Do people record vocals digitally??

M

Mizchif

New member
I was having a conversation with some guy today and he was sayin that no one records vocals digitally at all
its all done analog

and i know that analog is better and more expensive when it comes to recording but i couldn't fully agree with him on this point

he was also saying that the ONLY way to get good vocals is to use a vocal channel
and that there is NO way you can get away without using one


can anyone help clear this up for me
 
Gosh- all those vocals that I've recorded digitally must have sounded just aweful and no one ever told me! :D

Of course you can record vocals digitally, along with anything else. Most of the arguements that analog always sounds better than digital have no meaning for the average home recordist.

Sure, top rate analog gear run by a top rate engineer may have a sonic edge over top rate digital gear run by a top rate engineer- but that is the only place I know of where the debate really has any meaning.

I also have no idea what he means by "vocal channel." There are some peices of gear that bill themselves as "vocal channels" or some such- but they are typically just some common processors in the same box. Like a preamp, compressor, maybe some reverb and a de-esser. Its all stuff that most studios have laying around as separate units and they just wire them together.

In any case it has nothing to do with the analog or digital recording medium. They both use most of the same gear to record the vocals (and everything else)- one just slaps it on tape, the other on the harddrive.

I hope that helps a little. I'm not sure what your friend was trying to say, but it doesn't really make much sense to me. No doubt I'm just missing the rest of the conversation.

Take care,
Chris
 
Let's take this bit by bit...

I was having a conversation with some guy today
Click to expand...
Fair enough...


and he was sayin that no one records vocals digitally at all
its all done analog
Click to expand...
Completely wrong...


and i know that analog is better and more expensive when it comes to recording
Click to expand...
Again completely wrong...


but i couldn't fully agree with him on this point
Click to expand...
Good idea...


he was also saying that the ONLY way to get good vocals is to use a vocal channel
and that there is NO way you can get away without using one
Click to expand...
What the f*ck is a "vocal channel"???????????


can anyone help clear this up for me
Click to expand...
yes... and "you're welcome!"


:D :D

Bruce
 
Mizchif said:
he was also saying that the ONLY way to get good vocals is to use a vocal channel
Click to expand...

Dude. This guy was stearing you all wrong. Didn't you know the ONLY way you can get a good sound on anything is to use Tubes?

In fact, it isn't about digital or analog. You have to record everything ON TO THE TUBE.

That's right. Now go back to him and tell him he needs to get his facts straight, and buy a bunch of tubes.
 
Bruce, just curious-if you were given a choice to work on a project
with either a Studer (or equivilent) reel to reel or a digital hard disk system like the IZ Radar 24 which would you expect better
sound from, all other things being equal for rock or R&B recording?

Thanks
Chris

P.S. Not that this has much to do with the original question!
 
chessparov said:
Bruce, just curious-if you were given a choice to work on a project
with either a Studer (or equivilent) reel to reel or a digital hard disk system like the IZ Radar 24 which would you expect better
sound from, all other things being equal for rock or R&B recording?

Thanks
Chris

P.S. Not that this has much to do with the original question!
Click to expand...
Better sound? I suspect I would get somewhat similar sounds, since if I have a picture of the sound in my head, I'm going to go for that sound regardless of the recording media.... digital recording may make my life easier or harder, depending on the sound I wanted. What I guess I'm saying is that I've never used analog tape as an "effect" onto itself -- if I want something warm 'n fuzzy, I make sure it's going into the mic and coming out of the pres warm 'n fuzzy no matter which recording format I'm dealing with... (ie, the nail the sound at the source, not by the recording media!)

Bruce
 
so to sum it up

analog is not better??
which I didn't think it was
(at least for waht i'm doing)
I record a lot of hiphop music and stuff
so the main production is usually already made before we record
so i don't need to record instruments
just vocals
and

tubes are the way to get the best sound for vocals?

if so
then what would be the best tube(thing ) :) I can get for probably under 300 bucks


OR
is there some kind of software i could use that would help get the right sound
 
oh yeah btw

thanks for takin the time to reply to my questions guys

apparently I was lookin to the wrong people for answers

:)
 
there is no "tube" thing under 300 dollars that is worth getting..... a lot of the great "warm" preamps people love are actually solid state...... of course, those are thousands of dollars... for under 300, I would reccomend the M-Audio DMP3. Or a Meek MQ3, which has a nice photo-optical compressor which would probably get you some good sounds for a "fat" sound on hip-hop vocals.
 
There's an ad in the local rag saying 2 Inch 16 track Big fat sound..

I've heard big fat on digital and skinny thin on tape, like Bruce said the source is where its at and making sure that the source signal is %100 captured. Digtal or analog media, thats what your recording.

But it's amazing how many people say that tape is fatter or warmer, i just think noisey or expensive!!
 
>tubes are the way to get the best sound for vocals?

I think the poster was referring to the use of tube mic stands.

>i just think noisey or expensive!!

Not at all unless you're talking about a Portastudio in the former case or a Studer in the latter case.

I'm convinced a 24 bit/ 88.2KHz stereo recording done with some decent converters will easily match the "bandwidth" of a recording done with the same front end on a 1/2" Scully reel to reel two track at 30 ips. But that is a subjective evaluation.

The advantage of digital becomes apparent in the multitrack environment as each additional track in the digital realm merely requires a multisource front end (or overdubbing) while in the analog realm you need a wider tape or another machine (even for overdubbing). Even a 2" tape is just 8 tracks of 1/4" each or 16 of 1/8" each. That's getting close to cassette tape widths.

Ouch!

Not to mention the nightmare of keeping the physical parameters constant on a 2" transport (or any tape head for that matter). With digital, as long as your HD can keep up, extra tracks can all be at the same high resolution.

>apparently I was lookin to the wrong people for answers

And just who are the right people?
 
drstawl said:
Even a 2" tape is just 8 tracks of 1/4" each or 16 of 1/8" each. That's getting close to cassette tape widths.

Ouch!

Not to mention the nightmare of keeping the physical parameters constant on a 2" transport (or any tape head for that matter).
Click to expand...

I've never seen nor heard of a 2" 8 track machine. I don't believe they exist. 1" 1/2 track, I've heard of...
And..quite the contrary...I suppose when compared to a foot in length, an 1/8th" is getting close to cassette tape widths...but that really isn't really the case either. ...there's plenty of tape there, as the tape speed plays a major role too, as I'm sure you know.
Keeping an analog 2" machine in "physical parameters" isn't rocket science either. Just appears to be beyond the grasp of home recordists nowadays though. Dang...and you even had to change the bias for the guys tape brand used at the "other" studio too....:eek:
 
drstawl, now if you could convice Rupert Neve about the "equality"
of digital vs. analog at the highest level of recording-that would be
most impressive! Although digital is approaching the recording quality
of top end analog it isn't there quite yet. The top end digital is supposed
to be so good, however, that other than for die hard audiophiles this may
be a pretty moot point in a pragmatic sense anyway.

Thanks for your response Bruce.
If as musicians or singers we put the most emphasis on doing our best,
that will be the most important factor in the studio to get the kind of
recording we want to make, rather than what it's done on.

Chris

P.S. I've read about the existence of both 4 track 1" and 8 track 2"
reel to reel multi-tracks BTW. Maybe someone here knows more
as far as specific makes and models?
 
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