The room is relatively "dead." It has padding all around the room with
carpeted floors and padded ceilings. The mic is hanging in a elastic-band
shockmount upside down.

As far as other instruments that use the chain, my vocals sound fine and the
guitars and other acoustic instruments have a very nice full sound to them.
Which is what I'm use to hearing.

The vocalist is dead on about a 10 inches away. I'll try some other mic's and
maybe some other mic pre's. Thank you for your suggestions.

"SPLDesign" wrote in message ...
The room is relatively "dead." It has padding all around the room with
carpeted floors and padded ceilings. The mic is hanging in a elastic-band
shockmount upside down.

As far as other instruments that use the chain, my vocals sound fine and the
guitars and other acoustic instruments have a very nice full sound to them.
Which is what I'm use to hearing.

The vocalist is dead on about a 10 inches away. I'll try some other mic's and
maybe some other mic pre's. Thank you for your suggestions.


I agree with EggHd.... that's a pretty tight chain, so if that's what you're used to,
I would lean toward verifying the elements in that part first. What other mics
and pres do you have that you're as familiar with?

Does this singer simply sound a bit nasal in ordinary conversation? Maybe
your chain is doing exactly what it should be.

You could send me that U-95 for a few days and I'd happily give you a
user eval. g

--
David Morgan (MAMS)
http://www.m-a-m-s.com
http://www.artisan-recordingstudio.com

On 09 Jul 2003 01:32:26 GMT, (SPLDesign) wrote:

The vocalist is dead on about a 10 inches away. I'll try some other mic's and
maybe some other mic pre's. Thank you for your suggestions.

I usually woudn't recommend this, but the vocal might fatten up a bit
from proximity effect, if the singer gets a little closer. Use a pop
filter.

Mark

"SPLDesign" wrote in message
...
The room is relatively "dead." It has padding all around the room with
carpeted floors and padded ceilings. The mic is hanging in a elastic-band
shockmount upside down.

As far as other instruments that use the chain, my vocals sound fine and
the
guitars and other acoustic instruments have a very nice full sound to
them.
Which is what I'm use to hearing.

The vocalist is dead on about a 10 inches away. I'll try some other mic's
and
maybe some other mic pre's. Thank you for your suggestions.

When you sing in that room, do you hear yourself and the cue well? The
singer probably doesn't sing often in a room as accoustically dead, as you
describe it, as yours. Could that cause him to push it to create just what
you're hearing?

Steve King

I've got some API 312's that I could use, but I'm thinking it's like you all
are saying,
it's probably the recording process and not the gear. Yeah, the singer is
nasely? when he talks as well.

I'll try moving the singer around off-axis and some other things to soften his
vocals a little in the mids tomorrow and I'll let you know what happens.
Thanks again for your advice.

Nate

SPLDesign wrote:

I'm recording some male vocals and having some problems. My vox chain
is a Soundelux U95, Demeter VTMP-2B, Manley ELOP, Apogee PSX-100 into
Pro Tools. I'm listening through Mackie HR824's. The singer has a lot of
mid-range in his voice and the chain seems to bring it out even more.

Any suggestions as far as mic's and or preamps to bring this frequency down?
Thanks.

The 824's bite you in the midrange a little, but I found that working to
make them not hurt me too badly resulted in mixes that translated very
well. I know nothing of the nature of your singer's voice, but to start
with, take the ELOP out of the chain for a spell, and see if compression
is exacerbating something that's actually in the source. If so, decide
if you can get at it with EQ, or a change of mic placement, and then if
you can put a handle on the trouble, put the ELOP back into the chain
and see if you have what you want.

Sometimes a few inches closer or further away can make a huge difference
in vocal capture. Move that mic around and don't abide anything you seen
in trade mag pictures. g

And sometimes that compression brings up nasty stuff in the room, stuff
you might not notice when recording a voice that requires less outboard
dynamic control.

That's certainly a decent signal chain, so what you're dealing with most
likely falls to the voice itself. EQ might be your friend.

--
hank alrich * secret mountain
audio recording * music production * sound reinforcement
"If laughter is the best medicine let's take a double dose"

SPLDesign wrote:

I'm recording some male vocals and having some problems. My vox chain
is a Soundelux U95, Demeter VTMP-2B, Manley ELOP, Apogee PSX-100 into
Pro Tools. I'm listening through Mackie HR824's. The singer has a lot of
mid-range in his voice and the chain seems to bring it out even more.

Any suggestions as far as mic's and or preamps to bring this frequency
down?

I agree with Scott's reply. I think you should try a room with some bright
(less padding and deadness) aspects to it. Most all pro studios have diffrent
rooms in there studios, one thats totaly dead, one thats a bit dead and one big
room that is live and bright.

"SPLDesign" wrote in message ...
I've got some API 312's that I could use, but I'm thinking it's like you all
are saying,
it's probably the recording process and not the gear. Yeah, the singer is
nasely? when he talks as well.

