I know you have never heard this before, but if I had a voice like yours, I would just sit and record myself reading the dang dictionary. Nice vocal genes, or something. Cheers!
After watching this all the way through I can say honestly I'm pretty disappointed and feel like you missed the point of what most people who clicked on this were expecting to learn: What we really want to know is what did your mother eat while she was pregnant with you? Silk? Leather? Where can I buy vocal cords as soothing as yours? And what's the typical price range?
A very rarely comment on RU-vid videos. This video is a combination of someone who understands both review making and video production professionally in the field and for RU-vid. I appreciate your ability to understand the viewers needs and actively inform them in both the intro and full duration. It's inspiring to see such good craft 😎 You managed to give my like in 30 seconds. Sub an under a minute. And a comment in 5 min. Wp gg
Interesting choices. I found the Lewitt 040 Match mics to be quite noisy. They're about my fifth choice behind many other models, including some pretty inexpensive options. I bought those and the 440 Pure, and found it to be quite harsh and too bright... not to mention that the resonant ringing of its case drives me batty. Not impressed by the Lewitt mics I've tried so far. I also have an S-Mic 2 and don't particularly care for the sound of it. Very thin and honky. It definitely doesn't compare to an MKH-416 -- they sound nothing alike even though the Internet seems to insist otherwise. I also own a C 214. Generally happy with it, but yeah... the highs can be grating on the wrong source. Not as smooth as the 414 that it is based on, and noticeably noisier. My favorite budget LDC has recently become the Rode NT1. It's got a really great neutral sound, especially for its price.
I would love to see a video on stereo recording sounds. From setting up the gear in a place to working with the sound in a daw. Also, Maybe even show off how the samples can be treated as moving around (panning / binaural) in a song?
Thank you for this very informative and professional video! I have a question though : when you use the h4n on the field, do you need a boom or a tripod or can you simply record without any other gear? I mean if you use without any other gear, don't you get unwanted noises caused by the mere handling of the field recorder?
A tripod makes Your life much easier, but it is not necessary. You can learn how to handle the recorder in a way that doesn't transfer the sound, but most of the time when You are recording, You want to stand still.
A great video again. And, folks, the most important part of this video are the first 2 minutes! Really! (not at all saying, that the rest of the video is not worth watching - it absolutely is worth being watched and thought about). But according to my more than 40 years experience there is no, absolutely no, gear, that is sooo bad, that you can´t make anything interesting with it. There´s always a way to get something useful out of even the cheapest things. Enjoy your day! Rolf
Yeah I guess that has been my error. Well at the moment I don't have much cause I don't have the dough but bruh if pros have axepted phone audio from him. Boy oh boy 1 was I wrong and 2 boy am I nitpicky. Because to me pro has always ment Sound-Devices recorders or now the new F recorders from Zoom and real mad expensive mics. No shade to any of the quote on quote cheep stuff. But how do I say this? I guess to me I always wanted close to mixer desk audio. Audio like what you hear in films. What I have now by the way is an Olympus LS 14, which I always took as kinda meh it's convenient you can have it in your pocket but meh. It's just there. I also have an H6 original from Zoom which I like the Audio of. Perfect for DSLR video. Then because I thought I had messed up my H6 I got an H8. Which I like the audio of even more. It sounds to me 3 times more pro more studio then the H6. As for mics I just have the 8022 from Audio-Technica. Love the stereo from it. Very nice and wide. But to me again the dream teem the crem de la crem would be a sound Devices 833 and at least 2 NT1's. Just cause of how studio that sounds. How almost like they are right there with you people sound when you record them on there. Ah and that is something he didn't get into in this vid. How many channels you wana record. Which my thing's always been I wana do surround sound.
I would also love to know what interface you use, do you use that art tube preamp? And what is your eq you use and how you use it? Sounds incredibly warm and pleasing to listen, I am self learning how to eq my voice but, it´s still not quite what I want
6:30 , to continue on from your points about using a phone as a mic. I think it's one of easiest way of starting out in music, overall, because it comes with SO MANY great tools (voice recorder, music apps sometimes, etc). In fact, before I got a mic last year, the majority of the vocals on my latest album were all recorded on my phone, and they sound clean as ever
Thanks for the video! And could help me? ✌️ I'm looking for mic to capture the sound of a room. Some people in there, but each onde speaks each time. Thank you
Has anyone compared the Lewitt LCT 040s to Clippy EM272 XLR ? Curious how they compare. I'm leaning toward Clippys after hearing demos on "Time preservation society" channel; They seem to be a not-so-hidden gem of field recording; But I've also heard so many great things about Lewitt for years.
