How to mix vocals when recorded through mic which has picked a lot of the room ?

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kratos

New member
My condenser mic (Rode Ntk) picks up a lot of my room when I record since I haven't acoustically treated my room. There is no static, or white noise as my signal is clean through my preamp but when I recorded this rapper the other day, the vocals didn't fit the mix at all since the mic picked up all of of my room as well.
Now, since I'm low on money i don't want to buy acoustic treatment for my room.
What are other ways I can use with my DAW (software which I record music) to fit my vocal mix because of the room problems?
I have noticed I ALWAYS have to use heavy reverb on my backing tracks just to slightly fit the vocals. The vocals don't seem to fit in a dry mix AT ALL.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
Try using a Noise Gate and set the attack and release times very fast so it'll only let through the dry sound.
It can sometimes be difficult to achieve but it works most of the time.
 
PaddyGordon said:
Try using a Noise Gate and set the attack and release times very fast so it'll only let through the dry sound.
It can sometimes be difficult to achieve but it works most of the time.
Click to expand...

wow neat trick! Just tried it and it pretty much removed all the room noise! The vocal sounds as if its been done inside a vocal booth LOL!
 
hmm I'll have to give that a try. Sounds interesting. But wouldn't using the gate just eliminate the noise during the quiet parts, and not during the singing parts? Even with a fast attack and release, the room noise will be there whenever the gate is not active. Correct or am I missing something?

Usually if the vocals don't sit well in the mix I'll retrack them, or fix the the mix to make them fit. Vocals are kinda the crowning jewel, so if something else is in the way that thing has to go, or be reworked.
 
aaronmcoleman said:
hmm I'll have to give that a try. Sounds interesting. But wouldn't using the gate just eliminate the noise during the quiet parts, and not during the singing parts? Even with a fast attack and release, the room noise will be there whenever the gate is not active. Correct or am I missing something?

Usually if the vocals don't sit well in the mix I'll retrack them, or fix the the mix to make them fit. Vocals are kinda the crowning jewel, so if something else is in the way that thing has to go, or be reworked.
Click to expand...

Yeah tried the noise gate- doesn't work very well for whispering and soft singing.
But either than that, it really works.
 
Room treatment of some kind will really be the best help. At the very least, I would make a couple of 4" thick rock wool panels or on the cheaper side, two mic stands making a 'T' with towels over them. Place them in a 'V' shape behind the mic so the singer is in the 'V' facing it. This will at least reduce some of the reflections while tracking. Also I might suggest tracking the whisper and soft singing parts separately with the singer closer up on the mic.

Everything has improved drastically for me after treating my room.

Good luck Kratos!
 
Have a look at this series, there are several different ways covered that you can try to improve your acoustic in the room. You'll find them under the "reverb" section
 
I think he's just talking about the ambient noise that a hot mic like the NTK picks up, not the acoustics of the room (although treatment would be a great idea). So I don't think acoustic treatment will help with this problem. It's just something you have to live with in a non-sound proof room.

Use the gate to keep the noise from building up during parts it's not needed, or cut out the silent parts. For moderate to loud singing it probably won't be a huge problem having some noise, but for the whispers you may want to get closer to the mic, and/or track the quiet parts separately from the louder parts. Other option is to use a less sensitive mic for quiet parts (sm57, even my fatheads don't pick up as much noise).

This is something most of us have to deal with. I have to take breaks when the neighbor's gardener starts mowing (which is happening right now!), and forget about recording on friday or saturday nights when the bars on the corner are hoping.
 
jimmys69 said:
Room treatment of some kind will really be the best help. At the very least, I would make a couple of 4" thick rock wool panels or on the cheaper side, two mic stands making a 'T' with towels over them. Place them in a 'V' shape behind the mic so the singer is in the 'V' facing it. This will at least reduce some of the reflections while tracking. Also I might suggest tracking the whisper and soft singing parts separately with the singer closer up on the mic.

Everything has improved drastically for me after treating my room.

Good luck Kratos!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. At the moment I'm moving places so room treatment is not really an option for me right now :S
 
You do not need a lot of money to tame down an overly live room for a vocal recording. Just hanging up some blankets and quilts around the vocal mic will get rid of a lot of the ambiance.
 
when i first started i had a lot of room in the track due to low treatment but mixed well with the overall mix with the right compressor. though sometimes you can get a great reverb without the need of an effect to do it. in my case i hated that i couldn't control it. try a reflection filter. you can pick one of those up for about $100. they really do help a lot.
 
Tip I learned from an well known sound engineer, Go to your other tracks and notch out the unused frequencies that are interfearing with the vocal tones and their harmonic order. You need the upper and lower harmonics to be present to have a good sounding dry vocal sound.
 
I had the same problem, got a Reflexion filter, problem solved. Prime Acoustics makes a similar device not quite as top heavy as the RF.
 
I wouldn't use a full out noise gate, but I would set it as an expander to push anything that's below the threshold down so it's not as loud. Be careful and listen for any loss of transients, try to not let that happen if possible. Even pro recording have room noise. Don't sweat it too much, unless the vocal is playing by itself and it becomes audible.
 
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