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A buddy of mine is a vocalist in a touring band and he is coming over tomorrow to track a vocal demo at my place. I've got my SM58 set up with a cheapo pop filter a few inches away. I use the same mic/room placement technique as I do when I track my guitar tracks, but other than that I'm not sure what to really shoot for short of experimentation. Mic placement to source is another question entirely. I have the vague idea that the mic should be at mouth level and angled upward slightly and should be sung over and not into.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

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soapfloats Mon, 07/05/2010 - 23:15

1. If he's a touring artist, he should have some idea how to work w/ a 58. If so, I'd skip the pop filter. You may want to take advantage of the proximity effect.
2. Your angling is a good idea - it helps w/ 'plosives and such.
Any angle will do, just keep in mind the tone you're going for, and that the direction of the mic will affect that.
Head tones? Nose tones? Throat tones? Chest tones? (more so w/ a condenser)
This will be an important part of your experimentation
3. Move he and the mic around as well. Typically some space around a vocalist is a good idea - unless your space sounds terrible.

Repeat #2 and #3 until you find the right combination of presence, intimacy, and space for this (these) particular vocal track(s).

Hope that helps!

djmukilteo Wed, 07/07/2010 - 19:54

Help me out GF....I'm sorry...I'm old...LOL...I really like Iron Man by Black Sabbath...and the Beatles and Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath is about as Metal as I can manage....and you kids really like this type of audio don't you?....I want to understand....I really do....it fascinates me how this works....and don't get me wrong, you should play and record what you like absolutely, but for me....I have a hard time listening to that....isn't it weird how generations get that way?!! LOL....I mean my Dad hated my music too....and I didn't think it would happen to me ....so...just keep on keeping on and doing what your doing!
But any insight on this topic you might have to share with this poor old man and his tender ears....I would find very informative and might help with my appreciation! It sort of shocked me to be honest....and scared the bejesus out of me...I wasn't prepared for the blast and I had to grab my monitor control LOL....but then I brought it back down to a reasonable level.....
I will give it a 10, but I don't know why? It wasn't at all what I was expecting...
You can dance to that, can't you?

Guitarfreak Wed, 07/07/2010 - 20:02

djmukilteo, post: 351225 wrote: Help me out GF....I'm sorry...I'm old...LOL...I really like Iron Man by Black Sabbath...and the Beatles and Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath is about as Metal as I can manage....and you kids really like this type of audio don't you?....I want to understand....I really do....it fascinates me how this works....and don't get me wrong, you should play and record what you like absolutely, but for me....I have a hard time listening to that....isn't it weird how generations get that way?!! LOL....I mean my Dad hated my music too....and I didn't think it would happen to me ....so...just keep on keeping on and doing what your doing!
But any insight on this topic you might have to share with this poor old man and his tender ears....I would find very informative and might help with my appreciation! It sort of shocked me to be honest....and scared the bejesus out of me...I wasn't prepared for the blast and I had to grab my monitor control LOL....but then I brought it back down to a reasonable level.....
I will give it a 10, but I don't know why? It wasn't at all what I was expecting...
You can dance to that, can't you?

Hahaha, I half expected a response like that. Hell what do I know of this style of music, I'm just the engineer here trying to give a buddy of mine a leg up on his project. I listen to similar music myself though. The guitar riffs are where it's at for me. The vocals are something that are there for the feeling and I tend to just listen to the grooves and flows of the guitar tracks. Not of this style particularly, but similar enough. Lately I have been getting into more rhythmically complex songwriting influenced by modern bands that write in polyrhythm. I am very impressed by these bands and I can't help but be drawn into it myself. Albeit that has nothing to do with the straightforward genre of music in the clip that I just posted, but there is hope for modern music afterall.

I daresay I am a bit hesitant to ask how the vocals sounded?