Any ideas on recording vocals with sound coming from the monitors?

drew_drummer

Dancefap
Sep 7, 2008
6,474
3
38
London, UK
Hey,

I kind of get a bit self conscious when recording vocals on headphones. It is because I turn down the master volume to stop any bleed, but I'm recording in my bedroom and I know people can hear me; just makes me a bit nervous. I'd rather record with the sound coming out of the speakers, in conjunction with headphones.

How can I manage the bleed?

ps: Yes I am a pussy.
 
It just depends on what kind of mic you are using. If it's an SM58 or other dynamic mic, you can pretty much get away with the bleed without doing anything. Just crank the monitors and do your thing. If you are using a condenser, it's a bit trickier, but still manageable. Just try to position the mic in a way that has the least bleed. A good place to start is to the side of the monitors and back a little, with the back of the microphone facing the monitors (since, depending on the pickup pattern, this is where the mic will naturally NOT pick up sound as well.)
 
If you have to:

Use a cardioid mic. Put it in the "sweet spot" of normal stereo listening, but angled towards you, not the speakers. Reverse the phase of one speaker.

Or, don't reverse the phase of one speaker, but record a separate take of just bleed (stand in the same place, dont touch any faders, etc). Then, reverse the phase in yoru DAW on the recorded bleed. Helps sometimes too if you take out the highs with an EQ prior to recording the vocals and bleed (highs are harder to get to cancel if there are reflections)
 
I'm always having the pic of Hetfield standing in the control room, singing with the monitors blasting, in my head when someone talks about this.
 
If you are using a condenser, it's a bit trickier, but still manageable. Just try to position the mic in a way that has the least bleed. A good place to start is to the side of the monitors and back a little, with the back of the microphone facing the monitors (since, depending on the pickup pattern, this is where the mic will naturally NOT pick up sound as well.)

I agree with all of this except the trickier part; it's totally not an issue, I've done it multiple times with the mic like 6 feet back from the monitors and the rejection angle facing them, you can crank the monitors as loud as you want, but the fact is for any kind of remotely powerful vocals they'll completely drown out the bleed, and then you can just strip silence the rest (and record soft vocals using headphones/lower volume). I've never even needed to bother with the whole reversing the phase of one monitor thing, it's really not that big of a deal!
 
If you have to:

Use a cardioid mic. Put it in the "sweet spot" of normal stereo listening, but angled towards you, not the speakers. Reverse the phase of one speaker.

Or, don't reverse the phase of one speaker, but record a separate take of just bleed (stand in the same place, dont touch any faders, etc). Then, reverse the phase in yoru DAW on the recorded bleed. Helps sometimes too if you take out the highs with an EQ prior to recording the vocals and bleed (highs are harder to get to cancel if there are reflections)

do this
 
God can I relate to that, especially with a condenser (and especially with a condenser with very hyped presence, namely the Rode NT1-A), I could hear every smick and smack of the saliva whenever I just opened and closed my mouth, very unpleasant :lol:
 
bahaha better idea. Stick two speakers on outside ur room playing whatever the fuck you want just to drown out your singing. Then use whatever the fuck you want to record the vocals in the room heck use squirrel tails and a pop guard :D - keeps your monitors in your room, you get better sound from a condenser, and whoevers in the house gets to listen to 7000bpm of tech
 
If you have to:

Use a cardioid mic. Put it in the "sweet spot" of normal stereo listening, but angled towards you, not the speakers. Reverse the phase of one speaker.

Or, don't reverse the phase of one speaker, but record a separate take of just bleed (stand in the same place, dont touch any faders, etc). Then, reverse the phase in yoru DAW on the recorded bleed. Helps sometimes too if you take out the highs with an EQ prior to recording the vocals and bleed (highs are harder to get to cancel if there are reflections)

+1