In this week’s episode of The Pro Audio Suite, we’ve got something right out of left field! Our guest, Matt Cowlrick, an Aussie voice actor living in Canada, has done something pretty remarkable—transforming his Tesla into a rolling recording studio. Yes, you heard that right! Tune in as Matt reveals how he converted his Tesla into an innovative mobile recording space, complete with a built-in mic stand.

Hear about the nuts and bolts of mobile recording setups, from the gear choices to the unique challenges of recording in a car. Matt shares his experience using the Mic Port Pro 2 and a Sennheiser 416, all rigged up to record straight onto his iPhone with Twisted Wave. We dive deep into the acoustic challenges of a car’s interior, particularly a Tesla’s glass-heavy design, and Matt’s creative solutions involving pillows and moving blankets to achieve the best sound.

For those who can’t wait to see it in action, Matt has also shared a video tour of his Tesla studio on our website. Check out this link to watch the magic happen: Matt’s Tesla Studio Tour

Join us as we explore how necessity drives innovation and how you can apply some of these tricks to your own mobile recording endeavors.

A big shout out to our sponsors, Austrian Audio and Tri Booth. Both these companies are providers of QUALITY Audio Gear (we wouldn’t partner with them unless they were), so please, if you’re in the market for some new kit, do us a solid and check out their products, and be sure to tell em “Robbo, George, Robert, and AP sent you”… As a part of their generous support of our show, Tri Booth is offering $200 off a brand-new booth when you use the code TRIPAP200. So get onto their website now and secure your new booth…

https://tribooth.com/

And if you’re in the market for a new Mic or killer pair of headphones, check out Austrian Audio. They’ve got a great range of top-shelf gear.. 

https://austrian.audio/

Hunter S Thompson

Y’all ready to be history? Get started. Welcome. Hi.

Hi. Hi. Hello, everyone.

To the pro audio suite. These guys are professional, they’re motivated. (0:09) Thanks to Tribooth, the best vocal booths for home or on the road voice recording.

And Austrian Audio, making passion heard. Introducing Robert Marshall from Source Elements and someone audio post Chicago. (0:22) Darren Robert Robertson from Voodoo Radio Imaging.

Sitnik to the VO stars. George the Tech Whittem from LA. And me, Andrew Pinkers, voiceover talent and home studio guy.

(0:37) And welcome to another pro audio suite. Thanks to Tribooth, the golden handcuffs can be removed. And Austrian Audio, making passion heard. (0:44) Today, we have a special guest. Matt Calrich is joining us because Matt and I’ve been having a little conversation about setting up a rig in your car, which was something I played around with a few weeks ago now. (0:56) But Matt, you’ve done your thing as well.

What have you done? (0:59) Well, I changed it up from what I’ve done in the past, which quickly is using the Apollo Solo and a laptop and usually the 416. (1:11) Now for being at home in Canada and not actually, you know, traveling on holiday, I just wanted to have something easy to get going at any given moment, just pull over on the side of the road. (1:25) And so I use the Mic Port Pro 2, still the 416, and recording on the iPhone.

So just really nimble and mobile. (1:36) Are you using Twisted Wave on your mobile? Yes. Yes, until further notice.

(1:43) Yours is very similar to mine because that was my experiment with the iPhone 15 because it’s got the USB-C and using the Twisted Wave app. It’s fantastic. (1:53) And you can actually use their kind of Twisted Wave Dropbox as well off the iPhone, which is really, really handy.

(2:00) But the only difference between you and I, I think, is that you use the 416 and I’ve been playing around with the CC8 from Austrian Audio. (2:07) Well, he uses the 416 and you use the 416 sometimes and now. (2:15) And the other big difference is that you have a Tesla, which has a lot of glass.

(2:21) Has that become an issue for you? (2:23) Yeah, well, I’m still still in the early days of, you know, finding my feet with it. (2:27) I only set up this new rig, so to speak, on the weekend, got all the required parts, which was the idea of being able to have a mount in the car that I can just attach the mic and the… (2:43) How did you feel about drilling into your Tesla or is that glued in there? (2:46) I didn’t. It’s glued.

And I also just kind of drive my Tesla like a piece of shit. So I don’t really care. (2:54) I just drive it like a car, so sticking something on the inside.

(2:58) It’s not precious. It is no longer precious. It is now a utility vehicle and it’s used for what it was designed for.

