It's Analysis Paralysis Time Again! (Microphone Edition)

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Mossman
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Ok, my V7 came in today (did you get yours yet, @RockYoWorld?).

I know... pics, or it didn't happen...

V7.jpg

I A/B'd it against my Audio-Technica AT2005, and to be honest, they sound almost identical. The AT sounds slightly richer in the low mids, but that could be due to the fact that the AT has slightly more output than the V7. Not by much, though... Maybe about 2 or 3db. You can compensate for that by increasing the gain just a touch, but I was hoping this mic (with a booster) would feed more juice to the interface than the AT, but even with the booster, I'm only getting up to about -24 db (which is about the same as the AT). Oh well... Both mics do much better with the pre-amps in the H4n Pro, so I'll just use that as my mic interface.

One thing that is noticeably different is that the V7 does a much better job at rejecting handling noise than the AT. I mean it's almost silent when you handle it. Whatever noise you do hear is very faint and low-frequency, while the handling noise of the AT is pretty bad. I never noticed it before because I always had that mic on a boom arm, and I never touched it while recording. The V7 also has a bit more clarity than the AT, but again, it's not a night-and-day difference. It's a good mic. It's very detailed and natural-sounding. It does a good job of rejecting plosives, and it's slightly less sibilant than the AT, but I wouldn't say those things were ever a problem with that mic. As a stage mic, I'm sure the V7 kicks ass, but for spoken-word, I wish it had a little more richness in the lower frequencies. The AT has better proximity effect.

So, I don't know... I'm starting to think maybe I should have bought the V7X after all. That mic did seem to have better low end response, but I was scared off by its greater sensitivity to plosives. Maybe I'll order a V7X so I can compare them side-by-side and keep the one I like better.
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tonebender
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The only spec I use is what it sounds like to me. I used Schure for years because it seemed like the industry standard. It wasn't until I was jamming with a friend and he was using the Heil PR22 and I notice how good his vocals sounded. We were in a small room (his office) and it was just so clear. He had also used Shure forever but had acquired the Heil for some reason and was sold on it. I picked one up based on that experience and have been sold on it since. Everyone hears things differently and of course what system you are using matters too. I play a lot through an acoustic amp so all I have is the amp for the guitar and my vocals. The Heil just sounds so good to my ear, like a piece of cloth has been removed between my ear and the speaker as compared to the Shure. Not a blanket just a piece of cloth, in other words not a bunch of difference but subtle clarity difference. Probably a difference I would not have been able to discern years ago but a person's ear can develop and I think mine has. A little anyway. LOL
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RockYoWorld
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I did receive my V7. Haven't really put it to the test yet. Did a quick recording talking into both it and my MXL V67G Condenser that I keep on a desktop stand for video/voice chats. Honestly, in the little bit of A/B-ing I did, I was surprised how similar the results were. I think it's a good thing because my cheaper dynamic mics would sound boxier. I'll have to get around to recording vocals for a demo to really see what I think of the mic. It might take some time. Since I'm not primarily a vocalist, mics are more of a "good to have around for when I need it" than something I use routinely.
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Mossman
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tonebender wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 10:03 am The only spec I use is what it sounds like to me. I used Schure for years because it seemed like the industry standard. It wasn't until I was jamming with a friend and he was using the Heil PR22 and I notice how good his vocals sounded. We were in a small room (his office) and it was just so clear. He had also used Shure forever but had acquired the Heil for some reason and was sold on it. I picked one up based on that experience and have been sold on it since. Everyone hears things differently and of course what system you are using matters too. I play a lot through an acoustic amp so all I have is the amp for the guitar and my vocals. The Heil just sounds so good to my ear, like a piece of cloth has been removed between my ear and the speaker as compared to the Shure. Not a blanket just a piece of cloth, in other words not a bunch of difference but subtle clarity difference. Probably a difference I would not have been able to discern years ago but a person's ear can develop and I think mine has. A little anyway. LOL
I thought the Beta 58 sounded muffled compared to the PR-22 in this video (the only demo I could find where they recorded direct, instead of micing the room), and I think the Beta 58 sounds better than the SM58, so yeah, I think your perception is correct. :)



