Hand-held Lead Vocal Tracks...

[Drummerbones]

Our singer just can't get any emotion or feeling in his performance with the traditional condenser-pop filter-headphones routine. We worked together for 6 years....I've tried it all, trust me. So what the hell....I'm finally letting him cut loose. I'd rather have an amazing performance that needs some sonic "trickery" than to have an amazingly recorded, lifeless performance. So my question is, what tricks have you used in the past to make this adjustment? My gear is nothing fancy in this regard....Mackie pre, Shure Beta 58, the usual compressor and eq signal chain. I have a access to a few other hand held mics to try out as of yet, but the rough demo work we've done with the Beta has been surprisingly good so far. Our musical style is heavy rock, ie. Godsmack, Disturbed and so on. Any words of wisdom? And no, I don't have a $5,000 pre amp to compensate, so you can save your breath on that one. Thanks gang.

 

[DJL]

I usually just give them a dummy mic to hold... but, if you've already tried that.. I guess about all you can do is edit out the crap you don't want on the track. Good luck.

 

[flatrockrecordin]

Get a Wind-Tech foam pop filter. they seem to work much better than all the rest

 

[Kryogh]

Apparently the Phil Anselmo's vocal tracks (Pantera's signer) are recorded with an hand held Sm58!

So... yes I guess you can get good results this way.

Try it out, when your signer is screaming, and, get on a condesnser for the smooth parts


good luck!

 

[chessparov]

Paul Rodgers (Bad Company, Free, etc.), likes to sing to the monitors in a control room while the band is playing at the same time, using a Shure SM57. So a Beta 58 is quite usuable too.

If you'd prefer to track live, without that degree of isolation,
the Beyer M88 is known to be terrific-relatively speaking.
Sometimes you can use the "bleed" to creatively enhance a recording.

How good is your vocalist's microphone technique?
Have some more suggestions if that's an issue too BTW.

Chris

 

[Drummerbones]

We have a ton of live experience, so he's developed a good mic technique over the years...and I'm handy with a compressor, so there shouldn't be much to worry about there. I'm mainly just concerned with the loss in clarity & quality...but you gotta give and take I suppose. I've even considered (althought they ARE a gimmick and can do more harm than good) using a **GASP** sonic maximer in MODERATION. (let the ranting and bashing begin!!) I'm intelligent enough to know if it's helping or hendering...just a shot in the dark. Also, I read somewhere that notching out certain frequencies can help eleminate a lot of the noise from the mic being handled. Is this BS? Anybody have any insite into this? I don't recall where I saw that. Thanks.

 

[chessparov]

I've posed this same type of question about exciters/enhancers like a BBE sonic maximizer (or Aphex exciter) to professional engineers before.

General wisdom is you should go for the best fit in the vocal microphone first, and use any "special effects" only on a as-needed basis that suits the singer/song.

As a singer, I can't imagine having less than three vocal microphones to work with, in order to have different tonal options available for various types of songs.

An inexpensive dynamic microphone with excellent "clarity",
is the Electro-Voice EV 635a omni. If you buy it used, however,
make sure it wasn't dropped on its head as it loses high end
response as a result. The singer really needs to "eat it",
thankfully it's very resistant to plosives.
The clarity is more mellow than a Beta, so that makes it handy.
It's also excellent on many instruments, and guitar cabs.
Essential choice for a vocal microphone "kit" IMHO, it was a popular choice for Blues and early Rock & Roll singers.

Keep in mind that recording studios in the 50's and 60's were
not as hung up on always using high priced condensers,
as many studio people are today.
RCA Studios used the EV 635a, and RE16 on major vocal
recording artist's hits, including Elvis.

The RE16 has a ribbonish quality, so it's not as clear as the
635a, but excellent for a vintage style tone when desired.
The two EV's above will also make your life a bit easier with
manning the compressor as the EV 635a is an omni, and the
RE16 has Electro-Voice's variable-D pattern to mitigate
proximity effect.

Chris