9 ms·

You can spend $700+ on his high end audio recommendations but 90% of home office style recording environments (even with acoustic panels) are going to have a no

by nickjj 7y ago

You can spend $700+ on his high end audio recommendations but 90% of home office style recording environments (even with acoustic panels) are going to have a noticeable amount of background hiss (computer fans, etc.) get picked up and his set up doesn't account for that. If you goto the OP's Youtube channel and listen to his recordings, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh0sTxLs9VA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh0sTxLs9VA, there is a HUGE amount of hiss / static in his audio, to the point where I would be uncomfortable listening to his voice for a long period of time at a medium volume. He's using the $400 Shure mic in that video too. The $100 for the dedicated 2nd pre-amp with the Triton seems pretty wasteful. As an alternative, for $299 you can pick up the DBX 286s pre-amp[0] which also acts as a noise gate (helps filter hiss / static), de-esser, compressor and basic EQ together. It's an awesome piece of hardware and offers way more bang for your buck. Also the AT2005[1] mic is a solid upgrade from the AT2100 that he recommends, and both are about the same price. IMO the AT2005 is worth using as an end-game microphone. The AT2005 is one of those crazy mics where it almost feels like it's mis-priced at $80 and the DBX 286 has enough knobs and buttons to make it sound good with a number of different types of voices. Ultimately your real natural voice is going to play one of the biggest roles in how you sound in the end. [0]: https://amzn.to/2VPbmMc https://amzn.to/2VPbmMc [1]: https://amzn.to/39hyQwI https://amzn.to/39hyQwI (Yes these are affiliate links, I've been using both pieces of hardware for years)

