CSGO Sticky thread

Soul Assassin

Soul Assassin

Honorary Master
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
11,212
Fulcrum29 said:
This is my setup,

Audio Interface: Solid State Logic SSL2+
Monitors: Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 250
Condenser Microphone: Takstar PC-K850 / Takstar TAK55
USB Microphone: Takstar GX6
Mic Stand: Hybrid SMB02 (boom arm) / Hybrid MS09 (table stand)

In addition to that:

DAC: M-Audio Super Dac
Headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO 250 (non-Edition) / Philips SHP9500s / and soon Philips Fidelio XHR2

I don't need anything more than that. I don't stream, but I have to do conferencing and business calls most of the day, but I also do B2B podcasting for the promotion of IT services, video and audio which is something I wanted to do a long time ago but the current circumstance reawakened this venture of mine. If it is successful I may consider a gaming series for the consumers.

Those Takstar mics are highly underrated, just like their headphones. It was also incredibly cheap on Takealot and I had to check if it was counterfeit after I received them. It checked out.
Click to expand...
What sort of EQ do you do on your mic, any sort of Voicemeeter or VST plugins?
 
Fulcrum29

Fulcrum29

Honorary Master
Joined
Jun 25, 2010
Messages
55,046
Soul Assassin said:
What sort of EQ do you do on your mic, any sort of Voicemeeter or VST plugins?
Click to expand...

I use Voicemeeter. The EQ will entire depend on you, the preamp, and the room you are in. Pending on my use case, the podcasting I manage in the DAW and I quite like the Solid plugins. I also use Audacity a lot which awesome to determine the EQ which is appropriate. I do post-production.

Voicemeeter with the virtual cable messed with my CSGO, didn't want to detect my V-Moda mic, but then it magically worked again and it was correctly set up in Windows Sound Control Panel. I probably changed something I couldn't remember. Currently, I only use Voicemeeter with my USB mic.

Prior to playing with EQ make sure that you have the appropriate channel, sample rate and bit depth set in Windows (or Mac) because this is where most people mess up their quality. One voice only requires one channel, some USB mics don't support 24bit, etc. For non-production voice, do you require more than 48000Hz?

I also don't use everything on the same device. One day when I have money again I will get a digital hardware mixer. Maybe the day when the GO XLR is easily accessible again, but though it can turn gain up to 72dB it isn't a nice and warm preamp. Rode has nice digital mixers which I can add to my SSL2+. I dream.

As I have realised, the coolest tools to use only applies to Mac...
 
Last edited:
Soul Assassin

Soul Assassin

Honorary Master
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
11,212
Fulcrum29 said:
I use Voicemeeter. The EQ will entire depend on you, the preamp, and the room you are in. Pending on my use case, the podcasting I manage in the DAW and I quite like the Solid plugins. I also use Audacity a lot which awesome to determine the EQ which is appropriate. I do post-production.

Voicemeeter with the virtual cable messed with my CSGO, didn't want to detect my V-Moda mic, but then it magically worked again and it was correctly set up in Windows Sound Control Panel. I probably changed something I couldn't remember. Currently, I only use Voicemeeter with my USB mice.

Prior to playing with EQ make sure that you have the appropriate channel, sample rate and bit depth set in Windows (or Mac) because this is where most people mess up their quality. One voice only requires one channel, some USB mics don't support 24bit, etc. For non-production voice, do you require more than 48000Hz?

I also don't use everything on the same device. One day when I have money again I will get a digital hardware mixer. Maybe the day when the GO XLR is easily accessible again, but though it can turn gain up to 72dB it isn't a nice and warm preamp. Rode has nice digital mixers which I can add to my SSL2+. I dream.

As I have realised, the coolest tools to use only applies to Mac...
Click to expand...
I was using Lighthost with a couple of VST plugins and it worked great until I played Apex and it all turned to a crackling static mess, so I decided okay new plan, I installed Equalizer APO so it all gets applied beforehand so you don't even need to use a virtual cable, then I found some noise suppression plugin on Github, which I was very sceptical about, that turned out to be amazing, keyboard clicks and clacks completely gone, no background PC fan noise but my voice stayed the same.

So I have Equalizer APO with noise suppression, a noise gate set to -20dB and a limiter set to -6dB.

Recording something in Audacity and turning it on and off and listening to it before and after is unbelievable.
 
Fulcrum29

Fulcrum29

Honorary Master
Joined
Jun 25, 2010
Messages
55,046
Soul Assassin said:
I was using Lighthost with a couple of VST plugins and it worked great until I played Apex and it all turned to a crackling static mess, so I decided okay new plan, I installed Equalizer APO so it all gets applied beforehand so you don't even need to use a virtual cable, then I found some noise suppression plugin on Github, which I was very sceptical about, that turned out to be amazing, keyboard clicks and clacks completely gone, no background PC fan noise but my voice stayed the same.

