Review: Post Audio ARF-68 Ambient Room Reflection Filter

Aloha!

If you have done any vocal recording outside the studio, you know how tough it can be to get a clean sound with no background noise. Your voiceovers and podcasts have the unmistakable quality that make it sound like you recorded them in the bathroom or a tunnel. The Post Audio ARF-68 reflection filter is a tool that can give you a much drier recording for not a lot of cash.

When you open the box, you will see that the filter is made of molded ABS plastic with 1-inch sound-deadening acoustic foam around the inside face; the mounting brackets are aluminum. The whole thing measures about 18” x 12” x 6” not counting the bracket. By the way, save the box, as it makes for a nice place to store it when it is not in use. The box also contains an instruction sheet that will come in handy, as it might be hard to figure out where all the pieces go when installing it on your microphone stand.

Build quality is good, though there was a bit of adhesive that got schmutzed onto the foam on mine. It still works fine, though. It looks like it should last for a good long time.

With the instruction sheet, installation is straightforward. Take the book of you stand (if equipped), thread the longer barrel nut on to the stand, put the bracket over the barrel nut, and then install the shorter barrel nut on top to sandwich the bracket into place. Then you can install the microphone mount over the second barrel nut, adjust the filter (up/down and in/out) and you are set to go.

With its plastic and aluminum construction it is not super heavy so it is less top-heavy than other reflection filters I have seen and it does not require a special stand. It has enough vertical movement (5-inches) that you will be able to center your microphone easily and without tools – there is a clasp and lock on the back of the assembly that can be worked by hand. In actual use for a voiceover with my Shure PG42-USB microphone I did an A/B test with and without the filter, and the tone was much cleaner with none of the strange thuddy tone I had before. Sibilance was reduced and external noises were almost completely mitigated. I am a fan of this thing!

The Post Audio ARF-68 Reflection Filter does everything it is supposed to do and it will not break the bank. It comes in at around $70 on Amazon (the last time I checked) and it is worth every penny. If you are doing podcasts, voiceovers, or other vocal recording at home you should really look into getting one of these. Trust me!

Mahalo!

Samson Meteor Mic USB Microphone Review

Greetings!

There is nothing like waiting until the last minute to make hasty decisions about an electronics purchase, and that is how I ended up buying the Samson Meteor Mic for a work project. Samson is not exactly the leading name in anything they sell, but this USB microphone worked out ok.

There is no arguing that most laptops come with terrible onboard microphones, so if you are going to do any sound work, such as Skype, VOIP webinars, or voiceovers, you will need to step up your equipment if you want better sound. There are tons of USB microphones available that do not require converters, and the Meteor falls somewhere between the other crap they sell at Best Buy and professional quality recording microphones.

When you open the box you will get the microphone, a USB to Mini-B cable (a fairly short one, too), an honest-to-god printed instruction manual and a velvet carry bag. This factory-sealed unit had no bag, which actually disappointed me a little. The box works well enough for storing it, though.

The microphone is one of the coolest-looking things you have ever seen, with an old-school Shure 55 look that has been heavily dipped in chrome (like Mix-a-Lot’s Desert Eagle). It is made of some sort of metal, so it has a heavy feel (about 10 ounces), and it has folding legs with little rubber pads. The legs can adjust to different angles and seem to hold their position well. There is a standard 5/8” microphone stand socket on the bottom, should you choose to mount it, though you will need to fold the legs down so you are not blocking the capsule and the USB port. Folded up, it measures about 2-inches by 4-inches.

The Meteor has a 1-inch condenser capsule, and it needs 5 volts to operate, which is provided through the USB port. There is not much in the way of external features, with a mute switch, an LED (blue = on, amber = muted, flashing red = clipping), a 1/8-inch 16-ohm headphone jack, and a volume control for the headphones. There is no external gain control, which is a stone-cold bummer for me, as all adjustments need to be done through the computer.

Spec-wise, it has a cardioid (uni-directional) pattern and a fairly flat frequency response of 20 Hz to 20kHz. It is a 16-bit rate microphone with 44.1/48kHz resolution.

Samson advertised the Meteor Mic as being plug and play with no drivers needed, and it actually works out that way. I tried it out on Windows 7, Windows 8, and OSX laptops, and it set-up automatically with all of them with no problems. You can also buy Samson Sound Deck noise cancellation software, but I have not tried it.

