Laura Clapp Davidson of Shure on podcast mics

Video: https://youtu.be/FeNZt0I8CTE

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Transcript

Laura Clapp Davidson: My name's Laura Clapp Davidson, and I got my start as a singer songwriter. I went to Berkeley College of Music and studied music for a while. 

And when I graduated, I moved to Nashville and I was doing my thing as a singer songwriter and a demo singer. And I was asked to demonstrate a piece of music gear at a show called Nam. And I had never done anything like that before. And I had, you know, a couple of weeks to learn this thing inside and out, and then they flew me out to Anaheim. I got up on this stage and I was doing 20 minute demos every hour on the hour for 10 hours a day. And I figured out I was pretty good at demonstrating gear. And that's when I got into this industry that I'm in, which is the MI industry, the musical instrument industry. I love it. 

And so that led to a career as a demonstrator going around the world and showing people gear. And then I got asked to be a background singer. So I was a background singer for an artist named Howard Jones for a while. I got to tour around the world showing people this gear, and then I got into marketing because they were like, “hey, you know how to talk about this stuff. Let's figure out how to sell it and position it.” And I did that for a long time. 

All along, I've been a singer and creating music and love microphones and found my way to Shure. And it's just been the best gig ever. So that's kind of the very short version. 

[00:01:15] Laura Joyce Davis: Amazing. So let's get really specific and talk about podcast mics. When you're looking for a podcast, mic, if you want a mic that is gonna give you everything that you need to record great sound for your podcast, great Voiceover, what are you looking for? 

[00:01:30] Laura Clapp Davidson: You're looking for a mic that is going to block out room noise naturally, because we're not blessed with being able to record in controlled environments— most of us. So you're gonna wanna look for something called a dynamic mic, and you're gonna want one that can naturally reject sounds coming in from the rear and side.

And that's kind of what this mic that I'm talking into now does really beautifully. And this is called the MV7 by Shure. 

So first of all, how are you gonna use it? Where are you gonna use it? If you have the luxury of being able to use it in a controlled space, then you can use something called a condenser mic. But if you are not, that's what you wanna start with. So figuring out how you wanna use it, and if the space can accommodate it. 

[00:02:09] Laura Joyce Davis: And are there any other mics that you would recommend that serve that purpose? 

[00:02:13] Laura Clapp Davidson: Oh yeah, there's so many. And you know, Shure is known for making microphones for the stage. So something like the SM58 or the Super 55 or 55SH, which we lovingly refer to as the Elvis mic . . . those mics are known for stage performance applications.

But we (also) make microphones for the studio and for podcasting specifically, like this one, the SM7B, which is kind of why we made the MV7. So this is also a dynamic mic, great for use in less-than-perfect environments because of how the mic is designed and how it physically picks up the voice. It blocks out extraneous noises. 

But I mentioned a condenser mic, which is a little bit more sensitive in how the microphone physically picks up the sound. Dynamic microphones have a magnet—a coil of wire, a little bit more physics involved with making it move—whereas a condenser is the path of least resistance to getting great sound and the most natural reproduction. But you have to kind of balance it out with, can you control your environment? Because if you can't, it's gonna pick up everything . . . the HV A/C noise, your feet shuffling on the ground, tapping on the keys, stuff like that. 

The thing about microphones is I think a lot of people think they're smart. And while they're beautiful, they are not smart. They can only do what physics allows. 

So by getting closer to the microphone, you're making it work less. You're allowing for less noise to be introduced into your podcast. So right now you can see I'm about three fingers off the mic, which is what I recommend. I'm also—if you're noticing—I'm not directly on the mic from a front perspective, right? Cause if I say “perspective,” it can pop. Those plosives. And if I angle just a little bit off axis, it's still picking it all up, but you don't get the plosives. And plosives happen when a burst of air pops that diaphragm. And that's why you hear that sound. So consonants: P’s, B’s, T’s. You just wanna angle a little bit. But three inches off or three fingers off is a good rule of thumb. 