ghaff 7y ago
I'm somewhat guilty of it as well, but a lot of people geek out on the gear side and spend money to optimize a fairly small part of the overall audio experience. Most of what I record for podcasts these days is on location anyway and I know I don't personally have a "radio voice." So I do what I can to get reasonable audio quality but don't sweat the details too much.
- nickjj 7y ago
  > I'm somewhat guilty of it as well, but a lot of people geek out on the gear side and spend money to optimize a fairly small part of the overall audio experience. There's nothing wrong with buying gear. It's just, he lists that set up as a "professional" podcast set up but forgot to mention the most important piece of hardware (or software) to get rid of continuous background noise. If you're going to listen to someone talk for an hour, having a bunch of white noise hiss in the background is very tiring on your ears. If you read that article without years of prior audio experience you might just blindly click those links and buy the top end set up, and then get upset that you just dropped $700 on a set up that sounds worse than what you could have gotten for $80 (+ free software) or half that in pure hardware but spending your budget on different hardware.
adamwathan 7y ago
A noise gate does not remove hiss or static, it simply reduces the volume of the signal when it gets below a certain level. As a professional audio engineer in a past life, I can say the SM7B + Triton Fethead is a great recommendation. The SM7B has very good off-axis rejection characteristics and will pick up _much_ less room noise than most alternatives.
- nickjj 7y ago
  > A noise gate does not remove hiss or static, it simply reduces the volume of the signal when it gets below a certain level. But the end result is with a configured noise gate the audio coming out will not appear to have as much hiss or room noise. Check out the Youtube video I linked of his. It's super noticeable. With Sony MDR-V6 headphones, I hear a huge amount of hiss in his audio. To the point where it's distracting and drowns out his voice. I'm not trying to pick on you or him, but if I go to your most recent Youtube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lf6dwipRYg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lf6dwipRYg, you can very much hear the same type of hiss within the first few seconds. I can't say for what what it is, but it sounds like your computer fan is spinning at 50% and it very much comes through. At about the 16:22 mark in the video, your fans appear to be spinning at 100% because it's much louder than before you started coding. It sounds like your computer is about to launch into space. It looks like you have the same mic too. I'm not saying the mic is bad, it's a really good mic. I just think the OP should have talked more about one of the biggest things that will kill a recording, especially when talking about "professional podcasting" and recommending high end gear. For comparison, here's something I recorded with the AT2005 + DBX 286s acting as a noise gate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xd84hlIjkI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xd84hlIjkI There's no software processing here either and my room is not treated with acoustic panels. In fact, my office is almost a worst case scenario. It's a wide open empty room with hardwood floors, angled ceilings and almost no furniture or rugs. I have super loud computer fans too and I'm right next to a window. Even at maximum volume (unrealistically loud) there's pretty much no hiss or room noise. At least nothing I can hear with the same Sony MDR-V6 headphones. I'm sure I could get similar results with the Shure mic too (using the DBX), but I'm happy with the AT2005. If I ever upgrade mics in the future it would be to a shotgun mic so it's out of frame.
numpad0 7y ago
Partly as a reminder to self: how hard could it be to build a noise cancelling/phased array setup for streaming?
- nickjj 7y ago
  If you're only concerned about OBS, it's trivial. You can use a VST (software plugin) without needing hardware or anything fancy.
lostapathy 7y ago
I'm going to disagree on a lot of this. The Triton fethead is just a "plug it in and go" solution in a lot of setups. That dbx preamp has a lot of knobs that, for the most part, need to be set right in order for it to work at all - let alone help the situation. Also worth noting that the fethead is tiny - it sits inline with your cable, whereas that dbx requires you to mount 19" rack gear at your desk, which is a big ask for a lot of people.
- nickjj 7y ago
  > The Triton fethead is just a "plug it in and go" solution in a lot of setups. That dbx preamp has a lot of knobs that, for the most part, need to be set right in order for it to work at all - let alone help the situation. But that's the thing. The Triton is just a pre-amp, the Scarlett also has its own pre-amp, but maybe it's not strong enough to drive the Shure mic (it's strong enough for most other mics). The DBX also has a pre-amp but it does many other things to improve the quality of your audio where as the Triton does nothing except boost the signal. I would classify the DBX as very much helping the situation. Way more than just having a pre-amp. > whereas that dbx requires you to mount 19" rack gear at your desk, which is a big ask for a lot of people. I don't think having a piece of gear on your desk is a big ask for a personal recording studio. It's not like you're sometimes streaming or recording your podcast at Starbucks. You also don't need to mount it. It sits flush on a desk without straining any of the parts or sitting uneven. It's been happily sitting on my desk for a long time now.
  - lostapathy 7y ago
    The Scarlett absolutely is not enough pre-amp, on it's own, for that microphone.
  - klodolph 7y ago
    > But that's the thing. The Triton is just a pre-amp, the Scarlett also has its own pre-amp, but maybe it's not strong enough to drive the Shure mic (it's strong enough for most other mics). An awkward reality is that while prosumer preamps like those in the Scarlett are very nice for what they are, you often find yourself needing more clean gain than they comfortably provide. The Scarlett Solo’s gain range is listed as 56dB, and while that seems like a lot, and it seems like it should be good enough, for voice applications at normal speaking volumes and with typical microphones, you want more gain. From what I understand, this is more or less the amount of gain you can get in a single gain stage without introducing tons of dirt. I personally have a Scarlett and a small assortment of mics, including dynamics, small and large diaphragm condensers, and ribbon mics. It’s only for louder sources like drums and guitar amps that I feel comfortable plugging straight into the Scarlett. For everything else, I plug into an outboard preamp. While the DBX is nice, everything but gain can be done in software later on. I’d go ahead and recommend the DBX to most people because it solves the problem “once and for all” rather than forcing you to configure every different piece of audio software you use, but for my own personal use I’m much happier doing all EQ, compression, gating, de-essing, etc. in software. That stuff isn’t necessary in hardware, but you really do need the gain.
Nicksil 7y ago
[0]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LWH79A https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LWH79A [1]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JX8O0Y https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JX8O0Y
- pc86 7y ago
  Thank you for providing non-affiliate links for those of us who don't want someone else making money off our unrelated purchases in the next 24 hours.
  - geocrasher 7y ago
    I know, the idea that somebody could link to something useful and then be compensated for the value of their recommendation is so awful. It should be illegal for people to make money for doing things online. It should all be free. If we could get farmers and ranchers in on it, then municipalities and auto makers- heck- lets get the whole government on it- everything will be free and everyone will work for the common good. What could possibly go wrong!
    - pc86 7y ago
      Had you actually read my comment, you'd know I'm not complaining about this recommendation. I'm complaining about Amazon's affiliate structure specifically. If I buy a hammer on Amazon 23 hours after absent-mindedly clicking the GP's link, they get a cut of that. A cut that they don't deserve.
