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live vocal mic recording


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i record our band thru a Zoom R16 to monitors, so I get some great instrument recordings that I can tweak in my DAW, but obviously thru the main vocal mic, I get live room noise, which I can gate out much of it, but I was wondering if anyone had any tricks to setup/record our main vocal in a live room so I get the best main vocal with the least room noise that I can edit in the DAW. I thought about maybe a mic reflector, but the band sound still bounces off the wall behind the singer... maybe not much can be done.

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maarkr wrote:

 

 

i record our band thru a Zoom R16 to monitors, so I get some great instrument recordings that I can tweak in my DAW, but obviously thru the main vocal mic, I get live room noise, which I can gate out much of it, but I was wondering if anyone had any tricks to setup/record our main vocal in a live room so I get the best main vocal with the least room noise that I can edit in the DAW. I thought about maybe a mic reflector, but the band sound still bounces off the wall behind the singer... maybe not much can be done.

 

what mic are you using?

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Use the 58, put packing blankets sleeping bags foam whatever thick absorbent stuff you have behind the singer while having the singer face into the band.

 

The back of the mic will reject the band fairly well and the absorbent stuff will keep the bands reflection from bouncing back into the mic off the back wall.

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maarkr wrote:

 

i record our band thru a Zoom R16 to monitors, so I get some great instrument recordings that I can tweak in my DAW, but obviously thru the main vocal mic, I get live room noise, which I can gate out much of it, but I was wondering if anyone had any tricks to setup/record our main vocal in a live room so I get the best main vocal with the least room noise that I can edit in the DAW. I thought about maybe a mic reflector, but the band sound still bounces off the wall behind the singer... maybe not much can be done.

 

 

If you're going to capture the singer live, it's going to be tricky to do it with everyone in the same room without getting a bunch of bleed. Something like an sE Electronics Reflection Filter (they come in various models at different price points) might help isolate the mic a bit, but it's not going to get rid of all the bleed - not even close. You could try something like that, plus isolating the singer in a nearby closet or adjoining room, but that can bring up visual issues - maybe rig up a camera and a tablet computer or a flatscreen monitor / TV for reference if you need visual cues between the band and singer...

 

 

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Lee Knight wrote:

Use the 58, put packing blankets sleeping bags foam whatever thick absorbent stuff you have behind the singer while having the singer face into the band.

 

The back of the mic will reject the band fairly well and the absorbent stuff will keep the bands reflection from bouncing back into the mic off the back wall.

 

 

 

Good suggestions - that would possibly cut the reflections down enough to make it usable, but I suspect he's still going to run into some bleed, especially if the band's playing loud.

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Another thing that can help is to try to reduce the problem at the source. If it's possible to turn the amps down a bit without hurting the tone, then by all means, do it! Even if you can't turn them down, you can always try using some baffles / goboes to help isolate them a bit. The same trick can also work for purely acoustic sources, such as drum kits and other singers.

As was mentioned earlier in the thread, use your mic's null point(s) to your advantage. Aim the "dead" part of the mic towards the source of the biggest noise / bleed offender. Another thing you might try in regards to this is a figure 8 (bi-directional) mic. Their response at the sides is almost zero. When trying to mic things such as acoustic guitarists who also want to sing at the same time, you can use that to help keep the guitar out of the vocal mic, and the vocal out of the guitar mic... the same basic principle applies when trying to keep the band out of the vocal mic. Use a baffle "behind" the mic to help prevent the rear lobe of the figure-8 pattern from picking up as much unwanted sound, and "aim" the side(s) towards the other sound sources to help reduce the amount of sound you pick up from them on the vocal mic.

All of this works better in a relatively "dead" room. The more reflective the room, the more you'll need to build a "virtual vocal booth" around the singer. Moving blankets draped over spare boom mic stands (set in a "T" shape) can be used for this purpose in a pinch.

 

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just to follow up... for now I used an SM57 with the gain cut back from the SM58 and have the singer get closer to the mic... maybe one of the probs was the singer not used to getting close to the mic, so as long as he can still play bass  and sing while adjusting his mic technique, we should be all set... sound is clearer, less gating needed, and I can use my 1176 compressor to make it sound pretty good.

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