Every time I see a youtube video with the word collection in it, I end up building my own. I have a bunch of padlocks, a raspberry pi cluster, ipods, guitar pedals, multitrack recorders, wood working tools, and a virtual NAS server running proxmox. Now guess the channels😅😅😊
Great video thank you. I’d like to record rain - specifically - and was looking at the Zoom H1N to get me started. I’m now wondering if I should start with my iPhone X and wondered whether the App requires anything specific for this type of field recording. Can you please give more details of the App you mention? Developer name for example 👍 thanks
Im wanting to record sounds of 'crafting' cutting leather, fabric, a sewing machine.....thinking now a contact mic would be best. Still need a field recorder.....
Interesting video! I looked at the Lewitt LCT040's too. They seem well build and they are quite small. However, I find them to be way too bright. On some voices they even sound very sibilant. It was also very apparent on your voice. When you switched to one of the LCT's your voice sounded very silent too. Patty because they have everything else going for them.
Hi Venus, I'm totally a newbie here, I've a condenser mic and I want to record nature sounds, like ocean waves and forest sounds, is it good enough? And what type of mics are best for recording nature relaxing sounds?
Another hint: if you are using Zoom H4n Pro or any other similar recorders that are light in weight, I would strongly recommend to put it on a stable tripod, but not the cheapest one. Tripod should give you a better stability, and a little better chance that portable recorder isn't knocked off, or blown by wind.
I would also say, if you’re putting it on a tripod, mount the Zoom in a vibration cage, and your recording will have a much lower noise floor. If Zoom doesn’t make one, it wouldn’t be hard to McGyver a large diaphram condenser mic cage for the Zoom.
I got some for field recording going into the zoom h4n pro. And wow! What a combo. For nature ambience they sound fantastic. I’m so pleased. Can’t recommend these mics highly enough.
Cameron, would you mind doing a tutorial how to software-tweak voice recordings with VST-plugins? Like giving more resonance, bass or saturation to the recorded voice? Or do you already have a video that illustrates this? (Sorry, I wouldn't actually know what search terms to use to look this up)
Haha well I'll think about it! I don't really do much to my voice for videos other than a highpass and a limiter with PSP InfiniStrip just to make sure there's no rumble and catch any random peaks. There's also a little cut around 400hz or so to remove some boxyness but that's more for the mic I use than the dialog. Maybe I'll do a 'voiceover voice editing' tutorial someday though to show a more 'movie guy' approach.
I am curious about the 040 match pair which have specified self noise level of 20db... and i was reccomended looking for mics that are lower than 14 or even 12db self noise. But cameron is saying they sound super clean? Looking to do field recording with my h4npro. Finding mics with that type of self noise seems to require some significant investment for 1 mic let alone 2.
20 dB is not low noise. And the 040's published frequency response is nothing special. Not flat, typical chinese capsule's high frequency bump. At ca. 1/5 th of the price you'll get Takstar CM-63 which are quieter (18 dB) and have similar FR curve. BTW the word is that Takstar runs the production for Lewitt. Anyway it is still quite noisy. Get yourself a pair of Clippy or Pluggy mics (14 dB), great sounding electret capsules immune to humidity (unlike "true" condensers). Small, portable. For less self noise go for Rode NT1. But it all depends what recorder you have. If it's a consumer Zoom series (H) the recorder's self noise will dominate anyway 😊
Hm,. thinking,... Could a contact mic be attached to a window to pick up the sounds coming from outside (wind, rain, birds, thunder etc)? It'd be so helpful if it was USB powered instead of the usual mic port. Any advice about this would be welcome. Thanks. :) Purpose for listening is just for relaxation, mono or stereo isn't important. :)
I'm curious how you decided that any sort of sound design you made might be good enough to actually put up for sale when you were less experienced. I'm just starting my journey in field recording, foley, and sound design, and I have no clue how to go about deciding when my recordings and sounds might be of any use for those who may actually be in the market for sounds.
@@Joesire Hi! The journey is going okay so far. Plenty of microphones and gear I’m looking at, but not a whole lot of exposure just yet. Life has gotten going and I haven’t recorded much or processed much in the past few months, but it definitely isn’t over. Thank you for asking! Hope your day/night is going well!
Love the video! I’m into field recording, have three Sony pcm d50, Sony pcm d100, Sony pcm d10, Sony pcm a10, zoom H4N and H6, Roland field recorder. Looking for external xlr microphone’s for field recording and paranormal investigations. Which mics would you recommend?
iPhones have nice mics for sure. I think it's the 'auto gain' functions most phones use that cause it. That said, it can give you some REALLY interest results when recording very quiet sounds.
I think there is one new product that is honestly essential for my sound design work now the $50 Primo EM258 Ultrasonic microphone capsule. It is an alternative to the Sanken cm-100k and it is honestly the best $50 I have ever spent because it sounds amazing even when pitched 3+ octaves down and it picks up frequencies up to 96k.
