Requirements 4 good spoken vocal

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 6:11 am

Hi every one!
probably my question is quite easy, but my recording level at the moment is vary basic. I have a project which consist of some music and images put together with a vocal, which is spoken (not singing).
The text of the vocal is the main thing and gives the emotional context that the music and images have to fit. WHat i pretend to say is that is the most important thing, and must be clear and with character.
What sort of recommendation do you give...acoustic conditions, mics, and processing???

Thanks!

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 2:17 pm

I have done a bit of voice over work. Generally I like to use a dead vocal both. My booth is 6 feet by 6 feet by 7.5 feet tall. The walls and ceiling are lined with sound foam of various sizes; the smallest is only 1.5 inches thick. The floor is rubber foam covered in carpet.

I have a few mic's I use. More often then not I use an APEX 460 mic that I modified and added a cinmag transformer and Peluso capsule. I find it works very nicely on female voice and on a few male speakers. I have used the RE20 for some males before as well.

As for processing a decent A/D is important. I am very happy with my cranesong, but I have used M-audio, RME and apogee in the past. The M-audio is pretty good for its price point, but there is very noticeable improvement in the cranesong.

The Pre-amp has to be clean, but there seems to less and less noisy pre-amps out there. Some argue that color of the preamp is an extra spice to the recording, so have a bunch to switch up like mics is good. IMO I think the mic and how it’s used make much more difference than the pre-amp.

Often I will add a bit of compression is the speaker is very dynamic. Lately I have been using my Pinky compressor, as it adds subtle artifacts that I think enhance the voice.

Once it’s in the PC I will sometimes fiddle around with a VST compression or reverbs. I very rarely use EQ, I try to position the mic the way I want it during the session, but there are times when you don’t get it exactly right.

Anyway I hope this helps.

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 2:34 pm

Its all about the room and the mic, as the post above describes.

Shure SM7b and EV RE-20 are both great mic choices. I know a couple radio stations that even use Sennheiser MD 421's.

A clean pre and good converters are an added bonus. If you're experienced with compressors, heavy compression can yield some very 'personal' results.

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