But also with this particular mic, I'm gonna use this app that we have to show you something that you can do that's kind of cool. So we have the ShurePlus Motiv desktop app that you can get. When you get MB7, it prompts you to download it when you plug in the mic. I have it on auto level mode and I have it in Near mode, meaning I'm gonna be nice and close. If I switch it over to Far mode, now I can back up a little bit. I can be more expressive with my hands and I can be more free. So if you're an expressive hand talker, we've got you covered there. You will hear a little bit more of the room coming in. That's just because it is boosting it so that it can hear you better. I'm a big fan of Near because I like the warmth of it.

And then you can also switch it in the app to Manual mode, where that's where you can manually adjust your gain. So if you know what you're doing with audio, if you know that you wanna adjust the EQ, like I wanna roll off some lows and boost my presence, I can do that. And now I've engaged a high pass filter and the presence boost reset. So that's something even cooler, but if you don't know anything, then click Auto Level. It will do it for you. It'll adjust your gain, your compression, your EQ, et cetera. 

[00:05:16] Laura Joyce Davis: So since we're not seeing the app that you're looking at right now, you're saying that in the same way that after you've recorded audio and you go in and you use some of those plugins and you play with the EQ and, you know, whatever you're doing to tinker with the sound and make it sound better, you're saying you can do that—but before you even record that stuff, you can have it set to the way that you want. 

Do you have the capability to have presets so that, you know, oh, this is my voice. These are the things that I always want this to go to? Can you set it up that way so that you don't have to think a lot about it when you're actually recording?

[00:05:49] Laura Clapp Davidson: Yes, you absolutely can. Within the app, you can get it configured the way that you want, and then you can save the preset. There's something right at the top called preset. It has a little dropdown. You would click save, call it whatever you want and store it. And that way you can recall it. And it actually saves it to the microphone, which a lot of people don't realize. They think it's storing to the app, but it stores to the mic. So if you take it to another computer or another studio, those settings will follow you as long as you're using it via USB. 

[00:06:17] Laura Joyce Davis: That's pretty cool. So I did wanna ask you for a minute about the difference between a USB mic and other kinds of mics.

When people are thinking about buying a mic, what are the considerations that they should think about specific to do they need a USB or do they not need a USB? And what are the kind of pros and cons of that decision?

[00:06:35] Laura Clapp Davidson: Yeah, that's a great question. And it comes down to if you buy a USB mic, you're gonna be able to get up and running without any other gear. You won't need an audio interface and you won't need a do really like a digital audio workstation aside from being able to plug in. 

And if you wanna have editing capabilities, you could do an entire podcast with a USB mic into your phone into. Anchor or what have you, or Zencaster. So you know, that's kind of the differentiation.

If you know that you wanna go into an interface, that's when you would use something called an XLR output on the microphone. So the MB7 has both, which is kind of what makes it really cool. Cuz you can start with the USB kind of graduate or move up to that XLR, or start with the XLR. 

So it kind of depends on how much gear do you wanna buy? Do you wanna be up and running outta the box? Go USB. Do you wanna be able to grow, get XLR? Cause then you can add mics to your setup if you have different guests. So that's kind of where you think about it. 

And USB mics does not mean that it will be a dynamic or a condenser. So you wanna do your homework there. That dynamic USB mic is gonna give you a more controlled sound, less room noise. Whereas a condenser USB will pick up a lot more of the sound—not always in a good way. 

[00:07:48] Laura Joyce Davis: Yeah. What are the pros and cons of choosing, say, a non USB mic? Like why would somebody want to do that? When you talk about growing, what do you mean specifically? Is it better sound? Is it just about more guests? Like what are the considerations that people are thinking about with that decision? 

[00:08:02] Laura Clapp Davidson: Yeah. So more flexibility because with USB mics, you can only put two USB mics into one computer, or you can only split your computer's audio two ways when it's USB, I should say. 

Whereas if you plug in an interface, a USB interface that can give you, you know, anywhere from a single channel up to 16 plus channels, so you really have that flexibility. So it's kind of, if you know you're gonna want additional inputs. That's a way to go from a sound perspective. 

Some will argue that XLR is the only way to fly because there is some digital side of USB. But from this standpoint, I mean, you're listening to my microphone as a USB mic and, you know, I think it sounds pretty great. So technology's come a long way. So you don't have to sacrifice one over the other. 

