Stuck with a SM58 mic - best way to utilize it to the max?

K

kratos

New member
Yh im stuck with it mainly because I dont have the money to buy a new one...

I need to record a female singer on it plus a rapper.
Any ideas how I can fully utilize this shitty mic to near acceptable standards?
EQs to cut/raise?
Plus compression levels for the female singer as she comes in the chorus of the song...Ive never compressed a female before. Only rappers. Lol that sentence sounded so weird...
Er to be vague as it is the female singer sounds like Whitney Houston....:S


My setup is an Sm58 hooked with a DMP 3 preamp. The signal is clean and low static. Got a pop filter too.
My room is a one bedroom flat and is small and has a got a slight room ambience present when I record. Its not that noticeable unless you actually try hard.

Help.
 
Plus the singer was hard to get. I dont want to be making a fool of myself recording her badly. Ive got to convice them the sm58 is the shit to record with...(the irony)
 
kratos said:
Er to be vague as it is the female singer sounds like Whitney Houston....:S
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The SM58 will bring out plenty of the attack of the crack pipe.

But really, best advice I can give is to make sure she stays close to the mic.
 
It never ceases to amaze me how people with no gear and no experience manage to talk all that supposed hot talent into all-of-a-sudden recording dates with no lead time to actually properly prepare for the gig on either side ;).

Hit the Internet and search out some theatrical/recording supply houses that will rent and deliver to your location. There are a few out there that will do it as long as you don't live under a rock. And rent yourself a decent mic and preamp for one week.

G,
 
BBlack said:
Since when was the SM58 a shitty mic...
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+1 exactly
plenty of multi million selling records recorded vox with a 58

Put the pop filter in front of the mic and put the singer in front of both of them have her sing a few bars while you monitor in headphones and tweak the mic position until it sounds right. Then press record and let her go for it.

If she's a great singer it'll sound great and if she's not it won't. That will be the case no matter what mic you put in front of her
 
FunkDaddy said:
The SM58 will bring out plenty of the attack of the crack pipe.

But really, best advice I can give is to make sure she stays close to the mic.
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mic technique is a skill too, and important as well as being able to belt it out singing in the shower with a gifted voice. If you can't get a good vocal take from a 58 then your diva really needs to practice a bit with how to use her voice with a mic instead of just how to use her voice singing in the open. Be nice when you try to coach her as divas will be divas.

If it helps, the Rolling Stones recorded an entire album using nothing but SM57s and this wasn't the old stuff but the mid 80s when studio polish was overdone to the point of tragic consequences. Someone told me once, when I was trying to get a 'good' rapper on track, that sometimes, if he can't keep his head a little still instead of bobbing back and forth and in and out while he does his thing, I could just put him in restraints. This obviously was a joke, but in the rap/hip-hop/'RnB' genre I have worked with a lot of great amateur talent with no coaching about studio work. I am assuming that diva girl just has a great voice but not a lot (or any) of recording knowledge, it tends to be the norm. Just be nice. Tell her it is a damn good vocal mic (because it is) but she needs to learn how to use it in order to get a great take. Practice takes until she learns her vocal threat range learns how to control her proximity effect and distance depending on projection. Dudes who play in rock bands know to back off from a mic when they are about to belt because they do it in live practice, but a studio diva who is singing along to a track has probably never had to think about such things while she belts out in the shower or the church choir or whatever. Just be nice.
 
AbuseTheMuses said:
mic technique is a skill too, and important as well as being able to belt it out singing in the shower with a gifted voice.
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^^^^^^
+10....

I've met any number of people who can sing quite well until you put them in front of a microphone...

Either they have no mic technique, or they suddenly develop a fear of being recorded - sometimes both... :D
 
BBlack said:
Since when was the SM58 a shitty mic...
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How about August 12, 1977, 12:48am GMT? ;)

Nobody ever said that the 58 is a shitty mic. It's not. Neither is the DMP-3 exactly a "shitty" preamp. But let's be honest, there's not a single person here who - all else being equal - would ever purposely chose to be limited to either one of those when needing to record a Whitney Houston-ish female vocalist *client*.

If you're going to start taking on actual clients, and not just recording yourself as a hobby, you don't need the absolute best gear to do that, but you at least might want to make sure that your gear isn't compromising your client, either.

G.
 
grimtraveller said:
Maybe not exactly in those words but there's a few threads where peoples' disdain for the 58 comes across loud and clear. It would be louder and clearer if they used the 58 !! ;)
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There's a busload of opinions on this board based upon a parroting of what they've read other people say and not upon personal experience.And most of it is wrong.

At the same time, if I told you that you had a chance to record the next Whitney Houston, and it was a chance for you to show your chops to the market, probably one of the very last mics you'd chose to use would be a 58.

My point is that if one is going to want to start taking on clients, they should take the situation a bit more serious than just, "well, these are the shitty toys I have to make do with", even if "shitty" is a bit harsh. Not everybody needs a Neumann, no, but a 58 alone ain't exactly going to make most clients' vocals shine or bring them back for a second date either.

G.
 
Antares just updated their Mic Modeler plug-in which supposedly lets you set the input mic model and choose the output mic model. I was playing around with the demo a bit and while much debate goes on whether it accomplishes its claims or sounds anything like the modeled mic, it definetly has a profound effect on the signal put through it.

I think you could find some cool settings that would help certain tracks sound better/different than a 58.
 
shorttonpro said:
Antares just updated their Mic Modeler plug-in which supposedly lets you set the input mic model and choose the output mic model. I was playing around with the demo a bit and while much debate goes on whether it accomplishes its claims or sounds anything like the modeled mic, it definetly has a profound effect on the signal put through it.

I think you could find some cool settings that would help certain tracks sound better/different than a 58.
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Do you have a link to that demo?







:cool:
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
If you're going to start taking on actual clients, and not just recording yourself as a hobby, you don't need the absolute best gear to do that, but you at least might want to make sure that your gear isn't compromising your client, either.
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Is this a client, though, or is she coming in as a favor to record some stuff for him? It almost sounds like the later, to me...
 
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