  - jjeaff 7y ago
    Why would you care? You would prefer that Amazon gets to keep an even higher percentage of the profits?
    - pc86 7y ago
      I would prefer HN be one of the few places online where I can trust links because of the products behind them, not because of someone trying to drive affiliate revenue.
52-6F-62 7y ago
> home office style recording environments (even with acoustic panels) are going to have a noticeable amount of background hiss (computer fans, etc.) get picked up and his set up doesn't account for that. You can definitely baffle a lot/all of that noise away, but you definitely need to be more mindful of your setup and not just have some wall-mounted panels and your tower right next to your mic. I've been privy to some crafty home studio setups. It's workable—the first problem is paying attention/having an ear and the example you posted is so obvious I was surprised at it.
- nickjj 7y ago
  > the example you posted is so obvious I was surprised at it. Yeah I was surprised too. Considering that clip is from the author of the post. > you definitely need to be more mindful of your setup and not just have some wall-mounted panels and your tower right next to your mic. Mine is on the floor, under my desk, which has a large thick piece of wood (the desktop) as a barrier and it still comes through without a noise gate. My mic is on a boom arm like 5 feet above my tower (I use a standing desk) and the mic is positioned opposite of my computer to further reduce it picking it up. Also, a lot of people use laptops as their main computer which is even worse. Chances are you'll end up with your laptop on the top of your desk instead of below it. That's why I was so taken back by him creating this article without mentioning noise cancellation. Fortunately I do have the DBX and the noise floor is almost silent without clamping down too hard on natural frequencies. I've recorded about 400 videos, some with the DXB and some without and there's such a huge difference.
  - 52-6F-62 7y ago
    A single wooden panel won't do much to help you in that situation regardless. It's a great reflector and wouldn't absorb much of the noise, especially of the sides are wide open. Most people, especially someone just recording dev screencasts or video conferencing don't at all need a $300-350 preamp. It just seems like so much overkill. You could get perfectly usable noise reduction baked into Audacity, or with $50 plugin if the noise is existing. FWIW, I record (music) with a laptop on my desk, sometimes multi channel simultaneously and with the right mics[1] and sufficient ambient noise reduction I've never had an issue with fan hiss or hum. [0] https://www.waves.com/plugins/z-noise https://www.waves.com/plugins/z-noise [1] https://www.shure.eu/musicians/discover/educational/polar-patterns https://www.shure.eu/musicians/discover/educational/polar-pa...
balfirevic 7y ago
> As an alternative, for $299 you can pick up the DBX 286s pre-amp[0] which also acts as a noise gate (helps filter hiss / static), de-esser, compressor and basic EQ together. Do you know of any device with similar capabilities but in smaller form factor (even if more expensive)? Something of the size of Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 [0]. Or at least not meant to be mounted in a rack? [0]: https://focusrite.com/en/usb-audio-interface/scarlett/scarlett-4i4 https://focusrite.com/en/usb-audio-interface/scarlett/scarle...
- nickjj 7y ago
  The 4i4 is just like the 2i2 (which is what I use). It basically acts as a way for you to plug in an XLR mic (or instrument) into your computer. It's classified as a USB audio interface. It won't help you when it comes to background noise cancellation or any type of processing. For that you need something like the DBX or you can find other hardware that combos as a USB audio interface + pre-amp + processor (with comparable options to the DBX). I don't know of any offhand but maybe something exists. Also, you can go the software route too to avoid needing any hardware (and just use a USB mic), but it gets a little more complicated. OBS supports VST plugins which is straight forward enough, but if you plan to record in other programs you won't have those effects applied. Or you can delve into the wonderful world of software based audio redirecting where you can redirect the output of a DAW like REAPER into another app as input to capture and process audio in real time. I did this for years until the software I used stopped working due to the author dying and his license server went offline. Alternative software doesn't exist on Windows with the requirements I had so I decided to go with hardware. The cool thing about the AT2005 mic I recommended from earlier is it has a USB and XLR connector, so you can try both out.
  - balfirevic 7y ago
    I know what both of those are, I was asking if there was anything with functionality of DBX but with a form-factor of Scarlett 4i4. It doesn't even have to have an integrated USB audio interface, although that would be cool. Thanks anyway for the recommendation of DBX.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
busterarm 7y ago
I use the Shure SM7B + DBX 286s combo and it's _sublime_.
dundercoder 7y ago
If you don’t have a really good quality preamp in your interface, the fethead makes making up the gain really well that the sm7b needs. Sooo much gain.
codetrotter 7y ago
> Ultimately your real natural voice is going to play one of the biggest roles in how you sound in the end. Therein lies the main problem for me personally. Is there a way to train your voice to become more comfortable for others to listen to?
- greggyb 7y ago
  If you're serious about it, I'd look for a voice coach. It's likely easier to find someone who trains singers than who focuses only on speaking. That is fine. Vocal technique is largely the same. Additionally, I'd look into something like Toastmasters. This will give you a great place to practice outside of formal lessons with a voice coach. Being comfortable to listen to is about both your vocal technique - the mechanics of how you form sound - and about your content and delivery.
- nickjj 7y ago
  > Is there a way to train your voice to become more comfortable for others to listen to? This is something I struggle with too honestly. I've recorded 400+ videos and I still think my voice is -ultra- cringe and I feel like it gets worn out after talking for only maybe an hour straight. So what I usually do is record for about 45 minutes, then edit for a few hours and then go back to recording when my voice is fresh. I drink plenty of water while editing too. I don't have any professional advice since I'm just a dude who records screencasts. But I think my biggest problem related to getting worn out is I tend to talk slightly louder than normal when I'm recording because I still internally link loudness with tone variance and "energy". So maybe talking less loud, raising the gain on my mic and learning how to have more tone variance without talking louder would be something to look into. If I were to guess this is probably a common problem for many folks.
robbrown451 7y ago
In that linked YouTube video, I didn't hear hiss or find anything objectionable in the sound. But I found it really distracting the way the microphone was so big in the picture. It even looked like it could be easily adjusted so the mic was in the same place but the stand was more out of the way. But if it was me, I'd go for a smaller / less obtrusive one even if the sound wasn't quite as good. Funny how different people are sensitive to different things.
- nickjj 7y ago
  Headphones play a big role here. If I plug in my budget earbuds I can't notice anything but with my studio headphones (which I normally use for everything) it's super distracting.
  - Insanity 7y ago
    Studio headphones ftw! But yeah it's true, you hear more 'imperfections' when using higher-end audio gear. Wouldn't go back though.
    - emj 7y ago
      I had the same experience way back, dithering on old CRT with composite videos is smoother since you create new colors given how the signal is transfered and converted compared to a high resolution computer display (800x600). Now days I'm pretty sure there are GPU filters for that. Can this also be fixed by filters?
  - robbrown451 7y ago
    Ahh. Using speakers.

