Shure SM7B Microphone

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Victor239

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I have been having a lot of sibilance(hisses and s's) when recording my vocals. I have been discussing the problem with an engineer at my local studio who recommended the Shure SM7B Microphone. I am currently recording on a AKG Perception 220. I have noticed that the microphone that he recommended is a dynamic microphone. I was told vocals are recorded with condenser microphones. Has anyone out there had any experience with the Shure SM7B Microphone? Any tips for dealing with excessive sibilance??

Thanks
Victor
 
"I was told that vocals are recorded with condenser microphones."

Vocals are recorded with whatever mic makes them sound right for the song. Often that will be a condenser, but many times it could be a dynamic, a ribbon or even a crystal mic for special situations. Perhaps in your case the SM7B will be an improvement.

But ultimately a mic can't fix the source. You may be best served by working on your technique. Excessive sibilance is a result of how you sing and so subject to improvement with practice. It's common among performers who started out doing unamplified stage acting where it's all about projection. Using a close mic you need to balance projection with restraint of sibilants and consonants.
 
Yeah, I know it is in the technique as well, but in the mean time while I perfect I need something that will help control it.
 
Victor239 said:
Has anyone out there had any experience with the Shure SM7B Microphone? Any tips for dealing with excessive sibilance??
Click to expand...

Ask Michael Jackson, he did the Thriller album with an SM7.

Sibilance can also be an artifact of poor mixing. If you're compressing the vocals too much or EQ'ing wrong or both, you'll get sibilance.
 
As far as I know, Rick Rubin used the sm7b with Anthony Kiedis because of that weird lispy thing he has going on.

Try to sort it out at the source, but if your stuck, most big dynamics won't shine as big a light on your problem as most condensers will.

Take not of what Chili said about compression. It can really make things worse.
 
Steenamaroo said:
As far as I know, Rick Rubin used the sm7b with Anthony Kiedis because of that weird lispy thing he has going on.

Try to sort it out at the source, but if your stuck, most big dynamics won't shine as big a light on your problem as most condensers will.

Take not of what Chili said about compression. It can really make things worse.
Click to expand...

Good answer here!

Most condensers are brighter than dynamics. If you need bright, then great! But brightness can also accentuate sibilance. I usually prefer to record vocals with a dynamic. And I am not alone. Many people prefer dynamics.

A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. "Folk wisdom" says that condenser mics are "recording" mics, and dynamic mics are "stage" mics. Fact is, they are all just mics that happen to use different methods to reproduce sound. Not better or worse, just different.
 
You've received some partially good advice, some completely good advice, and some bad advice. Bad advice- Vocals are recorded with condensers. The greatest recorded vocals of all time have been recorded with condensers, ribbons, and dynamics. I guess if we can't use dynamics, we'll have to throw out most of Elvis Presley, Aretha, Linda Rondstadt. Jacko's already been mentioned. The list is *very* long.

Partial good advice- Gee- an SM7b might help. Yep, it's one of the all-time great dynamic mics. What they didn't tell you is that dynamics require a *lot* of gain from the preamps, and the SM7b requires more than most. Check the specs on your interface or preamp. You'll need a minimum of +65db of clean gain. The clean part is the hard part. Most cheap preamps make a lot of noise when cranked up. If that turns out to be a problem. consider an outboard preamp, such as M-Audio DMP-3- so go from the preamp to the line in on your interface, not the mic input. Another alternative is to go to Sweetwater.com and do a search on "Cloudlifter".

Good advice- it's all about technique. So stop hissing like a snake! As far as the mic is concerned, you are singing in Parseltongue! This requires the use of the brain. You simply have to lighten and shorten every "S" in the song, which means, horrifyingly, that you have to think while you sing. This is where you learn that what a live singer does, and what a recording artist does, are two related but different skill sets. You also have to do this without moving a lot or tapping your toes. Most people, when faced with this, start whining about how all of these things interfere with the "feeling" of the performance. The other ones become recording artists.

Here's some new advice. Do a search on a plugin called "deesser" or "de-esser". This is not a magic wand, but it might be helpful while you work on the real issue- mic technique.
 
Richard Monroe said:
Good advice- it's all about technique. So stop hissing like a snake! As far as the mic is concerned, you are singing in Parseltongue! This requires the use of the brain. You simply have to lighten and shorten every "S" in the song, which means, horrifyingly, that you have to think while you sing. This is where you learn that what a live singer does, and what a recording artist does, are two related but different skill sets. You also have to do this without moving a lot or tapping your toes. Most people, when faced with this, start whining about how all of these things interfere with the "feeling" of the performance. The other ones become recording artists.
Click to expand...