(3:06) Yeah. I mean, let’s be honest, putting double sided adhesive tape on the inside of my Tesla is probably not the worst thing that I’ve done to it. (3:13) So you’re not going to mount a M49 from that thing.

(3:18) Since it’s now technically a recording studio, does that mean your car’s a tax deduction? (3:21) You say that like I don’t already try to claim as much as I can. (3:29) Yeah, that’s a good point, Robert. Yeah, I wonder how much else I can squeeze out.

(3:32) Yeah, exactly. My new recording studio just happens to be on four wheels, that’s all. (3:36) Yeah, exactly.

(3:37) Hey, if anyone can play it, George, if you can, I don’t know. Now would probably be a good time to have a listen to the audio, Matt Sentis. (3:45) I can do playback over here if I… (3:46) Can you? Okay, yeah, cool.

(3:47) Okay, here’s me recording in the car on a 416, the Mic Port Pro 2. (3:57) There’s a windsock on the mic and there’s a pretty significant humming sound, which I’m sure you can hear. (4:08) That’s the car. I don’t know how to turn it off.

It’s an electric car, so that’s something to work with. (4:16) But the setup is nice and it’s convenient, so now I just have to work on… (4:24) And so here’s the treated one. (4:26) But the setup is nice and it’s convenient, so now I just have to work on fixing things, like the car sound and the whirring.

(4:40) But I like the concept. I just have to try to get it sounding as good as possible. (4:47) So I’m guessing you were pretty close to the mic there.

(4:50) Yeah, pretty close. And then what I added later was a pillow in one take and then I brought in a moving blanket on the other. (5:06) But I was pretty close to try and offset the carriness.

(5:11) Were you putting the pillow behind you someplace? (5:14) The pillow was wedged. It was two pillows actually, because they were small pillows. (5:18) Wedged in the front screen.

And then the moving blanket I had just draped over me like a villain. (5:31) It was not comfortable, but more for like a testing perspective to see what had changed. (5:37) Do you have one without all that extra stuff? (5:39) That was the first one.

They’re remarkably similar. (5:44) You know what makes me laugh though is if this takes off, if this becomes a trend, you’ll be able to go to the local mall and realise who’s a voice-over artist and who’s not because the car of the voice-over artist is going to have blankets and pillows (5:56) and cut those one on the back seat. (5:58) Although they’re just living in their car, which is an understatement.

(6:00) Yeah, exactly. (6:02) And a really weird iPhone mount for a stick. (6:05) Yes.

(6:07) It’s going to look entirely nefarious. (6:10) I love the gooseneck attached to the ceiling. (6:13) Finding adhesive that would mount that strongly enough to hold the weight of the mic and the mic port and the gooseneck itself.

(6:20) It’s a decent amount of weight. (6:23) Do you put the mic port right on the mic port? Do you use a little adapter like we got for like Andrew got? (6:31) Oh no, I just assumed that Andrew’s was directly plugged in. (6:36) No, I think the 416 and the 41.6 and the OC8, they’re all too thick at the base to fit into the newer mic port.

(6:44) The 41.6 fits and the NTG5 fits. (6:50) And only the OC8. (6:52) The CC8 does not.

(6:53) Sorry, CC8. What a stroke of work. (6:56) And I also have the Rode NTG5, which Andrew and I were talking about when I was in Australia.

(7:02) And so I’d be interested to try that in the same situation. (7:06) I used the NTG5 in the back of my car, the first test I did before the CC8 got here. (7:12) And yeah, it sounded great.

(7:13) You probably get the same result as the 41.6, I would suggest. (7:17) There’s a bit more bottom end to it. That’s the only thing.

(7:20) I also found the NTG5, it seemed more sensitive than the 416. (7:29) I don’t know. (7:30) Oh yeah.

(7:31) It has a much higher output. (7:33) No, because I was in Mexico hanging out with Dustin Eboar. (7:39) And we had my tri-boot there and kind of our gear combined.

(7:43) And we tried both the 41.6 and the NTG5 with exactly the same gear, just switching the mic. (7:53) And it was quite different. (7:55) Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(7:56) That’s a huge amount of output on the NTG5. (7:59) Right. (7:59) My NTG5 is at the mailbox waiting to be picked up because they replaced it.

(8:04) Oh wow, that’s cool. (8:06) I’m the only one left with one that didn’t blow up, I think. (8:09) Mine blew up? (8:10) Yeah, mine didn’t blow up.

