Best mic for operatic soprano recording

  • Thread starter Thread starter Morodiene
  • Start date Start date
M

Morodiene

New member
I'm an operatic soprano with a pretty large voice and I'm looking for a good mic to record some solo stuff on.

I hear an omni directional mic would work best. I'm looking to spend less than $200.
 
Hi there,
It depends a lot on the environment.
An omni would be a particularly bad choice in an untreated bedroom, for example, because it's going to pick up more of the rooms ambience than a cardioid mic or whatever.
If you were recording in a nice sounding church or hall an omni could be a good choice.

Tell us more. :)
 
I think I'll have to record at my church. It's a modern one with carpeting and a stage, so acoustically not the best, but I'm mainly thinking less room sound would be a bit better for mixing purposes, right?

I've recorded in a smaller room on a Rode NT1A and the sound has nowhere to go. It's fine for closer mic stuff if I'm singing more ethereal stuff or pop, but full out opera sounds awful.

I will be using this for recording some of my own compositions using VSTs for all the other instruments. I'm also thinking of marketing myself as a session opera singer.
 
Morodiene said:
I think I'll have to record at my church. It's a modern one with carpeting and a stage, so acoustically not the best, but I'm mainly thinking less room sound would be a bit better for mixing purposes, right?
Click to expand...

If the environment doesn't sound good then, yes, recording with less ambient sound is better.
For an operatic solo vocal you're going to want to compensate, though, so record as dry as possible and use digital reverb afterwards to simulate a nice church or whatever.
The NT1A isn't a bad mic. Could it just sound awful because the recording/mixing could be handled better, or do you genuinely think the mic is no good with your voice?
Do you have any clips you could share for reference?

For me it'd be black or white. Nice room intentionally captured..all authentic, or a dynamic mic pretty close to the singer in as dead a room as possible with reverb added later.
That's just me, though. Others may have some different suggestions. :)
 
Well, that mic is currently out of commission. I bought it used and something wasn't quite right. I'll be sending it to Rode to hopefully to repair. I think in general it was a good mic for my sound though. Just had too many early reflections going on in a smaller space.

If you were asking an opera singer to use in a piece you wrote, would you rather have completely dead, or some room? I've sung in a dead space before and it was...well...an awful feeling. It seems odd to me, too, because it's do reliant upon acoustics of the space.

I could prevail upon a friend to record at his church a few times (good, old fashioned place with marble and wood everwhere), but it wouldn't be a good permanent thing.
 
Morodiene said:
If you were asking an opera singer to use in a piece you wrote, would you rather have completely dead, or some room? I've sung in a dead space before and it was...well...an awful feeling. It seems odd to me, too, because it's do reliant upon acoustics of the space.
Click to expand...

I'd rather record that kind of performance in an environment that adds something to it. Natural is always better IMO.
If the room sounds less than great I'd want to deaden it as much as possible. I'd set up reverb in a headphone mix for the singer, though.
That can make a huge difference!
 
So in say a reverberant church, would you want to use an omni mic then? Or could a Rode (or two) suffice?

Great idea about reverb in the headphone mix!
 
Yeah, there are a few ways to skin the cat. You could use an omni mic but you'll have to get the placement and ambience balance right on the night.
I can't see it being that fussy...There's probably a pretty big margin for error. :)

An other way is to have a main mic focussed entirely on capturing the singer well and a separate mic (or more) placed farther out just to capture the natural reverb.

Of course there'll always be some degree of ambience in the main vocal mic but, that aside, the second setup would let you control of the amount of ambience in the mix afterwards.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Yeah, there are a few ways to skin the cat. You could use an omni mic but you'll have to get the placement and ambience balance right on the night.
I can't see it being that fussy...There's probably a pretty big margin for error. :)

An other way is to have a main mic focussed entirely on capturing the singer well and a separate mic (or more) placed farther out just to capture the natural reverb.

Of course there'll always be some degree of ambience in the main vocal mic but, that aside, the second setup would let you control of the amount of ambience in the mix afterwards.
Click to expand...
Ok, that 2nd option was kind of what I was thinking of as well. That way there's some options with the mixing.

Sorry if I'm being a pain, but if I used the Rode for closer miking, what would work well for the room?
 
No problem at all.

I don't have much experience actually doing this kind of thing so, again, someone else might have better suggestions.
I'd probably reach for my sm81s but I'm sure pretty much any pair of decent quality condensers would do the job well enough.

Mono (one room mic) would be just fine too but I think I'd prefer to do it in stereo. :)
 
Steenamaroo said:
No problem at all.

I don't have much experience actually doing this kind of thing so, again, someone else might have better suggestions.
I'd probably reach for my sm81s but I'm sure pretty much any pair of decent quality condensers would do the job well enough.

Mono (one room mic) would be just fine too but I think I'd prefer to do it in stereo. :)
Click to expand...

Probably should do stereo for both close and far mics, you think? I have a friend whose husband owns tons of recording equipment. Maybe I can borrow/rent some good mic's from him.

Thanks for your help!

If anyone has any other suggestions on mics, I'd appreciate it :)
 
I'd try a ribbon.

a. Women seem to sound awesome on them, and if you're a soprano I assume you're a woman?
b. The figure 8 will give you some ambiance but not as much as an omni

They'll will likely require a lot of gain, though, so a fethead or a preamp with a lot of gain will likely be needed. PM me if you want a ribbon recommendation in your budget (I don't like to make recs on the forum because then prices shoot up!). Hopefully you have a preamp.
 
Last edited:
4tracker said:
I'd try a ribbon.

a. Women seem to sound awesome on them, and if you're a soprano I assume you're a woman?
b. The figure 8 will give you some ambiance but not as much as an omni

They'll will likely require a lot of gain, though, so a fethead or a preamp with a lot of gain will likely be needed. PM me if you want a ribbon recommendation in your budget (I don't like to make recs on the forum because then prices shoot up!). Hopefully you have a preamp.
Click to expand...
A. Correct
B. Ok, I'll look for a good omni (or two, I guess)

I don't think I have a preamp. I have a Roland Quad capture where I can adjust the input levels from a mic...would that work? I'm guessing not though. I'll pm you about what kinds to look at. ;)
 
Morodiene said:
I don't think I have a preamp. I have a Roland Quad capture
Click to expand...

I think so. It looks like it has 40db of gain, which might be enough...
Ribbons are quiet. I'd probably pickup a used fethead to be safe. But, I wrote you a pm. Explore all that before rushing to a decision; you want the right gear.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top