Vocal home recording equipement

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Seventhson

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Hello,
I know there are already tons of threads about mics, preamps...
I know every singer is different and there is no universal solution, something that works for a singer does not necessary works for an other, and one mic can sound good with a preamp and not good with an other.

The problem is that I live in France, where local stores don't have enough equipement to make good comparisons. So before I drive to Paris or Germany where there are bigger stores, I'd like to have a few advices, because for a singer, it's not easy to both sing and test equipement at the same time!

For now, I own an old M Audio FW1814 audio interface which still seems to do its job, and I'd like to improve my home recorded vocal takes.
I sing progressive metal (mainly clean, like Dream Theater, sometimes Symphony X...), my voice is quite complex cause I can sing strong baritones stuff (like Matt Barlow from Iced Earth) and sometimes cleaner and lighter tenor stuff (like Geoff Tate from Queensryche).

So I assume the first thing to buy is a good mic and a good preamp, and which work well together!
For the mic, and to record home, I don't know if I should buy a good dynamic (Shure SM7b, EV RE20...) or an average condenser (Rode NT2, AKG C214, Audio Technica AT4040, Blue...).
For the preamp, its seems there are 2 schools of thought : buying a clean transparent preamp (Focusrite Isa One, Grace Design M101...) and add coloration with EQ and compressor plugins (later hardware), or buying a colored preamp (Golden Age Project Pre-73, Summit Audio 2Ba-221, UA Solo 610...)

The budget is around 1000€/$ for the whole.
Thank you for your advices!
 
Taking the train would be cheaper. In saying that I would wholeheartedly suggest that you do try before you buy. ;)
 
Generally, recording vocals with a condensor is going to give you a better sound. Note I said generally. As far as using a transparent or coloring preamp, first try out some of the plugins with the gear you have, see if you lie the results or not, this will help steer you in the direction YOU like best.
 
that's what I'm going to do, but I wanted to collect some advices before, because testing some equipements while singing at the same time can be tricky, and the dealers don't always give the best advices!
 
If your recording space is compromised you might lean towards the SM7 or RE20 where they are worked closer and minimize the room's effect. If not then the large diaphragm condensors could be more versatile overall.
 
Seventhson said:
that's what I'm going to do, but I wanted to collect some advices before, because testing some equipements while singing at the same time can be tricky, and the dealers don't always give the best advices!
Click to expand...
You're right about that and damn near impossible.
Consider looking in your area for studios or other recordists where you could try some out, get a feel for a few even if they're not necessarily you're first guess list there. Perhaps they'd set up your store demo to record the mics so at least you could hear them back?
You may find in general some LDC mics are not hugely different from each other, often with small variations on where and how much top bump they have for example.

Really a tone evaluation out side the context of a mix is even problematic- not to mention the contexts of the moment (song's) variations.
You might look at this as phase #1; The best guess', get one home work with it, learn, go from there part.

Also, unless the interface pre's are actually poor (I don't know) I'd tend to say skip that for now start with the mic and/or the invironment first.
 
Ok, trying is the best option, but I know it's not always possible.

For rock and even folky mellow stuff, you almost can't go wrong with the SM7B and GAP73. That's what I use all the time. I've used it on a bunch of male vocals and never had one sound bad. Plus the GAP sounds great with acoustics and kicks too. That combo (which you're considering) is what I would recommend anyway.
 
Seventhson said:
Hello,
The problem is that I live in France, where local stores don't have enough equipement to make good comparisons. So before I drive to Paris or Germany where there are bigger stores,
Click to expand...

Now I live in Australia, but on my trips to London I always have a look around the Denmark St / Charring Cross Road area which is chock a block with stores. There are also a lot of other stores not that far away. Why don't you jump on the train through the tunnel and spend a day having a look round. You could also catch some live music at the 12 bar club.

Alan,
 
I am a true believer that the SM7B = Great male vocals. Can use it live also if you throw a decent gain unit in there. I would of course still recommend trying it out first.
 
Just look up the list of artists who have recorded with the SM7B...it's amazing, especially considering the studios they work in have pretty much anything you can imagine. I wouldn't say it's the best kept secret in vocal recording because everyone knows about it, but it is the cheapest way to get great male vocals for a huge variety of genres.

and when you keep saying "advices" it reminds me of Arnold in Pumping Iron..."Franco is pretty smart, but Franco's a child, and when it comes to the day of the contest, I am his father. He comes to me for advices. So it's not that hard for me to give him the wrong advices." (BTW, your English is MUCH better than my French :))
 
So following your advices, I picked a Sm7b.
Now I have to choose a preamp.
On the paper, Summit-Audio 2BA-221 would have been a good choice, but it's very difficult to find one where I live to test it, and based on a few samples I heared on the internet, it seems to have a lack of punch, and maybe it's not a good idea to associate it with a Sm7b?
I have two options : Focusrite Isa One which seems to be punchy and clear, and Golden Age Project pre73 mkII or dlx, which seems to have more character. But will this character suit Sm7b own character I don't know!
 
Good choice sir.

Have you tried it with your interface preamp? High gain is your friend with this mic.

In my experience, I found that a Neve 1073 clone preamp works wonders with the SM7B. I use a Vintech X73i. A bit out of your budget, but I would recommend the GAP73, based upon what I have heard about it here. I almost went there, but luckily had some extra cash to go for something a bit more expensive.

I would love to hear some samples of your vocals BTW. :)
 
my audio interface is an old M audio FW1814, preamps don't have a lot of gain, and I'm not a specialist but maybe they are a little bit "sterile".
I will try to post audio clips.
 
Most interface preamps are typically 'sterile'. That is what is good for most situations. It seems that older interfaces do not have quite so much gain tho. I would definitely go with a 1073 clone type preamp.
 
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