Close Miking Vocals

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Lance135

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Howdy, all! This is my first post! :-)

My question concerns close miking vocals. I don't have a studio, and am forced to track vocals in a noisy room with my computer. In order to avoid unflattering room ambience and fan noise, I must close mike everything.

1) Do you have any tips for close miking as far as mike placement goes? What kind of wind screen?

2) Can you recommend any budget condenser mikes (under 500 US) to handle high SPL's and to avoid excessive boominess and sibilence?

Any recommendations are welcome, since I'm not going to be renovating my house to add a sound-proof booth any time soon! Thank you all!
 
dood, condenser mics are a pain... i'd just stick with a shure 58A beta or a sm57. both are good, and they dont pick up (usually) any extra unwanted noise because they're dynamic.

sm57s can handle just about any instrument and vocal... if you want a vocal mic the beta 58a is great. I own and use both. from evaluating your room situation, this seems like a good idea.
 
I was tracking my wife vocal the other day with a SM57. I was playing the acoustic guitar as a guide. I was playing it hard and wanting the mic to pick up some of the guitar....

but when playing back the recording, the mic only captured my wife's vox... no guitar AT ALL! Now, that's some isolation. :)
 
If you don't want to pick up room sounds, and you don't want a mic that ovrloads or sounds boomy when you get close to it, then I think you should stay away from condensors all together. This is why you would almost never see a singer using a condensor in a live situation. Try a nice dynamic mic, or start soundproofing your room.
 
I just recieved my studio projects c1 the other day and noticed the same problem in my room. The noise from the fans in my computer creates a steady noise floor at about -50dB with my mic a few feet from the computer (as far as it can go). When I sing into the mic it is loud enough to completely cover the sound of the computer though. Would it be wise to use a noise gate to cut out the fan noise whenever I stop singing?
 
The Seifer said:
I just recieved my studio projects c1 the other day and noticed the same problem in my room. The noise from the fans in my computer creates a steady noise floor at about -50dB with my mic a few feet from the computer (as far as it can go). When I sing into the mic it is loud enough to completely cover the sound of the computer though. Would it be wise to use a noise gate to cut out the fan noise whenever I stop singing?
Click to expand...

Maybe someday, when you move out of mommy and daddy's house, you can have a seperate tracking room.
 
I've been trying to minimize the noise by rearranging my room, and it's working very well. I put my computer case in the closet and closed the door; the noise floor dropped a bit more. I only get a bit of headphone bleed now, which can be handled by gating, and maybe turning down the headphones a bit when recording. I'm using a cheapie Samson C03 (large multi-pattern condenser) on either cardioid or figure 8 pattern, with the bass roll off on.

It seems that if you can't silence your room, a dynamic microphone is the way to go, so you can close mike and blast out those backgroud noises.

Does anyone have an opinion on optimum mike placement for vocals, or is it all trial and error?

Thank you all for your suggestions.
 
yeah condenser's are great for getting a very roomy recording...you're wanting the opposite


what i do to keep down from electronic noise is to mess with the vol's. i turn up my mixer and turn down the line in...basically no noise at all.

mess with the volumes...you'll find less noise sometimes at higher gains..(don't ask me why...makes no sense) but crank your monitors and just play around recording your fuzz and find a setting that reduces it to next to nothing.
 
Yeah, that's good advice, Cello Pudding. It's important to really get in there and find out how to eliminate electronic noise on your recordings by optimizing the gain at every stage, and making sure that AC cables and line cables stay away from each other.

This isn't my problem, however. I use an Aardvard 24/96 sound card that has built in preamps, and is very quiet. There is only one level control between the source and my hard drive--the trim control (microphone pad aside...). The noise floor from the card will be much lower than the microphone I'm using (a cheapie Samson C03 multi-pattern condenser). No, my noise problem is from in the room: the computer fan, the headphones, outside noise, my cheapie microphone, the wiffing of my corduory pants.

I have found that using the cardioid or figure 8 pattern and the bass roll off helps to reject a lot of sound, especially if the mike is pointed 90 degrees from the main noise sources. I also use Cool Edit Pro's noise reduction filter, and it's very transparent, if you use it right. Still, I'm always looking for an edge, so any suggestions for eliminating noise (and still getting a smooth sound) are most welcome.
 
I tried throwing a sleeping bag over my computer whenever I was recording. It eliminated quite a bit of fan noise.
 
Yeah, just don't forget to take the sleeping bag off after recording. You'll find your CPU and motherboard getting really toasty after just a few minutes.
 
you can buy quiet psu's for your pc, and graphic cards without fans etc but you will still get noise if you use a condensor. could you not just get really long cables and put your mic in a different room? if your going to put a gate on vocals then dont do it on the way in but afterwards if you have that choice. you could also try some sort of noise reduction plugin but putting the mic in another room is the only real solution.
 
This is what happens when you turn your mild mannered mobile into a recording studio. The bathroom is out of the question (bad reflections). From the living room, you can hear the Fridge when it's running (!), and the master bedroom is 60 feet away. I would then have to press record and sprint to the other end of the house to do my tracks!!

Anyone know of a cordless keyboard that'll work from 60 feet and through walls?

Ah, the joys of home recording. Reminds me of a Bryan Adams inteview when he told how he turned one of his mansions into a recording studio for one project (the CD BEFORE "Waking Up the Neighbors"). He had mike cords going through the vents, guitar amps in the bathrooms, and the neighbors were annoyed.
 
Lance135 said:
Yeah, just don't forget to take the sleeping bag off after recording. You'll find your CPU and motherboard getting really toasty after just a few minutes.
Click to expand...

thanks for the tip
 
have you tried throwing a sleeping bag over the fridge!!!!!
 
recording snakes can help alot so u can trck everything in tht one room far away from all the noise
 
Yup, I've now devised a system where I throw a sleeping bag over my comptuer and then go in the closet and shut the door to record. It totally eliminates the fan noise and brings the noise floor down to about -85dB, which is just from the preamp.
 
-85 dB is a very low noise floor. I think the microphone I was using makes more noise than that... Now all I need is a walk in closet...
 
Yea, man.

Walkin closets sound . . . um . . . great! In fact, what I usually do is I'll re-amp all of my tracks in a walk-in just to get that nice walkin closet ambience.
 
chessrock said:
Yea, man.

Walkin closets sound . . . um . . . great! In fact, what I usually do is I'll re-amp all of my tracks in a walk-in just to get that nice walkin closet ambience.
Click to expand...

ahh ha ha ha hah ah
 
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