Recording perfect vocals

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Monkubus325

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I haven't been home recording very long and need some help. I have a shure sm-57 and a behringer 8 channel mixer and want to record vocals. I know this isn't the ideal mic for the job, but it is all I have. I'm running the mixer directly into my computer. When I record vocals they always end up sounding very shallow and flat. They don't have any kind of depth or fullness to them at all. What should I do? I tried warming them up with reverb in editing, but they still sound empty. Is there a certain technique or something I need to buy to make them sound full?


Monkubus
 
it cant be that bad, can it.....you must accept that the sm57 thru a Behringer pre is only gonna be so good, and lots of stuff added wont help a lot, and may hurt it more.....a decent preamp in place of the Behringer is a start.....

make sure you are close to that mic to get the proximity effect going.....some compression is always dandy in my book.......

try doubling the vocal also to thicken it up......
 
Probably a better mic. although the SM's are pretty descent. You could also try outboard gear and a high quality preamp. This could be an expensive approach though. I use a Shure KSM27 for voc. and does a great job but its a $400 mic.
I also use an aresenal of high quality plug-ins like the waves plugs but this is also expensive.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. i'll try out some new stuff. I should have bought a pre amp instead of the mixer in the first place. Any recomendations for good pre amps and a good compressor?



Monkubus
 
if all you're going for is a significantly better vocal sound, you're better off putting your money into a new mic before a preamp, IMO. the differences in preamps are important, but pretty subtle compared to the difference between a 57 and a good condensor.
 
I'm using the MXL v67G into a Behringer mixer and getting excellent results. So I would agree with the post above and recommend you try using a large diaphragm condenser (LDC).
 
Id rather a SM57 thru a very good pre than a very good mic thru a Behringer mixer........

my lowly uneducatd opinion......



i was using my sm57 thru the preamp of my old 4 track and couldnt believe the difference when I put it thru a real preamp for the first time.....
 
I think I have to side w/ Gidge on this one. An SM57 is a great mic for many applications and has appeared as a vocal mic on thousands of great albums.

A few things to always remember: a mic is only as good as (1 the pre you run it through, 2) the room you record in, 3) how well it is positioned, 4) the quality of the performance, and 5) the cable you run it through.
You can rarely correct a crappy recording no matter how hard you try. YOu should work to get a decent sound straight from the mic first. Before you start slopping on effects to resurrect a bad recording, look at the 5 options above and figure out which of them needs improvement.

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com
 
Yo Uranium 235:

Put your vocal on two tracks and play a bit with EQ - - not too much.

The two tracks should give you more boost to your vocals until you can get other gear.

Reverb is great unless you over use it. If you can hear the lips of your vocalist unstick, you're almost there.

Green Hornet:D :p :p :cool:
 
While the Behringer pres are Ok. for condenser microphones, they don't really do justice to dynamics, such as the SM-57. Someone once said here (I don't remember who), that dynamics are in general more sensitive to the quality of the pre-amp used. Even a cheap DMP-2/Audio Buddy will significantly improve the sound of your 57'.

Oren
 
I'm with Aaron-especially numbers 2 and 3. Try to deaden your recording space or sing under a blanket. Try to find a 'sweet spot' as far as the proximity effect goes. Theres also the trick mentioned on this board before where you (if I am remembering right) make a copy of the vocal track, cut the lows, emphasize the highs, and compress the crap out of it. Bring the compressed track up under the original until you get a good mix. On the other hand, I've got to say I did notice a marked improvement when I went from behringer to joemeek.
 
What about the SM58

Do most of these comments apply equaly to the SM58, which is what I am having to use for home recording. is it any better/worse than the SM57 for home recording purposes?

Is there any way of achieving the 'breathy' sounds you here on pro recordings with a Sure 58/57 (where you can hear the singer taking a breath) or is it just pie in the sky to expect that kind of clarity?
 
I was using an sm58 until recently through Behringer MX pres. For months I coudn't get any "life" into the vox until I did four things:

1) really really crank the gainstaging in the board, run the "trim" control as high as you can, singing 3" off the mic and get it clipping at high points, then, rather than turning the trim down, sing a little further away to tame the clipping. Try not singing straight into the mic, but on a 45 degree angle across the capsule.

2) multiple passes of light compression, ratio of about 3:1, threshold -12, really short attack, longer release, gain of 4-5 dB.
this will bring much more life into the vocals but more noise.

3) I then manually clip out all the bits of the vocal track between words/phrases to eliminate any straight hiss (there is a lot when you record like this). Because if you don't do this, you will notice a noise floor of around -35 to -45 dB which really muddies up your sound. Immediately underneath vocals of -5-6 dB, however, you won't hear it as much.

4) then...and only then, after 1, 2 and 3, bounce all the little clips that you are left with back to a single clip, and then start farting around with some reverb to refill all the dead space you just cut out. But this time you are filling that space with vox, not Behringer hiss.


It will sound a little grainy, but it will sound much more vibrant.
 
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