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anonymous 1 July 2005

How do you get the warm sound in vocal recording?

Thanks for the Guidance!

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pmolsonmus Sat, 07/02/2005 - 04:05

In order of importance to me:

1. Good vocalist
2. Good to great mic (not necessarily expensive, but one that matches the vocalist)
3. Good to great preamp ( can make an average mic or singer sound wonderful)
4. Good to great room ( can be the difference between good and amazing)

A great vocalist can make a lousy mic, through a bad pre in a basement still work.

jonnyc Sat, 07/02/2005 - 10:32

To answer your warmth question. Tube mics can do this, they tend to add a lot of color to sound which some people call warmth, also a good colorful pre can add a bit of warmth to a track. Some pre's have tube drive or saturation sections, these give a tiny bit of color but again if you getting a really cheap pre with these kind of features your probably getting little more than a noise maker. Just remember a good colorful mic with a good colorful pre will be good with some vocalists and crappy with others.

jonnyc Sun, 07/03/2005 - 14:22

To get a good warm sound you might need an upgrade all around. Are you using a standard soundcard, or a soundblaster type card, or are you using and E-mu or something like that? My first set up was a lot like yours I had an MXL 990 going into a presonus tubepre into a soundblaster audigy. I never really liked the sound it was just too generic. Do you have a budget to upgrade at all? I've heard good things about Studio Projects mics which I believe are moderately priced and something like the brick by groove tubes would do a lot to get that warmer sound you're looking for.

jonnyc Sun, 07/03/2005 - 15:59

I'd upgrade to a better sound card, you can find really good ones in the 300-500 range check out the E-mu soundcards. Rode makes some really good mid-priced mics, the NTK would be what I would pick for more of the sound you're looking for and maybe the brick by groove tubes to round that out. 1200-1500 and you have a noticeable improvement over your current set up. By the way these are just my opinions you'll want to check out similar items from other manufacturers. I personally have a baby bottle going to a presonus eureka channel strip into a digi 002r running on an Imac and I love the sound the bottle isn't very colored so I'd doubt you'd like it but the eureka is a surprisingly nice preamp with built in eq and compression, IMO it would make a pretty good hiphop/r&b preamp.

anonymous Mon, 07/04/2005 - 08:15

If you have a $2000 budget, you can really get an outstanding sound depending on the style of music you are doing.

I have the EMU 1820m (which also has great converters built in) and I got it for like $500 ( you can get it cheaper now )

You can also get a truly professional preamp such as the Great River 1ME-NV. That will run you about $1000.

Then you can get a Rode NTK or what I bought a Studio Projects T3 for about $500 (Both are tube microphones and I love the sound of the studio projects t3).

That's about 2k right there but you got an excellent chain with the potential to upgrade a lot. If you need more "In's, you can add 8 by adat thanks to the EMU soundcard but the soundcard also has 6 actual ins as well.

You may want to treat your room a bit as well as check how good your monitors are too.

Davedog Mon, 07/04/2005 - 11:20

A lot of people will recommend the middleranged LD condensers as an upgrade , and for the most part in most circumstances, they will be. In your case all the suggestions to this point, will give you an definate increase in quality in comparison to your current setup .

I'm liking the Apogee mini with a really good dynamic mic. Electrovoice RE20,Sennheiser MD441/421, Shure SM7.......

The E-Mu stuff is quite good....With that you could look to a decent tube mic....ADK TT, Rode K2, etc ...

As I said...All are good suggestions to this point and it will eventually come down to you making the decision based on what you 'hear'....Trying out the gear will help your process greatly, and always deal with a dealer(if youre buying new) that has a great return policy.

CoyoteTrax Mon, 07/04/2005 - 13:26

Rode NT2
Sennheiser 421
Oktava MK-012 with a LOMO M1 or M3 head
EV 767 (one of my faves...and cheap)
SM57 (versatile and cheap)
AKG C3000
Studio Projects C1
Audio Technica 4040
Beyerdynamic M160 (try to find used)
Nady Ribbon Mic RSM-2 (a good deal)
Pacific Pro Audio R-One (another good ribbon deal)
Scott Helmke's "Alice" SDC (killer small diaphram mic that rocks on vocals)

Also, the PSP Vintage Warmer plug is outstanding for warming up vocals in the box.

A decent tube compressor or an RNC does wonders for vocals.

CoyoteTrax Mon, 07/04/2005 - 21:23

I could swear I've seen the AKG C3000 in a lot of studio shots where hip hop vocals were being tracked.

It depends on your style too. I'm sure your style is different than sayyyyyyyyy Bone Thugs and Harmony, or someone like that. Do you lean more towards the R&B tip or the Old Skool Rap style? Is your voice really ballsy and plosive like Chuck D, or do you have a lot of sibilance and grit like Flava Flav? You know? Take a look at those things and maybe see if you can audition a few models you like at your local pro audio shop.

If the C3000 seems to be in a lot of studio's maybe it's the mic of choice for hip hop because it's so versatile. I don't track hip hop so I'm just going by studio shots I've seen on the internet and trade mags.

I do record a fair amount of vocals though and I like the sound of the C3000 for a male voice. It's pretty smooth and the lows are respectably tight. I'm also a huge fan of doubling the vocals and panning them hard left and right, then having a 3rd vocal take up the middle to play with when you want the magic middle to Pop.

If your voice is really masculine I'd also recommend really considering a little compression between the pre of your choice and your DAW, ADAT, or tape. However you're capturing your vocals. A little compression (especially tube) can go a long way with a masculine voice. For that reason you may consider a channel strip that includes compression instead of just a mic pre.

Just a thought...or 2.

CoyoteTrax Wed, 07/06/2005 - 05:16

If know a few ladies who sing, I feel like your vox would be more justified with female backups added to the mix.

I'll have to listen more tonite on my system at home to give you more info than that though. I just started a new job yesterday and the uptraining is taking a lot of my time. It sounds like you're trying to develop your style and that's good. I'd recommend just a few things right away:

If you have any natural inflections (like, accent, emotional influence that turns you on) try to inject that into your vocals. You've got the singing down and a base attitude, now begin to work with developing exaggerating that attitude a little. Maybe let your Funk influences begin to seep into your vocal style. I can hear that you have a Funk side that you hold back ( I could be wrong). Don't hold anything back.

When you're mixing, look for a "sound" that you like. Something small that sets you apart from the other's...or emulates the sound of your biggest influences.

anonymous Sat, 08/27/2005 - 05:09

great recording chain for $2000

Get The lawson "air" Mic. about $750 or the lawson L47 fet ( a bit more), and a Neve 1272 Mic pre. Also the ADK A 51 TC or A 51 TT tube mics are amazing and you can find those on ebay for under $500. I saw a couple of single channel 1272s on ebay for well under $1000. In fact I saw one for $650. Some of the companies that make Neve 1272 clones are Vintach, Dan Alexander, and Brent Avril. Then find an RME Hammerfall, or an Mbox on ebay cheap and your good to go. If you're careful you should be able to get all three items for about $2000. You might even get lucky and find the Lawson mic on ebay too. You will get a sound you're looking for, I promise. You'll thank me.

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