home studio stuff

[jworek]

I've recently aquired a small, but surprisingly effective, Boss BR-532 to do demo recordings and whatnot. Not being a recording engineer by trade, I'm still getting my feet wet in this whole process, but I've been impressed with the results I've acheived on virtually everything I've recorded. Except for one thing.... Vocals..... I've been having difficulty placing the vocals into a "space"... everything sounds too up front for my taste. Lowering the volume simply, well, lowers the volume, and doesn't place the vocals into the mix tactfully. The closest I've come has invoved drenching the vocals in reverb, which although placing the vocals into a space, sounds too artifical and ill suited for my purposes.... My chain consists of mic, small mixer, compressor, to the Boss. Is this something that could be acheived with a decent preamp, or is there some sort of EQ technique that I'm missing. I realize this may seem like a vague question, so I'll sum it up this way...In the professional world, how do acheive that vital volume/space mix?

[bond1]

What kind of mic are you using? Dynamic cardioid mics all have proximity effect which give it a big bass boost when you sing close to the mic which could make it sound too up front. Most pop vocals don't have a lot of bottom to them. You might want to first try singing 6-12 inches from the mic and see if it helps. It would be a good starting point anyway. Hope this helps.

[Jedi]

Yeah, let us know what mic it is and I think we can help you better. Lincoln Ross Dead Black Jedis

[KenElevenShadows]

I'm gonna take a stupid, wild stab here, but my GUESS is that maybe what you want is for the vocals to sound, well, farther back. Try this -- at least it's simple -- try recording the vocalist a little farther back from the mic and see where that gets you. I'm guessing this since you stated that the closest you've gotten is to drench the vocals in reverb. Sometimes it's the stupid, obvious things that are the best fixes. Consider trying this, and post back here with what you think of it.

[Salyphus]

Here are some thoughts: [b]Use less reverb[/b]. Instead of 'drenching' the vocals try using an effects send if you can, so that you are hearing both the effected and uneffected together, and try to be a lot more subtle about it. Also try turning up the Pre Delay which can keep the vox from sounding 'smeared'. If you don't have an FX send then maybe you have a 'mix' parameter that you can adjust lower. [b]Try doubling the vocals[/b]. Now, you could do a 'real' double by recording the vocals twice, but you can also just duplicate the track. This will often make a bigger difference than you might think. You can turn both tracks lower and they will still sound full. You could also put reverb on one and not the other, another way of accomplishing the same as the first point above. You can also experiment with pan position here. [b]EQ[/b]. Try rolling off the low bass frequencies. Don't overdo it, but this can help a lot. For that matter you might try doing the same to other tracks that don't need low bass freqs. It can really clean up a mix. Hope it helps :thu:

[Ultravibe]

Start at the beginning. Where are you recording the vocals? The sound source being clean and uncluttered can have a huge effect on how the final output can be manipulated effectively. In my home studio, I don't have a dedicated vocal booth area, so I went to Home Depot and built three separation walls (that are also useful for separation when recording live bands). Just some plywood and hinges so they can stand on their own, with some soundproof material glued to them. I set 'em up around the vocalist near an existing wall, surrounding the vocalist. It becomes a small 8x8 room where the vocal isolation is excellent and - here's the kicker - there is no room reflections, noise, etc. to cloud up the vocal. (When I say none, it is lessened to an unbelievable extent from tracking in my 15x18 studio room normally.) Anyhow, try and record the vocals as dead as possible from the outset. Remember, if you have room reflections and noise on the track, then whenever you EQ, add reverb, etc. you're not only adding it to the vocal, but to all the other sounds on that track, too. If you've already isolated the vocal and I am just talking out my ass, please ignore this post.

[WFTurner]

I think the key is a preamp where you can get a good flat signal you can like before you started adding all the other things like EQ, compression and reverb, etc. I'm not a gear expert but I know there's lots of info and opinions on these baords and others out there about preazmps in all price ranges.