(8:14) No. (8:15) Don’t use it. It won’t blow up.

(8:18) I had a sphere mic blow up in Australia. (8:22) Yeah, I took it all the way to Australia thinking how great it was going to be having that mic with me. (8:28) And then I got there and was absolutely perplexed for a while why it wasn’t working.

(8:32) And it turned out to be a busted capsule. (8:34) And this was a brand new sphere. (8:35) You know the problem with that, mate.

(8:36) It was actually a northern hemisphere and you’re in the southern hemisphere. (8:41) That was the problem. (8:42) Oh my God.

(8:44) You are, I will. (8:47) David Kay traveled with the sphere to Japan, you know. (8:50) And I just thought it was risky because it is a much more fragile mic than any small diaphragm, you know, shotgun or pencil mic, you know.

(8:58) Small diaphragm, shotguns, and pencils are a much, much better travel mic companion. (9:03) Well, the shotguns are made for like, you know, like one of the things about the 416 is go record in the wind. (9:09) Well, in a rainforest.

(9:10) In a rain, right. (9:11) You can take a 46 in a rainforest. (9:14) Right.

(9:14) Because it’s working like as a RF microphone instead of directing it off the… (9:20) Yeah. (9:21) Well, as does the NTG-5, you know. (9:23) The NTG-5 is RF? (9:24) Yeah.

(9:25) Really? (9:26) So any mic with an RF design is basically completely impervious to moisture. (9:33) Yeah. (9:34) So that’s why they’re used.

(9:36) But as for the capsule blowing up, what was the outcome? (9:39) Is that mic still sitting in the box or… (9:43) Yeah, I haven’t replaced it yet because replacing it in Australia when it was all happening was just silly business. (9:49) So I’ve waited until I go back to Canada and then promptly didn’t do it. (9:54) It is a secondary sphere because I recently got a new Apollo unit and they threw in one of the new ones for free.

(10:03) And I thought… (10:04) Oh, was it the DX? (10:05) Yeah. (10:06) They threw in the small one? (10:08) Yeah. (10:08) So it’s a bit small.

(10:09) How do you find it compares? (10:10) It has less of a capsule working. (10:14) I like the smaller size. (10:17) I mean, it’s not hugely noticeable, but yeah, I’m excited to try it.

(10:22) Oh, so the one that you traveled with was this new smaller addition. (10:26) Yeah. (10:27) Yeah.

(10:28) And I have a pretty good travel bag. (10:30) Like, I hear you on the durability of those large diaphragm mics. (10:35) But yeah, I’ve managed to find this.

(10:39) It’s a camera bag and it’s got a good hard shell and it’s a backpack. (10:44) And to the chagrin of my engineer took an exacto knife and just cut out the foam in the sphere it comes with. (10:56) And I just shoved it in this camera bag and it feels really well protected.

(11:00) But then again, maybe I smashed a capsule when I was traveling and it’s not as protected as I thought. (11:07) Oh, any dents? (11:08) No, no dents. (11:10) Is this like the torque? (11:11) I’m expecting them to replace it.

(11:12) Like, it just sounds like vaulty. (11:15) But it’ll be interesting because I picked up the different microphones, the ocean way and the main one, I think. (11:22) I did those two.

(11:23) I forget, but… (11:25) The sphere models. (11:25) The sphere models, but I’ll just use it with the 818. (11:28) How’s that working out? (11:29) I haven’t touched it yet.

(11:31) Oh yeah, I haven’t even. (11:32) It’s just color. (11:33) But I figure it’ll just be, you know, like color, you know, even if the sphere mics are somehow accurate.

(11:38) I would imagine. (11:39) I mean, that is something we have not done yet. (11:41) We haven’t done an OC818 versus sphere mic sound.

(11:45) You know, how do they sound compared to each other? (11:48) How different is the OC818 through the sphere 47? (11:53) Right. (11:53) Can you swap in an OC818 if you don’t have a sphere or you just don’t want to bring the sphere because it’s so physically large? (12:02) Can you just plug it in, you know? (12:04) It would work with any truly dual output large diaphragm mic, you would think. (12:10) Yeah, because there’s a couple others out there.

(12:12) Not that many, but Sennheiser has the new MKH. (12:15) I think it’s the Assault at NAB. (12:18) I believe it’s called the 800.

