How I Set Up the Earthworks Ethos for VO - And Get One of the Best V.O. Sounds Ever 

Thanks Earthworks! Inside Every Ethos is a goldmine of VO tone just waiting to be discovered.

You're welcome!

Have fun! So, with the Ethos, my intent was to EQ it to fit commercials, but I realized what I ended up with is something that sounds "natural but polished" and not hyped, so I'm finding by using it on other types of narrations that this particular sound works for everything I've tried it on, so see if these settings do the trick for your streaming/podcast sound. Let me know how it pans out.

It’s totally like an SM7b on steroids. Congrats!!

Thanks Scott. Point taken. But I don't use plug ins native to my DAW. I'm simply explaining how I get this sound with my everyday gig rig, which is UAD-based, for the people interested in my UAD-rig content. I'm not trying to tell anyone how to build a rocket using what's easily available, I'm telling you how to build a rocket from rocket parts. Now, I'm not saying it couldn't be done in another way, with different gear, but this is the gear I use to make a living with so my focus is on passing along what I've learned in my job to anyone else doing the same.

If I wanted something that would have a nice presence, smooth top end and would be easy to listen to for hours: Soyuz 017 FET. I haven’t really done enough narration on the Ethos yet, but I’m really warming to it as a pretty great all-rounder with a very malleable sound. The Ethos is intriguing as potential audiobook mic because the detailed sound gives you lots of options to shape in post. I should do an audiobook centric video with the Ethos to get a better idea.

Have you tried it without the foam cap?

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff Yeah. I had the foam on out of the box, but kept it off since.

@@liquidvelvetliterature Maybe try sweeping around between 100-300hz and seeing if there's a weird resonance that you can duck a few db. It could be something in your low end causing unwanted bloat in the signal. And also you can try to sweep your HPF to see if there's any extra low end being picked up. It's such a sensitive mic that I've increased the HPF on my settings to just over 80hz.

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff Yeah, man. I went into the DFC eq and took the HP to 94 and took 3 more DB away at 231. Sounds just a bit foggy and the smallest bit boxy, but despite a bit of fog, it’s way better!!! Wish I had a better sense of EQ. I love how pleasant this mic is. I definitely need to regain some of the character from the 416 and dynamic range and air, but I will never miss that top end harshness and jagged sound that the Ethos simply ignores. My problem now is I don’t want to sound too thin by taking away too much low end information. I need all the bass in my voice I can get, man. Haha.

@@liquidvelvetliterature Maybe try the rollback on the HPF on the Neve 88rs and put the HPF on the DFC back to around 60 or wherever you had it before and try your sweeps on the low end of the 88rs. See if it's maybe something caused after the preamp. Are you using Oxford Dynamic EQ on the "clarity" setting? I added another dynamic EQ point by dragging the circle with the "2" in it down to 36hz and switching it from bell to low shelf and setting the threshold around 10 o' clock. It's a complicated chain, but you have to crack a few eggs, ya know.

Hi Gustavo. I would definitely send something that sounds “finished”, unless the project spec says not to. The trick is finding a balance where it is finished but doesn’t sound too polished. Mostly, don’t over compress, but definitely compress.

The 1973 is a one trick pony. It's a great trick. But it's one trick. The Ethos is quickly proving to be a mic that can cover a lot of ground and just sounds pretty glorious on everything once you carve out your sound from it. Not to mention it's half the price of the 1973.

The price is crazy good. I have the Earthworks 314 I got in a trade and it's pretty great too

@@BillBene67 They really make some insanely good mics. And what's cool is they all stand tall on their own and not in the shadow of some other 50 year old mic.

Hmmmm... I wonder if that's something that will change in the new year. Hopefully.

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff I hope so, would love to add it to my collection 😊