RockYoWorld wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 1:10 pm I did receive my V7. Haven't really put it to the test yet. Did a quick recording talking into both it and my MXL V67G Condenser that I keep on a desktop stand for video/voice chats. Honestly, in the little bit of A/B-ing I did, I was surprised how similar the results were. I think it's a good thing because my cheaper dynamic mics would sound boxier. I'll have to get around to recording vocals for a demo to really see what I think of the mic. It might take some time. Since I'm not primarily a vocalist, mics are more of a "good to have around for when I need it" than something I use routinely.
Yeah, I'm the same way... While I can sing, I never thought of myself as a "singer", and I never dug too deep into the technical details. In bands, I always just used whatever mic I was given (usually SM58s). Any name-brand mic was good enough for me. It wasn't until I started doing a talk-show that I put more thought into microphones, but even then, I didn't go very far down the rabbit-hole. I used a RODE Podcaster, and that was only because I was a guest on another show on my network, and that's what they used. It sounded really good to me, so I got one for myself. Before that, I had just been using my Zoom H2 as a mic with no complaints, but when I switched to the RODE, I got a lot of comments from my listeners telling me how much better I sounded. Unfortunately, the Podcaster started glitching out on me, and RODE sent me a replacement that didn't work (it had loose pieces knocking around inside of it!). That's when I switched to the Audio Technica. I didn't like it as much as the Podcaster, because it had lower output (the Podcaster has a built-in pre-amp), but none of my listeners seemed to notice a difference, so I just settled on that and stopped thinking about it... until now.
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Mossman
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Well, I got the V7X today, and I think we have a winner! It's got higher output than the V7, with better response in the low mids. It's got much better proximity effect without being too bassy or muddy. Sounds much more like a broadcast mic than the V7. I shied away from the V7X because everybody who reviewed it said it was bad with plosives, and that it required a pop-filter and special mic-technique to mitigate them, but I don't know what they're talking about. I just popped a wind-screen on it, and that's all that was needed to eliminate the plosives.

V7X.jpg

The only minor down-side is that it has a little more handling noise than the V7, but it's still not as bad as the Audio-Technica (handling noise is not really an issue for what I'm using it for, anyway). I think the V7 will really shine as a vocal stage mic, but for doing voice-over work, the V7X is more what I'm looking for. It's also (reportedly) better for micing instruments and cabs, so the V7 will be going back to Amazon.
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RockYoWorld
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And thus begins a new classic AGF rivalry... V7 vs V7x... GO TEAM V7!!! We should make jackets...

But really, Glad to hear you've found a happy place on your mic journey! And I can imagine the V7x working better for voiceovers from all this research. Naturally an EQ curve for a standalone broadcast voice is different than a mic in a mix on stage.
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Mossman
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RockYoWorld wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 10:39 am And thus begins a new classic AGF rivalry... V7 vs V7x... GO TEAM V7!!! We should make jackets...

But really, Glad to hear you've found a happy place on your mic journey! And I can imagine the V7x working better for voiceovers from all this research. Naturally an EQ curve for a standalone broadcast voice is different than a mic in a mix on stage.
No rivalry here... I'm tempted to keep both of these mics, but I think that might be a bit redundant, and that money would be better spent on something that I would use more, as I don't see why the V7x would be unsuitable as a stage mic, as well as a voice-over mic.
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sabasgr68
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Haven´t seen the progress of this thread... You even got two mics while I wasn´t looking! :)

Well, it´s great you´re liking the latest one. HNMD!
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Mossman
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sabasgr68 wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 3:48 pm Haven´t seen the progress of this thread... You even got two mics while I wasn´t looking! :)

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