(Chit-Chat) Unboxing My New Equipment + New Mic Test (Patreon)

Unbox my new equipment with me and hear my first impressions in real time. Please excuse the struggle. I hate reading directions! 

A Note from Moon

Hi everyone. I thought we could have a little chat while I unbox my new equipment. Well, I actually set up my new equipment a few weeks ago and just now got around to editing and posting today. But still, I thought it'd be fun to hear my first impressions as they came.

I included a short mic test at the end of this chit-chat. Note: I did lightly edit the entire audio file, including the test, to alleviate harsh sibilance for your comfort. But I tried to keep the edits to a minimum to showcase the true sound of the new mics.

In my opinion, while the new mics are definitely less sibilant than my old mic, they are still a bit sibilant themselves. I suspect that my mic placement and pronunciation may be to blame. Input level also plays a role. You can hear how input level (how sensitive the mics are to audio input, which affects how loud or soft audio output is) affects sibilance. 

Finally, at the very end of the test, I included a snippet of fully edited audio from the new mics. I'm not 100% satisfied with the quality, as it is a tad more muffled than I would like, but I will keep working to achieve my desired result. The biggest challenge is finding a balance between warmth and clarity that does not result in a muffled or sibilant audio. 

To some, my old mic may sound better than my new mics! I was sitting fairly far from my old mic while recording this, in a room with lots of reverb, so it did not pick up as much sibilance as it usually does. But during recording, I sit much closer to my mic so that my voice sounds warmer and more personal, and that's when things get sharp and painful. I recorded the latter half of my mic test in my usual recording environment, which naturally introduces more sibilance.

Plus, I need to play around with the input level (a.k.a. gain) more! I think that my current input level setting is too high. I still need to find that sweet spot where the audio output is not too soft but the input is not too sensitive, which can result in distortion.

It's a process, and I'm happy to share a bit of that with you today.

I hope you're having a good weekend! Remember to take care of yourselves as winter approaches.

All my love,

Moon ☾ 

Fluidscape by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/