Mic for Bass Voice

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Innovations

Innovations

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I see a lot of postings saying that a particular mic is good for vocals and some even that are good for male vocals. Would those recommendations change if what you were dealing with wasn't a tenor or even a baritone but a bass voice. As usual low price is important.
 
Define Low price. I think a mid to low priced gem in that area is the Rode NTK. You may also want to try out the Studios projects mics. or the MXL stuff is a good bargin too. If it were me I would save up a bit if the NTK is out of your range right now.. great mic..
 
I'd consider the Sennheiser MD-421 large diaphragm dynamic mic. It's capable of handling very low frequencies and very high volume levels, but it also has a great, smooth midrange and high end too. The bass vocalist for Laurence Welk (don't laugh) used one live and in the studio for many years.
 
One of my favorites is the Studio Projects C1, where you roll off a few dB's at around 12 kHz. Picks up the "botton" of a bass voice very well. It'll make the lowest (high bass) portion of my voice sound like a REAL bass. :)

Chris
 
You might want to take a look at the frequency response charts for the various mics. Something that was relatively flat or rolled off on the low end would be best.
 
Actually, something (relatively) NOT rolled off in the low end will have
better bass response-like the M88 below.

The Beyer M88 (or M88TG) was designed to give a more "robust"
sound to the male voice, however, it has a tight pattern so it's
not easy for someone less experienced with mike technique.
The M88's massive proximity effect takes some getting used to,
although it has a beautiful tone.

The C1 is much easier IMHO, and more easily available within this
price range.

Chris
 
I took the advice and looked around at frequency charts. I noticed that the MXL 2003 has no noticable drop-off all the way to 20hz. It apparently can be got throgh e-bay at $129. A good choice?
 
Chessparov,

If the voice is predominately in the lo end, why would you want a mic that accents those frequencies? Seems to me that you would want something flat or rolled off slightly to keep things from getting out of hand.

Where the peak frequencies are, you tend to have transient control problems. Hey, I'm open to new thought patterns but I have a lo to mid voice and I am always rolling things back as it is. Any more bass focus and things would be hard to mix with bass guitars, kicks etc. That or more compression would need to be applied to keep the beast under control.

Innovations, another whole peice of this is that regardless of the mic charts, some mics will just be smoother on the low end and will respond to your voice better, others will be gravely. All depends on the mic diaphram and how the circuitry responds to sound pressure signals.

So, you will still need to do a listen test. The MXL2003 is a bright sounding mike so yeah, that might be a good choice. The C1 would not be my weapon of choice as it is already pretty full sounding there.

Still, it depends on what your going after. If you really want to focus on the bass then don't roll off the C1 and you will have all the low end you need. If you want to pull your voice out of the lo end and brighten things up a bit, to reduce bass instrument conflict, I would opt for something more neutral but smooth like the NTK, or the Sennheiser(sp?). The NTK dips below the line around 300Hz and might be your best choice. Only your ears will tell you what you need.
 
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The AT4047 has a very cool growly sort of thing going on in the lower registers, and I believe it has something to do with the whole FET/transformer thing.

The Shure ksm32 has a tight bass response. No other way to describe it -- it just sounds great on any and all bassy material.
 
Ideally a vocal microphone should do two things;

1) Minimize any "issues"-like sibilance, dullness, harshness, etc.
2) Accent the strong points about the voice. So you may WANT a
mike that logically seems to "overdo" it!

Bing Crosby, for example, thought the RCA ribbons were crucial
in enhancing his classic croon. He could sing effectively lower than most
wannabe basses (including me!) even though he thought of himself
primarily as a baritone.
Also, basses tend to fall within two types-the penetrating "brassy"
kind, and the "mellow" ones.

If you have a really good room, you can generally get the best sound
out of a (true) bass singer by miking them about a foot away to catch the
natural chest resonance rathe than relying upon the somewhat
artificial means of the proximity effect.

With all due respect Middleman, I agree with the production style that
puts the vocals first, and create arrangements that are subordinate
in order to support that, in contrast to more "modern" styles of pop
production. So leave that bass voice in the mix alone! :)

Chris
 
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