Recording Vocals

[Steve]

I'm looking for some guidance on recording vocals. I was listening to somebody elses vocal and it struck me that they were much more clearly defined!. I think I have a pretty good mic (Sennheiser B1). But I wonder if I have the right settings for recording. Or if I just need to 'mix' the recording differently?

[thepopeofpop]

I wasn't aware that there was a Sennheiser B1 microphone. I know Behringer make a B1 condenser microphone which is pretty decent, but I don't know about the Sennheiser. I have Sennheiser 595 headphones, so I am familiar with the brand!

[Steve]

I wasn't aware that there was a Sennheiser B1 microphone. I know Behringer make a B1 condenser microphone which is pretty decent, but I don't know about the Sennheiser. I have Sennheiser 595 headphones, so I am familiar with the brand!

Yeah. That's what I meant... A Behringer B1. I use a sennheiser mixer. Must have been looking at that when I wrote that post!

[john]

lol

when you say more clearly defined, I assume you mean "within the mix"? There are a few variables here.

The first is obviously the recording you make... is the mic giving a crisp enough render of the vocals on their own?

Next is the effects and treatments you use to shape the vocal sound. For example, many effects can muddy the sound. Same goes for EQ settings on the vocal track. Compression is also an important consideration... compressed vocals with no major dynamics are easier for mixing, but it can also benefit the vocal clarity within a mix.

Lastly is the muddying caused by other sounds that overlap in frequency with the voice. Pad sounds tend to muddy the mix most however even your guitar will do that. To fix that you need to poke EQ holes in the other instruments.... for example applying an EQ filter to a pad dropping the vocal frequencies on the pad during the sections where the vocal and pad overlap

Did you try the EQ guide I wrote a few years ago? That might help

http://recording.songstuff.com/article/eq_frequencies/

Cheers

John

[Steve]

I have actually been scanning the EQ guide. Found it looking through the list of articles. It makes a lot of sense. In this instance however, I'm not the one mixing the track. Although, it must be faily ok, I've been asked to sing three more tracks for somebody else now...? Looks like I'm getting my muse back in a roundabout way...!

[FinnArild]

try +2.5db at 2khz and +2.5 db at 12khz - boost a bit at 200-300 hz as well - cutoff at 150

2khz for clarity (most speech information lies here)

12khz for air.

200-300hz for body

If you can get your hands on a LA2A compressor plugin and a pultec eq plugin, you will find it almost magically brings some color and presence to the vocals.

[Steve]

try +2.5db at 2khz and +2.5 db at 12khz - boost a bit at 200-300 hz as well - cutoff at 150

2khz for clarity (most speech information lies here)

12khz for air.

200-300hz for body

If you can get your hands on a LA2A compressor plugin and a pultec eq plugin, you will find it almost magically brings some color and presence to the vocals.

Thanks boys. I'm gonna play about with some of this stuff on my older songs. See what happens.