Vocal redlining - help!

[jaxon]

Hi all,

I'm a female vocalist and my husband is a home studio engineer and guitar player. We record and play original music (mainly blues). My question is, what is the optimum distance from the mic for vocalists? And, when singing louder, is it better to move back a little (which makes the song sound like it's in a different room), or have him turn down the preamp when recording the louder phrases. I'm sure this is frustrating for both engineers and vocalists. While recording I tend to "go into the red" when hitting the loud notes. However, if we set the meters too low, then it doesn't sound as full and life-like. Any thoughts or suggestions? Help!

[walters]

Get a Limiter with a Breaking wall Ceiling leveler

[Schubert]

Originally Posted by jaxon

Hi all,

I'm a female vocalist and my husband is a home studio engineer and guitar player. We record and play original music (mainly blues). My question is, what is the optimum distance from the mic for vocalists? And, when singing louder, is it better to move back a little (which makes the song sound like it's in a different room), or have him turn down the preamp when recording the louder phrases. I'm sure this is frustrating for both engineers and vocalists. While recording I tend to "go into the red" when hitting the loud notes. However, if we set the meters too low, then it doesn't sound as full and life-like. Any thoughts or suggestions? Help!

I know when I mix a theatre show what I tend to do is comp the vocals to avoid any nasty bits of clipping.

[Dogbreath]

IMHO, I think mic technique and compression are the keys. I usually hover around 6 inches off the mic w/ a pop screen, varying a bit for softer to screaming vox, and a light compression depending on the song.
Are you running analog or digital? Analog can handle some reds and sound pretty sweet. When tracking in my digital world, I just don't run it as hot. But I also comp it goin in.
Just my 2 pesos. Hope it helps.


Kel

[Dogbreath]

Damn...you guys are quick...


or maybe I'm just a slow at typing.

[jaxon]

Thanks for all the great advice! I appreciate the tips. The only problem I have is with compression... it always sounds so squelched and small. Are there tips when using compression to still get a big fat vocal sound? P.S. BTW, we're using digital recording...

[NYMorningstar]

You don't want to use compression unless you have to. It's better that you learn to back off the mic during loud passages. You have plenty of headroom with digital so try averaging the signal around -12db.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

There's a good chance you'll wind up wanting to use some compression before all is said and done, but you won't want to have to overdo it.

But if you really want to get the best out of your voice - not only for recording but for live performance also - you'll probably want to practice your vocalist mic technique; what many of us engineers like to call "working the mic". If you watch just about any pro vocalist perform (even the better amateurs on "American I-dull"), they never keep the mic a steady disance from their mouths. Instead they are constantly working the mics back and forth to help compesate for the dynamics in their singing and to help add emotion to the performance. Of course this is easier to do with a hand-held dynamic mic than it is with a shock-mounted tube mic hanging behind a pop filter in a studio, but the good vocalists will still work the mic somewhat even then.

If moving off the mic makes you sound "like you're in another room", I'd think that's probably because you're backing off a bit too far. The idea behind "working the mic" is to help even out the amplitude of your voice (actually a kind of compression in itself), not to make it sound different. It can take some practice at the start, but before you know it, working the mic the proper distances at the right times will be come reflex action that you won't even think about.

So I'd recommend practicing the song or songs you want to record a couple of times, perhaps even singing while staring at your VU meter to see what you need to work when to keep the meters just out of the red. After such practice, try a take or two. I'll give you 2:1 odds that the recording will sound a whole lot better all the way around, that any compression you may want will be to sweeten the sound and not to fix a problem, improving the results even more.

G.