If I post a song can you recommend mic?

[stupidfatnugly]

I'm trying to determine which mic I should use in my small room. My baby bottle condenser and sm57 are not the right tools for the job.

and everyone says you have to match the mic with the singer. I'm hesitant to put a song up b/c I just started experimenting with vocals and I don't like the way they sound now. But, if it's possible for the pros to listen to it and
tell me what mic to use for my voice, I'll do it.

 

[propman]

If I post a song can you recommend mic?

You don't have to put up a song. I'll do it right now. Ready? Ok. Here we go. I recommend mic! How was that? But seriously, I don't know that much about mics, but if you post it here, I am sure somebody could help you out. Don't be nervous about your voice. I don't think anybody will make fun of you, and chances are you don't sound near as bad as you think you do.

-Adam.

 

[mixsit]

I'm trying to determine which mic I should use in my small room. My baby bottle condenser and sm57 are not the right tools for the job ..

First say what is it that they're not doing for you, why they're not working, and is there some isolation from the room (or room treatment) to get those issues out of the way first?
Blurry, springy sound swamps mic tone finesse. And once that's fixed there's still a little eq can go a long way to dial in the tone.

 

[stupidfatnugly]

I have 9 2'x4'x4'' absorption panels which I'm experimenting with the placement of. If I sing close to the mic and softly my condenser(baby bottle) sounds great. I cannot yell into it without turning my input knob nearly all the way down and I have to stand back 2 feet, which gives me a thin and tinny sound.

my sm57 sounds much better for the loud vocals but it's not the greatest mic for vocals. I have an mbox2 pre

 

[greyharmonix]

you may be tracking to hot and that's why you can't yell into the mic. just track lower and then compress the vocal track to get it to the volume you want. dynamic vocals are hard to track for anybody, compression is usually the answer. maybe even compression on the way in to tracking willl smooth things out as well

 

[intomusic]

Go on, put it up! My vocals aren't very good and people round here will either be honest and that's very useful, or complementary, and that's very useful too.

intomusic

 

[stupidfatnugly]

you may be tracking to hot and that's why you can't yell into the mic. just track lower

am I dealing with microscopic adjustments? I mean my knob is down there

OK, I'll post what I got if listening to it will let you know what I need.

Can you post cover songs on myspace?
that's what I did for my first one so I could learn how to do vocals

 

[stupidfatnugly]

you cannot post cover songs on myspace fyi
http://www.box.net/shared/31q1vcl8sj

the first two measures is baby bottle and then some baby bottle and some
sm57 but I lost track with the takes


wooooaaa! why can't you here the bass on computer speakers but can in my headphones?

 

[stupidfatnugly]

anybody? would the sm7 be best for this stuff?

 

[gecko zzed]

1 Thanks for putting up just a minute's worth instead of a whole song . . . that made it a lot quicker to download for evaluation.

2 I like where you are going with the track. Great song! I also like your voice!

3 As far as mikes go, it's a bit hard to say which is which. However, I do like the sound you are getting in the verses. I don't know if it's the same mike in the choruses, but they seem a bit gritty.

4 The other thing not helping decide is the vocal doubling. When you get to do more work on this track, see if you can get the doubling a lot tighter.

So in the end I reckon you should persevere with the mike you used to start off with, and just learn to work the levels. Greyharmonix advice is sensible.

Try this: Set the mike level so that it can cope with the loudest bits. When you need to go quiet, move right up close to it.

 

[mixsit]

wooooaaa! why can't you here the bass on computer speakers but can in my headphones?

Sometime it's only a bass's overtones that are left to speak on small ones. I can hear it on my little plastic jobies, but you've got what seems sort of pure tone -sine wave like.
Nice tune BTW.

 

[stupidfatnugly]

Sometime it's only a bass's overtones that are left to speak on small ones. I can hear it on my little plastic jobies, but you've got what seems sort of pure tone -sine wave like.
Nice tune BTW.

the bass is called "sub bass" from my keyboard and I really like that deep bass sound. Is there anyway I can tweak it to give it more presence?

also, anything I can do to beef up or make the vocals tougher would be desireable and the accented highs on my condenser are probably not helping there.
so would the sm7 do that? would a better pre than the mbox2 do that? would a reflection filter do it? a larger room? my sm57 gives me more beef but it's not the greatest mic.

thanks guys I thought you were going to say: "yoooooouuuuuu suuuuuuuck! hahahaha" which the "you suck" would have been your honest opinion but the laughter would have hurt my feelings

 

[gecko zzed]

the bass is called "sub bass" from my keyboard and I really like that deep bass sound. Is there anyway I can tweak it to give it more presence?

also, anything I can do to beef up or make the vocals tougher would be desireable and the accented highs on my condenser are probably not helping there.
so would the sm7 do that? would a better pre than the mbox2 do that? would a reflection filter do it? a larger room? my sm57 gives me more beef but it's not the greatest mic.

thanks guys I thought you were going to say: "yoooooouuuuuu suuuuuuuck! hahahaha" which the "you suck" would have been your honest opinion but the laughter would have hurt my feelings

I like the song, I like the voice and I like the instrumentation. The singing is a bit loose, and the mix could be tightened up, but it's certainly on the road to somewhere good.

I like the deep bass. If you want to it to have more presence, why not add another bass line using a voice that has more presence. I am not sure on your method of recording. For example, did you use midi to drive your keyboard, or is it recorded in real time? If you used midi, you can just copy that midi track and send it to another instrument. But . . . I am not sure you actually need to do this. Use it as it is and make it what it is, i.e. a deep keyboard bass.

As for your voice: don't worry about the technology. The mbox2 or a refelction filter are minor influences compared to the way you use the mike and which mike you use. If you simply sing tough you are more likely to get a tough sound than doing anything else. Less verb will make it dry and more in your face. If the sound is too bright, just roll off the top end a bit, and maybe boost the lower mids a bit.

 

[stupidfatnugly]

the way you use the mike and which mike you use. .

are there other ways to use a mic for vocals besides standing close or far?

so my room is small and I worry that I'm getting comb-filtering because my baby bottle picks up the sound of an ant two miles down the road. But, no one has said something like: "the sm7 would work well for this song"

or: "the senn421 would be good for your voice" . But, if my sm57 sounds better than the condenser for the loud stuff. wouldn't the sm7 be the ticket?

 

[guitar zero]

OK, I'll bite. I've got an sm7 and it's a great mic. It's not a mic that will blow your mind when you first listen to the playback. It's not opulent, there's no obvious sheen or luster that will make you step back and go "wow". What I can tell you is that it has a very flat sound curve, and is very true to the source. It will not be as grainy as your sm57. It's smoother. It does tend to sit in a thick mix much better than some LDC mics. For the price of a used one, it's a no brainer. Buy it, try it, and if it's not for you, you'll be able to sell it for the same price. People are always looking for them.