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The Problem |
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...I am writing to you in
the hope that you may be able to offer some advice.
I am a female singer in a punk rock band and I am
having a lot of trouble capturing the vocals in the way
I want . A lot of my vocals are aggressively sung but
are extremely dynamic almost all the way through a track
( the vocals from 'system of a down' are in a similar
style from whispering to super loud rasping often both
happening all in one sentence of a vocal.
Consequently our engineer is finding it a
nightmare to record. I am using a Neumann u87 mike, the
vocals then go through a TL Audio external compressor in
they are all running through a Mackie D8B desk and onto
a Mackie HDR hard disk
recorder
The problems we are
having are firstly how to record the vox to capture the
intimate mouth and throat sounds etc of the very quiet vox
as well as the heavy loud rasping for the heavy vox...
The U87 mike sounds fantastic on low level up close vox,
but on the heavy loud stuff it doesn't seem to embrace
them too well. ... Any advice
you could give me at all would be extremely appreciated
the whole things driving me crazy. -
KS
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The
Solution - Part 1 - What The Vocalist Does With The
Microphone |
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The first
thing that you should understand is that the Neumann U-87
can take any vocal level you can throw at it. This
microphone, like other large-diameter condenser
microphones, needs to be used with the vocalist at least
three inches away; and the normal distance would be eight
to twelve inches. You would need some kind of
pop-filter. The "screen type" filter often works well,
but if you are really moving into the mic, you may want to
use the foam-type that fits right over the microphone. |
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There is a pad switch on the
microphone that allows you to reduce the level that gets
to the preamplifier in the microphone's case. A little
window on the mic shows "-10" if you have this pad on.
95% of the time you will not need this pad for vocals; you
may well be in the 5% of the time that you need this pad
turned on. If your loud parts overload the microphone's
preamplifier, there is nothing you can do to
prevent distortion except for using this pad.
Compressors, limiters, etc are after the microphone and
cannot go back and correct for overload that occurs inside
the mic's case. |
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The vocalist needs to "work"
the microphone, much like a singer will work a handheld
microphone. During performances, you can see singers that
bring the mic in close to the lips for soft lines and pull
the microphone back during loudly sung lines. In the
studio, you rock into the microphone for soft-breathy
parts and rock back for loud parts. You should be at 24 -
32 inches away on the loud lines and no further than 8
inches away from the microphone for the soft parts. This
makes a real difference in the vocal recording quality.
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Solution -
Part 2 - At The Board |
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What you
do at the board doesn't change for consistent or wildly
dynamic parts. You adjust down the microphone gain control
so that during the loudest part the signal almost
lights the overload light. During the sound check, the
light shouldn't even flicker, but it is ok if the light
flickers or lights occasionally during the take (the level
will be slightly louder than the sound check levels 99% of
the time). |
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On many consoles there is an
input pad as well as an microphone level control. If you
need to turn the microphone level control down to less
than 50%, you will need to turn the pad on.
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The level you will want out
of the console, if it is a digital console, should be "-6"
on the meter. This allows the vocalist to get slightly
louder during the take. If a peak goes past "0" on a
digital console, the signal is severely distorted. On an
analog console feeding an analog tape machine, you shoot
for a "0" VU level out of the console. Going slightly
past "0" on an analog recorder is normal.
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Notice that there was no
mention of the compressor. It is important that the
relationship of the board input and the microphone be set
correctly before you add the compressor. The compressor's
gain reduction can mask the fact that you really need an
input pad. |
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Solution -
Part 3 - Adding Compression |
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Probably the biggest mistake
you can make while using the compressor, is to expect it
to do too much. The compressor should make the level and
the tone of the singer more even. If you expect it to
handle widely changing levels, it will do so, but at a
price you don't want to pay. If a compressor is overused,
the loud passages get restricted and you begin to hear the
compressor change gain to "clamp" the signal - a horrible
sound called compressor "pumping." Making sure the
vocalist "works" the microphone and making sure your input
pads and microphone gain controls are properly set, allows
the the compressor to do what it is designed to do.
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The amount of compression
that is being used is read on a "gain-reduction" meter.
This is often a series of led lights that tell you when 6,
10, 14, etc dB of gain reduction is being applied. 6 dB
of gain reduction is a "normal" amount of compression and
makes the vocal twice as consistent. In cases where the
is more than a normal amount of fluctuation in the vocal
level, 10 dB of gain reduction on the loudest passages
works better and still won't cause compressor pumping.
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The compression parameters
recommended for this kind of compression are: |
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Ratio |
2:1 or 3:1 Max
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Attack
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medium (10 - 20 Ms.)
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Release
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variable or 100 ms or
more. |
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Threshold |
So as to achieve a 10
dB gain reduction on loudest passages. |
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This compression works fine
for getting the vocal recorded onto the multitrack
master. Further stages of mild compression in the mixing
and master stages of production can be used during those
phases of the production. |
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© 2004, Robert Dennis. All Rights
Reserved. Reprinted with permission.
Bob Dennis has 40 years engineering
and mastering experience most notably with Motown. For more
Articles, Tips and other helps visit
The Recording Website . Be
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