Search the Community

Robert Lunte, of The Vocalist Studio and The Four Pillars of Singing shares some details about the Audio VX5, condenser microphone. Purchase the Audix VX5 here: http://www.TheVocalGearStore.com. Description The VX5 is a multi purpose, professional vocal condenser microphone designed for live, studio and broadcast applications. With an ability to duplicate studio quality sound on stage, the VX5 has a smooth and accurate frequency response, resistance to feedback and handles very high SPLs without distortion. Designed with a tight and uniformly controlled supercardioid polar pattern, the VX5 helps isolate vocals from the rest of the stage. Other features are a 14 mm gold vapor diaphragm, an acoustically ported steel mesh grill with a multi-stage pop filter, and a -10 dB pad and bass roll-off filter. The VX5 will handle SPLs in excess of 140 dB (with pad and roll-off engaged) and will provide over 20 dB of ambient noise rejection on live stages. In addition to vocal applications, the VX5 is designed to capture instruments such as guitars, woodwinds, brasses, percussion toys, drum overheads, hi-hats and pianos. The VX5 requires 18 - 52 V phantom power. Applications - Live and studio vocals, lead and backing - Speech - Acoustic instruments Please see the spec sheet under the specifications tab for more information about this product.

What is a vocalist's gig bag? Generally speaking, a vocalist's gig bag is a bag in which you will keep all of your tools as a serious vocalist so that you will always have everything you need for the gig, practice or your voice lessons. I have been training contemporary vocalists for over 10 years and performing live and recording since I was a teenager. The following recommendations are field tested. If you have any questions about these products, please feel free to contact me on The Modern Vocalist or send me an email at robert@thevocaliststudio.com and we can talk your specific application. Recommended Vocal Gear Microphones RODE M1 (dynamic) RODE M2 (condenser)Electro -Voice N/D 767a Electro-Voice N/D 967a Electro-Voice PL80aSENNHEISER e935 AKG D7 Lampifier 111TC-Helicon MP-75 Neumann 104 The Samson Airline 77 (Wireless Microphone Solution) Vocal Effect Pedals TC-Helicon Mic Mechanic TC-Helicon VoiceTone Create XT TC-Helicon Doubler (simulates studio doubling) TC-Helicon Correct (compression)TC-Helicon VoiceTone Singles D1 Digital Audio Work Stations (DAW) & Plug-ins LogicPro X (The DAW from Apple. Can be found on a Mac Book) Nector 2 Suite (DAW Vocal Plug-in)Waves (DAW Vocal Plug-ins) Vocal Rider Vitamin Doubler Olympus LS-12 Live Recorder (for quick plug-in play demos) Microphone Pre-Amps Universal Audio Twin-Finity 710 (Professional Level) Focusrite ISA One (Professional Level) Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (Home Recording Solution) Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 (Home Recording Solution) Headphones Extreme Isolation Headphones X-29s Other Vocal Gear Master Writer Sofware Singer's Tea & The Vocal Inhaler Olympus Hand held Digital Recorder (The WS SeriesHercules Microphone Stands Pocket Tone or purchase the PocketTones app. on iPhone. Vocal booth to go or Sterling Reflection Filter Spectrum Software Recommendations PC: " Voce Vista" Click HERE >>> Apple (iPhone & iPad only): "Spectrum Analyzer" by ONYX Settings: FFT Size - 8192 / Window - Rect / Average - Fast / Graph - Mixed / Scale Log CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE RECOMMENDED VOCAL GEAR * This product review is a courtesy of The Modern Vocalist World and is endorsed by The Vocalist Studio International.

