The way they sound

[WB2WIK]

Hmmm. I will try what you are suggesting, except I will not shut off my fan. This room gets stuffy, even with the central air. The fan makes things much more comfortable for me. So, turn down the mic gain and close talk the mic. I will see if someone will take the time to give me an honest audio report while I adjust the settings on this 897D.

How about the speech processor? I've heard some guys say they use it for everything, but turned down low. I've never used it.

The 897D is not a transmitter that provides the range required to sound fabulous (I have an 857D, which electrically is the same rig, re-packaged), but it can sound okay.

If you use the right microphone and procedure, you don't need to shut off all noise-generating gear nearby (although that works if you don't use the right kind of microphone).

My Heil PR40 has amazing noise rejection from the rear and the sides: It only picks up audio from the "front," and you must speak directly into it, closely. Using this mike directly ahead of a noisy amplifier with very loud fans, nobody can hear those things because the mike itself has enormous rejection to the rear. I keep the mike gain very low, so I have to close-talk the mike, within one inch or less. If I "back off" to 2 inches, my modulation literally disappears, and there isn't any.

That's usually the way to sound best with almost any kind of microphone, unless you're in a sound-dead studio environment.

BTW the PR40 does "spruce up" the 857D/897D pretty well. It's a low-output mike, so you have to advance the gain via the menu setting to accommodate that.

[W9PSK]

The 897D is not a transmitter that provides the range required to sound fabulous (I have an 857D, which electrically is the same rig, re-packaged), but it can sound okay.

If you use the right microphone and procedure, you don't need to shut off all noise-generating gear nearby (although that works if you don't use the right kind of microphone).

My Heil PR40 has amazing noise rejection from the rear and the sides: It only picks up audio from the "front," and you must speak directly into it, closely. Using this mike directly ahead of a noisy amplifier with very loud fans, nobody can hear those things because the mike itself has enormous rejection to the rear. I keep the mike gain very low, so I have to close-talk the mike, within one inch or less. If I "back off" to 2 inches, my modulation literally disappears, and there isn't any.

That's usually the way to sound best with almost any kind of microphone, unless you're in a sound-dead studio environment.

BTW the PR40 does "spruce up" the 857D/897D pretty well. It's a low-output mike, so you have to advance the gain via the menu setting to accommodate that.

I bought the MD100 when I got the 897. I like it, but it's my first desk mic, so I don't have anything to compare it against.

[WB2WIK]

I bought the MD100 when I got the 897. I like it, but it's my first desk mic, so I don't have anything to compare it against.

I bought an MD100 also, for my FT-736R.

The PR40's better.

But I have no "desk mikes" at all....they take up valuable space, you have to lean over to talk into them, and they can pick up the PTT "click" which is obnoxious.

I use only "boom" mikes and footswitches, which solve all three of these issues.

[VE3FMC]

I've started working on my "radio voice". I don't be havin' lotsa moolah ta git nuna dat fancy soundin' voice maker stuff! LOL! Don't know that I would, if I did. I know the guys on AM sound way better than we do, so maybe I could get in with the 3885 crowd, long as I don't let them know my radio doesn't glow. Uh, yeah, I'm runnin a Collins war era rig. How do I sound?

Actually you can sound great on AM on a modern rig. If you have the right mic gain and audio settings on the radio.

I once had an AM QSO with a guy who was running old AM gear and he thought I was also using old tube gear. When I told him what I was operating he said he was impressed with the audio.

A lot of new rigs allow you to tailor the transmitted audio. Both my FT-950 and Icom 7000 will do that.

Take time with someone who knows your voice and play with the settings for the audio.

I may not have "Broadcast Audio" but that is ok, I am not an AM Broadcast Station.

However people who know me say my transmitted audio sounds the same as my voice does in person. Can't ask for more than that. BTW, I never use any processing on the FT-950 and very little on the Icom. Both rigs have Heil mics on them.

Everyone can lower their voice if that is how you want to sound!

What I hate listening to is someone's breathing and back ground noise because they have the mic gain set too high.

[WB2WIK]

Everyone can lower their voice if that is how you want to sound!

True. Actually, most people can sound better than they do, if they'd only listen to themselves played back with a cheap tape recorder.

Alter your voice until it sounds great to you, and it will to everyone else, also.

And not just on the air, but on the telephone, and in person.

[W9PSK]

I just want to sound like Lou Rawls. You'll never find..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2ijL2tljdI

[AG3Y]

Close talking a microphone is one way to produce that "deep-dark-bedroom voice" that so many people seem to desire. At one time, you weren't considered to be an announcer, unless you could sound that way.

However, now days, many announcers are making a lot of bux by using a voice that sounds almost immature in its nature. Listen to the announcers on "The Disney Channel" if you want to hear what I am talking about. They sound like "squeeky voiced teenyboppers" to me.

However, to each his "un". Lou Rawls, huh ? ?

One thing that none of the posts that mention close talking the microphone have mentioned, is the practice of talking "across" the microphone. This means exactly how it sounds. Instead of aiming your voice directly into the mic, you place it so that it is close to the lips, but off to the side of your mouth. This allows all the wind noise, the "P-pops" and other undesireable artifacts to be eliminated, or at least minimised to a great degree.

So if you want that close-lipped sound, try talking ACROSS the mic, and see how it affects your on-the-air sound.

73, Jim

[KB4MB]

One thing that none of the posts that mention close talking the microphone have mentioned, is the practice of talking "across" the microphone.

That of course, is true. I get compliments on my voice on the radio, and at school we were taught always to talk at an angle to the mic, and close, for the reasons already mentioned.

With a hand mic, while pushing the ptt, it almost hurts the writst to have the thing flat to your face, so it is almost natural to talk at an angle...