Any tips for recording handheld mics?

[narcossintese]

I know that some people here like to track vocals this way, like Gareth.

Any tips or techniques regarding handheld dynamic mics? I mean, like distance from the mouth, way to hold, any pattern to the eq (like more HPF, or a bump in certain frequency), the square duct tape thing, live vs dead room, tips for making it not sound so thin, etc.

This is something I want to master... It´s tougher to mix, but lately I´m convinced that the improve on the performances absolutely worth it, specially on amateur singers.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Well, I've only recorded vocals one time for our demo, and when he held the mic we were getting too much noise. Maybe he just wasnt "clean" enough with the way he held it? We resorted to putting it on a stand and using a sock as a pop filter.

 

[Trevoire520]

Best advice I can give is:
Try to get the mic facing away from the monitors as much as possible
Never. Ever. EVER! Let the singer cup the mic.

Overall though you'd probably be better off getting a Shure SM7B up on a stand and let the singer hold that. There's basically no handling noise with this mic and the off axis rejection is very good.

 

[if6was9]

Recently recorded a singer like this, he expressed massive discomfort at using a stand so we tried it this way and got a good performance.
I used an audix I5 and found I'd to high pass it and suck out a fair chunk of the mids. I also used a good bit more compression than I usually do and used a multi band comp to help kill some of the plosives that were going on.

 

[timislegend]

if you are not limited to a specific mic and you are willing to go out and buy a new one...

purchase a stage condenser... like: shure sm87 or neumann kms105.


these mics maintain a precise frequency response intended for vocals and built for live situations.


otherwise, if you insist on using the dynamic mic scenario... well then, you will be forced to deal with intense vocal disparities that can occur in most live settings.

you can attempt to master the art of recording 'handheld' vocalists ...but you will never master the 'vocalist'... he/she will be the potential "nail in the coffin."