Impressive results with Shure MV5 / GarageBand

[billyboy1962]

I’ve had some pretty encouraging results using the sub-£100 Shure MV5 mic with lightning connector and GarageBand on my iPad. I’ve recorded several songs by connecting the mic directly to the iPad. No hiss, background sounds or noise colouration. My HD28 sounds natural and my vocals !!! have recorded incredibly well (although I’m not the worlds best singer). I’ve even added bass, piano and strings from the app itself, and these sound surprisingly good. OK it’s not 100% professional quality but for home use and listened to via headphones on the iPad itself, it’s pretty prettay good

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by billyboy1962

I’ve had some pretty excellent results using the sub-£100 Shure MV5 mic....

Similar to photos, if there's no link to your audio, it didn't happen.

[billyboy1962]

Oops! My bad. Relative newbie and didn’t realise. I’ll just let this hang here...

[billyboy1962]

Here’s a link. Please forgive the dodgy vocals

https://soundcloud.com/user-145952109/colourblind

[TBman]

Sounds clean, but on my end the Martin sounds shifted up and more like a Taylor. It's as if most of the bass was eq'd out. Everybody's sound system is different though. Did you upload it to Soundcloud as a mp3 or a wav file?

[billyboy1962]

Hey Barry. I think I may have cocked up the mix on GarageBand and eq’d more treble and much less bass. Oh well, I’ve still got loads to learn. File was uploaded as an .M4a - whatever that is. Don’t think it sounds too bad (well, apart from my voice ) for a sub- £100 mic connected directly to my iPad

Cheers for the input x

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by billyboy1962

Hey Barry. I think I may have cocked up the mix on GarageBand and eq’d more treble and much less bass. Oh well, I’ve still got loads to learn. File was uploaded as an .M4a - whatever that is. Don’t think it sounds too bad (well, apart from my voice ) for a sub- £100 mic connected directly to my iPad

Cheers for the input x

Really good start , I do have some observations and some suggestions you might consider

First M4a is an AAC compressed file and ACC 256 bit is I believe, what SoundCloud now uses for streaming. If when you clicked "Share" you chose SoundCloud I think it is an AAC 256 export

First : Listening on my studio system Headphones I did not think the Guitar was overly treble -ly sounding. I thought it was fine.

Second: Perhaps you were going for having the vocal pushed back in the mix and sound stage and being a bit more of an ambient effect than a featured element ? In which case that was accomplished.

If not then consider:
In any multi instrument production that also includes vocals both the mid range and the low end is going to get crowded very quickly.

While EQ can be a very effective way to address this problem , there are however more effective and less effective EQ methods. . One common mistake people make ( especially in beginning ) is using additive EQ (boosting) before first using subtractive Eq ( cutting) . The problem with simply boosting any single instrument with EQ in a multi- instrument mix, is you are simply adding to and compounding an already overcrowded mix

It may sound counterintuitive but often using subtractive EQ to carve out individual spaces for the different instruments and voice. Even without any boosting, will actually make the mix sound bigger, more clear, more present, and give more detail and definition to the different instruments and vocal .

[billyboy1962]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Really good start , I do have some observations and some suggestions you might consider

First M4a is an AAC compressed file and ACC 256 bit is I believe, what SoundCloud now uses for streaming. If when you clicked "Share" you chose SoundCloud I think it is an AAC 256 export

First : Listening on my studio system Headphones I did not think the Guitar was overly treble -ly sounding. I thought it was fine.

Second: Perhaps you were going for having the vocal pushed back in the mix and sound stage and being a bit more of an ambient effect than a featured element ? In which case that was accomplished.

If not then consider:
In any multi instrument production that also includes vocals both the mid range and the low end is going to get crowded very quickly.

While EQ can be a very effective way to address this problem , there are however more effective and less effective EQ methods. . One common mistake people make ( especially in beginning ) is using additive EQ (boosting) before first using subtractive Eq ( cutting) . The problem with simply boosting any single instrument with EQ in a multi- instrument mix, is you are simply adding to and compounding an already overcrowded mix

It may sound counterintuitive but often using subtractive EQ to carve out individual spaces for the different instruments and voice. Even without any boosting, will actually make the mix sound bigger, more clear, more present, and give more detail and definition to the different instruments and vocal .

Thanks Kev. This is really helpful. I’m glad you thought the guitar sounded OK but I probably didn’t record with the mic positioned in the best place for this. Also, you are absolutely correct in your observation about the vocals being pushed back. I can’t sing so I didn’t want my voice to be the dominant force. I actually wrote this song for someone else (who can sing!) and we are going in to a proper recording studio in 2 weeks to record this and 2 other tracks for a self-released EP

Your advice about EQ etc is sound and i take on board all you’ve said. Thanks for the nice words and hope you liked the song x