High frequency reording problem

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spottydog10

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When I record my vocal it often seems very toppy with the problem frequency centered around the 8kh area.
If I cut there, even with a narrow band eq, I lose top but if I don't cut enough the harshness is still evident.
It's the same when doing the actual tracking, if I cut on the desk when recording I get the same issue with the cut and boost.
It's only my voice and on all mics and I've used about 5 different ones.

I've tried all ways of singing differently on this track with various distances from the mic to no avail.
I'm gonna have another crack at it tomorrow but this is about the 20th vocal I've tried and I'm getting frustrated.

Anybody have any tips for me?

Thanks,
Mike
 
If you've tried different mics and different distances, I'm at a loss without clips, and they're probably a bit embarrassing if you're not already posting...Maybe try off-axis?
 
Post a clip.
Is your tracking area acoustically treated? Is it possible something is vibrating/reflecting sound that is getting picked up by the mics? Have you tried recording in a different room?
8K is very high freq to see any voice-caused issue.
 
it all starts with a quality mic.

after that, the voice itself,
and then the front end.

oh yea,
make sure your monitors are not lying to you.
 
What I hear is flutter echo. Room treatment can fix that.
 
what mic are you using? it does sound very harsh, have you tried using a de-esser?
 
The mics I've tried on this vocal have been SE Z5600a, SE 2200a II (the mic used in the clip) SE5, Rode NT, Audio Technica AT 2035 and a Behringer in desperation.
The room has some treatment in the form of bass traps.
The recording room is quite small, does that still give off flutter echo? (or am I getting the wrong end of the stick?)
I cant remember offhand what the monitors in the studio are, mine at home are Yamaha HS50M's and the problem is in both and especially phones.
Any ideas gratefully received:)
 
Can't listen presently but:

What preamp? Are you hitting it too hard? Is there an EQ engaged? Do you have nodes?

Have you tried a dynamic...?

Absolutely yes on the small room flutter. The smaller the space, the more mass-per-area it takes to control the room. You can also get toppy-sounding phase cancellation very easily from a single reflective source (up to and including a single sheet of paper).
 
What preamp are you using? Also, what medium are you recording to - computer, stand alone DAW, tape or ?

Edit: Oops! I got called away from my tablet mid-post, and when I published I saw that John had already asked about preamp. I happily suggest he has much more experience and will undoubtedly have more relevant observations.
I guess I don't multitask as well as I wish I would.:o
 
I'll start by saying, checking both on HD25 headphones and my studio monitors, I don't believe it's as bad as you think. Indeed, it might help your voice cut though in a mix a bit.

However, I agree that what I'm hearing is more down to the room acoustics than the mic or your voice. (It worked out well that you used a 2200a...that's a mic I'm very familiar with.) Yes, you can get flutter at high frequencies in a small room. Indeed, because of the shorter wavelength, small rooms can be worse for HF flutter. In this case, your bass traps might actually be making the HF issue stand out a bit to you since they're controlling problems at the low end of the spectrum.

Acoustic treatment is the real fix but, as a start, it might be worth moving where you stand and which way you face when you record. Sometimes moving a foot or two can make a big difference to echo problems.
 
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