So I have Equalizer APO with noise suppression, a noise gate set to -20dB and a limiter set to -6dB.

Recording something in Audacity and turning it on and off and listening to it before and after is unbelievable.
Click to expand...

My PC-K850 does well enough to be silent, but there is still noticeable noise. I use a paid Noise Blocker sub, where you need to build your own database, and I am thinking to also get a Krisp subscription when it is on special again. It is only really nice when you have a 'live' chat or discussion, but these suppression tools isn't good to be applied pre-production. I easily do noise suppression in the DAW.

RTX Voice and so on is nice to use when you game. I haven't tried RTX Voice, don't have the hardware.

I will check this out,

antlionaudio.com

Sound Booster and Noise Reduction for PC - Light Host and Reaper!

We have found an alternative and likely easier, method of noise reduction and mic boost. Follow our tutorial on creating a real-time noise reduction program via EQ APO and RNNoise. This new method works across all operating systems and hardware. User "yusareba" on our Discord sent us an...
antlionaudio.com antlionaudio.com

because neither have I touched Light Host. I am well acquainted with Reaper.
 
Soul Assassin

Soul Assassin

Honorary Master
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
11,212
Fulcrum29 said:
My PC-K850 does well enough to be silent, but there is still noticeable noise. I use a paid Noise Blocker sub, where you need to build your own database, and I am thinking to also get a Krisp subscription when it is on special again. It is only really nice when you have a 'live' chat or discussion, but these suppression tools isn't good to be applied pre-production. I easily do noise suppression in the DAW.

RTX Voice and so on is nice to use when you game. I haven't tried RTX Voice, don't have the hardware.

I will check this out,

antlionaudio.com

Sound Booster and Noise Reduction for PC - Light Host and Reaper!

We have found an alternative and likely easier, method of noise reduction and mic boost. Follow our tutorial on creating a real-time noise reduction program via EQ APO and RNNoise. This new method works across all operating systems and hardware. User "yusareba" on our Discord sent us an...
antlionaudio.com antlionaudio.com

because neither have I touched Light Host. I am well acquainted with Reaper.
Click to expand...
I highly recommend trying this out:

https://github.com/werman/noise-suppression-for-voice

But everything I am talking about is for live use because as you say all is pretty easily done in Reaper or your DAW of choice for post-production.

I like having it all applied before it even gets to the Windows API and my settings all only add up to 3.0ms of latency.
 
Fulcrum29

Fulcrum29

Honorary Master
Joined
Jun 25, 2010
Messages
55,046
Fulcrum29

Fulcrum29

Honorary Master
Joined
Jun 25, 2010
Messages
55,046
For any person interested in a dedicated microphone setup, Bandrew have a good video on the topic,



and please don't listen to someone like Linus or JayzTwoCents or their headset recommendations.

I like Bandrew because you can note that his reviews are him, he is serious about microphones, and he also does good preamp reviews. Then there is Z which I already posted, but he is an everyday reviewer who likes sound, and he is a person I can easily relate to, but he doesn't do microphones other than headset microphones.

I also use a cheap Avermedia Streamer Mic 113, shotgun, to catch atmosphere and it works phenomenally well at its price point. Cough, I even 'boost' it with a Rode VXLR+ through my SSL+ to make the recording more warm.

There are many other awesome reviewers like Booth Junkie, Julian Krause (which was also posted here by @DYreX146 a page back) and musicians like Ola Englund.
 
Soul Assassin

Soul Assassin

Honorary Master
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
11,212
Fulcrum29 said:
For any person interested in a dedicated microphone setup, Bandrew have a good video on the topic,



and please don't listen to someone like Linus or JayzTwoCents or their headset recommendations.

I like Bandrew because you can note that his reviews are him, he is serious about microphones, and he also does good preamp reviews. Then there is Z which I already posted, but he is an everyday reviewer who likes sound, and he is a person I can easily relate to, but he doesn't do microphones other than headset microphones.

I also use a cheap Avermedia Streamer Mic 113, shotgun, to catch atmosphere and it works phenomenally well at its price point. Cough, I even 'boost' it with a Rode VXLR+ through my SSL+ to make the recording more warm.

There are many other awesome reviewers like Booth Junkie, Julian Krause (which was also posted here by @DYreX146 a page back) and musicians like Ola Englund.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure Julian was built from the ground up by a German audio engineer in a sound booth.
 
Neoprod

Neoprod

Honorary Master
Joined
May 21, 2004
Messages
19,528
Nah, gonna watch the soccer just now and get an early night...us oldtimers need our rest.
 
TribbleZA

TribbleZA

Honorary Master
Joined
Feb 3, 2014
Messages
31,692
HasThisNameBeenTaken? said:
True story
1e8009b8b57a64d5cdd43708f2c2114f.jpg
Click to expand...
Tell me more - I have someone on my friends list who uses this name
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top