Vocal Recording Help..

Myth5331

Myth5331

New member
I am recording vocals (mainly hiphop). and some times the vocals seem a bit muddy or not so clear.. I am using a Blue baby Bottle Mic through a Digi 003 and a pair of Krk R8's. can someone give me some advice on how clear up my vocal performance. I am limited on plugins i have the Native waves power suite. Any help would be great..
Thanks!
 
:D Yo Myth in the Mile High City:

Just a few thoughts about your vocals being muddy:

Are you over-using reverb? Are you using a mic pre? A decent mic pre will deliver your vocal with more OmmPH. The Yam I use to record has some mastering algorithms and one real BOOST to sound is the HIP-HOP effect.

Also, you can split the music somewhat left/right and put your vocal track or tracks in the "middle."

You might pick up on one of Sinatra's old vocals--So clear and articulate. But, he had some fine mics to work with and some great engineers.

Hope this helps you a bit.

Green Hornet:cool:
 
You gotta figure out where your problem lies first! Could be (in order):

- Your voice (could just be you need to work on your diction n' clarity)

- Your room (your mic picks up sound based on location: if your voice sounds stuffy in the room, it's gonna sound stuffy in the mix)

- Your mic (are you ripping to close? The proximity effect removes some clarity in favor of bass. Try backing off a bit)

- Your pre (the 003's pre's should be working fine, but your definition of clarity might be different than mine)

- Your beats (if your backing track is super busy or full of high-end, it'll be way harder for your rhymes to cut through)


eliminate all of these and you're set!
 
thanks!

Im using only the pre's that are in the digi 003.
I've noticed that it sounds pretty good until I put the Master fader in the mix and I put a dither I use the Wave Arts Final Plug Five, thats when it seems to get a little "muddy". is it because my levels throughout the mix are to loud? none of the tracks are peaking but i have limiters on them..
 
:cool: Try shutting off your dither and limiter. Your vocal should be peaking near the top if you want it to stand out. Not blasting but up near the top and you can even go over it a tad.

Some folks let the music kind of overpower the vocal as in many, many recordings out there. If one can't hear the words, then the emphasis is on the music which seems to be the case in many projects. I've heard some engineers say that the "producers" don't give a dink about the vocal as long as the music is solid. Why do the vocal then?

I forgot to mention that Sinatra also had one marvelous voice.

Green Hornet:cool:
 
There is one thing that I like to do with a track before I finalize it. I turn the volume down on the whole mix. Just enough to hear everything clear with out straining. Then I listen to the whole song. If I can hear the music clean and clear, and the vocals still come through with clarity then I know I am on the right track. Then I pump it up a bit and make sure nothing overpowers the vocals at an elevated level. Vocals don't mean crap if you can hear them over bass.
 
mrdarkside2k3 said:
There is one thing that I like to do with a track before I finalize it. I turn the volume down on the whole mix. Just enough to hear everything clear with out straining. Then I listen to the whole song. If I can hear the music clean and clear, and the vocals still come through with clarity then I know I am on the right track. Then I pump it up a bit and make sure nothing overpowers the vocals at an elevated level. Vocals don't mean crap if you can hear them over bass.
Click to expand...
Can we hear some samples?
 
Myth5331 said:
I am recording vocals (mainly hiphop). and some times the vocals seem a bit muddy or not so clear.. I am using a Blue baby Bottle Mic through a Digi 003 and a pair of Krk R8's. can someone give me some advice on how clear up my vocal performance. I am limited on plugins i have the Native waves power suite. Any help would be great..
Thanks!
Click to expand...
I'm not trying to stir some [SELF-CENSORED] here - Honest.

But I've been seeing a pattern going on at so many different forums that have several things in common:

1) Hip hop / rap vocals
2) Blue Baby Bottle
3) Usually some sort of Digi or PTLE interface
4) KRK's

And the same complaint, time after time after time after time.

Why does everyone keep buying the stuff? It seems to be the most common rig - and the most troublesome all at the same time.

