How to record my voice

[filipubere]

Hi,
Thanks for welcoming me on the forum. Sorry in advance for my poor English (I am French).
Here is my topic :
I write songs and sometimes I sing on them and record with my DAW.
When I sing live, usually playing guitar, people say that my voice is ok, well tuned and (sometimes too much) powerful.
But when I record it, it is flat, powerless and sometimes it looks like it is not tuned. Which is wrong when I check with a tuner.
I read a lot on the internet about recording methods, and attempted to apply them.
I tried different distances and angles with the microphone, tried alternatively 2 microphones, I have a preamp and optimize the gain of the preamp and the DAW.
Nothing works. It is a bit better than my first recordings, but still poor as I described.
I use Logic Pro as a DAW, a Shure SM57 and a Neewer Condenser as microphones, a GA Project PRE-73 as a preamp, a Focusrite iTrack Solo as interface (with phantom power for the condenser mic).
You could check the result by listening some of my songs on http://filipubere.com (Sega, Ballade, Lissage Brésilien...).
I suspect I do something wrong. Or, is it possible to sing well when live and impossible to be recorded ? That is definitely a newbie question
Thanks for any advice.
Philippe

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

. is it possible to sing well when live and impossible to be recorded ?

I am starting to think the very same thing.

It is a method of placing a chain of effects together. You can grab a bunch a voices at home with others. Just pressing record sounds nothing like the radio. Even when the voices are random callers in to the radio..

Dude, I can tell you have vocal ability from these tracks you posted.

 

[gecko zzed]

Or, is it possible to sing well when live and impossible to be recorded ? That is definitely a newbie question
Thanks for any advice.
Philippe

I listened to bits of the songs you noted.

Here are a few thoughts.

When you play live to an audience, you have adrenalin going through you, you sing out and to the audience, and the room adds its character. All of these add energy and life to a performance.

When I hear your voice on the recordings, , it doesn't impart the same energy that I imagine a live performance would. The vocal is pitched low, and sounds very dry. It's as if you are recording and worried about people hearing you record.

 

[pj11]

I listened on headphones to a few samples of the vocals. Seems you use a lot of reverbs and delays on your vocals. Heavily. This will cause that vocal to seem thin and sink it back in the mix. Not push to the front. Plus all the other fx you got going on with the other instruments is dancing around it. Not sure if you track your vocal dry and apply fx at mix or tracking with the fx applied.
I'd say record your vocal dry and get that track as fat as possible with eq, maybe compression, to your liking then add your fx in. Tweaking the feedback, effect levels, etc... to where it's not overbearing. It will keep that track a little cleaner and still punchy.

 

[filipubere]

I am starting to think the very same thing.

It is a method of placing a chain of effects together. You can grab a bunch a voices at home with others. Just pressing record sounds nothing like the radio. Even when the voices are random callers in to the radio..

Dude, I can tell you have vocal ability from these tracks you posted.

Thank you for your answer.

 

[filipubere]

I listened to bits of the songs you noted.

Here are a few thoughts.

When you play live to an audience, you have adrenalin going through you, you sing out and to the audience, and the room adds its character. All of these add energy and life to a performance.

When I hear your voice on the recordings, , it doesn't impart the same energy that I imagine a live performance would. The vocal is pitched low, and sounds very dry. It's as if you are recording and worried about people hearing you record.

Many thanks for your answer and congratulations for your deduction ability. Your perfectly right, the soundproofing of my flat is very bad, I am always afraid that the neighbors will hear me too much. I was suspecting something like this and you confirmed. Thanks again gecko. Have a nice day.

 

[filipubere]

I listened on headphones to a few samples of the vocals. Seems you use a lot of reverbs and delays on your vocals. Heavily. This will cause that vocal to seem thin and sink it back in the mix. Not push to the front. Plus all the other fx you got going on with the other instruments is dancing around it. Not sure if you track your vocal dry and apply fx at mix or tracking with the fx applied.
I'd say record your vocal dry and get that track as fat as possible with eq, maybe compression, to your liking then add your fx in. Tweaking the feedback, effect levels, etc... to where it's not overbearing. It will keep that track a little cleaner and still punchy.

Hello, tanks for your answer. You're right, I was already suspecting the bad effect of too much reverb and delay. I'll try to use them less and more dry vocal. Have a nice day.