cool day recording!

[mmkco]

Finally tried my hand today recording my son's band. TC Electronic. Konnekt 6 into Energy XT software. I used a cheap little Behringer UBB1002 to mix the drums. Shure Beta181(overhead), Beta91a(kick), Beta 98amp(toms), SM58(snare) to mic the drums. We used a Shure Sm27 to Mic the guitars and for the vocals. I have a LOT to learn about recording, but we got two songs down from noon to 8pm. They sound decent, but the vocals could be much better. For this being really my first time at the controls I'm pretty happy with the results. It's amazing what can be done with a realatively old computer and a FireWire interface. Anyone have any tips or tricks for recording vocals?

[loudboy]

Anyone have any tips or tricks for recording vocals?

Put a great singer in front of a mic.

Anything else and you'll just be doing repair work.

[mmkco]

I would love to do that. However, it's my son's first band and the singer does the Screamo thing. When he sings, he is actually pretty decent, but the screaming makes it hard to balance the levels(maybe a compressor on the vocals?). We were able to work with the vocal track a bit. We doubled it and kicked the 2nd track forward a few miliseconds to make it sound a little fuller and panned one hard left and the other hard right. Not too bad, but sometimes the vocals are way up and other times a bit buried in the mix. The drums were what really impressed me. The cymbals sounded very crisp and clear. I love that little overhead mic!!

[loudboy]

I would love to do that. However, it's my son's first band and the singer does the Screamo thing. When he sings, he is actually pretty decent, but the screaming makes it hard to balance the levels(maybe a compressor on the vocals?). We were able to work with the vocal track a bit. We doubled it and kicked the 2nd track forward a few miliseconds to make it sound a little fuller and panned one hard left and the other hard right. Not too bad, but sometimes the vocals are way up and other times a bit buried in the mix. The drums were what really impressed me. The cymbals sounded very crisp and clear. I love that little overhead mic!!

I'd take the screaming on another track - use the SM58 for that.

Try doubling the vox on the choruses, or for specific lines you'd like to emphasize. Don't overuse it.

If you put the double about 6dB lower than the main vocal, and leave them both panned the same, it will fill it out and not so overly fake.

Also, you shouldn't have to time shift the track - it'll work just fine as it is.

[mmkco]

Very cool. Thanks for the advice. I need every bit I can get. Appreciate it!


Mike

[Nelson89]

Yeh i'm with loudboy, provided you're actually doubling and not just copy-pasting the same track you wont need to time shift. I mean if you've got nothing else, copy-paste is fine, but you're ALWAYS going to hit phasing issues...it'll sound kind of cool to begin with, but later on it will just be hard to deal with.

If the vocals are going up and down, i'd do a couple of things, the compressor will help it sit a little more in the mix, and if there are big volume changes, i would automate the volume. Also, make sure there's room for the vocals in the guitar track...vocals and guitar tend to play around the same frequency range.

[mmkco]

Thanks for that tip! I did copy, paste and time shift the vocal track to try to spice it up a bit. I guess that could be why the vocals sometimes get lost in the mix?

[jmoose]

I would love to do that. However, it's my son's first band and the singer does the Screamo thing. When he sings, he is actually pretty decent, but the screaming makes it hard to balance the levels(maybe a compressor on the vocals?).

Yeah maybe something like that... hehe

most of that Screamo/Emo/whatemoever they call it these days... to me its all just hardcore punk and offshoots of that stuff. Hardcore punk met thrash metal and had some illegitimate stepchild. Compression limiting and distortion are 'yer best friends here... in the mix everything wants to be just as loud as everything else.

Vocals always break down into at least a handful of tracks... lead, double a couple parts... couple background stacks here & there and off course, the death screams! Take a couple three tracks of those too please!

Those are all different vocal parts, think of producing 'em a little bit... setup different sounds parts and voices for the voice, like its an instrument. because it IS an instrument!

Almost always theres at least two 'main vocal' paths... one's a nice mic in a shockmount and the other one is something that buddy can latch onto and jump around the room with like its a gig... that's usually running into an amp or plugged into some dirt box or maybe the whole pedalboard and DI'd to the recorder. Colored to taste and printed to tape. That's the brick wall screamo thing. Now its not a "guitar amp" its a "vocal amp" so treat it like that. Maybe record that in stereo... track some delays to two amps... whatever. get freaky with it!

The crazy nice mic in the shockmount always gets compression... 1176, distresser, the atomic squeeze box is awesome if 'ya got one. Wish I had one. Maybe i'll chain two compressors together if I can't make one sit down...

The idea is to squeeze the lead vocal into a dynamic range where it isn't getting swallowed alive by the wall of guitars. I'll hit 12:1 or 20:1 to take care of peaks with one box but maybe there's an la2a or something really gentle in the front, like 2:1 thats biting down the whole time. Only EQ i ever do is a low-cut on the way in. High pass and the wall of compression... if the vocal gets EQ'd and you need to do a punch in 6 weeks later it'll never match.

Walls of compression and limiting... not much EQ, but then in mix I almost never compress the vocal any more. That's where i sprinkle EQ and all the smoke and mirrors, delays and flangers... verb and all that stuff. So we get that and the "amp vocal" tracks, maybe a few other voices as well... do a double or two with a megaphone into a 421 as a third path, or maybe its one of the other dudes in the band filling stuff out. That's the technical junk...

So much of it comes down to arrangement and if the parts are there or if they're just kinda making that stuff as it goes along. Is there a plan? Are there any parts? Put on a thursday record, or STP or even some beatles... magical mystery tour is a great one. Peter Gabriel. There's tons of vocal "sounds" in that stuff...