What is a good Mic for a very powerful low female voice?

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dleflerrice

New member
I am just getting started in my recording set up and am looking at a mic to record my wife. she has a very powerful low voice and I want to capture all of the emotion it carries in the studio. I have been looking at the MXL genisis, and the Blue baby bottle. does anyone have any experience with these mics or recording female voice?

thanks

and by the way I am a nube here so thanks again:)
 
Howdy and welcome to the forum.

Powerful low voice? I would tend to aim you at a EV RE 20 (Bonnie Raitt's studio mic). But you can pick up a re 15 (dolly Parton, Elvis) used for a lot cheaper than a 20 new. Or look for a 20 used. Maybe a Shure SM7.


What are you using as your microphone pre amp?
 
I'd be careful with a tube mic for a woman with a very powerful voice. If you get the settings wrong on your preamp, you may find it will distort or get grainy. A Neumann U87 works well for woman's voices. The M149 did not work as well on a female recording as it does on mens voices. I tried what I had... a KSM44 and it held up well on the female voice I recorded. You may want to try an AKG 414 with the -10dB pad on it. They seem to have a full sound and will work well with a wide dynamic range. The 414 will also offer you a clearer tone for a person singing in a lower register. Good luck!!
 
That's what you call "Pulling it back and letting it go !"

My good friend who I've been recording since last century has a deep voice for a woman. And very powerful; I often joke that she doesn't need amplification of any kind. I honestly use any old mic on her. She blasts all of them ! :D
Get your wife to stand back a bit when she's going to let go.
 
thanks for the info so far guys looks like I have some more research:) and I am looking at using just a simple tube pre-amp from a friend of mine but I dont remember what it is.
 
+1 on the SM7b (personal fave) or RE20. Can't go wrong with "big voices" (although pretty darn nice for wimpy voices as well).
 
interesting in the research I am doing I have noticed that both mics you guys are suggesting are actually dynamic mics. should I use a dynamic mic if she has a very powerful voice? or does it just happen to coincide with these two mics?
 
They just happen to be dynamic, and they are great vocal microphones that have been proven time and time again.
There is a much larger list of great large diaphragm condenser vocal mics but I feel that they are more of a hit or miss when matching to a vocalist. Not to mention that they cost a lot more unless your looking at a MXL V67g, MXL 2003b, or the Stellar CM-6 that fall in the same price category or less.
 
gotcha. all very interesting. I have read some that said the SM7b has a low output. and because I dont have anything fancy at all for a pre-amp that worries me some (should it?)
 
dleflerrice said:
interesting in the research I am doing I have noticed that both mics you guys are suggesting are actually dynamic mics. should I use a dynamic mic if she has a very powerful voice? or does it just happen to coincide with these two mics?
Click to expand...
Most "legendary" vocal mics are dynamics of some sort. The whole "you use condensers for vocals" thing is pretty new (and usually driven by MFG's of really cheap condenser mics).

*** I'm certainly not saying that you can't find a voice that lends itself to a condenser over a dynamic and I'd never suggest that some people don't actually want to pick up the additional detail that a typical condenser will. Heck, 90% of the time if you listen to a solo'd vocal track, many would probably prefer the condenser over the dynamic.

Once you're hearing it in the context of the mix, it may be another matter entirely...
 
dleflerrice said:
gotcha. all very interesting. I have read some that said the SM7b has a low output. and because I dont have anything fancy at all for a pre-amp that worries me some (should it?)
Click to expand...

I've always had the pleasure of having great preamps so I can not speak from experience but I to have seen the post everywhere that the 7b needs a descent pre so I would have to agree with their findings.
 
thanks but in this case maybe investment in a good pre is worth more than spending more on a mic. what do you use for a pre now?
 
moresound said:
I to have seen the post everywhere that the 7b needs a descent pre so I would have to agree with their findings.
Click to expand...
Just to clarify that a bit; the 7b, and to a slightly lesser extent, the RE-20, tend to have a bit lower output then the average amongst most mics.* It's not so much that they need high-quality preamps to sound good, it's that they need preamps with strong enough clean pre-amplification to get the tracking signal level up to what most folks would prefer it to be.

If you have a preamp that can provide a good 60-65dB of amplification without getting noisy, you're fine. If you have one that can't give you that much preamplification cleanly or at all, you'll probably be stuck with recording at a bit lower of a level and having to adjust for that in post, if at all, with a potential corresponding increase on the playback level of the noise floor.

* This also applies a small bit to many mid-sized dynamics such as the SM57 and the Sen 421.

G.
 
good point thank you! question again. I live in a fourplex type place that is loudish and I dont have a great room at all. so I built a 4sided 3'x3' egg carton foam lined box to place the mic in and record vocals into. figuring that if I got it as dry as a could i could ad some ambiance on the other side. good thought or just total inexperience?
 
The thought is valid, the execution remains to be tested. The potential weakness is that regular old egg carton foam isn't all that effective as an acoustic damping material; you might find that it doesn't sound quite as dry as you might think., It may possibly wind up sounding more boxy than dry. Or it may just work for you. The only way to know for sure is to give it a try.

If it does wind up sounding "boxy" - which would be due to the fact that egg carton foam does nothing to absorb low frequencies and has only a limited effect on higher frequencies - there are other things that can be done cheaply or freely to perhaps help you out, so all is not lost. But one thing at a time, try what you got first before you worry about the next bridge ;).

G.
 
moresound said:
They just happen to be dynamic, and they are great vocal microphones that have been proven time and time again.
There is a much larger list of great large diaphragm condenser vocal mics but I feel that they are more of a hit or miss when matching to a vocalist. Not to mention that they cost a lot more unless your looking at a MXL V67g, MXL 2003b, or the Stellar CM-6 that fall in the same price category or less.
Click to expand...

one I was looking at was the MXL genesis. (but its new) so it sounds like its kinda untested
 
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