[00:08:51] Laura Joyce Davis: Yeah, that's great. 

And can you speak specifically to the MV88 since I know that's one of the mics that we've talked about giving students a discount on? And tell me a little bit about this mic and just sort of how to get the best quality out of it.

[00:09:04] Laura Clapp Davidson: Yeah, that microphone is super cool. It's kinda like the Swiss army knife of mics, because you can use our app to control the polar pattern of it. 

So while it's a stereo condenser—so more sensitive—you can actually change the polar pattern to be cardio, which means it's going to block out what's coming in from the rear in the sides. So almost getting the benefit of having that dynamic functionality. Still a stereo condenser. So you have sensitivity in a good way—control and flexibility, because you can go out. You can get some foley, when you put it into stereo mode, you can then put it into mono cardio mode, do your podcast itself. And then you can switch it up to mono bidirectional, put it in between the table between you and a guest and do an interview.

So all with one mic and you can do that using the app. You will need the app to control that one, but. That's the benefit. It's like getting three mics in one. 

[00:09:53] Laura Joyce Davis: Yeah. And for people who aren't familiar with some of those terms you just used, can you sort of define like what those things mean? If people are coming new to this and don't know the lingo (if you can remember everything you just said).

[00:10:02] Laura Clapp Davidson: I know. So the stereo condenser is speaking to the type of the microphone, so how it actually picks up. So it's gonna have that more sensitive diaphragm that takes less physics to move it stereo, meaning it'll be left and right channels. So that's why when you take foley with it, you can actually capture that whole soundscape. And it's really cool. 

And then if you switch it up to mono cardio, that's a heart shaped polar pattern. Meaning it's gonna pick up what's in front of the mic a little bit on the sides, but not anything from the rear. Okay. So that's the most common polar pattern and that's how the microphone physically picks up.

And mono bidirectional is turning off the front diaphragm of the mic and turning on the two side capsules so that you can put it in between two people and have equal pick up on either side, 

[00:10:46] Laura Joyce Davis: And compare that to the mic you're using now, what's happening with that mic right now?

[00:10:51] Laura Clapp Davidson: So this is a dynamic microphone with a cardio pickup pattern. So this is great for one voice and it's great at blocking out extraneous noise and room reflections, 

[00:11:00] Laura Joyce Davis: but probably not so great if you get a little too far left or right to the mic, I'm guessing. 

[00:11:04] Laura Clapp Davidson: Yeah. So if I go off axis, as we call it, now I'm to the right of the mic, you hear that it's not quite as present. It gets thinner. And that's indicative of any microphone. The further away that you get, the thinner the sound gets. The more that you get up on it, you get something called proximity effect, which is a build up of base frequencies, which can be good for some, but fatiguing for others.

So you just wanna have that nice sweet spot. And that's why our mics are cool. With the MV7, it has this headphone jack on the back. So I'm hearing myself in real time and adjusting in real ways to know where to put myself. 

[00:11:35] Laura Joyce Davis: Yeah. I'm glad you mentioned that. Would you recommend to people—whether it's this mic or another one—would you recommend that they're using their headphones directly into their mic versus plugging it into their computer? If they're, say, using a USB mic? 

[00:11:47] Laura Clapp Davidson: There's benefits to both, but what I'm getting by plugging into the microphone is I'm hearing myself, and you so I can actively adjust what you are hearing essentially as well. Cause I'm hearing exactly what's going out of the mic. Whereas if you plug into the headphone output on your computer, for example, you're hearing the output of that system and not hearing the whole story or the the scene, the whole picture. 

[00:12:11] Laura Joyce Davis: I wonder if we could even get a little deeper into troubleshooting when you're recording VO in particular, since I think that's what a lot of us are doing with our mics. I have found that there are moments where something happens in the audio that I don't hear until I'm listening back later. And it's almost like there's a little skip in the audio or something. Why do those little glitches in audio happen? Is it something that the speaker is doing? Is it something with the computer? With the wifi? I mean, what causes that and how can we prevent that stuff? 

[00:12:42] Laura Clapp Davidson: I'd need to hear it. But to me it sounds like a digital audio artifact, or it could just be a glitch if you're doing it online, where it's just the processing of the software that you're using.

