More Q's about vocal recording

[pisces7378]

FIRST OF ALL... I wan to thank EVERYONE that answered me. I found this website and assumed that it was a load of crap like most of the sites on the internet are. But you guys proved me wrong. Ok. Now everyone has said that you just plug the mic directly into the 4 track. I have done that and it work. But it is flat and has no echo, reverb, just my SHITTY voice. Now I am not a bad singer but I am no Pavarati either. I need some (a lot) of reverb to make it sound good. How do I get simple effects like reverb? And without blowing up my 4 track like I did with my powered PA Head. DO I REALLY have to go out and buy a seperate PA mixer with no power just to add reverb to my vocal tracks?

[dobro]

Well, your 4-track's analog, not digital, right? If your were recording digitally, you could use software reverb, but analog recorders do best with an external reverb unit. The reverb unit is powered and doesn't need an amp or mixer. I haven't done it myself, but I'm guessing you run your dry tracks out of the 4-track to the reverb unit, and then run the wet signal from the reverb unit back into the 4-track. If this doesn't work, I accept no responsibility for ruining your life.

Go to the Gear Forum and do a search on 'reverb' - you'll get lots of ideas from that.

[CyanJaguar]

But if you want some reverb, man record in your bathroom. Good reverb.

[tmcbrinn]

Hey man, you mentioned that you have a powered mixer? If that's the case, and you have either built in fx, or an fx loop, then you need to look for a direct out of some type on your mixer. Anything that WILL NOT SEND ANY POWER! See if you have a direct out, or maybe even a tape out. It's not ideal, but it could get the job done. Also, list all of your equipment and someone might be able to better asist you.