Granted: It's not what I'd use in an aggressive vocal chain anyway (the mic, the preamps, the speakers for that matter) - It doesn't surprise me in the least that they're unhappy with that chain - But I keep seeing the same thing - "I can't get my vocals to sound good" yet the same people will go on and on about how good everything in their chain is.

Explanation? Anyone?
 
Myth5331 said:
My Music is on my myspace..
Myspace.com/malouff
Click to expand...

Even before reading that the limiter is causing problems, that was the first thing that came to mind when I listened to your myspace stuff. There is a fair amount of distortion happening - so much you can hear it on the crappy myspace player.............
 
NL5 said:
Even before reading that the limiter is causing problems, that was the first thing that came to mind when I listened to your myspace stuff. There is a fair amount of distortion happening - so much you can hear it on the crappy myspace player.............
Click to expand...


You know, when i listen to those stuff last night, I just thought that there are a bit of extra "effect" on the vocal tracks, but now that you said that, I think that could be the problem. I rarely see rap vocal getting process that much on commercial tracks.
 
Massive Master said:
I'm not trying to stir some [SELF-CENSORED] here - Honest.

But I've been seeing a pattern going on at so many different forums that have several things in common:

1) Hip hop / rap vocals
2) Blue Baby Bottle
3) Usually some sort of Digi or PTLE interface
4) KRK's

And the same complaint, time after time after time after time.

Why does everyone keep buying the stuff? It seems to be the most common rig - and the most troublesome all at the same time.

Granted: It's not what I'd use in an aggressive vocal chain anyway (the mic, the preamps, the speakers for that matter) - It doesn't surprise me in the least that they're unhappy with that chain - But I keep seeing the same thing - "I can't get my vocals to sound good" yet the same people will go on and on about how good everything in their chain is.

Explanation? Anyone?
Click to expand...

The big music stores recommend this setup all the time to beginners who record hip hop (or maybe to every beginner). Last time I went to sam ash and guitar center for a sm7b they both tried to sell me a Blue Baby Bottle mic, a PTLE interface, and KRK monitors.
 
JohnCutts said:
The big music stores recommend this setup all the time to beginners who record hip hop (or maybe to every beginner). Last time I went to sam ash and guitar center for a sm7b they both tried to sell me a Blue Baby Bottle mic, a PTLE interface, and KRK monitors.
Click to expand...
Can you say "SPIFF"? I knew you could! :D

G.
 
I suppose that shouldn't surprise me...

In the mean time, I'll just keep counting the e-mails and PM's from people touting how good their vocals finally sound with SM7b's and "normal" recording levels.

Maybe I should send them to GC Corporate... :D
 
I've actually managed to get decent results from a Baby Bottle.

Doesn't change the fact that I hate it and haven't used it in 5 years...lol

If I remember correctly, it has a bost in the low mid range would MIGHT contribute a little to the muddy stuff.

I'm sure the limiter is still 40% of the prob tho (55% given to enexperience) which leaves 5% for the equipment...
 
I dont understand why the first thing people should ssggest is doing some kind of sound treatment. Whether its putting a duvet in front and back of you or standing in front of a closet it will help beef up the sound because there wont be all that phase cancellation happening. Im going on the idea that you probably dont have the best room for recording...square?

I
 
Late response...

DAS19 said:
I dont understand why the first thing people should ssggest is doing some kind of sound treatment. Whether its putting a duvet in front and back of you or standing in front of a closet it will help beef up the sound because there wont be all that phase cancellation happening. Im going on the idea that you probably dont have the best room for recording...square?

I
Click to expand...

In hip hop, the vocalist is usually so close to the mic that the room doesn't factor as much as you might think. This doesn't mean that it's not important...it always is, but I don't think it's as big a contributor to this instance as you might think. If only I had witnesses to some of the places I've recorded...*whistles*

Seeing as how I've seen this problem countless times as far as this genre goes, I would say the room is not likely the top culprit. Is it one of them? Yes, but not the 1st...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top