Well...survived.
And pretty well at that.
I must say thanks to Bobby Darko for the idea on the mic array. Its funny...I spent some money on those Studio Projects mics, the C1 and the two B3's. Not
unhappy with them, but I got the C1 specifically for vocals, and then I don't use it.
I end up using my hi-hat and snare mic that I got back in the early 90's.
I reallyreallyreally liked working with that array. Msh, you were right, probably could have gotten away with not using the 57, but
it was really cool to have both of them. The original input stream for both mics was M-520 pre --> Tascam PE-40 eq --> ART TCS compressor --> direct out from M-520 to patchbay to i88x line input ---> ADC to DAW. I didn't plan on nor did I use the eq on the M-520, and actually after the first take I pulled the PE-40 out of the loop too...I really tried to focus in simplicity, thinking of the eq as an "only in extreme situations" piece of equipment. It really helps to understand that every link in the chain adds noise and distortion. I set the TCS to an optical compressor for the SM94, and a VCA based circuit for the 57. Set the attack and release so the gain reduction meter danced nicely with her vocal rhythm and set the threshhold so that the gain was
rarely reduced by more than 2dB and most the time they sat at 0dB...ratio for both was set to 2:1. Back to the 2-mic thing...With no eq in the loop there was a nasal quality which I abated somewhat by reversing the phase on the 57, and then I had a
great deal of control over the quality of the the lower bands via the level of the 57 due to the comb filtering. It was cool. I decided to modulate the level of the 57 rather than the 94 because the 94 sounded great on its own and the 57 not so much. As I'd bring up the level of the 57 it would start to increase the vocal power and then it would get hollow and then there was a small sweet spot...go over and she sounded like she needed decongestant...under and she was singing in a box, but that sweet spot was nice. So I routed those mics each to a PGM buss so I could play with the mix during tracking and then set the input faders for the proper level to the DAW and then monitored her cue mix at the console and tweakered the AUX knobs a little bit so it sounded nice.
Here's the best part:
the harsh brittle quality with which we struggled so horribly the first tracking session was gone! On playback there is still a cut to her vocal quality but it is smooth and representative of what she sounds like, and rather than try to "fix" it now I have a feeling that quality will actually sit nice in the mix and keep its place out in front...it won't get buried, or rather it'll be harder for me to bury.
I was really surprised on the absence of that biting brittleness from the first time. We noticed it sounded better during tracking, but I warned her that we were not listening to DAW playback and that it might be there after the ADC step...it wasn't. We braced ourselves on playback...there were a couple notes that would always set it off but it would roll through smooth.
I think the 2-mic array, with those mics, was part of the solution. I really think having the baffles there did a lot too.
She was more relaxed. She was jazzed about the different piano patches we could pull up, and it was nice being able to bring in reverb from the instrument itself, and she
really liked having reverb on her vocal...she liked
a lot of reverb...I asked more than once "you're sure its not too much?", but it definitely helped her get lost in the music. She just kept saying "it sounds so pretty".
Had
lots of struggles with the M-520 though...I was hoping I could just run with it, but I'm gonna have to pull the modules out and start cleaning pots and switches...mainly switches. The pots I can deal with, but some of the source select switches will cut the signal until you dicker with them, and the latching push switches...
man! I had one channel ON switch that would be fine and then after you let things sit for a bit... fffffffffffff
fffffffffffffffFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-T...........ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
I finally got it to stop after exercising the switch and wiggling it around but it was totally unprofessional.
So anyway, it went well overall and it would not have gone so were it not for the helps I got here, so thanks!