How to handle wildly dynamic mic input from vocals ?

P

pure.fusion

New member
Hi all,

I'm lead to believe that a "real" singer will have vocal mic technique and will be good at keeping a (more) constant level into the mic. I never see this!

What do you guys do to handle widely varying levels into the mic? Do you allow for the loudest level without clipping and then boost the crap out of the soft bits which end up being really soft?

What's the go?

Cheers,
FM
 
Compression on the way in. My favorite for vocals is the compressor in my Langevin DVC. It is like an LA3A. I also run that into an ART proVLA. The DVC grabs all the big stuff and the VLA smooths it a little more.
 
Thanks for your reply.

"On the way in" ? I might need some help understanding my equipment then. So is this right...

RODE NT1A -> [hardware compressor] -> E-MU 0404 (my sound card)

Is my only option a hardware compressor situated here? I don't own one...

FM
 
No, the hardware compressor would need to be after the preamp which, unfortunately, is in your interface. But you could just record it at what ever level you can without clipping and use a compressor plugin to get it sitting right. If it is really wild, use two of them set to catch different things: A slower one to ride the levels a bit and a faster one to catch the big peaks. Sometimes you can make it sound more natural when you use two compressors instead of making one do everything.
 
David Bowie's engineer used two mics... one up close for the low volume parts of the song, and one some distance away for the screaming components.
 
Yeah, I remember the docco I saw and the "Just for one day" song, the louder vocals (obviously) had the sound of more distance between Bowie and the mic.

No, I need to sound as if it were sung at the same level... by someone that can sing.

Cheers.
 
You kinda answered 1/2 your own question - record so it never clips, even if the lows are low. Then compress with a plug. That's what you do if you don't have hardware. With that said - It's a really easy technique to learn to back of the mic. When I'm gonna get really loud I just back off and lift my head towards the ceiling and let it rip.
 
You could use two mics, one with more gain than the other. Edit together the two tracks so that when the louder mic clips, use the audio from the other mic.
 
Yup.

I got falsetto (quiet) moving to non-falsetto (loud) notes, as well as all the other standard issues. I try to manage mic distance/ angle wtih my head but still.....

The safer approach is the non-clip, mega-compress method.

The "skill" method is too risky and time consuming - If I nail one of the vocal parts, I'd be fairly pissed off that line clipped 'cause I didn't turn my head enough etc.

Slow and steady wins the race for me. Also, it's just home recording for fun.

FM
 
Farview said:
You could use two mics, one with more gain than the other. Edit together the two tracks so that when the louder mic clips, use the audio from the other mic.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, I wonder if I'd notice the change in sound? 1 x RODE NT1A and 1 x Studio projects [Something].

So, what, mics sitting side by side, really close to each other?
 
pure.fusion said:
Yup.

I got falsetto (quiet) moving to non-falsetto (loud) notes, as well as all the other standard issues. I try to manage mic distance/ angle wtih my head but still.....

The safer approach is the non-clip, mega-compress method.

The "skill" method is too risky and time consuming - If I nail one of the vocal parts, I'd be fairly pissed off that line clipped 'cause I didn't turn my head enough etc.

Slow and steady wins the race for me. Also, it's just home recording for fun.

FM
Click to expand...

Yeah - I've clipped my share ! The time consuming part I just view as practice. Most of my tunes are 3 minutes or less, so it takes me, well, 3 minutes or less to do any part over start to finish :-) But yes - it should be about fun, not frustration.
 
So, distance from mouth to mic ?

Previously I've been keeping about 450mm (about 18 inches). Is this personal preference or is there some method here?
 
pure.fusion said:
So, distance from mouth to mic ?

Previously I've been keeping about 450mm (about 18 inches). Is this personal preference or is there some method here?
Click to expand...

That or a tinch closer. I also don't normally sing directly into the mic. Its either aimed at my chest and I'm singing over it, or it's hanging down above me and I'm singing 'up. Depends on whether I want to emphasize chest or head voice for a given song.
 
Hey, just want to ask a quick question...

Your EMU 0404 is the PCI variety or the USB?? One has a mic pre and the other doesn't. It might make a difference on what hardware you will need to purchase, if you do. The PCI card doesn't have a mic pre, just 1/4" line level in and SPDIF.
 
Chili said:
Hey, just want to ask a quick question...

Your EMU 0404 is the PCI variety or the USB?? One has a mic pre and the other doesn't. It might make a difference on what hardware you will need to purchase, if you do. The PCI card doesn't have a mic pre, just 1/4" line level in and SPDIF.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your input.

It's the USB version. .. and I probably wouldn't buy hardware anyway.

I'm very happy with the idea of managing it with the compressors and maybe even the twin mic thing when I've sorted out the distance-> 2 mic thing.
 
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