Recording Vocals

El Borrachito

Premier Staff
It’s all about the vocal! All other elements of a song put together do not add up to the importance of the vocal. The vocal IS the song as far as the casual listener is concerned. Any other element can make a song better or worse, but the vocal sound, mix treatment, and especially the performance, are what make or break a song.

Is there one ideal magic signal chain for vocals? Hell no! The only way to find the right mic for a particular singer is to put up a bunch and listen. U-47? Sounds great sometimes. ELAM-251? Great if you can find one. C-12VR? Worked for Mick Jagger. SM-7? Good for screamers. Brauner VM-1? That’s Wein’s favorite. If I have options I will always explore them. The standard procedure on many records I worked on was to set up every nice tube mic in the studio –even ones of the same type –and try them all. If I had to get by on just one mic for vocals it would be a M-149. It’s my favorite contemporary tube microphone. Nine times out of ten, it will be good if not great on a vocal. And, since they are relatively new, they all sound the same. Try finding two U-47s that sound the same these days. For screamer rock/metal guys the SM-7 is a great solution. (And only $350!) The other trick I have seen for guys who are loud enough to kill a tube mic is a U-87 with a big foam pop filter on it. (That is about the only time I would get out a U-87.) My favorite under-$600 vocal mic is the Audio Technica 4047.

All too often, placement of the mic and position in the room get overlooked. Distance from the mic is usually a style choice. I keep the singer between six inches and a foot away unless I want a very “in your face” thing where they get right up on it. Try to keep the pop filter –you always use a pop filter right? –about half way between singer and mic. If a singer gets right up on the mic, proximity effect starts to take effect. You may need to start rolling off low end. Once the positioning is set, I put a piece of tape on the floor as a reminder for the singer. More than once I’ve gotten everything set and sounding great only to then watch a chick singer kick off her four-inch heels right before the first take. Now I always ask to settle on a footware situation before we start. Ideally the room should be set up to contain the ambience as much as possible. In a medium to large room, the usual approach is to build a little three-sided cubicle out of gobos. Some sort of rug on the floor is also very helpful. In a small room, back the singer into a corner. If there are curtains or soft walls, great, otherwise grab a couple packing blankets and throw them up. Also, keep music stands as far from the mic as you can, and throw a towel or felt square over it to deaden any reflections. Keep in mind that any ambience or headphone bleed that gets into the mic now will be exaggerated by all of the subsequent compression. This is especially dangerous if there will be multiple tracks of vocals. I was once set a track to mix that had twelve tracks of vocals on the chorus. The headphone bleed on any ONE track was barely acceptable. Times twelve, it was a disaster. I sent it back and told him to redo it with some closed-back headphones!

The rest of the chain can be a little bit more standard. The big question is, are you going for something hi-fi or do you want color? My favorite hi-fi mic preamp is an Avalon M5. The Millennias and John Hardys are also very good. For something a little more rock and roll, bust out the Neves or APIs. A $200 dollar plastic box with a cheap 12AX7 soldered to a PC board is not a good way to make a mic preamp. Neither are the mic preamps built into audio interfaces. Anyone who wonders whether the preamps on his Fireface or MOTU box sound better or worse than an 003 should keep in mind that it’s different flavors of the same cheap parts and minimal circuitry (in this case a bad thing.) The best investment for any project studio is a few good microphones and a couple channels of high-quality signal chain. Good mics, preamps, eqs, and compressors never become obsolete. Computers, interfaces, and pretty much anything digital get old fast, but good sounding analog input gear will last forever.

The amount of compression I use on vocal has increased since the days of tape. Ahh GP9 on a Studer. That smooth high end, fat punchy drums, watching those meters, razor blades -I miss tape… I digress. To make up for not having the tape compression, I will tend to compress things a bit more on the input. None of those faux-tape compression plug-ins do much for me. They do something, but it’s not tape. Probably the quintessential vocal comp is the LA2A. They are magic on vocals. They currently make a reissue that’s not too bad. If the singer is extra dynamic, it might help to put a second fast compressor in front to knock down the peaks. The 1176 is the ideal down and dirty option. If I am doing some sort of lo-fi thing, often I will stick a plug-in compressor on the channel as well to approximate the amount I will squash the vocal in the mix. This can be handy to ensure I don’t overdo it and end up with an overcompressed, unpleasantly distorted, pumpy mess.