You know, if it's Zoom, it's Zencastr or it's, whatever, it's always trying to process and keep one step ahead. Like you just had a dropout a second ago, and then Zencaster compensated for it. It gave me your speech, but your video was off, you know? And so that can happen a lot with the digital audio too. You might hear artifacts in there. 

[00:13:12] Laura Joyce Davis: Is there anything you can do to prevent that stuff? 

[00:13:14] Laura Clapp Davidson: Go wired instead of wifi. That's the best recommendation. If you're gonna be doing interviews over these kinds of platforms. Yeah. Make sure you have a wired ethernet connection. 

[00:13:24] Laura Joyce Davis: And would you say like remote recording is also achieving a similar thing since you're not going through the internet to do it? Like recording directly into your DAW . . . so like I have my recording, this person has their recording—obviously that's not video, but at least that's the audio. 

[00:13:39] Laura Clapp Davidson: Yeah. I didn't have time to set it up today, but I would usually set my MV7 up to be going into Zencaster with USB and then recording via XLR into another DAW or another computer so that I could have that backup audio. And a lot of people do that. They'll plug into a zoom recorder—you know, like the handheld, not Zoom the platform—and just have that backup. So you have a redundant backup. 

My biggest recommendation, I say this a lot when I'm at podcasting shows, is take your craft seriously, whether you're just starting out or you've been doing it for a while. What I hear a lot is, “oh, I bought this mic for, you know, 70 to 80 bucks and I don't like it,” or “I bought this one and I'm ready to buy another mic.”

If you do your research and you buy the mic that's a little bit more from the jump, I guarantee you're gonna be happier with it and not have to keep buying. So, Invest in yourself. Invest in what you're doing, because you're taking the time to record this and get your word out there. So make sure that you're representing yourself the best way that you know how. 

And I always break it down. It's $249 for an MV7, for example. It's seemingly a lot of money, but if you're just starting out and you don't wanna get an interface, you're buying the mic, you're getting an interface. You know, if you wanna think about it that way and justify it, it's the mic and it's an interface to get into your computer.

So invest. Do your research. Try mics out, cuz not all mics sound great on all voices. Make sure it works well in your space and makes you feel like it's helping you and not fighting you.  

[00:15:05] Laura Joyce Davis: I know you work for Shure. And I know you love Shure. And I don't know how many other mics you've used, but I'm guessing maybe you’ve used a few—or a lot. Can you speak to some of the common ones that people use out there and what you like or don't like about different ones? 

[00:15:22] Laura Clapp Davidson: Yeah. I mean, I've used a lot of different condenser mics. I came from the music side of things and the studio side of things. So I thought, “oh, condenser's the only way to go if you're recording something that's not live.” 

And then I found that there are so many other options that are dynamic that are gonna sound so much better, especially in these spaces that we're all recording in. So I guess I would say, you know, don't just buy whatever anybody's telling you to buy or go by a gear guide. You can really serve yourself better by experimenting. And we have the option to do that and really try out a bunch of different things and not have to just go with whatever we pick. 

[00:15:59] Laura Joyce Davis: Where are places that they can do that?

[00:16:02] Laura Clapp Davidson: You can try stuff out at home. You know, we have the ability through Amazon and other distributors to try before you buy. 

And we have some great displays at Guitar Centers of our microphones for Shure. So if you wanted to go and actually try it, they're interactive displays where you can put on a set of headphones and talk into the mics and hear what you sound like. So certain music manufacturers and stores have that ability.

But I mean, you don't have to buy 17 mics to try two. Like narrow it down based on where you are, what your budget is, and how you wanna use it, and order a couple up and try. 'em 

[00:16:32] Laura Joyce Davis: I wanna make sure that we don't end without you telling people where they can find both these products, but also you and your music.

[00:16:41] Laura Clapp Davidson: Cool. So, yes. So I'm very passionate about Shure. I work for them. So if you wanna find information on Shure, it's www.shure.com. @Shure on all of the socials. And my stuff is LauraClapp.com (Clapp), and @LauraClappmusic on socials. 

Laura Joyce Davis: Thanks so much, Laura. 

Laura Clapp Davidson: Thank you.