how to record vocals

yo, how do i record vocals that dont sound like complete shit? how do you set up your mic? what is that circular thing that you see in front of pro studio mics? do i need one of those? is there a lot of EQing involved? what's the cheapest mic i can get that will work for this?

thanks, i'm going to be a rock star and make rock songs now.

  Fred McGriff said:

yo, how do i record vocals that dont sound like complete shit?

practice.

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how do you set up your mic?

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what is that circular thing that you see in front of pro studio mics?

A pop shield.

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do i need one of those?

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is there a lot of EQing involved?

Not if you get a decent dry sound. Then it's just a case of compression and a sprinkle of EQ just to lighten up the vocals.

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what's the cheapest mic i can get that will work for this?

You want a large diaphragm condensor microphone. You can pick up decent one for around £130. Plus that'll let you record other acoustic instruments so it's a good investment.

  b born droid said:

  Fred McGriff said:

yo, how do i record vocals that dont sound like complete shit?

practice.

 

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how do you set up your mic?

depends what sound you want. Sometimes you want a bit more of fuller sound so you can set the mic a few inches lower than the mouth off-axis (pointing up) so also picking up more around the throat/neck area. The distance away from the mic will also make a difference. There's loads of useful guides on the net, but practice will help. Having a big duvet behind you also helps the sound so i'm told, although not tried that myself.

 

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what is that circular thing that you see in front of pro studio mics?

A pop shield.

 

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do i need one of those?

Yes. They are designed to stop the pronounced sound of 'p', 'b'....that kind of thing. (i think that's sibilence?....or is that an 's' sound?)

 

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is there a lot of EQing involved?

Not if you get a decent dry sound. Then it's just a case of compression and a sprinkle of EQ just to lighten up the vocals.

 

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what's the cheapest mic i can get that will work for this?

You want a large diaphragm condensor microphone. You can pick up decent one for around £130. Plus that'll let you record other acoustic instruments so it's a good investment.

wow thanks for the info

hey droid you reckon that mic you mentioned would be decent for acoustic guitar as well?

also, hey soapscum if you're out there, didnt i hear you mention a way to hand make a pop shield?

pantyhose + wire hanger

sounds abortiony

i read that was a common do-it-yourself screen in "guitar world" like 10 years ago

a condenser mic would be fine for recording an accoustic guitar.

you might want a directional for the fretboard as well, so you can variously mix in fret noise as required. a transducer on the body of the guitar gives you another element you can mix into the overall sound.

in fact there's many ways to mic an accoustic guitar, sometimes if the room verb matters you can incorporate an overhead as well... but a condenser, about a foot and a half away from the soundhole will give you a decent sound....

thanks buddy

think i might get a new mic for christmas . . .

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pantyhose + wire hanger

Yeah I forgot to mention the home made version of a pop-shield. It's ingenius and works just as well.

Fred - yeah as mentioned the condensor will record an acoustic guitar well, plus a few other instruments if you ever needed it (they make good ambient mics for amplified guitar for instance). The AT 4040 is quite cheap if I remember rightly.....or possibly the AT4030, I can't remember which. The Rode NT1000 is pretty good too I think. AKG no doubt do a decent large diaphragm condensor, but I can't remember what the model is.

large diaphram tube or FET condenser mic + awesome mic pre amp + some reverb

cool i'd like to hear your voice

  Fred McGriff said:

yo, how do i record vocals that dont sound like complete shit?

Sound obvious, but STAND UP when you sing.

Also, record the melody line on a synth and use it as a pitch guide in your headphones.

Warm up and drink lots of water. Remember that water takes 20 minutes to get from your stomach and back into your throat.

  Fred McGriff said:

how do you set up your mic?

High enough to force good posture so there's no dents in your windpipe caused by "IT spine" or "emo slump"

You should be singing up into the mike, unless you are having sibilance issues, in which case put the mike at chin height angled up and under your upper teeth.

Your distance from the mike should be proportional to how loud you are singing. Further away for louder. If you are going to do a Linkin Park quite/loud thing, then be prepared to lean in and out. This will give you an even level and save you having to fix it in the mix.

