Twitch Broadcasting Microphone Help

Audio Equipment Microphones
#1

Hi Everyone

I have followed Mike’s guides on Youtube for setting up a DBX286S, installing VST plugins for OBS and I do not get the voice characteristic I am looking for that many Twitch or Podcasters have.

For reference this is what I have in my chain at the moment which I feel sounds too dull, nasal and immature which I really hate when I hear myself or watching playbacks.

  • Rode Procaster with official windshield / pop filter
  • Triton Fethead
  • DBX 286S
  • Zoom UAC2
  • Asus STX Soundcard
  • Windows 10 PC
  • DBX Settings (https://imgur.com/a/KpKce) Links to Album

Mike’s voice and other podcasters/streamers have sparkle whilst retaining warmth and punch, dynamic range, colourful, presence etc which I am trying to achieve.

I have recorded some examples of my voice

Local straight to Audacity
https://clyp.it/h4sdpyqf?token=69b33559ce5ae40a0025a3538f6b1dab

Twitch Recording:

I am at my wits end that I think that a new microphone may help but it’s some serious investment. A mic recommended on Audio forums is the Warbler mkIV, Shure SM7b, EV-RE320 but if my voice just sounds lifeless and there is no magic fix then I guess I am stuck with what I was born with. cries

Would a Spectragraph or analysis of my voice put into Audacity help reduce the voice signature that bothers me? If so what would I look for and what should I fiddle around with in OBS’s VST ReaEQ plugin. If a new mic does help what sound signature do I look for? The Procaster iirc has low end + punchy sound signature.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

#2
  • Room is a carpeted bedroom, approx 5X3 metres with a large bay window.
  • I am positioned around 9-10 inches away from the front of the mic
  • My mic is positioned like this (See pic for link, I talk into the front https://i.imgur.com/bvaFFDZ.jpg)
  • I have not tried without the DBX Processing but can Bypass the DBX and plug straight into the UAC2 and take a recording after I have finished this reply.

No Processing Proximity 9" Away
This distance I feel comfortable with as the mic doesn’t obstruct monitor whilst gaming or cause a distraction.
No Processing Proximity 2" Away
No Processing Proximity touching lips
Pixel’s profile on Clyp

#3

You can’t expect that same setup will work for you and for anyone else. I have two procasters in live studio on my radio and they work great. My main mics are two sm7b but they need a lot of gain, as does ElectroVoice. More warmth you would get if you had condeser mic, but considering amount of noise you have when gate is open I don’t recommend that. Also, stream recording is not good for reference because of encoding it has. Record your self in your room and upload wav of aiff files that are not compressed for reference. You need to think about EQ for your voice, to get rid of unwanted frequencies. It’s not a mic that sound nasal, it’s you.

I know that this is not helping you, but I hope it will make you try couple of more things before you go spending more money.

#4

Hi

Thanks for your response.

As you can see from my posts I am at that stage where I am looking to try things before spending money but I do not know what to try or go about doing it.

The previous post has samples of unprocessed clips recorded in Audacity where the Procaster was attached to the Tritton Fethead pre amp and straight into the UAC2.

If I know what frequency range I need to eliminate or provides the sound characteristic for my voice then I can go research into mics that would be suitable.

What do you suggest as I have no clue in the audio department, would the Shure SM57 do the job?

#5

If you get a chance to look at the recordings here which shows the sonic identity of each microphone whilst narrating using no processing.

http://bradfordswanson.com/mic/listen.html

Every other youtube video says “get this mic for your budget” but I think that’s the wrong way to go about it especially if you don’t have the luxary to access a multitude of mics and hear how each performs with your voice.

If there are any freeware programs you can point me towards then I can record myself using the Procaster and alter the equalizer on the fly so I can hear it back then that would be a good starting point. I can then look at frequency response charts of various microphones and hope that it works for me.

Edit - Furthermore I just found this too from Googling

Audio Technica base their recommendations on your personal voice too but the terms I used in my first post I do not know if (dull, nasal and immature) are the correct terms that identify my vocal characteristic and if they are what Eq frequency range will reduce that.

#6

I’m not sure what are you getting to with this list of microphones. I have several of these and I’m using them in different situations. You can record and eq in audacity, it’s free cross platform software and try to play around in that one. As for the other link, you have to understand these ware done in different situation and in isolated rooms. Most of them are based on singers. There is no way that you can select microphone for you by looking in the charts. You have to play around with compressor, slower attack and faster release gets you punchier sound, compression ratio do you want more or less (more compression - more negatives will come out if you don’t fix them with eq).

This is the game, there is no write or wrong answers, you have to play around until you get what you want. I like to fix things before I go to compressor, if needed I often use two eq’s, one before and one after compression. You don’t have that luxury, so start slowly, forget other presets someone has for them self.

Try to start like this:

Compressor:

Ratio 2:1 (Low compression), slowest attack fastest release. Start playing with attack and reatio, when you get to something you like, try to set the release.

Then play around with eq to remove some frequencies that you don’t like.

It’s try and miss, especially if you are not sure in what you are doing.