Difficult-to-Record Female Lead Vocal?

[RavinRyan]

Hi. I know this may seem obvious (as in "EQ" ya dummy) but I was hoping to get opinions about how others deal with certain "problem" vocal tones. In this case, it is a female singer/songwriter with a really fabulous singing voice and ability. But it's almost like there is no mic that can capture her voice without it sounding (searching for the best way to describe it) "thin," "biting," "piercing," "reedy."

I have have tried most of the common treatments, i.e. different mics (mainly LDCs, including Neumann TLM-103 and similar), different pre-amps (my main one is a Peavey VMP-2 tube), EQ after tracking, EQ during tracking, different rooms (dead AND Live), all with varying degrees of success, but never really feeling like the recording did her justice.

Interestingly, I've recorded several other female singer-songwriters who sound FANTASTIC through the same mics. I know the singer-mic pairing is different for everyone, but DANG! Short of Hunting down an AKG C-12 to try out on her, we've tried just about everything.

Any suggestions from the group?

Thanks!

Ryan

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Ryan:

Sounds like you have just about anything/everything available to melt-in your groovy vocal tracks. I may mention a couple of things that you might try:


1. Use a Yamaha "STAGE" reverb....just add the setting around 15-20; check it out when it sounds good.

I've heard several folks leave the vocalist DRY as Fume Blanc--needs some "juice" to enhance the sound image.

2. I have three "mastering" samples I use often. Each one boosts the voice level to a "larger" sound. Using this in the #1 or #2 level which make the vocalish "rich" and "wide" but not blasting.

I have always believed that the singer should STAND OUT from the music when she is singing.

Just a couple of thoughts that you may check out.

Green Hornet

[DrewPeterson7]

Hmm. If thin, dry, and reedy is your problem, I guess my first thought would be a fairly dark sounding ribbon, but it might be worth trying something that's just totally inappropriate for a female vocalist, just for kicks - maybe like a kick drum mic, or one of those handheld harmonica mics, or something? It'll probably sound like garbage, but then again maybe something pretty lo-fi sounding would work in the track...

[SouthSIDE Glen]

You might want to try getting more sound from her chest/diaphragm either by a) tilting the mic downward a bit, b) lowering the height of the microphone, or c) layering a second microphone track with the first mic setup like normal and a second one down by the sternum pointed down (or maybe a lav mic).

G.

[batterista]

I don't think this really relates to your issue, but I find this very interesting. I haven't tried to work w/ a female singer to work around this... don't know what kind of reaction I'd get!

The adverse affects of PMS on female vocals.
http://www.singershealth.com/pms.html

[RavinRyan]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I think the ribbon mic idea is pretty likely to help. I haven't tried one yet.

Also, I thought one more word to add to the description of the voice character might clear up what I'm dealing with. It may sound odd to say of a woman her age, but her voice has "child-like" qualities in tone and timber. She has a very narrow throat. Does that make sense?

Thanks again for all your suggestions!

Ryan

[NYMorningstar]

Originally Posted by RavinRyan

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I think the ribbon mic idea is pretty likely to help. I haven't tried one yet.

Also, I thought one more word to add to the description of the voice character might clear up what I'm dealing with. It may sound odd to say of a woman her age, but her voice has "child-like" qualities in tone and timber. She has a very narrow throat. Does that make sense?

Thanks again for all your suggestions! Ryan

It's sounding more and more like the problem is she can't sing. Maybe a few lessons would be in order.

[jmorris]

do the recordings of her "sound" like her when you hear her sign? That will give you your answer and solution. If it doesnt sound like her the problem is from your end.If it does sound like her, then your plan of attack is how to alter her sound. to be more of what "you" want to hear.