Unless I am compensating for a less-than-ideal mic, the only eq I may add is perhaps a little 10K boost. This is especially nice with a Pultec or one of the many tube eq clones. Even so, a little goes a long way! If the vocal sound is too sibilant, move the mic, swap the mic, whatever. Just fix it now! I don’t think I have ever recorded a vocal with a de-esser.
 
So how much compression do you actually apply at each stage (in terms of general numbers)? In your other thread you mentioned you'll apply compression when tracking and then again when mixing.

Also, I was reading an interview with Daniel Lanois, who said Bono likes to record vocals in the control room with a handheld SM58 and the monitors blaring. What's your opinion of this recording "technique"?
 
Brauner VM-1? That’s Wein’s favorite..

Too bad I'll never own one:

mercenary-audio_2087_29266536


mercenary-audio_2087_29298453


To Dirk Brauner, his VM1 was the first real fulfilling of the dream of the perfect sounding tube microphone. A microphone to keep the spirit of the glorious old tube microphones alive, whilst complying with the high technical standards of modern high-tech microphones in the same way. Tradition and progress join up in this top of the line Brauner product, which won the SSAIRA award in 1998 for the best product in its category.

BRAVM1 List $6,510.00

:(
 
This post is really timely for me....I'm going to be doing vocals on the Metropolitans demo in the next couple of weeks...

I get the feeling that I'm going to be buying 8 channels of interface style preamps for tracking classes (I've discovered that 8 really isn't enough for what we're doing right now if I have more than a 4 piece band) for about $500 and then later in the year spending about $2000 on one or two decent signal paths for vocals and overdubs.

The mic thing is going to have to wait for me except for after I set up my Audio Technica dealership I'll probably splurge on one really nice mic for vocals.
 
So how much compression do you actually apply at each stage (in terms of general numbers)? In your other thread you mentioned you'll apply compression when tracking and then again when mixing.

Also, I was reading an interview with Daniel Lanois, who said Bono likes to record vocals in the control room with a handheld SM58 and the monitors blaring. What's your opinion of this recording "technique"?

I do this sometimes because my voice sounds like shit either way. Might as well make it easy. :embarrassed:
 
So how much compression do you actually apply at each stage (in terms of general numbers)? In your other thread you mentioned you'll apply compression when tracking and then again when mixing.

Also, I was reading an interview with Daniel Lanois, who said Bono likes to record vocals in the control room with a handheld SM58 and the monitors blaring. What's your opinion of this recording "technique"?

The amount of compression varies depending on how dynamic the singer is. Usually I'll do between 4-10 db. A more dynamic singer will also get a higher ratio; more like 6:1 or 8:1 instead of 4:1. If it's really crazy I'll do the two compressor thing, but that's pretty rare. The main thing is to get a good strong level (especially to a digital recorder), with a clean, dry, bleed free, sound.

I have actually heard tracks of Bono's 58 vocals. They sound about how you'd imagine them. The amount of bleed isn't really that bad. If that's what the singer needs to get a great performance, then that will always trump sonic considerations. By the same token, the artist has to have reasonable expectations about the kind of sound you can get.
 
I haz a question.

The vocal mic I use the most is an AKG C4000B. It's a large dual diaphram condensor. It has 3 patterns: Omni, cardioid, and hypercardioid. It also has a bass cut filter that cuts everything below about 80hz, and a 10db pad.

Usually when I do vocals, I use the cardioid pattern, no bass filter, and no pad. I do experiment around with the different patters from time to time though.

Which pattern would you most often use? Is there a particular patter to avoid? I find I like the Cardioid more because it has a nice presense, and gives you a little bit of a range of use (I tend to back up and rock side to side when I'm singing :embarrassed:)

When I've tried the omni pattern, I get more room sound since it's picking up reflections from all over, and that often sounds more complex and natural when soloed, but I generally have a much harder time getting the vocals to sound good in a mix.
 
I haz a question.