(12:20) And it’s a dual output mic. (12:22) And then Aladdin has one, and Pearl has one. (12:26) It’s becoming a thing.

(12:27) It is. (12:28) I was thinking that when they can get them to the size of something like, you know, an NTG5 and shorter, (12:34) that’ll be a huge game changer to have a modeling mic that you can travel with, (12:38) especially if it has the tech that the sphere has where you can kind of mitigate problems with the room in real time with those sets. (12:47) Oh, the sphere has like the reflection filter built in.

(12:50) George can probably explain it better than I can. (12:52) Yeah, I don’t get it. (12:54) Oh, yeah.

(12:54) Well, they have a set of these filters in the sphere plug-in itself that are designed to compensate for acoustical flaws. (13:06) With using those reflections. (13:08) Okay, that’s what it’s for.

(13:09) And so they’re just little curves they came up with. (13:14) But they made it very user friendly. (13:16) Instead of having it be a variable knob, you know, (13:19) they just have a whole bunch of like, click on this picture.

(13:22) If it looks kind of like what you’re sitting in front of, then try this. (13:26) Which is cool because it’s just one less thing to have to think about. (13:31) But the thing is, there’s just a setting for booth.

(13:34) Which clearly is not going to work because everybody’s booth is a different size. (13:38) Although I’d love to see the EQ curve for the chaotic eyeball. (13:46) Well, I did look at the MKH 800 Twin, it’s called, the 800 Twin.

(13:52) And it’s a bit spendy at $3,200. (13:55) But if you want a very small two capsule microphone to travel with, that one could fill the bill. (14:01) It is very small.

(14:03) A very old microphone that few people know about is the Neumann KM86. (14:09) It’s a small diaphragm or smallish diaphragm. (14:12) But dual-sided, full polar pattern selection.

(14:17) It looks like a tiny U87, I think, kind of thing. (14:22) I believe, if I remember right. (14:24) But it’s a small diaphragm, multi-pattern.

(14:24) It looks like a German hand-grinder. That’s what it looks like. (14:27) The KM86.

(14:29) But it’s a multi-pattern small diaphragm. (14:31) So you could, if someone modded it to have more than one output. (14:34) Well, have you thought about, or even wanting to bother with using… (14:38) Did you say you tried using your Sphere Apollo combo in your Tesla or in your car? (14:44) You’ve done that now or in the past? (14:46) Not in the Tesla.

(14:49) Yeah, I have taken the Sphere and a Solo. (14:54) And my laptop is the travel rig to Australia. (14:58) You did that in the Ferrari, right? (15:01) Or was it the Lamborghini? I can’t remember which one? (15:03) Yeah, the Ferrari has this humming noise thing all the time.

(15:07) I guess it just does that. (15:08) And unfortunately, the people at the dealership didn’t like it, (15:11) that I took my gear and just sat in their car and started taking photos. (15:16) I wasn’t pretty sure for some reason.

(15:20) Nor the guy whose Tesla I stole this afternoon. (15:26) And glued a mouth-mouth. (15:30) The only thing the guy did is he glued this thing.

Is it attractive? (15:33) I brought him some alcohol swabs. He’ll be right. (15:37) I’ve worked out what the humming noise is in the Tesla.

(15:40) Oh, really? (15:40) It’s the Musk hydroponic mode. You’ve got to turn that off. (15:46) I drove on in the screw mode.

(15:48) I think Robert’s on the hydroponic mode right at the moment. (15:51) I am. Hold on.

(15:54) Fantastic. (15:55) Well, I was asking because I rigged it up for David Kay. (15:59) We did the Sphere on a mount arm.

(16:02) I got him this crazy over-engineered cobbled-together arm. (16:06) It’s basically, if anybody from lighting knows what a baby arm is. (16:10) But it’s basically, you know, it’s an arm with a clamp on each end.

(16:14) So one clamp clamps to the steering wheel or a yoke or whatever it is in that car. (16:19) And then the mic mounts to that. (16:21) And it also has a place to mount your phone or tablet to read your script.

(16:26) And that whole thing rigs off your steering wheel with that huge mic. (16:29) And then we put the mic sideways. (16:30) That’s what we found worked best was, because it’s so large, (16:33) to get the capsule in the ideal spot.

(16:36) We just have it literally sideways. (16:39) And he’s running a U67 model. (16:42) Because that’s the mic he would typically use at home.

