Distance from mic question

S

SacredDespair

New member
How much closer to the mic should a person get when going from clean vocals to a "screaming" style to keep volume pretty close?
 
A lot of different techniques here. There's the "in-line" idea. The mic is always pointed straight at the mouth. Soft singing the mic is right next to the mouth. Screaming, the mic gets pulled away from the mouth 6-18 inches. The louder the scream, the farther from the mouth. Then there's the angled-mic idea. Again, soft singing, the mic is right next to the mouth, and pointed right at the mouth. Screaming, the mic is angled so it is no longer pointing straight into the mouth. The mic now points more up toward the ceiling. The singing is now moving across the front of the mic, rather than directly into the mic. The mic is then moved either downward, or outward to control volume. Whatever way is used, the exact amount the mic is moved must be learned by experience by the singer. And, it depends, a lot, on the response of the microphone. Every mic is different... every singer is different. Ya just gotta learn by doing.
 
:D Yo SD:

You will find it a real pleasure to record a vocalist who is "mic savvy." Again, it can depend on the type of mic used, and the type of mic pre used and the fumbling fingers of the engineer.

A vocalist with recording/working experience will modulate voice and almost automatically get close to the mic when appropriate or back off when necessary.

I don't record many, if any, screamers. But, if I get one in the future, I have a couple of paper bags with eye-holes cut out. :cool:

Happy New Year
Green Hornet
 
I would tell my students to stay in the 1/2" range until they had more experience. Just give them a safe starting point, ya know? :cool:
 
i find with screamers, it really depends on the context of the scream. if you can record the screams seperatly from the clean vocals it can be very helpful since you can have two different setups and you can tweak each differently. with screamers if they need to go from the clean to scream in one pass, i'll usually either give them a handheld mic like a sm58 and let them have fun with it or give them a lesson in mic technique before they start singing.
 
I don't want to steal your thread but I have a question along the same line... What about if you are trying to record someone trained to sing opera? These people are trained to project their voices and usualy have more volume than a screamer yet still want the recording to be super clean. Fortunately they are used to singing without a mic so grabbing the mic is rarely a problem for them. Room mic? Overheads? How would you record them? I ask because I had the chance to work with a guy who had more power in his voice than my twin cranked to 6 or 7.
 
:D Yo Dani & the Pacemakers :D

Big booming voices, and well-trained. Well, I might run my mic to the mic pre and then to my RNC and test the waters there a bit.

Of course you would also have to make adjustments on mic distance and mic angle; however, if Mario Lanza could record, I'm sure a way can be found for strong voices.

Could also consider what type of mic to use. But you should be able to disfuse a strong voice via the RNC or your own compressor.

Cheers,
Green Hornet :cool:
 
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