beyond synthetic-sounding vocals- what to do?

[zoner]

Hi. New to the site. I've been recording solo for six months, enjoying it tremendously. I have a Roland BR1600cd, Roland fantom x6 keyboard and an AKG condenser MIC. All round I'm very happy. However, I find that the guitar and vocal and effects patches on the digital recorder sound are not as dynamic-sounding as I would like, even when I tweak them around alot. I tend to play very acoustic stuff, and I would like to get a warmer, more natural sound than I have so far. Is there anything I can do? Buy a separate pre-amp unit? Do something with the computer? Try to do vocals through the keyboard? Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

[Rokket]

Welcome to the board. I think you may be able to do a lot if you get yourself a good tube pre amp, and maybe invest in some other mics. AKG are great mics, but perhaps looking at others could help you achieve your sound...

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

Four things come to mind:

Use less vocal processing.

Use higher quality plugins or hardware for eq/compression/reverb.

Get a better preamp, mic and AD converters.

Capture better performances.

 

[NYMorningstar]

If you want that natural sound, one extra thought is to record in that natural environment. Either soundtreat your room or change where you sing until you find that sound you are looking for.