncertain Man on Aug 8, 2017 14:14:39 GMT -8
On the subject of the quality of USB mics, or the AT2020 specifically, and the odds of success with said mics, from the end of 2008 until the start of 2015, I worked with an AT2020 USB Mic. In projects like that, it was more about the performance and the setup around the mic. I had landed a number of video game roles, a couple pilots, one internal promotion video, and a number of other various projects, both paid and unpaid, and did a lot to counteract some of the compression or increased static. So, yes, it is entirely possible to land work with a USB microphone. In fact, these were some samples of video game work done with said AT2020 USB That said, it required a tremendous amount of post-processing before I could ever send anything off. Hey Kamran, it's incredibly awesome to hear that you voiced Geehan in Dust. I loved that game. Do you happen to remember what post processing you used on your recordings at all? I'm currently using the same mic as you, and will be for the foreseeable future, so any guidance would be brilliant.
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