I'll address your questions one at a time.
Would it be better then to get a different condenser microphone such as the Blue Bluebird, or Baby Bottle?
I can't answer that, and I doubt anyone else could fairly do so either. Each microphone is going to have a different color, a different tone/sound/tambor, different frequency response, etc. This is why I have been known to use upwards of 10 different microphones over the recording of a whole album.
For instance, someone like Mom, I'd never ever put her through the Bluebird. Her voicesalready is too bright in my opinion for that mike. But then, she may like that brightness. I wouldn't, but, that's just me. Finding a good mike is like finding a good guitar. You have to find what works for you, and what says, Oh! Yeah, this is so! me! That's not always something you can do either just by listening to things online. You likely need to go to a place selling high end mikes, and listen to them one at a time with your own voice in context. Certainly listening online is a start, but not always. If you're gonna go somewhere like Sam Ash, you also need to be sure they understand before letting you demo a mike that you're wanting to do this for recording speech, or recording singing vocal, or whatever, and not for live events. There are some mikes that do better for live stuff, and letting them know the context of what you're trying to achieve will help tremendously.
For instance, though you can use the SM58 for recording, they're very rugged, and more normally designed for live recordings. OK, you put one through a pre, you can get fairly decent sound into a recording, especially if you know good mike placement, gain staging, and good EQ techniques. Also, Ron, realise, to pull this back into topic with PT, it's not all just about finding the right type mike. Some of what you do may and probably will, involve not just setting a straight level, then letting it just sit there on that axis, if you will. You're probably going to need to learn to write automation, so that you can adjust certain areas of the recording to achieve the best results. For example, you get a really quiet singer, but on one part they hit a really loud note. What're you gonna do. You can't just insist that they sing it quieter. If they're peeking the meter, then run automation to clamp that part down naturally as they're singing recording. This is one instance where controlling the input gain, is! and can! be a good thing when set prefader. But anyway, I digress, and return to your questions.
If using trim, which plugins do you recommend me to use?
Being you haven't yet done much with ProTools, and are mainly using Reaper, I'm not the most familiar with how that works. I'm sure there is one you could find in the effect chain, hitting F on the selected track, but, in ProTools, there is one natively that comes stock with PT, which literally is just called Trim. It basically gives you a second output fader to work with without the need of raising the main output fader above 0, thereby sometimes causing clipping. Again, if you come in too high to start with though, then regardless if you have a trim plugin or not, if the signal flow coming in is bad, it's gonna come out bad, regardless. There's only but so much you can then do to fix it.
What kind of compresser do you need to use?
Broh, You, r'really! need to listen to the Cavi stuff with Audio Essentials! Point blank! I'm not trying to steer you away from this list, No Slau, don't kill me! I'm not doing that! Down! Good? Doggy! LOL! Just kidding. But, in all seriousness, Derek and Jessica both talk all about this from no specific DAW of standpoint.
Again, I'll answer this the same way I answered your question about mikes. I again cannot fairly answer that. It's going to soly depend on the application of what you're specifically recording from one item to another. For example, I may use one compresser when recording Amarillo by Morning by George Strait, yet, I may use something totally different when doing Brand New Man by, Bricks and Dum. Oh, wait, did I just call them that? My point being, it's not a matter of one compressor being correct over another. It totally depends on the target being recorded, the acoustic environment where things are, the dynamics of the vocalist, the natural EQ of the mike being used, plus what else, if anything, is in your effect chain already which may be altaring the sound.
The bottom line is, you want an exact answer to make things sound pro grade. I can't give you that. No one can! This is why there are so many make/models of equipment. What fits one producer very likely may be a total nightmare for someone else. And what one thinks sounds great, may sound like utter shit to someone else, pardon my language.
Great example. I have a friend who has a studio locally here in Charlotte. No, not Don. Anyway, I recorded something at his place once. He had a big Tascam wrack system, a 24 channel Alesis board, an 8000 dollar Roads Mike, A Quad4 effect processor, anyone remember those things? Etc. When he did his music through his current setup, I tell ya, man, it sounded dynamite, explosive! It was absolutely unbelievable! You'd think he had gone to Nashville and recorded the stuff himself there! Yet then, he put me behind the stuff. Same style music, everything, yet, for me, to say it sounded God aweful! would be the biggest complement you could give me! Uhh! It, was absolutely terrible! I like to puke when I heard it back, putting it so bluntly.
You gotta find what works for you. And that isn't gonna come over night. I can tell you what sounds good to me, but at the end of the day, you gotta find the equipment that fits your workflow, which isn't always an easy task. And don't be afraid to tell sellers who demo you things, no. This isn't gonna work. You gotta be a bit agressively assertive. You're your best adbocate.
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