Technique matters, but so does mic placement. Too much sibilance occurs when the mic is placed in a position where it is getting a lot of the air from your mouth but not enough of the resonance from your chest cavity.

If the mic is straight in front of you, you're going to get bad sound no matter what mic you use, even with a fairly good singer—not just sibilance, but also pops from plosives, etc.

If the mic is above the singer, you're going to get a thinner sound that's more neutral with respect to sibilance and plosives. For a female voice (and particularly a high female voice), the first thing I'd do is to try putting the mic above the singer, pointing downwards, about two or three feet away.

If the mic is below the singer, you're going to get a deeper, thicker, fuller sound, again with less emphasis on random noises. For a male voice, the first thing I'd do is to try putting the mic about 18 inches away at chest level, and having the singer sing over the top of it. Point the mic upwards towards the singer's throat.

Probably the worst thing you can do is to put the mic a few inches away and directly in front of the singer, pointed towards the singer's mouth. That tends to emphasize all the wrong things. This is one reason why live performances so frequently suck. :D

In either case, do not under any circumstances allow the singer to aim his or her voice towards the mic.
 
dgatwood said:
Technique matters, but so does mic placement. Too much sibilance occurs when the mic is placed in a position where it is getting a lot of the air from your mouth but not enough of the resonance from your chest cavity.

If the mic is straight in front of you, you're going to get bad sound no matter what mic you use, even with a fairly good singer—not just sibilance, but also pops from plosives, etc.

If the mic is above the singer, you're going to get a thinner sound that's more neutral with respect to sibilance and plosives. For a female voice (and particularly a high female voice), the first thing I'd do is to try putting the mic above the singer, pointing downwards, about two or three feet away.

If the mic is below the singer, you're going to get a deeper, thicker, fuller sound, again with less emphasis on random noises. For a male voice, the first thing I'd do is to try putting the mic about 18 inches away at chest level, and having the singer sing over the top of it. Point the mic upwards towards the singer's throat.

Probably the worst thing you can do is to put the mic a few inches away and directly in front of the singer, pointed towards the singer's mouth. That tends to emphasize all the wrong things. This is one reason why live performances so frequently suck. :D

In either case, do not under any circumstances allow the singer to aim his or her voice towards the mic.
Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
More generally good advice. For more head tone, often the mic is placed at forehead level, angled down toward the larynx. This, and the lower chest-level placement described by Dgatwood, are like placing the mic on an acoustic higher or lower on the neck. It will change the tone the mic picks up- above=brighter, below=darker. It just depends on what you want to hear, and what the mix calls for.
 
Richard Monroe said:
You've received some partially good advice, some completely good advice, and some bad advice. Bad advice- Vocals are recorded with condensers. The greatest recorded vocals of all time have been recorded with condensers, ribbons, and dynamics. I guess if we can't use dynamics, we'll have to throw out most of Elvis Presley, Aretha, Linda Rondstadt. Jacko's already been mentioned. The list is *very* long.

Partial good advice- Gee- an SM7b might help. Yep, it's one of the all-time great dynamic mics. What they didn't tell you is that dynamics require a *lot* of gain from the preamps, and the SM7b requires more than most. Check the specs on your interface or preamp. You'll need a minimum of +65db of clean gain. The clean part is the hard part. Most cheap preamps make a lot of noise when cranked up. If that turns out to be a problem. consider an outboard preamp, such as M-Audio DMP-3- so go from the preamp to the line in on your interface, not the mic input. Another alternative is to go to Sweetwater.com and do a search on "Cloudlifter".

Good advice- it's all about technique. So stop hissing like a snake! As far as the mic is concerned, you are singing in Parseltongue! This requires the use of the brain. You simply have to lighten and shorten every "S" in the song, which means, horrifyingly, that you have to think while you sing. This is where you learn that what a live singer does, and what a recording artist does, are two related but different skill sets. You also have to do this without moving a lot or tapping your toes. Most people, when faced with this, start whining about how all of these things interfere with the "feeling" of the performance. The other ones become recording artists.

Here's some new advice. Do a search on a plugin called "deesser" or "de-esser". This is not a magic wand, but it might be helpful while you work on the real issue- mic technique.
Click to expand...

^^^^ this.
 
Get the sm7b...i haven't used it on a male vocal that it sounded bad on. It does cut the sibilants compared to bright condensers.

But step one is working on technique and placement to cut them down. Step two would be the mic. Step three would be deessing.

And again, do all this without messing with compression or other EQ, just so you know what changes are having an effect.
 
You need to place your mic so the siblance is gone. Condensor or not.................
 
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