Audioooooooooooooo of voice and such

Well, revisiting old ground once again, experimenting with vocal recordings. I was really keen to try using the hardware compression now that I know how to patch it in but I could only get studio one and it doesn't seem to have a compressor. I also wanted to prove, once and for all that the 414 is a mic of considerable versatility (I had seen an engineer use it for female vocals one time and thought it sounded good). Of course, the 414 was being used by someone else. So, I got my vocalist to speak into a neumann (minus the pop filter as that was being used too) and a 58. I personally can't see any value in the tone of the 58 (unless you are going for something budget sounding). The audio example online is a monologue comprised of six different recordings: The Neumann in cardiod, the Neumann in cardiod with digital compression, Neumann in omni, Neumann in omni with compression, the 58, the 58 with compression. Black Cat Phenomenom NB My vocalist was a bit further away from the Neumann than he probably should have been, that combined with the incessant hum of the air con lends a slightly reverberant fell to the first half. Compressed to MP3 and heard through cheap headphones, the second half through the 58 actually seems to benefit from it's reduced sensitivity and direct feel. Disappointed with the apparent irrelevance of compression on the spoken word (compression didn't really make the voice sound any warmer through either of these mics, it just facilitated an increase in volume) I spent some time recording vocals through the Neumann and, before the night was out, a 414 (the other person finished using it). I think it is safe to say that the difference in sound between the Neumann and the 414 for female vocals anyway is non existent. I have yet to compare male vocals (but in a budget studio the 414 would certainly do the trick). Certainly beefing up the voice with compression through the head phones is potentially a good way to improve the confidence of your singer...I am still loathe to affect the signal being recorded, better to make the digital compression work I think. I wish the effects units in the studios actually effected the voice, if anyone wants to show me how to make them work, please do.