by nickjj 7y ago

ghaff 7y ago

I'm somewhat guilty of it as well, but a lot of people geek out on the gear side and spend money to optimize a fairly small part of the overall audio experience. Most of what I record for podcasts these days is on location anyway and I know I don't personally have a "radio voice." So I do what I can to get reasonable audio quality but don't sweat the details too much.

nickjj 7y ago
> I'm somewhat guilty of it as well, but a lot of people geek out on the gear side and spend money to optimize a fairly small part of the overall audio experience. There's nothing wrong with buying gear. It's just, he lists that set up as a "professional" podcast set up but forgot to mention the most important piece of hardware (or software) to get rid of continuous background noise. If you're going to listen to someone talk for an hour, having a bunch of white noise hiss in the background is very tiring on your ears. If you read that article without years of prior audio experience you might just blindly click those links and buy the top end set up, and then get upset that you just dropped $700 on a set up that sounds worse than what you could have gotten for $80 (+ free software) or half that in pure hardware but spending your budget on different hardware.

adamwathan 7y ago

A noise gate does not remove hiss or static, it simply reduces the volume of the signal when it gets below a certain level. As a professional audio engineer in a past life, I can say the SM7B + Triton Fethead is a great recommendation. The SM7B has very good off-axis rejection characteristics and will pick up _much_ less room noise than most alternatives.

