EV RE-20 Sounds Muffled/Muddy to me - Please Help

[etozza]

I just received an EV RE-20 which I purchased open-box from Sweetwater, and I have not been able to get it to sound good to my ears. It's coming in muffled + muddy to me and just sounds disappointing. Am I imagining that/just used to my other microphones?
I have it plugged into a Beacn Studio XLR Interface. I have tested/used my interface with a Rode Podmic and a Shure MV7 - both sound great and to me - better than the RE-20. I am very novice when it comes to audio. Is this what the RE-20 is supposed to sound like, but it just doesn't fit my voice?

Any video I see of someone using this microphone just to me, sounds better than my own recording. Any help will be very appreciated, or if it sounds how it's supposed to/good to your ears, please let me know as well.


Audio Clips:
I have recorded all of these with my mouth 4 fingers away from the microphone.

RE-20 with no EQ, plugged into Triton Fethead Preamp @ 34 Decibels of Gain:

Vocaroo | Online voice recorder

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voca.ro

--
RE-20 with Noise Suppression, Expander, Compressor into Triton Fethead @ 34 Db of Gain:

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--
RE-20 with Previous Settings + EQ in Beacn Software into Triton Fethead @ 34 Db of Gain:

https://imgur.com/a/5syNvBg

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voca.ro

--
RE-20 with no EQ & No Preamp @ 50 Decibles of Gain.

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--
RE-20 with no EQ & Triton Fethead Preamp @ 30 Decibles of Gain w/ & w/o High Pass filter:

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voca.ro

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Vocaroo is a quick and easy way to share voice messages over the interwebs.

voca.ro

--
Shure MV7x with EQ & No Preamp @ 50 Decibles of Gain

https://imgur.com/a/DCKiGV2

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voca.ro

--
Rode PodMic with Simple EQ & no Preamp @ 50 Decibles of Gain

https://imgur.com/a/e17Qu9U

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Thank you so much!!

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

It might be that it doesn't fit your voice, but I've used RE20s on many many sources and I've never noticed it actually sounding bad on anything that didn't already sound bad in the first place. Other mics I've used sometimes sound great on one thing but bring out the wrong frequencies on others, but the RE20 is pretty neutral. So, I doubt that's the issue.

It lacks the upper midrange "presence peak" that some other mics have so may sound "dull" in comparison. My recollection is that the SM7 has a bit more "bite", but I've never used the budget MV7 or anything from Rode.

Or it might be damaged or defective. I have a pair that I bought about 35 years ago that have "been through the war" and don't sound as good as they used to. Nothing lasts forever.

There's a reason why voice talents that could afford any mic in the world opt for the moderately priced (in the greater scheme of things) RE20.

 

[The Equalizer]

I'm not an expert, but I do have an RE20 that I sometimes use to record my speaking voice. I struggled for a while to get a sound I liked, but I've come to the point where I prefer it to the Audio-Technica AT2035 large diaphragm condenser I was using previously.

I would experiment with recording at different distances. My most important discovery was that if I'm closer than 4 inches, there's a woolliness to the sound that I don't like. Pulling back helps. 5 inches away from my mouth seems about right. The disadvantages are that it may require more gain and that I hear more of the room, which can be a problem if the room doesn't sound good. What has helped with the room sound is to have either a couple of large freestanding acoustic panels behind me or a large bookcase filled with books.

I don't use a pop filter. Instead, I speak off-axis to avoid popping. Most pop filters color the sound a bit, some more than others.

A minor improvement came from changing the load impedance — perhaps too subtle to bother with, but I bothered with it anyway. Unlike some dynamic microphones, the RE20 is supposed to be tolerant of various input impedances, but my experience is that I get a somewhat tighter, more focused sound if the load impedance is in the neighborhood of 600 ohms. Most mic preamps today are much higher. (It looks like the Beacn has an input impedance of 3,500 ohms and the Fethead 22,000 ohms.)

There are different ways to achieve this. Some preamps have adjustable input impedance. The Cloudlifter Z and Zi have a knob that allows you to dial it in. Another way would be to solder a resistor between pin 2 and 3 of a short XLR cable. I did this using an old article by Paul Stamler in Recording Magazine as a guide:

Shure SM57 Impedance Modification : Recording Magazine

web.archive.org

I don't understand all of it, and my soldering was a mess, but it worked anyway. A more general article on the subject:

- When Mikey Met Ohmy : Recording Magazine -

web.archive.org

In your audio clips of the RE20, there is perhaps too much thickness to the sound, though they don't sound bad to me. I prefer the ones without extra processing. On the other hand, the Shure and the Rode are quite clear, but sound a bit too thin and harsh on top. My preferences may have to do with what I am used to. Something in-between would be good.

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

... load impedance is in the neighborhood of 600 ohms. Most mic preamps today are much higher. (It looks like the Beacn has an input impedance of 3,500 ohms and the Fethead 22,000 ohms.)

Almost everything today has an input impedance much higher than 600 ohms. Typically 10k or higher.

Back in the day (1960s or earlier) 600 ohm inputs were a thing, basically a hangover from the phone company who invented a lot of this stuff in the 1800s, The higher load would sometimes change the frequency response of the mic, and particular mic/preamp combos were favored for the way they coloured the sound, especially when used with a transformer balanced 600 ohm input.

I suppose one could try loading the mic with a low impedance input, but the RE20 wasn't designed for that and I'd recommend using EQ instead of fiddling with impedance.

 

[DVDdoug]

My most important discovery was that if I'm closer than 4 inches, there's a woolliness to the sound that I don't like. Pulling back helps. 5 inches away from my mouth seems about right.

Interesting... The RE20 has "Variable-D" which is supposed to eliminate the proximity effect (the bass boost when you get close to a cardioid mic). So it's supposed to sound about the same when you get close.

And checking online, it has a low-cut "Mid-bass tone-shaping switch" which looks like it effects the lower-voice range. Otherwise the response looks pretty flat for a microphone.

The "sound" of microphone is mostly frequency response which can be tweaked with EQ, or Antares makes a microphone modeling plug-in that tries to make one mic sound like another (as long as both are in the database).

 

[The Equalizer]

I'd recommend using EQ instead of fiddling with impedance.

That makes the most sense.

I did mess around with FabFilter Pro-Q. Probably due to lack of skills, I couldn't achieve what I wanted. What I should have done is pay a real engineer to listen to it and come up with an EQ profile. I did eventually hit on a combo that worked for me through other means, even if it was the long way around.

Maybe the easiest and cheapest solution would be to send back the RE20 and stick with the Rode or the Shure if they are closer to what he's looking for out of the box. The quest for the right sound can be enlightening but it is just as likely to be maddening.

 

[WXfreak]

RE-20 with no EQ, plugged into Triton Fethead Preamp @ 34 Decibels of Gain:

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voca.ro

Just listening to my phone speaker nothing else, this sounds the best to me. The Shure and Rhode sound thin and tinny . Maybe I should put on a pair of headphones.

 

[ThatSoundsGood]

You should have a high pass filter on it somewhere around 150Hz. The RE20 has a lot more low end and low mid range than other microphones without the presence peak. Put a 12db high pass filter between 130Hz and 200Hz, plus a peak filter with Q of 1.5 at 4Khz and boost it 5db. You will have it sounding like other microphones.

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

Or you can just use the built-in switch on the mic itself to roll off the low end. See RE20 data sheet for details.