Vocal Miking Techniques...problem.

M

mari

New member
Hey all, just a quick question.

I was recording a female vocalist today. She's got a superb voice but lacks control. I'm finding it really difficult to record her. She's really low at parts in the song but then she gets really loud! The result is a weak signal and a really strong signal at points in the song. It sounds awful, loud one minute, barely audible the next.

I told her to step back a bit on those relly loud passages and keep up near the pop shield for the quiet bits. Its not really working though.

I tried two different mics on her - an AT4040 and a B&K 4006 (which I normally use for acoustic guitars). Her voice is better timbrally through the B&K but the contrasts in volume seem worse.

I normalised the entire track and it helped a bit to bring up those lows.

Any other suggestions would be great...

Thanks!

Mari
 
instead of normalizing once you've already tracked, try compressing her vocal 2 or 3 times on the way in.

before you freak and tell me i'm crazy hear me out.

set the compressors all for 1.25:1 or 1.5:1 compression... i.e. really gentle, soft knee.

on each one, turn the thresh control lower until you're getting, say, 2-5 db of squash on each unit.

that will help smooth things out a little bit.

or an RNC set on 'super nice' helps. but it really sounds like you need to track with some compression in your chain for this girl.
 
Mari,
the compression suggestion is a
good one, and theres nothing wrong
with " riding the faders" ( simply adjusting your input gain to the dynamics of the tune) you maybe better off using a good quality dynamic
mic ( sm-7 ...Re-20 ..there are many)
best of luck !

Ray
 
Also when she belts out have her back off the mic a few inchs or turn her head a little bit away from the mic.
Pro vocalists know the techniques and use them on stage and while recording.
 
Why is there such a range in her volume? Is it intentional dynamics or is it because her voice lacks volume in the lower registers, or is it just random?

If she can do it, have her stand with one foot about two feet in front of the other, and when she sings softly put her weight on the forward foot, and loudly her weight on the back foot. This should bring her head toward and away from the mic.

Of course if she has to concentrate on this it may take away from her performance of the song.
 
I agree with the compression. I always record vocals with some compression. And the techniques are important, try recording all the soft phrases up close, then make another sweep with the loud parts with her standing farther back. Then combine the two tracks. You might be able to swing that.
 
agreed

i find it nearly impossible to track any vocals at all without some sort of compression on the way in, if not just to tame those peaks. otherwise, with an extremely dynamic singer like you've got (or a song which calls for extreme softs and louds), you're gonna have problems, even if you ride the faders.

save yourself some serious headaches and pick up a cheap compressor--something along the lines of a used RNC will do wonders for your problems.

remember--you don't gotta squash the life outta it, you just need to tame some of those peaks on their way to tape.

and like bostonfan suggested, you might also want to check into using a nicer dynamic on her instead of that 4040. maybe an re20 or an sm7b. i've got an ev re38 that i really dig, but i haven't had a chance to try it on any females yet.


wade
 
Thanks for the replies everyone, appreciate it.

crazydoc... yes, your right, she seems to lack volume in the lower register. A certain amount of it is intentional dynamics but I tried getting her to belt out stuff whilst singing in the lower register and she wasn't able to. Her voice could definately do with a bit of training.


The Compression suggestion sounds like a good one. I'll have a go messing about with it. I dont have an outboard compressor. I do have a plug-in compressor. That'd do wouldn't it?

I tried 'riding the faders' and as I get more used to the dynamics of the song I find that I'm getting much better results.

I've tried two mics so far, I prefer the B&K, it really brings out her voice. Up to now, I've been a big fan of AT4040s for female vocals but this experience makes me realise that voices vary greatly in every way. Its all a learning process, I suppose. I'll have a go with some of the dynamics I have.

I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again.

Mari
 
a software compressor will not work, because the signal will have already clipped the pres on the way in, and distorted digitally. You can resort to this, howevr, you have to drop the level on the pre so that the loudest bits don't clip, then the quiet bits will have to be boosted, which will also boost the noise floor: it isn't the best way to do it.

If you can't afford the external comps, I think the next best suggestion here was to record the bits twice: once with the gain high to get the quiet bits, the other time to set the gain lower to get the loud bits, then cut the bits that clip in the quieter track, and cut the bits that are too quiet in the loud track and blend them. Alternately, if you have a stereo pair of mics, set them up so that she is singing into both at the same time, have one set for the low bits and one for hte loud bits and edit/blend as necessary.
 
You can also try going through by hand and manually raise the softer parts using volume envelopes. It's a lot more work than just throwing a compressor on the track, but that's the way I prefer to do it. :)

-tkr
 
Sometimes a cheap dynamic works well with singers like that. Try an SM58 compressed at about 3:1. I use a Joemeek compressor for that. A little opto-comp color can help to smooth over some of the rough edges.-Richie
 
You may also want to try one of the Electro-Voice microphones with their patented "Variable-D" feature like;

1) EV RE20 (or PL20)
2) EV RE16 (or RE15 w/mesh pop screen)

The beauty of these microphones is that for someone with no or
limited microphone technique they are very forgiving.
The variable-D design virtually eliminates any proximity effect,
so they can be miked up close, and concentrate on SINGING.

Elvis loved the RE16 and RE15 BTW, check out his 1968 "Elvis"
Comeback TV Special sometime to hear them in action.
Aretha used them a lot too, and you know how powerful her
voice is also.

Chris
 
I will add my vote to the value of riding the input faders while tracking. I've had my share of singers where that's really the only way. To try and get compression to tame really extreme dynamics never sounds quite as natural.

I do use light compression while tracking vocals - mostly to help keep the track "present" in the cue mixes, as well as to impart desireable color. But it's important to be able to ride the faders as well.

That's why it's critical to have some quiet continuous gain control on whatever vocal preamp you are using. If the preamp only has stepped gain, for instance, or noisy pots, you will have to insert another piece of gear that has quiet continuous gain (or trim) control (like a compressor) to do the rides.
 
Thanks for the tip, Littledog. Of course, my Avalon and the Joemeek have stepped gain control. but the trim knob on the Avalon should be able to do that.-Richie
 
If the sofer parts are lets say the verses, and the louder parts are the chorus, then just record them each on a different track. also try recording the same track twice, one with higher gain and the other with less gain, and blend in the mix.
 
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