(16:45) And the clients were more happy with it. (16:47) I was amazed. (16:48) I didn’t think it was going to work with that.

(16:50) Because we didn’t put a pillow or anything up against the windscreen. (16:54) And it worked out. (16:55) And that’s a Model X, which is physically larger inside.

(16:58) So that helps. (16:59) I don’t know if it’s because the windshield is so long. (17:02) Because the windshield is facing down.

(17:05) It’s not really facing you. (17:06) It’s not going to hit the microphone. (17:07) Exactly.

(17:08) The sound is going to go down to the dash. (17:12) It’s directly behind and directly in front of the mic. (17:15) I would think that’s the first sort of issue.

(17:19) I guess with my setup that I did most recently in the Tesla, (17:22) I am more like talking across to the passenger seat, (17:26) rather than directly at the windshield. (17:30) So pillows stuffed into the windshield opposite the mic. (17:35) Yeah.

(17:35) That would be one spot. (17:37) And I was thinking of taking some of the tri-booth blankets (17:41) and hanging them from the coat hooks (17:47) or the handlebars on the side (17:50) and seeing how that works out. (17:52) They’re quite long though, the tri-booth ones.

(17:55) Yeah, they’re big. (17:56) You could nail gun them to the roof. (18:00) Or staple them or something.

(18:02) Super glue. (18:04) 3M will just laugh gleefully as they see me coming. (18:09) Some of these guys send me sticky squares.

(18:12) But it’s funny, isn’t it? (18:12) How different your environment in the Tesla is to my car, (18:16) which is a smaller car, two doors, tiny in the back. (18:20) And I just squeeze in the back because I’ve got my glass roof. (18:24) So I don’t have to worry about that.

(18:26) How the Vespa setup worked? (18:29) It’s hard getting your head under the seat. (18:32) But I’m working on that. (18:35) No glass roof to worry about.

(18:37) Yeah, you’re starting with a difficult proposition with the glass ceiling, aren’t you? (18:43) It’s a killer to begin with. (18:45) So what do you do to the audio after you record raw files? (18:48) And do you just raw record raw files and send? (18:51) Or do you do any cleanup? (18:53) Well, yeah, herein lies the problem that I don’t have access to a door. (18:58) It’s just Twisted Wave Mobile.

(19:02) But I also tried to think about what I actually wanted this setup to do or to achieve. (19:08) And it really is just for the ants in the pants stuff that people can’t wait for, (19:15) and for auditions and quick turnaround jobs. (19:17) But when I’m here in Victoria, and I’m not at my home studio, (19:23) I’m about a 40-minute drive to downtown.

(19:26) And in downtown Victoria, I do have a small commercial studio that I own. (19:32) And it has a StudioBricks in there. (19:34) So it’s not too far to get to either one of those.

(19:37) So I didn’t want to go overboard with the car rig. (19:43) And if I’m proper traveling, then I’m usually taking the Triboose. (19:47) But also, to be fair, mate, as an engineer, (19:49) I’m guessing Robert would agree with me on this.

(19:51) He said, if you sent me that file, I’d have no issue. (19:55) Sure. (19:55) Yeah, I’d have no problem.

(19:56) Even with that hum, Cevox seemed to take it out pretty well. (20:02) I don’t know how much artifact do you got after that. (20:07) It wasn’t too artifacty, yeah.

(20:09) The twist of a knob on clarity, that’d be gone. (20:12) So really, that’s no issue. (20:13) Yeah, absolutely.

(20:14) That’s another good question, because I was talking to a client about Cevox today. (20:18) And I said, you know, Cevox does make it sound really good to you. (20:21) The question I guess I have, really, is does it make it sound good to the engineer? (20:26) And how much time, I mean, Robbo and Robert, (20:28) how much have you heard audio through Cevox that you’ve received on your end? (20:33) If I’ve gotten it, I don’t know that I’ve gotten it.

(20:35) I wouldn’t know. (20:37) It’s pretty transparent. (20:40) It is really transparent.

(20:42) That is the magic of that plugin. (20:44) If you go all the way to the walls, you might start picking up some, you know, go 100%. (20:49) You might pick up some very small artifacts, but it’s amazingly transparent.

(20:55) Yeah, and more dynamic outside sounds as well. (21:00) I was recording at my parents’ house in Australia, (21:04) and some inconsiderate person was mowing their lawn. (21:10) So like the one of your parents? (21:12) Yeah, one of my parents.

