What microphone should i use ?
- Thread starter bukovina1
- Start date
jonathanm777
New member
The Royer R121 is quite amazing too
DM60
Well-known member
OP I just learned this lesson the hard way. I have this SA audio mic that just will not work with my voice. It creates this pitch that just sound horrible (more than just bad singing). I switched to another mic and it was a changer. Do a little work here or suffer (or get lucky) till you figure it out, like I did.
If you go ribbon, you can get some Sabbath styling's out of it. Get a cheap one from MXL. Switch the transformer to a Blumlien or Cinemag. The transformer is 50 % of the vocals character. You change 4 wires, it is easy , and you won't believe how good it sounds.
A Cinemag will get you a deep movie trailer announcer voice for sure. The Blumie will sound a bit darker.
Transformers, more than meets the eye.
You can tell which transformers are best, by popularity and price.
A Cinemag will get you a deep movie trailer announcer voice for sure. The Blumie will sound a bit darker.
Transformers, more than meets the eye.
You can tell which transformers are best, by popularity and price.
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and extremely expensive, but yes possibly the best mic I've ever heard for electric guitar, and they have the advantage of being good enough for serious classical/chamber ensemble recordings for example cello.
delirium trigge
New member
I don't think a dynamic mic is better in this case. I disagree. I come from the metal world. You don't want the dynamic mic for vocals in a metalcore style thing in the studio. Typically there isn't a huge difference in the type of mic's that are used for screaming and a pop singer. I think people have this idea that it needs to be different because they usually can't actually scream, so they hear it recorded (Which is different than band practice where cymbals are being hit hard and the singer is low in the mix) and they think something is wrong. Nothing is wrong, the person just can't actually do the screaming they think they can.
For the screamers who aren't loud in volume but make their throat do the screaming "sound" they too still record with the typical condenser microphone anyone else would. The only difference in those guys, is you record them at -12 instead of getting any lower than that. You have to usually add gain from some source to make it appear as if the volume is loud. Even at -12 you can add a lot of gain to low volume screamers and it will sound good. I usually would compress the vocals and then bring up the gain the compressor and then I might use something like an ad limiter which allows you to crank the gain without the levels changing. Ad limiter has the limiter, so you set it at -12 for example, put as much gain as you want and it's still at -12. It also allows you to change the input signal to appear to be hotter sounding. But you have to be careful and don't over do it.
It takes practice to get it to sound nice and clear like a good metalcore recording. But a WHOLE lot of it has to do with most metalcore singers can't actually scream, they think they can. And they can't keep the monotone scream note going and their voice cuts in and out non stop and you can't really fix that.
Some of them TRY to fix that by thinking if they hold a dynamic microphone with their hands capped around the end of it they will scream into their hand and that will help it. That trick works live, But it sounds like CRAP recording like that. Because it isn't clear and the melody becomes much harder to hear for the listener.
I can tell the bands who record like that easily. And there are professional popular metalcore bands who do that, but the good ones with good singers do not do that. They scream it right in front of the pop blocker like anyone else.
For the screamers who aren't loud in volume but make their throat do the screaming "sound" they too still record with the typical condenser microphone anyone else would. The only difference in those guys, is you record them at -12 instead of getting any lower than that. You have to usually add gain from some source to make it appear as if the volume is loud. Even at -12 you can add a lot of gain to low volume screamers and it will sound good. I usually would compress the vocals and then bring up the gain the compressor and then I might use something like an ad limiter which allows you to crank the gain without the levels changing. Ad limiter has the limiter, so you set it at -12 for example, put as much gain as you want and it's still at -12. It also allows you to change the input signal to appear to be hotter sounding. But you have to be careful and don't over do it.
It takes practice to get it to sound nice and clear like a good metalcore recording. But a WHOLE lot of it has to do with most metalcore singers can't actually scream, they think they can. And they can't keep the monotone scream note going and their voice cuts in and out non stop and you can't really fix that.
Some of them TRY to fix that by thinking if they hold a dynamic microphone with their hands capped around the end of it they will scream into their hand and that will help it. That trick works live, But it sounds like CRAP recording like that. Because it isn't clear and the melody becomes much harder to hear for the listener.
I can tell the bands who record like that easily. And there are professional popular metalcore bands who do that, but the good ones with good singers do not do that. They scream it right in front of the pop blocker like anyone else.
jonathanm777
New member
I recorded a singer who did screaming vocals, I used a Mojave MA201fet, its a versatile mic, and sounds similar to a U87 for a lot less.