Members C JoGo Posted February 11, 2007 Members Share Posted February 11, 2007 ALCOHOL We pay close attention to harmonies--panning close to your style. Our clients have usually more harmony/vocal tracks recorded ~~ than instruments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members birdyyellow Posted February 12, 2007 Author Members Share Posted February 12, 2007 We've talked about acoustic treatment, keeping the room quiet, microphone technique, good vocals, compressors, Waves REQs, high-shelving, high-pass filter for cleaning up the mud, editing the vocals or automating them so that they're cleaner, etc. ive done all of that. still putting the touches on the 703 panels. but ive already been doing the rest of what you said. to me its just disappointing to know that the bottom line is i have to have nice equipment to get a nice sound. i wasnt planning on spending 2k on a mic chain, but i guess i have to now, since ive maxed out with what i have. thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted February 12, 2007 Members Share Posted February 12, 2007 ive done all of that. still putting the touches on the 703 panels. but ive already been doing the rest of what you said. to me its just disappointing to know that the bottom line is i have to have nice equipment to get a nice sound. i wasnt planning on spending 2k on a mic chain, but i guess i have to now, since ive maxed out with what i have. thanks for the info. Looks like we have very different perspectives. To me, we live in a time in which we have *cheap* stuff that actually sounds good. You can get an RNP mic preamp (actually, two mic preamps) for $500 that sounds amazing, things like Rode NTKs that are genuinely good mics for $400. That's $900, not including the A/D converter, which does make a huge difference as well. But I mean, look what you're writing..."to me its just disappointing to know that the bottom line is i have to have nice equipment to get a nice sound." When has it ever been any different? You wouldn't buy a Chevette and expect it to perform like a Ferrari. At least now the equipment is cheaper than even just ten years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators MarkGifford-1 Posted February 12, 2007 Moderators Share Posted February 12, 2007 to me its just disappointing to know that the bottom line is i have to have nice equipment to get a nice sound. i wasnt planning on spending 2k on a mic chain, but i guess i have to now, since ive maxed out with what i have. thanks for the info. Don't go spending money needlessly. You can get great sounds w/modest equipment. Not your style of music, but listen to the vocal on this track: http://www.tamaramarcella.com/mp3/destiny.mp3 It was cut w/a $99 MXL V67G, into a $200 ART pre and a $175 RNC compressor. ADAT XT converters. MG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members birdyyellow Posted February 12, 2007 Author Members Share Posted February 12, 2007 $900 to me is expensive. my chain right now is only $400 with my mic and preamp. no external a/d converter. the reason why i said 2k mark is because when i upgrade equipment i want to upgrade to stuff that i wont have to upgrade again later. But I mean, look what you're writing..."to me its just disappointing to know that the bottom line is i have to have nice equipment to get a nice sound." When has it ever been any different? You wouldn't buy a Chevette and expect it to perform like a Ferrari. those are two different things. one has to do with skill that can manipulate quality between cost, the other is just you buy it. you are right about the gear though. quality results dont mean having to go into studios and spending thousands now. i am happy about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mono boy Posted February 13, 2007 Members Share Posted February 13, 2007 However, I like to place the lower harmonies at about 1 and 11 O'Clock and then pan the higher higher harmonies further apart with never placing any harmonies hard right or left. I'd appreciate any ideas on this. I like hard panned harmonies. but I'm finding the mic, room, and position of vocalist make a bigger character difference then the panning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted February 13, 2007 Members Share Posted February 13, 2007 $900 to me is expensive. my chain right now is only $400 with my mic and preamp. no external a/d converter. the reason why i said 2k mark is because when i upgrade equipment i want to upgrade to stuff that i wont have to upgrade again later. those are two different things. one has to do with skill that can manipulate quality between cost, the other is just you buy it. $900 is a lot of money, I'll give you that!! But if you consider how good the stuff is that you can buy for $900 compared to just ten years ago, it's flabbergasting. Seriously. $900 just wouldn't have gotten you very much. But regardless, your attitude is totally right on, in my opinion - get the good stuff and get it right the first time so you don't have to get stuff twice. Not sure what you mean by the second thing, but I think you can see the point I was trying to make - that you can't expect a good sound unless you have good equipment (at least most of the time - once in a while, you can push and pry and finagle something that sounds decent with substandard equipment, but you do have to bear in mind that at that point, you're being "creative" in battling the shortcomings of your equipment). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members birdyyellow Posted February 13, 2007 Author Members Share Posted February 13, 2007 $900 is a lot of money, I'll give you that!! But if you consider how good the stuff is that you can buy for $900 compared to just ten years ago, it's flabbergasting. Seriously. $900 just wouldn't have gotten you very much. But regardless, your attitude is totally right on, in my opinion - get the good stuff and get it right the first time so you don't have to get stuff twice. Not sure what you mean by the second thing, but I think you can see the point I was trying to make - that you can't expect a good sound unless you have good equipment (at least most of the time - once in a while, you can push and pry and finagle something that sounds decent with substandard equipment, but you do have to bear in mind that at that point, you're being "creative" in battling the shortcomings of your equipment). exactly. $900 gets very nice equipment now. im saving up for a soundelux u195. i cant wait to see the levels and levels it goes past my mxl v69. everyone always raves about how good everything is when you get to near 1000. i cant wait. im sure it will blow my mind. thanks for the insight ustad. youre one of the few people i take advice from into a lot of consideration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted February 13, 2007 Members Share Posted February 13, 2007 Thanks for the compliment!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kendrix Posted February 15, 2007 Members Share Posted February 15, 2007 I use the TC M300 that Ustad mentioned it works fine.I tend NOT to use any verb on the vox. I tend to use a delay set to fit into the tempo of the tune. Delay eats up less sonic space than a verb does and stil provides a feeling of space. That TC unit offers dynamic delay. The volume of the delay comes up automagically when there is open space in the mix. Sometimes this is just the ticket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lawrence Farr Posted February 15, 2007 Members Share Posted February 15, 2007 For me... 1. Find a mic and position (possibly very slightly off axis angle) that gives a great vocal tone back to the control room and track it. 2. Try to mix the song without changing that tone, mix around that tone. Honestly, my goal lately has been to not touch the vocal if possible with the exception of a small bit of compression and automation. I find that for the styles I work in (R&B, Jazz, Black Gospel) when it comes to vocals the key word is "natural". If the vocal is not sounding right in the mix I look elsewhere first and start carving out things that are getting in the way of that tone. EQ (other than a typical hi-pass) is a last resort. A judicious choice of a nice Altiverb plate and maybe a very subtle delay. That's it. Oh... and a level where it's clearly heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members birdyyellow Posted March 3, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 3, 2007 thanks for all the advice. so it seems like most of you guys tend to be very cautious when messing around with vocals. kinda of a seperate question, but what does positioning a mic off axis do? i hear people doing that all the time when recording guitars, and someone lawrence just mentioned trying it on vocals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members les_rokr Posted March 4, 2007 Members Share Posted March 4, 2007 I use different reverbs for different songs, or different parts of the song. i.e. verses, chorus, bridge. About the off-axis thing, i read somewhere here on HC that it's best to put the mic, vocalist, and monitor in an equalateral triangle. I have no idea how this works but i'am sure someone else does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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