At the recording studio at my church we have a Gefell MT71S run through a Great River ME-1NV. This combo has proven great for a couple of guys that we have used it for, but we tried it on a female singer last night and it just wasin't that great. Now we did try several distances and gain settings, but didin't get the results we wanted. So now I ask you guys and gals. What are a few different mics that seem to excell with a female singer?
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The GaffMiester's right... 50 folks, 50 combos/suggestions... I
The GaffMiester's right... 50 folks, 50 combos/suggestions...
I'd suggest as AudioGaff did... Try everything you got in the house.
I don't do a LOT of female vox, but suffice it say, that I've done my share when you include live work.
What I've experienced is this; Just as there are combo's that work/won't work for male voices, the same applies to female voices. There ain't no rules... just challenges.
I've used everything from 58's to ribbons and not found a formula that works 100 percent of the time.
The starting point that seems to work about half the time is this. High thin voices can be "thickened" by using ribbons and LDC's. Thick voices can be "thinned" a bit with SDC's, ribbon's and dynamic's.
After that, it's whatever works.
One of the things I do with voices (or instruments for that matter) is to set up tracking with no EQ or compressors in the chain. Then I try a take and throw some EQ and comps in the playback loop. If I can dial it in quickly to where it sounds good, I'm inclined to go ahead and keep a take with that signal chain. Then I repeat the process with another mic/pre/whatever.
After I get a few of these trials done, I sit down with the producer/artist and determine what the correct flavor is. Then we track the rest of the project.
Keep at it, you'll find the right gear for the voice... it can just be a bit more tedious than expected sometimes.
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Lot's of people may chime in give you advice, but the reality is
Lot's of people may chime in give you advice, but the reality is that any specific suggestion would just be a shot in the dark. 50 people could each suggest a mic and/or a mic and preamp that worked perfect of them and yet none of them may be any better than what you have now. You need to define what you like and didn't like with the mic and preamp you have now so that you can narrow down what is you need or are looking for. Try every mic you own or can get a hold of so you have some reference of the qualities you like and dislike.