what mic is good for recording Vocalist who scream/yell/growl

A trick I learned from John "Massive Master" is to use a couple channels of compression in series. Run your first channel of compression as a limiter (high comp. ratio) to prevent clipping, and your second as a light compression to smooth everything out. The act of compressing may add a bit of distortion naturally, but it will most likely sound better than running the vocals through a distortion pedal. For example, as a couple of people pointed out in other threads, Al Jourgenson gets his vocal distortion by running through 5 or 6 channels of compression.

There was a thread in "Recording Techniques" about all of this. So, you may want to look into allocating part of your budget for some compressors...they'll be useful on lots of things. Some inexpensive options are the Behringer Composers or Autocoms (compressors are one that Behringer seems to do correctly, according to folks around here), or a pair of FMR Audio RNCs (it stands for "Real Nice Compressor". However, with the RNCs, you would need to buy two, because they are only single channel (although they are stereo). People here caution to stay away from the Alesis 3630, though. Myself, I'd like pick one up on eBay and have Black Lion mod it...could be decent. Anyways, I think that with some compression and a good dynamic mic like what's been suggested here, you should be able to do a good job.
 
This might be a crazy suggestion, and I don't really know much about the subject, but I heard of some people trying to get a different or retro sound by singing into a d112?

It can presumably handle high SPL, so maybe would be useful in this situation?

Having said that I just love the egg, it gives me a nice warm feeling to hold it, one day I would like to own one! :)

love

Freya
 
The Sennheiser 421 works pretty well on screams, growls and yells for me. As well as the SM57. It all really depends on which microphone suits your vocalist. Both of those seems to work very well for me.

-Sys
 
deepwater said:
1: Don't scream. Sing.

2: Screaming is like keyboard player beating their hands with a hammer. It kills your voice.

3:A song is to be sung not screamed. Thats like slap'n the guitar strings.

4: If you must scream turn from the mix so you don't spit all over it.

5: Take a nerve pill so you can handle the stress.

Best of luck!!!
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how do you think Robbert plant and Jimmi Page made their living? They were around before good P.A.'s were out, so you HAD to scream for it to carry.
And look how much money they have made.
 
enferno said:
how do you think Robbert plant and Jimmi Page made their living? They were around before good P.A.'s were out, so you HAD to scream for it to carry.
And look how much money they have made.
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Because they don't scream. Not really. Too many young kids hear that sound abd try to immitate it by actually screaming. Then they get their first gig and have to keep it up through multiple 15 minute sets each night and by the end of a few weeks they have developed polyps on the vocal cords and are looking at surgery and a chance of maybe getting their voice back after many months.
 
Innovations said:
Because they don't scream. Not really. Too many young kids hear that sound abd try to immitate it by actually screaming. Then they get their first gig and have to keep it up through multiple 15 minute sets each night and by the end of a few weeks they have developed polyps on the vocal cords and are looking at surgery and a chance of maybe getting their voice back after many months.
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iv been in this hardcore band for 8 months and the passed 4 months iv learned how to scream and not hurt my vocal chords
 
newjacksm said:
Whats a good pedal for distortion on the voice? I dont think that would have distortion on it.. anyways so yeah.. whats a good pedal to put distortion in the voice?
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The best "pedal" isn't one....use the microphone preamp. Preferably a mic preamp with highly colored transformers, and input gain, and an output attenuator. Crank the gain to saturate the tranny, and bring the output down to keep levels in check for the multitrack. I just recorded a band called 'Sudden Death'...99% high and low screams/growls. Used a Vintech 473, cranked it in exactly how I described above, and subtle, but essential distortion made everybody in the room smile.
 
I think Adam P and Atlas have the right idea.

Atlas, do you think an Art Tube Pre would work for such a thing? I'm thinking budget here... I'm considering doing something similar myself with a preamp.

A distortion pedal could work if you were to bring it up in the mix with the original so that you have the word clarity from the original but the nastiness of the distortion. I would go for more of an overdrive pedal, or a distortion pedal where you can turn down the gain so there's only mild to medium distortion (a metal zone might be a little much...)


PS... why do loud screaming vocals distort in a live situation? Does it hit the limiter?
 
gawkman said:
A distortion pedal could work if you were to bring it up in the mix with the original so that you have the word clarity from the original but the nastiness of the distortion.
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Exactly... and you can bet your sweet bibby it works... just don't mix in too much distortion.
 
Normally an Sm57 would be the last mic I'd recommend as a vocal mic for recording. But for screaming metal, I think that's what alot of pros use. I think even Cindy Lauper used one. Some one correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Try to get yourself a U67 (very expensive) or a U87 (expensive) or...an SM58 (hey, you already have one)!

I used an SM58 when I recorded Al Jarreau and also Keiko Terada (both in a studio rather than onstage). In Al's case we were matching the sound of some songs he had done in LA. Keiko wanted to be able to grab the mic as part of her singing (very aggresive rock). I had a 67 behind the 58, but the 58 sounded much better. I had to add some low end both times and smooth out the midrange a little but was very happy with the results.

If you are a screamer then you should be careful with your levels. Make sure that your level is good when you are singing into the mic full blast.

DO NOT OVER COMPRESS YOUR VOCALS as can happen easily to screamers. Your compressor should be set low (try around 3:1) and kick in ONLY when you are screaming. Don't worry about inconsistent levels on your tracks (digital is ok for that). Don't worry about not being able to hear the non-screaming parts as well...that's what faders are for.

Some people like to overly compress vocals rather than put in the effort riding them. In the case of a singer/screamer with a very large dynamic range this could be a big problem. In fact, I ONLY compress vocals while recording if I want the sound of the compression or have someone who's dynamic range is much larger than my storage medium (different for Analog than Digital). You can always compress after the fact.

Sorry to turn this into a compressor forum!

-Bruce Miller
(Engineering tips at http://BruceAMiller.us)

oh, there are a few lines of Keiko Terada's SM58 vocal on an mp3 clip at my site.
 
zzz

deepwater said:
1: Don't scream. Sing.

2: Screaming is like keyboard player beating their hands with a hammer. It kills your voice.

3:A song is to be sung not screamed. Thats like slap'n the guitar strings.

4: If you must scream turn from the mix so you don't spit all over it.

5: Take a nerve pill so you can handle the stress.

Best of luck!!!
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Shh noob. Screaming can take just as much talent as singing. And you need to learn to scream professionally prior to going live. If done wrong it WILL hurt and wreck your vocal chords, but if done correctly there is no harm. Its not an easy thing to master, but practice and knowledge makes perfect.
 
I have had great results with a sterling audio st55. It seems to beba good all around mic. When screaming into it i jus put the pop filter a good distsnce away so im not eating the mic. And screamin only ruins your voice if you do it wrong. Its all from your gut not your throat. I can scream for hours and my throat wont hurt at all. Watch a video called the zen of screaming. She is a voice coach that specializes in screaming. She has taught some of the biggest names in metal and hardcore to do it right and thats how i learned.
 
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