Issue with Vocals

T

thickfreakness

New member
Hi...I'm in need of some ideas for my vocals. When we go to record the vocals, they sound very mono tone and not very real. I'm using a Shure 58 for the mic and just running it direct into the mixer. I want kind of an old blues-rock distortion on the vocals on a few tracks and other just normal singing. But when I record them its just so mono sounding and no real ambience in the vox. I don't think its the singer because he's always wailing with soul.

The guitar is sort of that way too, I'm miking with an AKG C1000...the amp gives a fuller sound all around then of that on the recording. Could that be an EQ issue? I just want a clear signal from the mic coming from the amp since the amp has the desired sound. Its still very monotone sounding.

Any hints or advice would be great, thanks.
 
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Vocals might need some verb, or delay, or chorus, to fatten them up. Compression and eq will help sometimes also. As far as the guitar, is it just one track? You might play it a second time, and then pan them, as this will fatten it up. Again, verb, and delay may also help. You kind of have to play with some of this, as too much can kill the sound. Got a clip?
 
hmm that might be it...the drums sounds perfect in my room...but the guitar and VOX just don't seem "real enough", like a sound coming from a basement recording. But I will try my bathroom out, see if that helps any. Yeah a little natural reverb I think will make the VOX sound better. But for the guitar...it just seems so lifeless and not full sounding like it is coming out of the amp.
 
the vocals are, as far as i can hear, the least of your worries. sounds like compression would help it. if you want something more you're gonna have to look into some other mics because that is definitely the sm58 sound.
but i also think your drum tracks need a lot of work. sounds like the snare is just in the left channel and its real muffled.
for the guitars, i'd suggest double tracking and panning them. but the playing is pretty sloppy so that might just make it sound worse.
 
yeah we have an Alesis 8 channel mixer USB, only 4 of the channels work so we recorded the guitar first along with vocals so obviously we got off tempo. No clikc track or anything, we were just experimenting with the sound of the room and what not. Yeah I panned the snare to the left and used probably the worst mic you can for snare, SM58 :(...But yeah I'm just wondering how to get that fuller sound ya know.

Here i'll give ya an example of the type of sound I'm aiming for, The Black Keys...There songs are all recorded live in their basement. The natural reverb is great and the vocal presence is perfect. The guitar sounds full too...This is the kind of sound I'm going for. They did everything using SM57's and 58's all to a Tascam 388 1/4" recorder.
 
I was just about to ask if you were a fan of the Black Keys. I didn't know they recorded in their basement with a 4 track! I'd track the drums first and then add the vox and guitar. Some kind of overdrive effect used pretty lightly might help get the vocal sound you're lookin for. I familiar with the sound you're talkin about just haven't tried very hard to achieve it. Also, I always noticed that their guitars sound real breathy. I'm sure it's a tube amp with a little reverb. I love their sound.
 
yeah their sound is 100% natural too, which is amazing. Yeah If you listen to our recordings the guitar just seems to mono and bass driven, I guess. I guess it all lies within experimenting with it, more of which I need to do. I'm just gathering ideas on how I can achieve it...
 
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