The sound quality is clear, though it definitely tends towards the tinny end of things. It is really best to be less than a foot away from this thing, but it works well enough if it is on its stand on the desk near you. As it has a cardioid pattern, there will be drastic differences in volume and quality if it placed in the middle of a meeting room, and only the folks directly in front of it will sound good.

But, on the plus side, it is portable, not terribly expensive, and easy to set up and use. For sure it will be an improvement over whatever microphone they put in your computer at the factory. I do not know how durable it is, but time will tell. If it craps out or falls apart I will update this review…

So, I would recommend the Samson Meteor Mic for podcasts, voiceover work, and webinars if everybody that is going to be speaking can be in front of the microphone. Keep looking if you are looking for something to record music with. It is not cheap, and not expensive either, with a street price of around $70, which includes a one-year limited warranty.

Mahalo!

Shure PG42-USB Condenser Microphone Review

Aloha!

I need to do a bit of voiceover work for my day job and my night classes, and it should be no surprise that the microphone in my laptop is not super-great. So, I have been looking around for a nice USB condenser microphone that will not break the bank, and I think I have found just what I was looking for: the Shure PG42-USB.

Shure has been around since 1925 and has been making microphones since 1931, so they probably have a good idea of what they are doing. Their SM57, SM58, 55SH, PG52, 520DX (Green Bullet), Beta Series, and wireless systems are all industry standards, and I own all of them. So, when looking for a USB mic, they were the first ones I went to. It was a wise choice.

The PG-42USB is a side-address USB microphone that was designed specifically for digital recording (there is also a PG-42 with a regular XLR connector). When you buy one of these it comes with a nice case, a shock mount and a USB cable – it really is a great set-up for the money.

This condenser microphone has a cardioid polar pattern to reduce background noise and feedback. It has a large diaphragm with and an inherently warm tone yet it is clear enough to be appropriate for lead vocal or solo instrument recording. There is negligible added noise, so it is perfect for choral recording, or better yet, voiceover work.

There are quite a few extras built into this mic, and if you look at it closely there are little knobs and switches all over it. There include:

-- A volume control knob.

-- A 15 dB pad switch to reduce distortion from loud sources, such horns or drums.

-- Low frequency rolloff to reduces floor rumble and low-frequency room noise from heating and air conditioning systems. It can also reduce low frequencies that can result in muddy sound.

-- Integrated pre-amp with microphone gain control to allow control of input signal strength.

-- 1/8-inch headphone jack for monitoring

--Monitor mix control for blending microphone and playback audio.

Set-up with the computer is easy. It has USB plug and play connectivity, and it works with Windows 7 or 8, XP and Mac OSX. The quality of the recording is top-notch as it is a 16-bit mic with a 48kHz sample rate. I used it with my fairly new Macbook Pro with no troubles at all.

I fiddled around with the best set-up and found that with a table-top boom stand and pop filter I was able to set it off to the side of my mouth (about 4-inches away), and it was still easy to see my computer to mess with the controls and see my script. The headphone jack was especially welcome!

With both Garage Band and Adobe Audition I had great results with my voiceovers. My voice did not sound harsh and it had nice warmth to it with no background noise once I got my hotel room air conditioner tuned out of the mix. It is very sensitive, of course, so if anything unexpected happened in the room a retake was necessary. You really have to have a quiet room to get the most out of this thing. But it was totally worth it because the overall sound was so much better than if I used the Mac’s onboard unit or my POS low-dollar mic I bought from Sam Ash in a pinch.

Looking the PG-42 USB over, it is a quality piece that is quite heavy and I a sure it will hold up for years to come. I really think it is the perfect voiceover or podcast microphone for the money. I cannot wait to try it out with my acoustic guitars and some of my mediocre singing to see how it fares.

The Shure PG42-USB is a very good vocal microphone, and it is also a terrific value. It carries an MSRP of $249, but sells for around $200 everywhere you look on the internet. That price includes the aforementioned case and shock mount, not to mention Shure’s outstanding warranty. If you have more than a little bit of voiceover work to do, it will do a super job and be a terrific investment in your work!

Mahalo!