Making thick vocals

S

SGPIANOMAN

New member
I'm recording a trio of people, and the tenor singer has a great voice. I recorded the vocal track and have a really good level. The signal is strong, however the vocal sounds very brittle to me. Very high and thin like. His voice in a concert is not thin. I've tried to bring up the lows and mids but still i'm not getting anything. I want to have the high in his voice stand out, but i don't want that thin sound to it. Any suggestions
 
What is your signal chain like? Specifically mic and preamp. It helps if the mic is well suited for the voice.
 
Yup, specifics!!! Did you use a good large-diaphram condenser or a dynamic mic, etc.

In the short term, avoid boosting your EQ. Instead use a parametric EQ, set with a fairly broad Q (1.5 or more), and sweep around the mid to high range with a couple of Db cut. Once you get an idea of where it sounds best narrow the Q as narrow as you can (To avoid removing excessive material, that you'd want to keep). Chances are you won't have to remove much in the high-end (Way less than what you'd have to add in the low-end with the method you've been using). Remember, if you can get close with one band of parametric, you can always fine tune with another band or two.
 
Mic selection and (especially) mic placement are critical for getting the vocal sound you want. Moving the singer a half inch closer to the mic, for example, might be just the ticket.

If retracking is not an option, you might try adding a subtle chorus effect using a digital delay.
 
Do you have phantom power somewhere in the mic chain? It might just be the pres on the recorder. I have the less expensive br-532, and the pres on it are not the best. The only way I was able to get a decent vocal out of them, was really close to the mic. 2 inches or less. Any further, and it seemed to lose a lot of the lower tones.
Don't know if any of this helps, but good luck man.
Ed
 
SGPIANOMAN said:
...the tenor singer has a great voice...The signal is strong, however the vocal sounds very brittle to me. Very high and thin like... it is a condensor mic (beringer) and it was ran thru the onboard pre-amps in my boss br1600
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I can't tell if the boss has phantom power or not, so make sure that isn't your problem. I also don't know about the quality of the preamps in that unit. The behringer mic gets very mixed reviews and is known for having a harsh high end. All of those could be contributing.
 
Yes the unit has phantom power, the mic i have notieced does have a high end. During the recording itself, he sounded fine, but just when i play it back on my computer (i use wav-maker to import it to my software) it jsut doesn't sound right. Could this be a computer/software problem. Soundcard maybe?
 
I'd say it's a combination of a crappy mic, and crappy sound card ( = crappy preamps and converters).

If the behringer's anything like I'd expect it to be, it probably has a fairly thin, harsh, and brittle sound. My mxl990's like that.
 
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