condenser for vocals?...not necessarily!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter threshhold2
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A very high end mic or pre will not necessarily add anything. Like any top quality gear, sometimes you are paying for things like ruggedness and long life. Or a genuine gold plated finish. Or a nice case.
Or a flat response down to 10hz flat, which will be really great for picking up the subsonics of the local train going by but wont do much to improve your vocals.
As always it comes down to the specific purpose you have in mind. It depends. Features are features. Sometimes a features is an asset and sometimes it is a curse. Learn your gear.
Cheers Tim.
 
Glad to hear your comment was Sarcastic Ciro.....

At my studio I do not believe in using a different mic to suit my scenario. I believe in tuning and/or dampening so that I can have a good selection to use. It really is not that hard in virtually any room to make some quick and down and dirty changes in order to get enough isolation from the room itself to be able to use a condensor on vocals. On location however can be a different story since there are other factors that may be out of your control and time and resources may not permit some of the changes we might want.
 
Harvey Gerst said:
Quite apart from the "wow" factor, the larger head grille creates some pleasing resonances in the mid-range that you won't get with other designs. There was a reason that Neumann chose that particular design for the U47. While the lower priced LDC companies may be copying that design to impress people, it does serve a specific purpose.
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Problem is, as you probably well know, Harv, that the actual design of the grille itself does make a difference. The fact that there's a grille on a mic there in and of itself doesn't say anything about the sonic characteristics of that grille. The U47 grille has a specific build to it that provides those characteristics. The grille on a Rode NT1 (just as a randomly-selected example) is of entirely different build than a U47, and imparts a different characteristic to the sound. In many of the less-expensive condensors, there is just not the same amount of care taken in grille R&D. If there were, they couldn't afford to sell the mics for a hundred or a couple of hundred bucks.

In those cases, sticking a grille on the mic is indeed often more wow factor than sonic engineering, in that sometimes more attention (and in some cases, even development money) has been paid to the actual finished look of the mic than to refinement of the acoustic design of the grille.

G.
 
Another thing is you have to hand-hold the LDC like the girl in the MXL ads. Otherwise, you are f*cked :D
 
ridgeback said:
Another thing is you have to hand-hold the LDC like the girl in the MXL ads. Otherwise, you are f*cked :D
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I think MXL got that from us. We sent them this picture of Matt Slider (The Feds) using an MXL for vocals on their last album:
 

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Harvey Gerst said:
I think MXL got that from us. We sent them this picture of Matt Slider (The Feds) using an MXL for vocals on their last album:
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Are those the MoreMe headphones in that shot? :)
 
danny.guitar said:
Are those the MoreMe headphones in that shot? :)
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Yup, and here's a shot of Joss Stone's mic setup at Compasspoint Studio in the Bahamas:
 

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Harvey Gerst said:
Yup, and here's a shot of Joss Stone's mic setup at Compasspoint Studio in the Bahamas:
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Harvey,

Is there any signifigance to the skewed shock mount setup on that mic?

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Harvey,

Is there any significance to the skewed shock mount setup on that mic?

G.
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Yeah, looks like the rubber bands came off their hooks.
 
Harvey Gerst said:
Yeah, looks like the rubber bands came off their hooks.
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LOL, I thought maybe there was some super secret decoder ring studio trick being displayed there or something :D.

G.
 
Without studio treatment SM57/58 works for me.

bilco said:
SM57 with a pop screen sounds great on my voice. The SM57 is good at rejecting the noise that the other mics were picking up. /QUOTE]

I am in agreement about the SM mics. My room is not sound quality so using a Studio Condenser quality mic would only add to my troubles. My computer fan sound is the 1st thing that shows up on a recording with a good condenser mic… so I use my SM75's. In this case cheaper is better for my end results. And hey.......they do a good acceptable job of picking up a vox in a noisy enviorment. Just my view.....since I don’t have a sound proof room….if indeed there is such a place under 10K.
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Harvey Gerst said:
Actually, it's a U48.
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:D yeah, but that's one young lady that it doesn't matter WHAT you put up there.....she's gonna bring it regardless. pipes like her's haven't been heard since janis left us.

:D


cheers,
wade
 
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