vocal recording

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0hz

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Is it best to record vocals as a mono or stereo track, is there any difference in the end result, that is, if you are not using a stereo mic. does recording a stereo track using a mono mic cause any problems when mixing down. Can anyone give me some general pointers about recording vocals.

Cheers

0hz
 
From my limited experience:

It depends what you are after for the vocal. If it is a lead vocal, I don't see much point in recording it stereo as it usually sits right up the middle. If it is BG vocals or a chorus or sth...it might make sense, but then the room needs to sound good too.

If you don't have a stereo mic or a pair of mics, it doesn't make any sense to record in stereo. It will still be a mono track (one mic) but take up twice as much space than if it was just recorded in mono.

At least that's what I think I know about it. :)
 
Pretty much what Jag said. Record it mono. If you are recording from a single mic, there is no reason to record in stereo.

Plus a stereo track takes more storage space, and is more difficult to pan.
 
Thanks
That all makes sense. I did also read that the mic should be around 6 to 8 inches away coz if its to close then you get alot of base freqs recorded which then need cutting at and below 80Hz.

Again I wonder is it better to let the vocalist express themself using the mic then cut the base out or force them to use the mic at a distance.


cheers

0hz
 
0hz said:
Thanks
That all makes sense. I did also read that the mic should be around 6 to 8 inches away coz if its to close then you get alot of base freqs recorded which then need cutting at and below 80Hz.

Again I wonder is it better to let the vocalist express themself using the mic then cut the base out or force them to use the mic at a distance.


cheers

0hz
Click to expand...

HEHE....that gets another "depends" :D

It depends on the mic & the vocalist. I ususally keep my pop screen about 4" off my mic and I will go up to that and back off from it depending on the volume I am singing at. There are even exceptions to that. I was doing a vocal track last night for a songwriter demo. The scratch tracks were done by a girl (one of the co-writers) and they wanted a male vocal on it. If I were singing it for me I would have dropped it a fifth and gone to town on it. However, she was married to that key (apparently the artist they are pitching this to has a high voice - although this song needs to be down in the dirt a little IMHO - but not my call). I started recording the track and found that in the range I was singing, the usual mic placement sounded really harsh on my voice (I've noticed my AKG C535EB can be harsh for me in a lot of circumstances :(). So I pushed that pop filter about an inch from the grill of the mic, adjusted the pre accordingly, laid back on the vocal a bit and took advantage of the proximity effect of the mic. Turned out pretty well.

Hope that helps :)

Oh...and if it comes down to getting a great performance and eq'ing later or capturing a soncially sound mediocre performance, I'll take the great performance any day. That's just my opinion YMMV
 
Thanx for that reply, you don't know (well I guess you do) how much that opens my eye's.

Cheers

0hz
 
I record the vocals as mono, the hook as stereo
and the adlibs as left/right stereo
 
shAkEz_gk said:
I record the vocals as mono, the hook as stereo
and the adlibs as left/right stereo
Click to expand...

i with shakez...i do the same when im recording vocals....andi add some reverb and chorus to the hook
 
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