Recording Vocals

[JollyJake]

Hey All!

I'm a singer who has the luxury of having a nice home studio, but the disadvantage of not knowing what I'm really doing!!!

I'm using a ribbon mic (I believe it's a Royer R-121) to record, I do know that much. I have a Groove Tubes MD2a that I'm going to experiment with as well. Here are some pictures of the equipment I have:

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i36.photobucket.com/albums/e9/JollyJake/MainAreaEquipment2.jpg

i36.photobucket.com/albums/e9/JollyJake/MainAreaEquipment1.jpg

i36.photobucket.com/albums/e9/JollyJake/MainAreaFacingTheGrate.jpg

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Sorry about the links, I did it that way because of a policy here. Just copy and paste the links as they are into your browser and it will work.

I've used a cheap MP3 backing track to record part of a song and you can listen that here: box.net/shared/402u8vllpu

The vocals are ok in quality, but here are my problems:

1. On the big notes on certain vowels I'm extremely loud and I get distortion from the mic - not because the levels are too high. I've experimented with mic positions, but I could use some pointers because I keep getting distortion on the word "On" (Sustained for a few seconds on an A4).

1. I've turned the preamp trim and gain down to about 60% and that has eliminated most of the distortion, but later on I have to normalize the vocals about 6 DB to get a good level - I know that isn't good.

I ordered that backing track on a CD and the quality is a ton better than the MP3 track. I want to record the entire song over again, but I want to be sure that I can get a professional sounding vocal.

My quieter vocals sound better to me than my louder vocals... Is it just me, or is there something to that?

Let me know your thoughts on this!

Thanks,
Jake

P.S. I have my Father to thank for the studio if you're wondering.

[Smileyshreads]

wow bro you have a killer voice. Im not much to help on ur questions.. but i do have questions for you =]

What do u use for vocals?? and some settings? cause ive been having a REALLY hard time getting my vocals to sound decent.. im really new to recording. i do have the Waves mercury bundle which was pretty $$ and some nice stuff. i also use a AKG perception 220 condensor mic.. 178$ i beleive i dunno if thats my problem or not? but i dont know what plugins to use if any.. either on the input bus.. or record with no plugins then add them onto the vocal buss

[JollyJake]

Thanks, man! That wasn't the case a few years ago, haha. Comes from training and a love of singing.

I use Samplitude 9 Professional to record and edit. I use it's Room Simulator with a reverb that my Dad used and I have EQ'd my voice so that it fits in with the track. I used \Antares Tube to boost the level of my vocal. I used Antares Autotune to perfect it. I think that was it!

It's possible, I'm not really sure. Like I said, I don't really know what I'm doing, but I want to learn!

I'll post up the new version when it's done. Any comments are welcome, especially answers to my questions!

Jake

[JuliánFernández]

Originally Posted by Smileyshreads

i do have the Waves mercury bundle which was pretty $$ and some nice stuff. i also use a AKG perception 220 condensor mic.. 178$

5k plugins + 178 bucks mics...


Here we go again...

[Smileyshreads]

well i do plan on buying a better mic... its just for now this is all i got.. for a while i just been doing instrumental things liek satch and vai. but now i wanna add in vocals

[JuliánFernández]

Man, what I tried to say is that no one will believe you that you paid 6k for Mercury Bundle, and you are recording with cheap mics...

There´s a piracy police on this forums and most members (myself included) are against soft piracy...

Read this topic and you´ll find plenty of info on how to keep using nice plugins that are free! (believe me, you won´t even notice the difference!)

http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=277521

Cheers and welcome!

[Smileyshreads]

and who says i didnt pay for it.. why would i spend 1k or more on a mic if i dont know what to get. thats why im asking about this. im not a lead singer.. im a guitarist. i never got into recording vocals until recently when my friend wanted to record his stuff. and now i lack on vocal equipment. Im not going to spend $$$ on something i dont even play or use.

[nate_dennis]

What is your signal chain? It sounds like you could benefit from some compression going in. I don't know much about digital stuff, so I don't know if you can "print" compression digitally, but if your music is dynamic (you use a broad range of volumes) it may help you keep your levels from distorting. I'm not able to listen to your track from this computer so I'm just going on description. Just a thought.

[NYMorningstar]

Originally Posted by Smileyshreads

and who says i didnt pay for it.. why would i spend 1k or more on a mic if i dont know what to get. thats why im asking about this. im not a lead singer.. im a guitarist. i never got into recording vocals until recently when my friend wanted to record his stuff. and now i lack on vocal equipment. Im not going to spend $$$ on something i dont even play or use.

Eventually everyone is going to say you didn't pay for it. It seems obvious that when you use a cheap mic with a Mercury Waves bundle and use SX3 and don't know what a dongle is, well... I mean I'm just sayin...

[jmorris]

First, dont jump on the guy about pirated software unless you know. Second Jake, what is your mic placement? I cant listen to samples presently but you said you have issues on loud vocals. What I do is have the mic about level with bridge of singers nose,maybe 10-12 inches away,angled down towards mouth.I will run it through a compressor also while recording but your main help will be mic position. It is also ok to back away from the mic a little at loud points.
Jim

[NL5]

If you are getting distortion, you are either overloading the mic, the pre, or the converter. You need to get you gain staging right. I doubt you are overloading the mic, unless you are REALLY up on it, as I use that mic on loud guitar cabs all the time.

Also, why would you normalize a track?

Lastly, good compression is your friend when mixing vocals. It takes a bit to learn how to do right, but it's golden when done properly.