vocal micing

[Aaron Marlowe]

ok heres the deal.weve been recording and were not 'shure' wich mucrophone to use at the moment.the guitars are being recorded with the sm57 mics.now the problem is....what should we use for vocals? we have 2 sm58's and 2 sm57's.i know its not much but were not trying to sound all proffessional about it..im sure u know what i mean.and what is a good,easy and better program to use other than acid pro 4.0.sure acid is ok for our purposes but I myself think there is something better.gotta remind yall that the computer were using isnt the greatest thing eve but it does the trick.we have a vocal 'booth'(its actually a small closet with blankets all over the walls and a bunch of pillows)and the room were recording in is about 13X13(its pretty small).any who,we have no special sound cards or anything.its all through the mic input(everyone tells me to use the line in but for some reason it sounds terrible)we have 6 channel mixing board and some guitar heads.2 guitars and a nice P.A. system.all the basic stuff.anyway is there anyone out there that can help me build this to a better configuration?if so thanx alot for all your support and letting me be herd.

 

[Robert D]

It sounds like you're making the best with what you've got. Since you only have two mics to choose from, and they share the same capsule, just give each a go and listen back. The 57 should sound a little more open, but may have a problem with plosives that the 58 won't. For the main room, don't try to deaden it the way you did with the closet. You'll just kill the highs, and the lows will be untreated, making things worse. Try some absorption on two of the four walls, so that each room dimension has opposing live and dead surfaces. That'll knock down the flutter echoes but leave the room response more even.

Good luck and have fun.