Last year JJ Blair posted a shootout of 5 pop filters over on the PSW Acid Test forum. The topic came up in the latest HRS episode, I thought it was interesting as it’s one of those things you don’t really think about. You likely use a pop filter for vocals as a rule without thinking about the effect on the sound. There is a subtle difference in coloration with each one. Download the file to hear for yourself below.
This is a listening test. I used 4 commercial pop filters, and Terry’s foam method. This is a blind listening test for the first number of days. All you need to know is that the first sample of my terrible singing is me, a Manley Gold, a Vac Rac pre, and no filter. The file is 44.1/16 aiff.
The filters used were the Pauly, the Pete’s Place, the Steadman (round one) and the Popper Stopper.
I for one will not stop using a pop filter (I have far better things to do than edit out pops from vocals) but I’m more aware than ever that this choice affects the sound in a negative way.
The source was Will singing the second line of ’9 Crimes’ by Damien Rice. Each recording is a separate take. No processing has been done. Drop all the files into your DAW, keep the piano track active if you like.
Scroll down to the bottom to get the files.
The order of the files has been changed so you’ll need to guess which is which.
Leave a comment with which mic sounds like the best fit for his voice and I’ll email you the answers. EDIT – I don’t have the answers anymore!
Other things to think about:
Which mic sounds like it’s the cheapest?
Which mic sounds the most expensive?
Which 2 mics are the tube mics?
As part of the Home Recording 101 class at Revolution Audio, this past Thursday we did a shootout of 6 vocal mics. The mics selected were some of the top sellers at the store and ranged in price from the M-Audio Nova at $119 to the AT4060 at $1905.
You may wonder why there are so many M-Audio mics in this shoot out. Well that’s because they make good mics for the price, we had a variety on hand, and it seems like these mics don’t get a lot of attention.
The mics:
M-Audio Nova
Audio Technica AT2035
M-Audio Solaris
M-Audio Sputnik
AKG C 414 B-XL II
Audio-Technica AT4060
The source was Kate singing the first line of ’9 Crimes’ by Damien Rice. Each recording is a separate take, though she is very consistent. No processing has been done. Drop all the files into your DAW, keep the piano track active if you like. Scroll down to the bottom to get the files. The order of the files has been changed so you’ll need to guess which is which.
Leave a comment with which mic sounds like the best fit for her voice and I’ll email you the answers.
Other things to think about:
Which mic sounds like it’s the cheapest?
Which mic sounds the most expensive?
Which 2 mics are the tube mics?
There’s not really any point to this, there’s no moral to the story and no quiz. However, I will say I think any one of these sounds is better than what I can get with plugins.
The hard part about recording a distorted bass is that often you have no reference of what it will sound like with the rest of the instruments. Committing to a distorted bass sound early can bite you in the ass when it comes time to mix. For that reason alone, it’s a good idea to record a clean DI along with it.
If you save the distortion for when you are mixing, you can reamp through a distortion pedal.
