Recording Soft (Whispered) Vocals

[strangedayz]

What do you guys think the best approach would be?

I'm worried about excess noise but obviously need to get the volume to the right level - not to mention the eqing.

Cheers

 

[rayc]

I've had to work with some whispered & near whispered vocals recently.
I found, after the fact, that I should have used a pop screen - maybe two. The softly sung/spoken vocal create additional noise as the air from the mouth flows across the mesh/screen of the microphone. 2 pop screens will help break down the air stream a little.
You may find you'll have to do some background noise reduction after recording - I exported the vocal as a wav file & treated the problem in waverepair.
You might find that singing/whispering across rather than into the mic reduces some of the above too.
Finally, you can record a little louder & use something like blockfish which has a nice preset which gives the effect of "close up" vocals (tweak it a little as needed).
Good luck & let me know what works.

 

[strangedayz]

Awesome! Thanks Ray.

I'll try those things out today and let you know how it goes.

 

[Todzilla]

I second Ray's points. And I'd like to amplify the don't-sing-directly-into-the-mic rule. It's important in normal sung vocals, quadruply so w whispers.

I also think it sounds great to get very close to the mic (which makes not singing directly into it all the more challenging) and you'll need to judiciously apply de-essing before the regular compression.

 

[In Tune Audio]

I disagree on the "don't sing directly into the mic" statements.

If you run a soft whispered voice through a tube mic or pre, with them singing tight on the mic (pop filtered of course) it will be fantastic.

It depends on the type of music obviously but when recording soft singers I love a tight sound. Really fill up the track with an intimate sound. Their tone will sound quite but it will have a lot of volume. You'll sometimes get some mouth noises but those can add a fantastic human element/sound to the track.

Plus with them close to the mic you won't have to crank the gain as much keeping the noise floor lower.

Just my opinion


Charlie
www.intuneaudio.ca

 

[moresound]

I disagree on the "don't sing directly into the mic" statements.

If you run a soft whispered voice through a tube mic or pre, with them singing tight on the mic (pop filtered of course) it will be fantastic.

It depends on the type of music obviously but when recording soft singers I love a tight sound. Really fill up the track with an intimate sound. Their tone will sound quite but it will have a lot of volume. You'll sometimes get some mouth noises but those can add a fantastic human element/sound to the track.

Plus with them close to the mic you won't have to crank the gain as much keeping the noise floor lower.

Just my opinion


Charlie
www.intuneaudio.ca

Charlie has a good point here.
There is nothing so exciting than a whisper type vocal recording with that *human element* of mouth noise and breath!
It just brings out that intimate , seductive quality that a whisper is meant to have.
You don't want it to come off small and robotic. Rather a whisper is a very powerful form of communication that is suppose to get your attention.