tiny little tricks...

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wesley tanner

wesley tanner

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ok so I was reading the thread about a very sibilant vocalist with a rode and then noticed harvey's post about the pencil... soo cuul... I was wondering if anyone else had tiny little tricks like that to share... seriously... TINY tricks, nothing huge or involving here, just little tricks... I'll try to think of some silly ones I know of too.

weaving a straw through guitar strings and then micing up the straw for an intro to a funk song... very crazy tone, but the intonation gets a bit off.

once putting TP between the snares and the snare worked wonders for a buzzy snare when miced up top and bottom.
 
I hit the mute button on my vocal track and the song sounds much better!Everytime!
 
actually the pencil taped to a microphone is not for sibilance. it's for plosives...like saying P or Bs. the pencil splits the air so it doesn't concentrate straight on the microphone. for sibilance use a desser or tell the vocalist to watch his esses.

another technique for fixing plosives though: angle the mic either up or down so the air spreads across it.
i find recording a guitar in stereo and putting two LPF on the body of the guitar sometimes cuts a nice little hole in the middle of the stereo field for vocals to sit in.
reversing a vocal track, adding reverb to it, and then reversing it back. adds a nice spooky effect.
 
About 2-3 years ago, I used to hang out at harmony-central, but I kept having problmes logging onto the forum. I clicked your link and it doesn't really work with my browser (firefox). Is this a know issue?

Thx
 
bennychico11 said:
actually the pencil taped to a microphone is not for sibilance. it's for plosives...like saying P or Bs. the pencil splits the air so it doesn't concentrate straight on the microphone.
It actually does cut down on sibilance as well.
 
Harvey Gerst said:
It actually does cut down on sibilance as well.

how so, since sibilance is frequency specific? putting your hand in front of your mouth and saying P throws out a rush of air against your hand. Doing the same thing and saying S doesn't. If the pencil fixed this as well, then it would be be altering any other word or letter as well, right?
 
Probably makes the singer nervous and puts them back in their place! >=D
 
The pencil breaks up the the diaphragm tensioning peak (usually around 6 to 7 kHz) by creating interference.
 
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that's actually a great link kid klash, thanks! just the kinda stuff I was lookin' for. r
 
also, aparently I'm a pirate now. I have no idea where that last r came from.
 
Harvey Gerst said:
The pencil breaks up the the diaphragm tensioning peak (usually around 6 to 7 kHz) by creating interference.

then that'd be true for any frequency or harmonic in that range correct?
 
bennychico11 said:
then that'd be true for any frequency or harmonic in that range correct?
Yup, which is usually not a bad thing.
 
wesley tanner said:
also, aparently I'm a pirate now. I have no idea where that last r came from.

Yarrrrrrrrrrrrrr matey! ;) (that's a patch on the eye, not a wink!)
 
speaking of urinals...

I have a fun trick that im sure im going to get a lot of crap for...

take your cheapest mic (or least important), find those condoms that are about to expire and put your mic in it, and drop it in the toilet, flush and record... it sounds neet.

:ducks from angry mob of home rec bbs folks throwing stones:

yes, this is a joke, dont shun me... not to mention this is only a good trick for those of us who have mics that are expendable, not to mention those of us who just cant seem to get laid....

...and i havent tried that trick in years, so... ahem....

;)
 
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