Direct Sound EX-29 Isolation Headphones: Cancelling Out The Bleed? Kevin Martin, former vocalist of Seattle band Candlebox once said "It's called Rock and Roll - look it up." Whether or not he coined the term I haven't a clue but it does a fine job of summing up what we all do into a tidy little blanket statement. Namely rock. Loudly. This is all fine and good in a live environment but when it comes time to head to the studio finding a way to simultaneously play with the same intensity, hear yourself and avoid excessive headphone bleed this can be another matter entirely.So are the Direct Sound EX-29 Isolation Headphones a solution for this problem? Let's find out! Every vocalist has their own strategy that presents its own unique challenges. Some guys like to sing in the middle of the roo m with no headphones and the monitors blaring. More budget-minded bands may all be the same room together and still with others the singer may insist on having their headphones as loud as possible to be able to feel the music. With some effort, a competent engineer will likely be able to take the bleed coming into the mic from monitors and/or headphones and reverse phase to cancel it out. Unfortunately, this isn't always an option. With the majority of us utilizing at one time or another our own home studios instead of having our own on-call sound engineer I'm happy to say there is another solution for when a high quality isolated monitoring environment is needed. Direct Sound EX-29: Look And Feel Engineered with the pro drummer and studio musician in mind on the premise of delivering maximum isolation the Direct Sound EX-29 certainly looks serious. In fact the '29' signifies these puppies provide up to 29db of sound attenuation. Finished entirely in matte black [white is also an option] the EX-29 sports gold Direct Sound logos adorned on each rectangular shaped can. Direct Sound EX-29: Durability And Useability Extra Thick ear pads and a nicely padded headband suggest these things might do well for a long session. While not flashy the materials are of high quality a nd appear very durable. I have no doubt you could toss this one around in your gym bag with a couple bricks and they'd likely be just fine. The EX-29 comes standard with a 1/8" mini stereo plug with and optional screw on 1/4" as is the norm now. The straight cable [ Thank you - no twisty] and its connection points are also of high quality. As an added bonus the inner right headphone has been colored red to easily distinguish between right and left. As an extra, extra bonus, my demo arrived complete with handy soft carry case and bag. Yep. My inner nerd is a sucker for thoughtful details. Direct Sound EX-29: Pricing And Competition Order from The Vocal Gear Store After considering my options on test plan, I finally decided the best way for a reference point was to throw the Direct Sound EX-29 which lists on Musicians Friend for $119.95 up against an alternative or two. After some digging around at the test barn I managed to come up with a Beyer-Dynamic DT 770 at $199 and my trusty well loved pair of industry standard Sony MDR-7506's right at $85. While the 7506's aren't exactly isolation headphones they've got an excellent reputation of sounding good regardless of the application. A word of warning: The Direct Sound EX-29's fit very snugly. However I never found them to cause hot-spots around my ears like the Beyer-dynamics have had a tendency to do in the past. Order directly from The Vocal Gear Store NOW!!! Click here Direct Sound EX-29: Test And Comparison For the test I decided to use each of these headphones in the loudest possible place possible my rehearsal studio - a 13x13 box with moderate sound deadening and a high ceiling. Throw in a drummer, guitars and bass on top of vocals and you've got a seriously loud room. My plan for the test was to use the headphones in lieu of my typical inner ear monitoring setup. First up naturally were the Direct Sound EX-29 's. After my bandmates got rolling with a song it became pretty apparent that I started with my monitor mix significantly hotter than it needed to be. Between the thick ear padding and tight enclosure the sound isolation is quite impressive. T he overall mix with the EX-29's is smooth and flat. The sound as you would expect with a heavily dampened closed-ear type design sounds a bit closed in but not bass heavy nor exaggerated on the high end. I predict that these would do well in a critical listening situation for mixing. The only thing that was missing for me was a bit of that extra high crispness on the high end that for a vocalist makes the vocals really come alive in the mix. I digress what you hear on the EX-29's is what it really sounds like. Next in li ne were Sony MDR-7506's. As I said earlier not exactly and isolation headphone but more artists and professionals use these more than any other pair of cans out there myself included. Once the band started I immediately had to turn the mix up. No surprise here but these things leak like the Queen Mary with a torpedo hole. Once I got the mix up to the point of overpowering my bandmates leaking through things were great. I have always been a fan of the 7506 sound which while not being exactly a 'reference' headphone sounds great for live tracking. The slightly sloppy bass with slightly over-accentuated high's give the signal good cut and make pretty much anything sound good. Now if I just didn't have to turn things up to ear bleeding levels to hear. The final contender in the series were of course the Beyer-Dynamic DT-770's. Like the Direct Sound EX-29 they are more of an isolation type critical-listening headphone providing up to 19db of sound attenuation. With the DT-770's I was able to turn the mix down slightly over the Sony's. Again like the EX-29's they have more of a neutral flat frequency response with the exception tending to be slightly bass heavy which translates to a slightly muddier top-end. This would probably be great for a drummer but as a vocalist it ends up being less than ideal as I found myself with the DT-770's having a slight tendency to over-sing in an effort to compensate for qualities of my voice usually heard with other cans that somehow were lost in translation with the Beyer-Dynamics. WRAP UP The Direct Sound EX-29 's represent an excellent addition to the premium studio headphone market. Their flat frequency response and ultra high sound attenuation make them a solid choice for anyone looking to lower the sound level they need hear themselves as well as preventing mic bleed. While they lack the artificial high end crispness of the Sony MDR-7056's, they deliver an accurate representation of the sound that is both smooth and non-fatiguing. The construction is top notch and the design makes it easy to replace specific parts should you manage to break something. Should you be in the market for a top-quality reasonably priced set of isolation cans I recommend you look these guys up. SPECIFICATIONS Type: dynamic closed type headphones Frequency Response: 2 0 - 20,000 Hz Drivers: 40 mm Impedance: 32 ohm Sensitivity: 114dB/mW @ 1KHZ 1mW Cord: 9 feet Plug: stereo 3.5 mm with screw-on type gold plated 1/4¨ adapter Rated Input Power: 500 mW Maximum Input Power: max 1W Weight: 11.5 oz Warranty: 1-year manufacturer warranty Direct Sound : Contact Details Direct Sound Extreme Headphones - www.extremeheadphones.com Phone: 314-845-7667 Email: info@extremeheadphones.com Review by Travis North *This product review is a courtesy of The Modern Vocalist World and is endorsed by The Vocalist Studio International.