Live vocals sound OK, recorded vocals sound crap

  • Thread starter Thread starter MASTON
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MASTON

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OK, so I'm sitting in my living room in the middle of the night, crooning a few of my songs and, you know it sounds OK.

SO next day into the studio (bedroom). Record it. Guitar sounds OKish. Vocals sound dead, crap and well just pretty bad.

What happens between the living room and the bedroom. OK, the living rooms got a lot of reverb but I compensate for that by adding some reverb in Cakewalk.

I'd like to say it's my soundcard (SB 1024), but my female friend's vocals sound great through it.

any ideas ?

Cakewalk, ART pre, OCTAVA MK219, Soundblaster 1024.

cheers

Maston
 
Not much to go on. What kind of problems? Pitch, tone, distortion...? You know your own voice will always sound completely different to you acoustically than what it sounds like to anyone not in your head. That can be a bit to get used to!
peace.
 
Id pull the art out of that chain and throw in a *good* clean pre and then see what happens.
 
Live Vocals

As Mixsit states .. not lot to go on. Is you female friend singing the same type of music you are. ie:( she is doing soft passages while yours are louder.) you may be overdriving the pre and the sound card. It could be the Mic. sonetimes certain mics just fit some voices without any eq'ing . and on and on and on.

Hope this helps
Bob
 
You may want to check out the thread "my vocals suck" in this forum-
there are some suggestions for vocals from myself and others.
 
How far away from the mic are you singing? What reverb
are you using in Cakewalk? How high are the recording
levels? Are you using any compression?
 
Yo Maston of weak vocals:

Push in the 20db button of your ART box. Voila, you will see the colors light up and get WARM. Don't over do it but if you add a decent reverb, I use two of them, you should increase your quality.

Also, are you pumping up your guitar parts too much? Then, you will lose "up Front" vocal effect.

Mixing is a bitcheroo; you need to try and try and try until you get it right.


Also, a good mic will help.


Green Hornet
 
Oh Boy

OK, I'm not overdriving the pre-amp or the soundcard, the recording levels are fine, I'm about 6 inch to a foot away from the mic, I don't reckon it's the mic 'cos I know people who say it's great for male vox, now I don't have a compressor, does that really make a big difference?

It just loses all 'soul' and 'presence' between the living room and the bedroom.

Could be like mixsit says, different hearing it from outside rather than from your own mouth.
Maybe I'll just get other folks to sing my songs.

No-one reckon's it's the soundcard then?

Maston.
 
hmm. Yea if your highs are louder then your lows, get compression.

Though i just practice vocal technique as staying away from the mic.

You know, I had the same problem man, and I didn't ever have an ego or anything, but all my friends said I sounded amazing live, even the huge critisizers, and that I really had a voice.
I needed to learn mic placement from my mouth, or compression, so I sorta learned how to use both. Now my recordings are better, plus the reverb makes it sound not dry. I think that its halfway because I record straight to my computer, it has that Digital sound, i sound cool on analog =). BEFORE THEY SUCKED!!! It was mainly because my highs were to loud, lows were to soft, and cubase did lag a small bit, along with the fact that I couldn't here the recordinng when I recorded drums, so I was a bit off on everything.

Don't worry man, though some people probably say its you, though it might be, usually recordings aren't that great of vocals unless your really good and know what your doing. Bands have pretty much proven that anyone can be a vocalist, even if he burps. Its a matter of how you experiment with your burping (if thats your fetish, its sure not mine).
 
Maston, every microphone brings along its own "personality".
Even though the Neumann U47 is a great mike, there are some singers
with good voices that sound better through a Shure sm57 or 58.
Another factor is getting used to the sound of your own voice.
In the early stages of listening to your recorded vocals it can seem like
looking in the mirror in the morning after being up all night!
Do you think you're warming up your voice enough?
 
yea chessparov makes a great point. About 6 months ago, i never warmed up my voice, so I was always a bit crackly, straining, and couldn't hit the notes solidly with great tone. After you warm up, drink some water, it should help a hell of a lot.
 
If you can you could try something like the Art levelar..its a opto compresser They can be had for under 100.00 sometimes under 80.00.Then get a pop filter they are very inexspensive 20.00 or so
you could make one out of cloths hanger and pantyhose if you wish.Then you could sing a little closer to the mic for the softer passages, see if you like the tone better then.Anyway its worth a try ..I also agree with darrin h2000 if the room sounds better then
why not try the livingroom


Don
 
Guys, I thought his question was one about sonics of the vocals and not how well his performance is. Any other suggestions in that vein?
 
yeah, I agree with MASTON...i have the same issue. It's not that the vocals aren't "up front" it's that they're TOO "up front"...like they're too harsh. I started adding reverb just to give them depth and help them sink into the mix a bit, but it just sounds TOO spacey. I'm using an SM-57, but have a large diaphram condenser mic on the way...think that'll make a difference?

Thanks...

***Justin***
 
yea i use the sm57 also because i'm broke, dude, it'll make a huge different, the sm57 sucks for vocals. Condensers are vice versa. Use sm57 for drums/guitar/bass
 
geeez...i hope so...i'm not really THRIVING with money, so I bought a Marshall MXL-2001 with the *free* 603 small diaphram mic...anyone know how these'll do?


***Justin***
 
J Davis, see my post about the pop filter above .It applys to your needs .They should sound fine 2001/603...I guess you should try
the 2001 for vocals,603 for acustic guitars and the like.

Don
 
How are you able to get a Free 603 mic when you buy the 2001?
 
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