I'll try moving the singer around off-axis and some other things to soften his
vocals a little in the mids tomorrow and I'll let you know what happens.
Thanks again for your advice.

Nate


Try placing the mic tube down / element up - and having him sing
slightly closer and a wee bit above the mic. This can pick up more
of the chest. Like.. point the mic toward his clavicle and not so
much toward his sinus cavities. Sometimes you'll have to resort
to the dreaded EQ on a naturally nasal singer.

--
David Morgan (MAMS)
http://www.m-a-m-s.com
http://www.artisan-recordingstudio.com

I'm recording some male vocals and having some problems. My vox chain
is a Soundelux U95, Demeter VTMP-2B, Manley ELOP, Apogee PSX-100 into
Pro Tools. I'm listening through Mackie HR824's. The singer has a lot of
mid-range in his voice and the chain seems to bring it out even more.

Any suggestions as far as mic's and or preamps to bring this frequency down?
Thanks.


A lot of the distortion boxes (sorry - high quality preamps etc.:-)
that people put in the signal chain are designed to emphasise the
"warmth" of a voice. Maybe he's got too much already? What happens
if you switch all that stuff to as near a straight-through setting as
it offers? Certainly lose the compression. You're recording 24-bit?
Shouldn't need to compress an input any more.

Some singers just sound better clutching a SM58, with a bit of bass
cut.

In article writes:

I'm recording some male vocals and having some problems. My vox chain
is a Soundelux U95, Demeter VTMP-2B, Manley ELOP, Apogee PSX-100 into
Pro Tools. I'm listening through Mackie HR824's. The singer has a lot of
mid-range in his voice and the chain seems to bring it out even more.

Start out without compression, and adjust EQ until it sounds right. No
reason why a little tweak shouldn't take care of you, and no reason
not to make use of the tools Pro gave you.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )

SPLDesign wrote:
I've got some API 312's that I could use, but I'm thinking it's like you all
are saying,
it's probably the recording process and not the gear. Yeah, the singer is
nasely? when he talks as well.

I'll try moving the singer around off-axis and some other things to soften his
vocals a little in the mids tomorrow and I'll let you know what happens.
Thanks again for your advice.

Try a Beyer M-500 also. It's a real wonder for nasal voices.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

I'm recording some male vocals and having some problems. My vox chain
is a Soundelux U95,

Sometimes the most expensive mic in the house isn't the right choice for a
given singer. Oftentimes I'll end up with my 4th or 5th choice on somebody
because some particular characteristic of that voice doesn't sound right on the
first choice mics. I've never gotten down to the SM58 level, but I know people
who have. If that's the right sound, that's the right mic.


Scott Fraser

I'm recording some male vocals and having some problems. My vox chain
is a Soundelux U95, Demeter VTMP-2B, Manley ELOP, Apogee PSX-100 into
Pro Tools. I'm listening through Mackie HR824's. The singer has a lot of
mid-range in his voice and the chain seems to bring it out even more.

Any suggestions as far as mic's and or preamps to bring this frequency down?
Thanks.



Time to try some other mics.

A good habit when recording someone's voice for the first time is to
put up a few mics you think will do the job, audition, and pick the one
that does the job. Sometimes that means using a cheaper mic that you
wouldn't have thought would be best.

Remember that nobody, meaning the listener, gives a crap about what mic
was used, only that the vocal sounds good. Sometimes a 421 sounds
better than the high priced spread. Trust you ears, not your eyes or
wallet.




David Correia
Celebration Sound
Warren, Rhode Island


www.CelebrationSound.com

that people put in the signal chain are designed to emphasise the
"warmth" of a voice

I recently recorded a project for an extremely nasal singer. I don't own a
U95 but we spent some time with combinations using an M149 and a Stephen
Paul 3 micron U87 paired with an Avalon 737, A Demeter VTMP-2B, a Forssell
CS-1, A Great River MP2-MH and a Focusrte RED 7. We ended up going with the
U87 and the Avalon 737 for4 this particular singer, though the Forssell and
The Focusrite with the M149 were also nice. Pairing a tube mic with the
Demeter VTMP-2B was just too much *tube* and tended to accentuate the
*nasality* of this singer.

DJ

Laurence Payne wrote in message
...

I'm recording some male vocals and having some problems. My vox chain
is a Soundelux U95, Demeter VTMP-2B, Manley ELOP, Apogee PSX-100 into
Pro Tools. I'm listening through Mackie HR824's. The singer has a lot
of
mid-range in his voice and the chain seems to bring it out even more.

Any suggestions as far as mic's and or preamps to bring this frequency
down?
Thanks.


A lot of the distortion boxes (sorry - high quality preamps etc.:-)
that people put in the signal chain are designed to emphasise the
"warmth" of a voice. Maybe he's got too much already? What happens
if you switch all that stuff to as near a straight-through setting as
it offers? Certainly lose the compression. You're recording 24-bit?
Shouldn't need to compress an input any more.

Some singers just sound better clutching a SM58, with a bit of bass
cut.