AT3035 on vocals - 'Boxy' sounding??

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Obstacle1

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Hey, I recently purchased an AT3035 and i love it for acoustic but when recording vocals i thought it sounded like i was singing in a small box - any else think this? the reason i ask is that i have previously been using a 58 and was wondering whether it might just be that i am used to the 58 sound over the AT3035. Thanks
 
Obstacle1 said:
Hey, I recently purchased an AT3035 and i love it for acoustic but when recording vocals i thought it sounded like i was singing in a small box - any else think this? the reason i ask is that i have previously been using a 58 and was wondering whether it might just be that i am used to the 58 sound over the AT3035. Thanks
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How big is your room?
 
gcapel said:
iiiiiim tha maaann in tha box...
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Love that tune..... :D

I recently took apart my room to d some re-arranging, and found that using my 4040 out in the middle of the room, with nothing around, it sounds really bad. I normally use it in a corner with foam on 2 sides. My room is only 12X12, but it made a big difference on my vocal sound.
 
boingoman said:
How big is your room?
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That's the thing right there. You ARE in a box and it will come through in your recordings if you don't treat your room.
 
Possibly dumb question but - are you singing into the right side of the mic?
 
Bingo. The mic is telling you...go try another room, it's stuffy in here! I use a pair of 4050's for vocals right now in a 50x60x20ft warehouse. Concrete ceiling floor and brick walls. I have what you might call a bit of a reflection problem. I set up two gobo's on both side of the mic, then use the second mic in different parts of the room for different reverb effects to fit the vibe of the song. But the room is the room and will always sound like it does unless you treat it. Then it will sound like a treated room... if that's what works for you....
 
Thanks for the quick responses all.

boingoman said:
How big is your room?
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Well my room is very small, probably 6ft x 15ft. I live in Dorms you see so its the only room I have!

Supercreep said:
Possibly dumb question but - are you singing into the right side of the mic?
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Yes :p
TheHunter said:
Or... try other singers it might be your voice :)
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It's not my voice - like i say, the 58 didn't sound this way and I have also used an AKG Perception 200 which also didn't.

I will get some foam eventually, but are there any household items i can use in the mean time to treat my room?
 
Could be a proximity effect, back off and use a pop filter, kind of a middy mic tho
 
Zed10R said:
That's the thing right there. You ARE in a box and it will come through in your recordings if you don't treat your room.
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+1 , Most likely to be bad room acoustics.

Supercreep said:
Possibly dumb question but - are you singing into the
right side of the mic?
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Doh'....been there, unfortunately. :o
 
Obstacle1 said:
It's not my voice - like i say, the 58 didn't sound this way and I have also used an AKG Perception 200 which also didn't.
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If you can't treat your room and you've tried everything then why not just use the 58 on vocals and the AT on guitar?
 
I have two AT3035's and an SM58...it's the room.

Honestly...I wouldn't even try to treat the room. That long and narrow, it will always sound like you're shouting through a tunnel. You have an entire university at your disposal...get creative.
 
hell yeah, use the concert hall or whatever when no one's looking :)

some nice natural reverb aye?
 
Got a 3035 in a some small room that was not treated for a long time and had much success with it.

The 6ft wide is way crappy but try this. Use the pad & the low roll off / hi pass. Get a good pop filter and put it about 3 inches from the grill of the mic. Sing as close as you comfortably can to the pop filter. I hung a heavy comforter to my back and stayed backed up to it as close as I could and still have freedom of movement. With doing all this I never had a problem with too much room in the mic. Grant it your situation is a little worse only being 6 feet wide, but I think you could find something that will work. Key is getting as close to that mic as you can.

The mic will handle the spl's no problem, I sing loud. 3035 is by no means a boxy mic either.

Good luck :)

F.S.
 
I also have a 3035, and agree with everyone else that your problem is the room. F.S. gave some good suggestions. Get as close to it as you can and try to take the room out of the equation as much as possible.
 
Audio Technicas sound that way on my voice, but not everyone else's. I wouldn't discount that it may just be the tone of your voice, like mine, that it doesn't flatter. It could be an number of things, but just don't rule that out. Do you have a lot of strong midrange tone in your voice, by chance?
 
Big Kenny said:
Could be a proximity effect, back off and use a pop filter, kind of a middy mic tho
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I used to sing way to close too my AT3035 before I figured out that that was the reason why it wasn't sounding too great.
 
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