The vocal mic I use the most is an AKG C4000B. It's a large dual diaphram condensor. It has 3 patterns: Omni, cardioid, and hypercardioid. It also has a bass cut filter that cuts everything below about 80hz, and a 10db pad.

Usually when I do vocals, I use the cardioid pattern, no bass filter, and no pad. I do experiment around with the different patters from time to time though.

Which pattern would you most often use? Is there a particular patter to avoid? I find I like the Cardioid more because it has a nice presense, and gives you a little bit of a range of use (I tend to back up and rock side to side when I'm singing :embarrassed:)

When I've tried the omni pattern, I get more room sound since it's picking up reflections from all over, and that often sounds more complex and natural when soloed, but I generally have a much harder time getting the vocals to sound good in a mix.

FWIW, I'd use the bass filter on vocals... that's all wasted space you're going to cut out later anyway.

EDIT:

Back to someone who knows wtf they're talking about. :embarrassed:
 
FWIW, I'd use the bass filter on vocals... that's all wasted space you're going to cut out later anyway.

EDIT:

Back to someone who knows wtf they're talking about. :embarrassed:

You'd think so, but I never do EQ my vocals tracks. I very rarely will boost the highs and cut the lows a tiny bit on backing vocals, but for my lead vocal tracks, I normally don't touch the EQ at all. I know there's not a lot of content down that low, and if I were getting rumble or something like that, I'd probably use the filter, but I don't, so I figure I might as well capture the whole spectrum, even if I were to cut it later with an EQ (which, like I said, I don't).
 
I haz a question.

The vocal mic I use the most is an AKG C4000B. It's a large dual diaphram condensor. It has 3 patterns: Omni, cardioid, and hypercardioid. It also has a bass cut filter that cuts everything below about 80hz, and a 10db pad.

Usually when I do vocals, I use the cardioid pattern, no bass filter, and no pad. I do experiment around with the different patters from time to time though.

Which pattern would you most often use? Is there a particular patter to avoid? I find I like the Cardioid more because it has a nice presense, and gives you a little bit of a range of use (I tend to back up and rock side to side when I'm singing :embarrassed:)

When I've tried the omni pattern, I get more room sound since it's picking up reflections from all over, and that often sounds more complex and natural when soloed, but I generally have a much harder time getting the vocals to sound good in a mix.

Condensers usually sound the truest in omni, but unless you're in an anechoic chamber, it will be too roomy.

I would usually use cardioid. Hypercardioid would be even better isolation-wise, but there is usually a trade-off in terms of response. Also, since you said you tend to wiggle around, it wouldn't be the best choice anyway. I don't usually use the bass roll-off. There's not much going on down there on a vocal. If there is some bumpiness down low I'll eq it later when I have more flexibility.
 
Condensers usually sound the truest in omni, but unless you're in an anechoic chamber, it will be too roomy.

I would usually use cardioid. Hypercardioid would be even better isolation-wise, but there is usually a trade-off in terms of response. Also, since you said you tend to wiggle around, it wouldn't be the best choice anyway. I don't usually use the bass roll-off. There's not much going on down there on a vocal. If there is some bumpiness down low I'll eq it later when I have more flexibility.

Thanks for that.

Like I said, I've had my best results with the cardioid pattern, but I thought maybe I was doing it wrong. :)

It's good to know that since I don't have great room, I'm doing what I should be doing. :thu:
 
Also, I was reading an interview with Daniel Lanois, who said Bono likes to record vocals in the control room with a handheld SM58 and the monitors blaring. What's your opinion of this recording "technique"?

It works great with people who are very performance-oriented. Much better to get a great performance and have a little bleed if that's what it takes.
 
Condensers usually sound the truest in omni, but unless you're in an anechoic chamber, it will be too roomy.

I frequently record vocals in omni, placing a couple of RealTraps around the microphone to take some of the room out of it.

I have a large diaphragm condenser with infinitely variable patterns, so I'll have the singer sing and slowly turn it to see what sounds most flattering for the song and vocalist.
 
I have that. Nice mic. Cardioid only, and very neutral sounding, quite smooth. I tend to reach for the Lawson L251 more, but the AT4060 is a really good microphone. Well built too.
 
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