Tips For Recording Soft Vocals to a 4-Track

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kpbennett

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Hi, I sing fairly softly/ whispery and am having trouble recording my vocals without excess noise/ tape hiss. My set-up is pretty basic, usually an RE-20 mic going into a Golden Age Pre-73 preamp going into my Tascam 424 4-track. I've gotten everything but my vocals to sound pretty darn nice with this set-up and was wondering if anyone had suggestions for how to make the vocals cleaner while staying true to how I sing? I was thinking of maybe adding a compressor to my chain, to be able to record the vocals louder going in.

Thanks!
KB
 
Turn up the preamp.
There should be enough gain to give you a solid signal. If you have the pre cranked...and the signal is still pretty low, you may need to just man-up ans sing a bit louder. ;) :)
 
Yeah I was going to ask where you gave the trim know set on the 424? You want to adjust the trim for the hottest signal without clipping.
 
Work on your vocal technique, in particular mic technique. Maybe you're too far away from the mic. Also as mentioned before, check your input gain.

I've worked with plenty of "quiet" singers, and with good mic technique, it's never been a problem.

Stick a decent condenser mic close enough to a buzzing bee and it will get recorded well.
Point being, mics are sensitive and will capture what is there if set up right.

I'd avoid compression at this point because even though it will bring the average level of your vocal up, it will magnify noises like crazy. And that sounds like a major issue you're having.

What you're running into is a signal to noise ratio. The cassette will have a higher noise floor than wider tape formats, or digital formats. But Ive gotten great vocals on 8 track cassette which is twice as narrow as 4 track. Its all in the gain staging going in.
And that has to do with your distance from the mic, your own volume, and pre amplification. One other point. You singing into the right side (front) of the mic?

Once all that stuff is right, THEN consider compression. And with good mic technique sometimes that's not even needed.
 
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Also, are you using the noise reduction on your Tascam 424?
 
I was gonna say the same stuff. With a mic pre you shouldn't be having trouble hearing the take no matter how low you sing. Where's yr trim knob at on the 424? I have a quiet voice too, and I used to have trouble getting good levels when I only had a sm57 plugged straight into a 424 as there would be way more noise introduced with my trim cranked up 5 o'clock. I remember when I got my first condenser and mic pre how easier and better sounding it was. I know that it can still be tough but maybe experiment with more double tracking I you haven't already.
 
Thank you all for the suggestions! I likely just need to turn the preamp up and work on technique. I forgot to mention before that I also use a pop screen. I've been considering trying a condensor mic as well, particularly the at 4033. On other forums, people have recommended certain dynamic mics for soft vocals, would a condenser work best for noise reduction?
 
There's a sweet spot between pre amp and 4-track that is different with every model of both, plus what type of mic yr using. Go nuts and find it. The screen shouldn't be that far away if yr singing really quiet so see what happens when you move it closer as well. I don't really like to recommend things in the sense that I really don't know what's going on to the point where I feel like I'd be confident giving you a good one, but I will say that for me, getting the condenser (an Audio Technica 2035 back in 2008) changed a lot about the way I recorded. It would be less noisy in the sense that you shouldn't be getting that hum that occurs when cranking the trim to get a dynamic mic to pick up a quiet vocal but they're also more sensitive and prone to pick up room noise, cars passing by, riots forming in the streets. You know, regular everyday stuff.
 
Good advice in the posts above.
However compression might be worth it as well, especially with a wee bit of gate to eliminate noise from the mic and preamp. Compressing before hitting the tape are best for signal to noise ratio, especially on narrow track machines.
Loads of cheap but usuable compressors comes with a built in gate.
 
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