Advice for vocals recording..

[Tachy]

I need some help, Saturday I'll record some voice track for my band, the singer is a girl and she have a nice death-black voice, but sincerly I have a very poor experiences to recording vocals.
I have this mics : sm57, beyer opus 59, audiotecnica at2020.
What is the better mics?
Vocals tracks have a lot of dynamic, do you compress or limiting before or after recording?

 

[TheStoryteller]

I'd go for the 57 in this case.

Gentle compression or no compression during recording, and HARD compression during mixing!

 

[Tachy]

umm...thanks, I have considered to use the audiotecnica

 

[ThatGuitarGuy]

why ask if you're going to respond like that?

There have definitely been some great vocal tracks with a 57.

 

[slinky_]

Just try both of them. Different voices have different characteristics. Maybe you could record the vocals with both mics at the same time, 57 set up near for some some "proximity affect" and At2020 for the clarity?

Experiment.

 

[Tachy]

yep is a good Idea, I'll try both...

 

[LSD-Studio]

I'd go for the 57 in this case.

Gentle compression or no compression during recording, and HARD compression during mixing!

+1

 

[Tachy]

The good old 57 probably save me....thanks guys for infos...

 

[Keessi]

try ? use your ears.

 

[Tachy]

Yes I'll try...

 

[metalkingdom]

I would never, ever recommend that a beginner use a fucc'n 57 on an inexperienced FEMALE vocalist. Just a bad idea. Use the 2020 bro. Don't do anything else to the signal. Save that for the mix.

I don't know where you guys are getting that "great vocal tracks with a 57" thing. That only works with amazing vocalists and amazing engineers. There aren't that many shining examples out there. If that was true, vocal-centered music (a la pop, rap, r&b) would be using 57's. Not happening.

 

[TheStoryteller]

The 57 happens to work particularly well on growling and other aggressive vocal styles, that's why you don't see it often in the genres you mention. I can't see why it would matter that she is female when he's talking about a "great death/black voice", but maybe I'm wrong. I always thought male and female growlers "moved air" the same way?

 

[TheStoryteller]

<- and I add a smiley so we don't start a stupid flame war. I respect your knowledge and experiences.

 

[metalkingdom]

No flame wars here, and the respect is mutual.

There are many, many other mics that can and/or will capture growling vox (still vox regardless) better than a 57. Getting a decent vocal sound out of a 57 will require pretty heavy eq, among other things and that's why I don't recommend it for beginners. Using a 57 for vocals on professional releases is actually pretty rare.

I said what I said about female vocals because they tend to be more sensitive emotionally, and since it's her first time on a mic it would be a nightmare for Tachy to have to deal with that while struggling to make the 57sound good.

 

[Tachy]

She is very aggressive in the live situations, she prefer in this case use the 57, I'll try when she will record the vocal track both of my poor mics...but I have a lot of fear when mixing the vocals....becouse of the dynamics.
Ther's anyone that can give a good settings for a compressor, I think that i'll use the waves Rcomp....

 

[LSD-Studio]

Ther's anyone that can give a good settings for a compressor, I think that i'll use the waves Rcomp....

i wouldn't do that to clean vox, esp not female ones, but screams and growls i compress pretty hard.
like 5-10ms attack, 50ms release 4-5:1 ratio and up to like 12 dB reduction or so.
(for clean singers i would go more like 15ms attack, 3:1 ratio, 6dB reduction though)

 

[Tachy]

Thanks lsd for setting...

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I just used a 58 for yells and liked it. Have yet to try the 57 though.

 

[s34nsm411]

definitely use the at2020, a condenser will sound far better than the 57 for vocals

 

[TheDude]

About 10 years ago, I recorded a female vocalist that had the weirdest voice I've ever heard. Kind of growling, but not screaming. The only mic i had was a 57. Worked really good (with some eq and comp). A couple of months later, they got a deal, recorded an album, and the engineer tested all mics he had, from a Neumann U87 to... the 57. Guess which one he used?

A condenser work very good with a singing (yes, notes you can autotune with one arm tied to a radiator), but the good thing with the 57 is that hard mids (female screams/guitar/snare) sounds really good in it. So here's my two cents: Test them out, and use the 57