Recording / Mics for low voices?

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DoverOs

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I have a fairly low baritone voice and my phonations are balanced in real life, but when I record I get problems. Instead of my natural sound, when I sing in my lower range, my middles or rough tones get amplified and condensed a huge amount, causing a clipping like effect without actually clipping; where as all the other sound articulation gets diminished.

My microphones are very cheap and my mixer is very very old, which all seem to be the problem here. I can sing perfectly, but I still naturally have rougher sounds in my lower range.

so my questions are

1. What kind of microphones / preamps should I be looking for and how much should I expect to pay to get good resolution for my voice.

2. Is there anyone who has run into this problem and knows solutions / tips for it.

3. Should I even consider investing in good mic setup because digitization might not be precise enough for my voice?
 
This is a difficult question to answer because, 1. while you may sing "perfectly" (lol) we don't know what your voice sounds like, 2. we don't know what it sounds like recorded through your gear, 3. we don't know what your gear is, and 4. we don't know what system you're recording on or what interface you're using.

Please could you post a clip and/or give us more information?

That being said, the lower registers in a baritone voice with a low formant may be exacerbated by a microphone with a large diaphragm, particularly one with a pronounced proximity effect.

I would personally check out an Electro Voice RE20 as, while they're large diaphragm dynamic mics, they are known for having almost no proximity effect at all. They are a bit rugged sounding, however, because they're dynamic mics designed for broadcasters such as radio announcers.

Other than that, try a small diaphragm condenser, possibly an sE1a. It may be a bit sibilant, though, but it's cheap.

Preamps? The best you can afford. There's a slight possibility our mixer may be the cause here if the preamps sound less-than-desirable or if it's broken in some way. A better outboard preamp may improve the sound to the point that you might not need another mic.

Hope that helps.

Cheers :)
 
You don't mention budget but "the" microphone for opera use, particularly on baritones is the Schoeps MK4 capsule on a CMC5 amp body. Expect to pay around $1800 for the combo but the sound is excellent.

Also commonly used for opera (but at a ridiculous price) is the DPA 3541 kit. The price puts it into the realm of Lincoln Centre or Royal Opera House rather than us mere mortals though...in excess of $6000.

Hmmm...I should have started with the DPA so the Schoeps would sound cheap!
 
You also mention an 'older mixer' - how are you getting your audio into your computer for recording? A good audio interface with mic preamps may be part of your solution.
 
I still naturally have rougher sounds in my lower range.
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...Please could you post a clip and/or give us more information?
Click to expand...


Since we're still in guessing game mode..
Roll off the highs.
Or, perhaps better, do a targeted dip either at where the raspy' lives, or where the mic is doing it.
You could also try a flat mic an inexpensive omni for example? - or for that mater a cheap ribbon might be just the ticket.
 
Not to seem too obvious, but have we eliminated "proximity effect" from the equation?
 
I hadn't considered a ribbon mic, but after hearing them it seems like all that smooth sound production would work great with my rough voice. I'm not sure how they actually perform when it comes to that proximity thing, but I would hope that the audio stays smooth regardless of position. Do you think a ribbon would be a good mic to start out with in my case?
 
DoverOs said:
I hadn't considered a ribbon mic, but after hearing them it seems like all that smooth sound production would work great with my rough voice. I'm not sure how they actually perform when it comes to that proximity thing, but I would hope that the audio stays smooth regardless of position. Do you think a ribbon would be a good mic to start out with in my case?
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Mo Facta said:
This is a difficult question to answer because, 1. while you may sing "perfectly" (lol) we don't know what your voice sounds like, 2. we don't know what it sounds like recorded through your gear, 3. we don't know what your gear is, and ..

Please could you post a clip and/or give us more information?
...
Click to expand...

You could have a edgy voice
You could have an edgy mic
-or both
Not sure if the question of proximity effect fits in- that is if it's actually an edgy' problem (Is it?
All else equal the more directional the mic (fig-8's are the most directional) the more proximity, bigger the bass/warmth etc for a given distance.
But the other things ribbons tend to do is not give you some sharp rasp-finding peaks up at the top- and in fact often roll off where some mics peak'.
But again, what if most of the problem is your mic?
 
Alright, well I'm gonna keep looking around at mics and what kind of equipment I need, hopefully I'll find the right thing.
 
Anyways I think a high quality condenser designed for male vocals would be a better choice than a ribbon. It seems like a ribbon is more sensitive to the volume level your using, so if I'm singing super high and super low in one song then that might present problems.

Am I right?
 
I did a lot of looking around, and it seems as though a ribbon mics still can get plenty edgy, it's just they are warm at the same time. So I'm definitely gonna go for a smooth sounding condenser, rather than a ribbon
 
DoverOs said:
Anyways I think a high quality condenser designed for male vocals would be a better choice than a ribbon. It seems like a ribbon is more sensitive to the volume level your using, so if I'm singing super high and super low in one song then that might present problems.

Am I right?
Click to expand...

Work the mic.
You know which why the vocal dynamic is going to go as you sing....so move in or back up a bit as needed.

I have a baritone voice, and I use an ADK TT/CE tube mic....but you can find other options.
Avoid the mics that give in to proximity effect, as they will tend to get tubby/dull on you.
I think you will need to just try a few mics and find one that gives you what you want.

A ribbon can work too.
 
...or find a space with a nice acoustic (make a donation to an old church or something), stand farther back from the mic and enjoy a wider-than-popular-music dynamic range.
 
Okay I've finally come to a conclusion. I've found a condenser that will sound perfect with my voice; it was very small mids so I won't sound so edgy and some high peaks at the highest frequencies which will fill out my high notes.

I've found that ribbon mics aren't really a good choice for my vocals. The overall sound of ribbons are very "dark" rather than clear, and the frequencies response wasn't really to be desired. At higher pitches, the mids would take dominance and it imparted a rougher sound.
 
Question: when you say that you've found a mic that's perfect for you voice, have you actually tried it or are you judging simply on reviews and frequency response curves?

If the latter, I don't want to rain on your parade but specs and graphs only give you the most basic idea of how something will sound--real world experience is the only way to get a real idea of what works.
 
Got to love our abilities to have conclusions perfectly follow presumptions.
To quote a local Guru--
Any mic you buy will be perfectly suited to your needs- until you use it long enough to learn that it's not
Click to expand...

The functions at play here would our expectation bias at least temporarily sets us up for 'I got it to sit - but the damn things won't stay.
:D
Let's try this once more.
- I'd ask what is your location?
- Are there any sources around where you could actually try some mics?
- have you experimented with an eq?

- A flat mic? You might be quite surprised. I have been very surprised (What was your word 'enlightened ;) how mellow a QTC-1 can sound. As opposed to most any mic with a top push.
Thing is, and I'm going out on a limb here, maybe you don't even know where you need this curves you're thinking about, to land.

Another cool thing that happens is along the way in zeroing in on this stuff- We also tend to notice and then tailor our source sounds.
So, good news. In the end--
'New mics > progress = win win
:)

@ moresound
 
Thought I'd toss this in for ya too- cause it's a good case example.

I have a female voc track (work in progress'..
I was struggling with getting it to sit' ;)
Turns out she has this sharp peak' (4k or so IIRC) that- when removed'- there's almost no top left

This is with an RE-20 which by the way-- has its very light top push which can be an odd sounding on some voices.. 'crinklie' sound up an octave well above that.
 
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