nickjj 7y ago
> A noise gate does not remove hiss or static, it simply reduces the volume of the signal when it gets below a certain level. But the end result is with a configured noise gate the audio coming out will not appear to have as much hiss or room noise. Check out the Youtube video I linked of his. It's super noticeable. With Sony MDR-V6 headphones, I hear a huge amount of hiss in his audio. To the point where it's distracting and drowns out his voice. I'm not trying to pick on you or him, but if I go to your most recent Youtube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lf6dwipRYg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lf6dwipRYg, you can very much hear the same type of hiss within the first few seconds. I can't say for what what it is, but it sounds like your computer fan is spinning at 50% and it very much comes through. At about the 16:22 mark in the video, your fans appear to be spinning at 100% because it's much louder than before you started coding. It sounds like your computer is about to launch into space. It looks like you have the same mic too. I'm not saying the mic is bad, it's a really good mic. I just think the OP should have talked more about one of the biggest things that will kill a recording, especially when talking about "professional podcasting" and recommending high end gear. For comparison, here's something I recorded with the AT2005 + DBX 286s acting as a noise gate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xd84hlIjkI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xd84hlIjkI There's no software processing here either and my room is not treated with acoustic panels. In fact, my office is almost a worst case scenario. It's a wide open empty room with hardwood floors, angled ceilings and almost no furniture or rugs. I have super loud computer fans too and I'm right next to a window. Even at maximum volume (unrealistically loud) there's pretty much no hiss or room noise. At least nothing I can hear with the same Sony MDR-V6 headphones. I'm sure I could get similar results with the Shure mic too (using the DBX), but I'm happy with the AT2005. If I ever upgrade mics in the future it would be to a shotgun mic so it's out of frame.

numpad0 7y ago

Partly as a reminder to self: how hard could it be to build a noise cancelling/phased array setup for streaming?

nickjj 7y ago
If you're only concerned about OBS, it's trivial. You can use a VST (software plugin) without needing hardware or anything fancy.

lostapathy 7y ago

I'm going to disagree on a lot of this. The Triton fethead is just a "plug it in and go" solution in a lot of setups. That dbx preamp has a lot of knobs that, for the most part, need to be set right in order for it to work at all - let alone help the situation. Also worth noting that the fethead is tiny - it sits inline with your cable, whereas that dbx requires you to mount 19" rack gear at your desk, which is a big ask for a lot of people.

nickjj 7y ago
> The Triton fethead is just a "plug it in and go" solution in a lot of setups. That dbx preamp has a lot of knobs that, for the most part, need to be set right in order for it to work at all - let alone help the situation. But that's the thing. The Triton is just a pre-amp, the Scarlett also has its own pre-amp, but maybe it's not strong enough to drive the Shure mic (it's strong enough for most other mics). The DBX also has a pre-amp but it does many other things to improve the quality of your audio where as the Triton does nothing except boost the signal. I would classify the DBX as very much helping the situation. Way more than just having a pre-amp. > whereas that dbx requires you to mount 19" rack gear at your desk, which is a big ask for a lot of people. I don't think having a piece of gear on your desk is a big ask for a personal recording studio. It's not like you're sometimes streaming or recording your podcast at Starbucks. You also don't need to mount it. It sits flush on a desk without straining any of the parts or sitting uneven. It's been happily sitting on my desk for a long time now.
- lostapathy 7y ago
  The Scarlett absolutely is not enough pre-amp, on it's own, for that microphone.
- klodolph 7y ago
  > But that's the thing. The Triton is just a pre-amp, the Scarlett also has its own pre-amp, but maybe it's not strong enough to drive the Shure mic (it's strong enough for most other mics). An awkward reality is that while prosumer preamps like those in the Scarlett are very nice for what they are, you often find yourself needing more clean gain than they comfortably provide. The Scarlett Solo’s gain range is listed as 56dB, and while that seems like a lot, and it seems like it should be good enough, for voice applications at normal speaking volumes and with typical microphones, you want more gain. From what I understand, this is more or less the amount of gain you can get in a single gain stage without introducing tons of dirt. I personally have a Scarlett and a small assortment of mics, including dynamics, small and large diaphragm condensers, and ribbon mics. It’s only for louder sources like drums and guitar amps that I feel comfortable plugging straight into the Scarlett. For everything else, I plug into an outboard preamp. While the DBX is nice, everything but gain can be done in software later on. I’d go ahead and recommend the DBX to most people because it solves the problem “once and for all” rather than forcing you to configure every different piece of audio software you use, but for my own personal use I’m much happier doing all EQ, compression, gating, de-essing, etc. in software. That stuff isn’t necessary in hardware, but you really do need the gain.