(21:16) And yeah, Cevox really made a pretty good show of the recording, (21:23) even with it kind of like moving around different areas. (21:25) I guess like a mower is still that, you know, lower frequency. (21:31) It’s kind of droning.

(21:32) Yeah, and it’s a consistent sound that’s easier to hear. (21:34) There’s not too much doppler with it unless you have like the fancy writing lawn mower. (21:40) There is two laws in life that if you wash your car, it will rain.

(21:44) And if you open a microphone, the neighbors are going to start doing something noisy. (21:48) So, you know, it’s two guarantees in life, right? (21:51) That’s right. (21:54) Have you ever had anyone pick up? (21:56) Are you putting anything across their audio? (21:58) No, not for a long time.

(22:00) Even running the modeling preamps in the Apollo unit, I keep it all very sparing. (22:08) I just want to get the color and the tone of the preamp and just bring in that difference (22:15) rather than engaging any of the hectic EQ or compression. (22:23) I like to think that I follow a lot of the principles of what you guys say on this show.

(22:27) Just keep it simple, send it on clean, and start with a really good bass. (22:32) Obviously, that’s harder to do in the car and when we’re traveling, (22:35) but I still just try to… (22:38) When I travel, I want to as closely mirror what I have here as possible. (22:44) Which is tricky.

(22:45) You’re not running through like a bunch of boutique outboard gear at home. (22:52) And the preamp is just the Apollo pre, right? (22:56) This is Solo or…? (22:57) That’s right, yeah. (22:58) Yeah, I have all Apollo units.

(23:00) I used to have a 6176, the UAD, the numbers are right. (23:07) Yeah, I had that and I ended up selling it because it felt like too many moving parts (23:15) and modeling it in the Apollo unit was so impressive that I felt like I’m going to sell this thing. (23:22) So are you using more than just the mic models? Are you using the preamp models as well? (23:26) Yeah.

(23:27) Actually, at the moment, I’m just using the twin preamp. (23:32) But generally, I will run… (23:35) I’ll do a lot of my recording on the sphere and either… (23:41) What’s your go-to emulation on the sphere? What sort of default? (23:45) The 416. (23:47) And then I have a couple that I dial into for different types of reads.

(23:53) Like if I’m doing trailer or something grittier. (23:58) You know how they came with some presets from Jordan Reynolds made some and then Brent Allen-Hagel? (24:05) Yeah, I heard that. (24:05) Yeah, I like one that Brent did for trailers and it’s actually a combo.

(24:13) I suppose I can switch to it now. (24:17) By the way, how they got onto the preset list of that company, I’m wondering… (24:22) It pulled that off. (24:25) Because I’ve been dealing with them for so many years and I’ve never gotten anything like that.

(24:31) That’s crazy. (24:32) I’m not jealous. (24:32) No, I’m just very glad that service is available.

(24:35) I would like to see you on that. (24:37) At least he’s given away his presets for free. (24:41) Yeah, well, I mean, no props to them.

(24:43) I think it’s cool that they’re available. (24:46) What’s something you’re using? (24:48) This is the trailer setting from Brent Allen-Hagel and I don’t actually know the proper brands (24:56) because they can’t list it, but it’s the LD800. (25:01) So that’s the Sony? (25:02) But then it’s combined with the 47K.

(25:07) So you have 47K caps, I guess, something like that? (25:10) Yeah, the K47, is it? (25:12) K47? (25:13) That’s cool. (25:14) So that’s what we’re hearing now? (25:16) Yeah, that’s right. (25:16) And I should be… (25:17) I think I’m printing this.

(25:18) Yeah, yeah. (25:19) Yeah, it riches… (25:20) It riches… (25:21) Richens in Richens? (25:23) That’s it. (25:23) Adds more richness.

(25:25) Have you taken the 416-416, put it in the second channel with no preamp or no emulation (25:32) and just put it right next to this one and record the exact same thing? (25:37) I have meant to try that. (25:38) No, I haven’t yet. (25:40) But to my ears, my simpleton ears, they are really, really close.

(25:45) And I do have two 416s, obviously the one that’s in the car now. (25:52) And I have a sentimental 416, which I’ll never sell. (25:58) But I mostly am using the 416 setting on the sphere.