@@dr5290 recently I will record more sources with ultrasonic mics though like if you record rocks you can make them sound like a building falling so I record anything I want to sound bigger by size shifting(pitch shifting)
@@dr5290 yea I have always wondered why if few sources produce ultrasound why does this effect seem to work on just about everything but it could be just a perceived difference but I now have a Sanken 100k and I have tested extensively vs microphones that only go up to 20,000 hertz and it seems to be a pronounced difference in quality when pitching down even with sources that shouldn’t be producing ultrasound in the first place.
@@dr5290 I wish I could send you boom library’s sound recordings recorded on the Sanken for this purpose to test for yourself but it really seems to make a big difference
Unfortunately not really - sound design isn't a very well documented process. That said, in both my approach and with what I hear from a lot of my friends in the industry/my peers the biggest thing is just 'try stuff and see what happens'. You'll learn a lot by simply messing with things and seeing what they do. The happy accidents make the most interesting sounds. For some really good ideas and 'starting points' I'd highly recommend watching some game/film sound design videos on RU-vid or blogs like designingsound.org Perhaps I'll make some videos though with some tips!
The Foley Grail - The Art of performing Sound for Film, Games and Animation (Vanessa Themes Ament) This book teaches you how to master classic and cutting-edge Foley techniques in order to create rich and convincing sound for any medium, be it film, television, radio, podcasts, animation, or games. Award-winning Foley artist Vanessa Theme Ament demonstrates how Foley is designed, crafted, and edited for any project, down to the nuts and bolts of spotting, cueing, and performing sounds. Various renowned sound artists provide a treasure trove of indispensable shortcuts, hot tips, and other valuable tricks of the trade.
Have you recorded any sound with Lewitt 040 at 192k?I found that my two lewitt 040 microphones were excellent when recording at 48 khz, but there was a lot of noise when recording at 96 khz and 192 khz. Those noises are in the frequency band above 20khz, so they have no impact on general sound recording.I would like to know if this is an individual phenomenon and look forward to hearing back. Thank you very much!
Great video. Just a question…in our channel we are making flight and walking tour and we are using an iPhone 11 Pro to record video. We are going to include also ambient sound but we do not think that the iPhone mic is useful in this sense. Can you suggest a solution? Do you recommend a mic to connect to the phone or an external device? Let us know thanks 😊
Another thing about phones - you can use Koala Sampler. It lets you move seamlessly from audio capture to sound design to music quickly, if that's your thing. I had a lot of fun with that and a small USB mic.
Hi! Would you recomend a Roland R26 nowadays? I've found a really cheap one; I've searched a little bit and it looks like it works great but I'm afraid it could be a bit outdated nowadays... I very much would appreciate your answer. Thnx!!
Is there a USB powered cardioid condenser microphone good for listening to (via headphones obviously) weather ambience (birds, wind, rain, thunder etc) through a PC (not Mac)? It'd be connected via a 30ft USB 2.0 active repeating USB cable. Can anyone recommend an affordable (sub £80 GBP) mic that'd be suitable? Thank you.
Krakatoa Lawn Mower - cor blimey, luv a duck governor - you're now officially appointed as my Best Friendaroonie and i have nominated you for an Oscar - best blokes voice - and as for the Lewitt,you knew it,you review it,you yabba dabba do it and i have contacted Her Majesty the Queen at Buck Pal and you will soon share the same honour as my favourite HP brown sauce - by appointment to Her Majesty, Her Royal Highness,the Queen and you will be endowed with the title of your choice - the Right Honourable Gentleman OR Sir Venus Theory - your shout mate.I've not held back so the Nobel Institute and the Vatican have been given the nod so you'll soon be Saintificated and immortalized with your palm print in wet cement in the location of your choosing. Enough of that - just wanted to say a whopping great thank you for ending my near life-long quest to find high quality low cost microphones for my Zoom H5 and having checked out the Lewitt promo video and some youtubes my quest is over,i have arrived and feel a sense of being at one with everything. Methinks i'll plomp for the LCT 140 Air option and i did think of recording the unboxing soundscape with them but sadly i won't be able to because i'll be taking them out of the box,if you see what i mean ? Now,the only thing that's getting me down is.......GRAVITY ! Voila and may all your audio adventures be as sound as you are.
Man, what a wealth of information as always, Cameron! I was looking for a video on how to record samples and of course you had a video on it from over 3 years ago! :D
Great informative video for Beginner like me. Thanks :) Does the contact mic require a field recorder with phantom power? I have an Zoom H2 with 1/8 mic in plug.