Nicksil 7y ago

[0]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LWH79A https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LWH79A [1]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JX8O0Y https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JX8O0Y

pc86 7y ago
Thank you for providing non-affiliate links for those of us who don't want someone else making money off our unrelated purchases in the next 24 hours.
- geocrasher 7y ago
  I know, the idea that somebody could link to something useful and then be compensated for the value of their recommendation is so awful. It should be illegal for people to make money for doing things online. It should all be free. If we could get farmers and ranchers in on it, then municipalities and auto makers- heck- lets get the whole government on it- everything will be free and everyone will work for the common good. What could possibly go wrong!
  - pc86 7y ago
    Had you actually read my comment, you'd know I'm not complaining about this recommendation. I'm complaining about Amazon's affiliate structure specifically. If I buy a hammer on Amazon 23 hours after absent-mindedly clicking the GP's link, they get a cut of that. A cut that they don't deserve.
- jjeaff 7y ago
  Why would you care? You would prefer that Amazon gets to keep an even higher percentage of the profits?
  - pc86 7y ago
    I would prefer HN be one of the few places online where I can trust links because of the products behind them, not because of someone trying to drive affiliate revenue.

52-6F-62 7y ago

> home office style recording environments (even with acoustic panels) are going to have a noticeable amount of background hiss (computer fans, etc.) get picked up and his set up doesn't account for that. You can definitely baffle a lot/all of that noise away, but you definitely need to be more mindful of your setup and not just have some wall-mounted panels and your tower right next to your mic. I've been privy to some crafty home studio setups. It's workable—the first problem is paying attention/having an ear and the example you posted is so obvious I was surprised at it.

nickjj 7y ago
> the example you posted is so obvious I was surprised at it. Yeah I was surprised too. Considering that clip is from the author of the post. > you definitely need to be more mindful of your setup and not just have some wall-mounted panels and your tower right next to your mic. Mine is on the floor, under my desk, which has a large thick piece of wood (the desktop) as a barrier and it still comes through without a noise gate. My mic is on a boom arm like 5 feet above my tower (I use a standing desk) and the mic is positioned opposite of my computer to further reduce it picking it up. Also, a lot of people use laptops as their main computer which is even worse. Chances are you'll end up with your laptop on the top of your desk instead of below it. That's why I was so taken back by him creating this article without mentioning noise cancellation. Fortunately I do have the DBX and the noise floor is almost silent without clamping down too hard on natural frequencies. I've recorded about 400 videos, some with the DXB and some without and there's such a huge difference.
- 52-6F-62 7y ago
  A single wooden panel won't do much to help you in that situation regardless. It's a great reflector and wouldn't absorb much of the noise, especially of the sides are wide open. Most people, especially someone just recording dev screencasts or video conferencing don't at all need a $300-350 preamp. It just seems like so much overkill. You could get perfectly usable noise reduction baked into Audacity, or with $50 plugin if the noise is existing. FWIW, I record (music) with a laptop on my desk, sometimes multi channel simultaneously and with the right mics[1] and sufficient ambient noise reduction I've never had an issue with fan hiss or hum. [0] https://www.waves.com/plugins/z-noise https://www.waves.com/plugins/z-noise [1] https://www.shure.eu/musicians/discover/educational/polar-patterns https://www.shure.eu/musicians/discover/educational/polar-pa...

balfirevic 7y ago

> As an alternative, for $299 you can pick up the DBX 286s pre-amp[0] which also acts as a noise gate (helps filter hiss / static), de-esser, compressor and basic EQ together. Do you know of any device with similar capabilities but in smaller form factor (even if more expensive)? Something of the size of Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 [0]. Or at least not meant to be mounted in a rack? [0]: https://focusrite.com/en/usb-audio-interface/scarlett/scarlett-4i4 https://focusrite.com/en/usb-audio-interface/scarlett/scarle...