(26:02) And then I have a U87 AI just next to me here. (26:07) And I’ve hung on to that mostly for workflow purposes. (26:11) I kind of have one mic that is hooked up for, I guess, like quick auditions and quick rip (26:21) and reads.

(26:22) And then I have this sphere that I’m talking to you guys on. (26:26) It’s over here with a music stand looking out the window. (26:30) It’s just like a nice little zone.

(26:33) Yeah, big creative spaces. (26:35) We’re actually talking about our next episode now, aren’t we? (26:38) Oh, sorry. (26:38) We’re drifting to the next episode.

(26:38) We have. (26:39) I wonder how they do the polar pattern, because if you think about it, the 416 being a shotgun, (26:48) you can really only get that polar pattern from the physical shape. (26:53) And they can recreate any polar pattern with the large diaphragm.

(26:57) But you’ll notice a large diaphragm never has a shotgun. (27:01) I mean, you kind of have a hypercardioid. (27:03) Do you find the 416 emulation to be a little bit more forgiving in the movement, like the polar pattern? (27:13) Can you move around the mic and it doesn’t sound quite as phasy and weird? (27:16) Yeah.

(27:16) So I’ve switched now. (27:18) Now I’m on the 416 emulation. (27:21) I just did the click of the mouse.

(27:24) And it’s on… (27:25) Which pattern is it on? (27:29) The cool thing with the… (27:31) It’s on cardioid, on a cardioid pattern. (27:34) And now it’s on a hypercardioid. (27:38) So now I’m talking off axis.

(27:40) And you can hear how it jumps forward, even on the… (27:44) Put it on an omni. (27:45) Put it on an omni? (27:46) Sure thing. (27:47) There you go.

(27:48) Oh, yeah, there we go. (27:49) So that’s omni. (27:50) That’s an omni 416.

(27:52) Anybody wonder what that sounds like? (27:54) It’s a huge curve of a 416 without the… (27:57) I mean, acoustics in the booth are fantastic. (27:59) So even when you’re on the omni, it still sounds really… (28:02) It actually sounds nice. (28:03) Like focused.

(28:03) Yeah, right. (28:04) So here’s me kind of doing like direct address. (28:08) My mic is above hanging from the roof and from the ceiling.

(28:15) And it’s tilted maybe… (28:19) What is that? (28:21) Forty… (28:21) A little over 40 degrees down towards me. (28:24) More vertical than horizontal? (28:27) Or more horizontal? (28:28) More vertical than horizontal, I would say. (28:30) Oh, okay.

(28:32) Interesting. (28:33) Yeah. (28:33) That’s a pretty steep angle.

(28:34) Yeah, I’ve been meaning to play around with it. (28:36) Just to see what different sounds I get out. (28:38) This one is set up partially for… (28:42) Yeah, the way I am at the music stand, (28:44) although I guess I could change it.

(28:46) But then the U87 that I have just over here is… (28:51) That’s more horizontal than vertical. (28:54) I think it just shows how the room acoustics are. (28:57) So important.

(28:58) So big. (28:59) Because if you’ll notice when you switch through those patterns (29:01) and try different mics, they all sound really good. (29:05) So it just comes down to these shades of mauve.

(29:08) Yeah. (29:09) Yeah, yeah, yeah. (29:10) Who consulted on this booth? (29:11) Who was that? (29:12) Oh, I’m not trying to plug myself.

(29:14) No, I’m plugging you. (29:18) But yeah, that is the point. (29:19) I think it would have been funnier if you dogged it.

(29:22) Yeah, exactly. (29:24) Exactly. (29:25) It’s just great hearing a booth that I helped design out of… (29:29) Just hearing it years later or months later, whatever.

(29:32) Just hearing it used in this pair of headphones (29:35) that I’m wearing in this situation (29:36) and going, wow, it sounds good in there. (29:39) That’s just so important, everybody. (29:40) Get those acoustics nailed (29:42) and then you can really enjoy the variety of microphones.

(29:48) It’s like getting a taste for wine (29:50) and now you can enjoy different kinds of wine. (29:52) And I don’t have that. (29:55) I do.

(29:55) I’m not saying I do. (29:57) But once you do, then you can enjoy a ton of…

• #ProAudioSuite
• #AudioEngineering
• #VoiceActing
• #MobileRecording
• #StudioOnTheGo
• #TeslaStudio

Check out this episode!