You probably dont have time to read all of the comments, but I need help finding the right microphone to record exhaust and intake sounds on cars. Ive used rode video micros but those seem to not be able to record such loud noises. Im also using a Zoom H1N
Wow, I've got a pair of cheap Sennheiser hd 202 headphones on and what a difference those Lewitt sdc's bring. Way more sibilant. I was thinking of buying those for acoustic guitar and maybe more distanced voices. Gues I'll be youtubing some more for some sdc vs video's.
what external battery would you recommend for a mix pre6? Ankor Ankors are hard to find, at least the really powerful ones. What would be a good quality battery? Great Vid very informative. Love the hair too
Found this video while looking to get started with some recording for upcoming projects I'll be doing. I notice its a few years old, do you have a more recent one related to these things? Or has your setup mostly stayed the same along with your opinions of the equipment?
Phone mics really depend on the phone from what I've heard. All these decades of cellphone development, and yet phone call audio quality has stayed pretty much the same since the 90s. I tried to find a way to adjust the preamp gain on my phone so it doesn't clip when I record my band, but couldn't find a way to do it.
One misunderstanding that you are not alone with is that small diaphragm microphones have a bad bass response per se. This ist characteristic for all gradient microphones If the Sound source ist far away. Omnidirectional small diaphragm microphones pick up bass absolutely realistisc down to really low frequencies. The large radius ist not necessary to record bass, only to create it. Apart from that, great video, thanks!
Finally, avoid cheap microphones. Like Behringer C2, the pair that I bought. Those mics gave me much higher noise compared to another small diaphragm condenser mic pair. They are cheap, but even that amount of money will be a lost investment. Maybe there are Behringer microphones that are good but I would rather stay with AKG, Senheiser, RODE and of course - Shure! These are the manufacturers that you usually cannot go wrong with.
Thank you so much for the great video! If you want to make HQ recordings with your smartphone, plug in the Sennheiser Ambeo Smart Headset. Looks like (kind of) a regular headset and provides fantastic quality!
Most new smart phones (also tablets and some laptops) use microphone array that usually consist of 3 microphones located on the lower end, on the side and on the top. There is a DSP unit within smartphone that drives those mics, and combination of these is the main reason why smartphones are so good when it comes to sound. For example, 7 years ago (2014) I was recording a voice conversation of a actor, with GoPro camera - but for the sound I simply put the smartphone in the shirt pocket of the actor, because mic from the GoPro cam was picking sounds all around. At the time I had no other options, and result was a very good audio recording on the smartphone. Just make sure that you take the smartphone out of protective cover and leave it standing closer to the subject you are recording, or if you have to hold it in your hands - make sure to hold it stable and that your fingers aren't touching holes where those microphone are, make sure to look for them and know where they are. You may also want to record in stereo, which is doable but avoid if not really necessary. Use the highest available sampling quality, like 48000Hz/16-bit WAV, avoid using MP3, AAG or other compression standards. Also, make sure that you always have enough space in your memory, internal or SD card.
Tight list of recommendations thank you. For me the lewitt pair and the contact mics were the answer to my question of "what next?". I don't need them just yet, but when I do, now I know.
If we have a lavalier, does the phone quality influence the recording? Can you heard the difference with the same lavalier recorded by different phone?
This is so helpful to me as I'm just starting to get serious about trying to do some home recording, and this message just cut through all the noise for me. Thank you!
My most useful mic is my good old Sm58. I like it more than my fancier condenser mic. It works in every room it's build like a tank and the quality is decent.
Luckily when it comes to sound design stuff and getting weird, what it was recorded with really doesn't matter in the end! I've made huge bass booms and crazy wavetables with things I've recorded with my phone or my older cheap mics I used to use for field recording. Just about getting creative!
Thank you for sharing this, that's help a lot. I was looking for Lewitt LCT 040, but I heard many reviews saying that it is too noisy for recording quiet sounds accurately. Is equivalent noise level is 20 dB(A). From your experience, this amout of self noise, wasn't an issue for recording quiet nature for exemple ? Would you advice another small diaphragm mics in order to have less noise ?
Hi David ,noise level i20 dB(A) thats the point!!! For recording quiet nature in my opinion this value is too high at the end of the day you will unfortunately record a lot of noise. in the post-processing you will only be able to remove this noise with difficulty or not at all from your recording, take a look at the clippy em 272 from microboost .I am very satisfied with that. Greetings😉✌
I’ve used them both and I think the Deity S Mic 2 blows it away I love my Deity and I don’t see myself ever buying one of the $1,000 + shotgun microphones because it is so good. There are good comparison videos on RU-vid to check out the sound yourself.
Great video! I have been wondering about something for a while: everyone seems to use zoom recorders, namely the H4N. My question being: what does it offer that a more affordable option like the tascam DR40 (which I use) doesn't? I'm talking relevant features for sampling/sound design recordings because I know the zoom does have a few extras but I don't think I have ever come across someone who actually uses them
