help with vocals recording

[jbonil1]

Hi. I'm new at this and I believe i made a mistake somewhere in my daw configuration. Ok, I record my vocals via a shure sm58 that goes through an art tube preamp

http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-ART-131--m-6_87_359_926--brand-19.html

since I read at tweakheadz the compression should be added to vocals before the mix with an external compressor

( http://tweakheadz.com/how_to_record_vocals.htm)

and because when I used my presonus inspire built in mic preamp the volume change was very big. What I mean is If I set the volume enough so I could hear it the limiter will shut me down and if I used a low volume I wouldnt hear it plus I've read vocals should be near 0dB. thus I connected the art preamp to the mic preamp of my presonus inspire interface.

http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-PRS-INSPIRE.html

The problem is my vocals sound kinda electric not natural, I still have the same problem with the volume set up not able to set it to 0db and I get a lot of mutings on my vocal tracks. I set the art preamp input gain to 30( so i can hear it), the compressor threshold to -10db the slope in compression the speed to fast, normal phase, and output level to -3. I've played with it a lot and still don't get an optimal vocal. any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

Two things you need to get out of your head in my opinion:

the compression should be added to vocals before the mix with an external compressor

You don't need to use compression on the way in. I guess some people who are very experienced and know how their comps interact with sources might do it, especially if they have really nice comps which do good things to the sound simply by being in the chain, but for a beginner it's a no no in my book.

You certainly shouldn't need any comp or limiter to prevent clipping which brings me on to the next thing:

I've read vocals should be near 0dB

This is probably the main reason why you're vocals sound crappy, the preamps you're using are not going to be at their best when pushed, plus you're always going to be in danger of clipping (potentially ruining perfectly good takes) and you'll have no headroom at mixdown. Want to nudge something up a bit for the chorus? You can't, it'll distort straight away.

Aim for average levels of around -12db and don't obsess over volume, particualrly at the tracking stage.

You should obsess about 'good' instead of 'loud'.

 

[TexRoadkill]

Only use one of the preamps. Use the Art through the line inputs on the back of the presonus or just use the presonus. Set the level so the meter on the computer never reaches 0 on your loudest stuff. Set the level on the Art so it just hovers around 0 on the loudest stuff with the Gain knob all the way down and the Level knob wherever it needs to be.

Just turn up the volume on your playback speakers/headphones if you can't get it 'loud enough'.