The further away you are from the mike, the more the room will effect the sound. Try singing in a cupboard full of clothes for zero room sound or in the shower for the opposite effect.

  Fred McGriff said:

what is that circular thing that you see in front of pro studio mics? do i need one of those?

Yes. I once had to mix an album that some dumbarse had recorded without one and it was hell.

  Fred McGriff said:

is there a lot of EQing involved?

As with everything, the closer it sounds to what you want sans processing, the better it will sound overall. That said, you will probably want to roll of quite a bit of lows. Most people add a bit of tops or really high mids. Intelligibility lives at 8k so boost that if you want to hwear the words through a lot of effect or overdubs or whatever.

  Fred McGriff said:

what's the cheapest mic i can get that will work for this?

You live in the US which is the home of Studio Projects large diaphragm condensors. You are therefore sorted.

B1 - $149US RRP. Best value out there now that you can no longer get the JoeMeek JM47.

T3 - $839US RRP. Best mike I have ever used. Has a built in tube and needs NO processing to achieve the perfect vocal sound.

Half the board will flame me for this, but I have found AKG condensors to be harsh and nasal on vocals.

My answer to this has been SM57 -> Mic Pre -> Vocoder :D

I cant sing worth a damn anyway, might as well process it!

thanks again good shit mr. wings. i trust large diaphragm condensers are okay with acoustic guitar? that's in my price range i think i will pull the trigger after the holidays. i reckon you have to get a mic stand that's really tall or do you hang it from the ceiling? i definitely have IT spine, smithers

anyway good shit all around, A+ thread.

sometimes i think i can actually carry a tune but when i try recording it sounds so amateur i lose interest, but then sometimes i hear some pro shit and i realize the fuckers are completely off key and they dont even have character in their voice, it just happens to be a decent recording of some jobber whining into a mic with about 9 or 10 layers of their voice. so it's time i got this sorted and see what i can do.

  Fred McGriff said:

thanks again good shit mr. wings. i trust large diaphragm condensers are okay with acoustic guitar?

Oh fuck yes, but two mikes on an acoustic is definitely the tits. I put the big condensor on down by the hole for the bigness and a small diaphragm or a dynamic up by the fretboard for the tinkly bits. pan it a bit in stereo and it sounds nice. I'll try to remember to post samples w/gear lists when I get home.

A large diaphragm condensor will generally see you right for anything that is naturally quiet - like most acoustic stuff and the voices of self conscious white people. A dynamic like a Shure SM57 will cover everything that is naturally loud, like trumpets and guitar amps. Everything else is a niche mike, really.

That said, they say the Studio Projects family are wicked for miking guitar amps. Havent tried it yet, tho.

  Fred McGriff said:

sometimes i hear some pro shit and i realize the fuckers are completely off key and they dont even have character in their voice, it just happens to be a decent recording of some jobber whining into a mic with about 9 or 10 layers of their voice. so it's time i got this sorted and see what i can do.

Yeah, listen to Flaming Lips. Guy can't sing to save his life, but al least he sounds like he's into it and he's got a good engineer. All good.

Long_one_2_mastered.mp3Fetching info...

Ok, here's a thing I recorded for my mate Cosimo. It has 2 large diaphragm condensors on the acoustic guitar, recorded in a big lively room. The guitar was mixed bone dry with no eq IIRC.

Here's the gear list:

Mikes - Studio Projects T3, JoeMeek JM47

Mike pre - JoeMeek VC3 mk 2

Guitar - Martin dreadnought

Synth - Oberheim Matrix 1000

Reverb (vox) - Tascam RS-20B dual spring reverb

Delay (synth) - Ibanez AD-3000 analogue delay

Medium - 4 track cassette

Digital stuff used - none, bitch

someone's probably already said this but you can make a perfectly servicable pop shield with a wire coathanger and a pair of tights.

yeah read up on stereo mic techniques if you use two for recording acoustic guitar. you'd be surprised of the results by placing one mic over the shoulder of the player.

anyone every tried to position a stereo pair of directional mics to achieve pseudo-3d sound. like it's coming from behind you?

  blicero said:

anyone every tried to position a stereo pair of directional mics to achieve pseudo-3d sound. like it's coming from behind you?

my bird has. dunno what happened though.