nickjj 7y ago
The 4i4 is just like the 2i2 (which is what I use). It basically acts as a way for you to plug in an XLR mic (or instrument) into your computer. It's classified as a USB audio interface. It won't help you when it comes to background noise cancellation or any type of processing. For that you need something like the DBX or you can find other hardware that combos as a USB audio interface + pre-amp + processor (with comparable options to the DBX). I don't know of any offhand but maybe something exists. Also, you can go the software route too to avoid needing any hardware (and just use a USB mic), but it gets a little more complicated. OBS supports VST plugins which is straight forward enough, but if you plan to record in other programs you won't have those effects applied. Or you can delve into the wonderful world of software based audio redirecting where you can redirect the output of a DAW like REAPER into another app as input to capture and process audio in real time. I did this for years until the software I used stopped working due to the author dying and his license server went offline. Alternative software doesn't exist on Windows with the requirements I had so I decided to go with hardware. The cool thing about the AT2005 mic I recommended from earlier is it has a USB and XLR connector, so you can try both out.
- balfirevic 7y ago
  I know what both of those are, I was asking if there was anything with functionality of DBX but with a form-factor of Scarlett 4i4. It doesn't even have to have an integrated USB audio interface, although that would be cool. Thanks anyway for the recommendation of DBX.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

busterarm 7y ago

I use the Shure SM7B + DBX 286s combo and it's _sublime_.

dundercoder 7y ago

If you don’t have a really good quality preamp in your interface, the fethead makes making up the gain really well that the sm7b needs. Sooo much gain.

codetrotter 7y ago

> Ultimately your real natural voice is going to play one of the biggest roles in how you sound in the end. Therein lies the main problem for me personally. Is there a way to train your voice to become more comfortable for others to listen to?

greggyb 7y ago
If you're serious about it, I'd look for a voice coach. It's likely easier to find someone who trains singers than who focuses only on speaking. That is fine. Vocal technique is largely the same. Additionally, I'd look into something like Toastmasters. This will give you a great place to practice outside of formal lessons with a voice coach. Being comfortable to listen to is about both your vocal technique - the mechanics of how you form sound - and about your content and delivery.
nickjj 7y ago
> Is there a way to train your voice to become more comfortable for others to listen to? This is something I struggle with too honestly. I've recorded 400+ videos and I still think my voice is -ultra- cringe and I feel like it gets worn out after talking for only maybe an hour straight. So what I usually do is record for about 45 minutes, then edit for a few hours and then go back to recording when my voice is fresh. I drink plenty of water while editing too. I don't have any professional advice since I'm just a dude who records screencasts. But I think my biggest problem related to getting worn out is I tend to talk slightly louder than normal when I'm recording because I still internally link loudness with tone variance and "energy". So maybe talking less loud, raising the gain on my mic and learning how to have more tone variance without talking louder would be something to look into. If I were to guess this is probably a common problem for many folks.

robbrown451 7y ago

In that linked YouTube video, I didn't hear hiss or find anything objectionable in the sound. But I found it really distracting the way the microphone was so big in the picture. It even looked like it could be easily adjusted so the mic was in the same place but the stand was more out of the way. But if it was me, I'd go for a smaller / less obtrusive one even if the sound wasn't quite as good. Funny how different people are sensitive to different things.

nickjj 7y ago
Headphones play a big role here. If I plug in my budget earbuds I can't notice anything but with my studio headphones (which I normally use for everything) it's super distracting.
- Insanity 7y ago
  Studio headphones ftw! But yeah it's true, you hear more 'imperfections' when using higher-end audio gear. Wouldn't go back though.
  - emj 7y ago
    I had the same experience way back, dithering on old CRT with composite videos is smoother since you create new colors given how the signal is transfered and converted compared to a high resolution computer display (800x600). Now days I'm pretty sure there are GPU filters for that. Can this also be fixed by filters?
- robbrown451 7y ago
  Ahh. Using speakers.