Did Randy (LOG) really use a handheld?

[16S]

Hi,

The DVD that came with latest Lamb of God album;Sacrament documents the bands recording process with engineer/producer Machine. It shows Randy recording his vocals with a hand held mic, Randy holding the mic and not using a pop shield...
Is this for real? Or just to make the DVD look good?

Answers from you guys in the know would be greatly appreciated

16S

 

[fabz]

Hi,

The DVD that came with latest Lamb of God album;Sacrament documents the bands recording process with engineer/producer Machine. It shows Randy recording his vocals with a hand held mic, Randy holding the mic and not using a pop shield...
Is this for real? Or just to make the DVD look good?

Answers from you guys in the know would be greatly appreciated

16S

I'd say what ever fits the voice! Sometimes it sounds better (more aggressive, more feeling) when using a handheld mic! Some singers (especially very aggressiv, screaming, growling) don't sound too good recorded via a state of the art condenser mic.

But maybe they used the handheld only for doing demo stuff or some overdubs or shit like that...

As is said before whatever fits the voice, feeling or budget

 

[16S]

thanks. According to the DVD he is using a handheld for the preproduction stuff and the final recording. I understand that you could take advantage of the proximity effect of a dynamic handheld ..but how would you get round all the 'popping' plus all the handling noise from the mic body?

 

[CJWall]

SM7.

 

[sparkyness]

Two words: Terry Date.....

Deftones, Pantera, etc.....he's done albums where the vast majority of vocals being recorded with a simple handheld 58. If he can get the best performance out of a guy with a handheld 58, that's what he'll go with. There was an article years ago in Mix describing his approach and it's dead simple, and all about making the singer comfortable to get the results, rather than the gear concerned. Terry Date is a hell of a producer.

Considering Randy's vocal style, Machine's probably gone with the same approach. On Sacrament there is a lot of vocal layering going on there so it's difficult to tell what processing went on. There's also a bit of footage of Randy sitting down behind a desk behind a SM7, but most of the DVD is a taped up 58. I love that DVD.

 

[JeffTD]

SM7.

According to the DVD, the SM7 was only used on a couple 'spoken voice' parts, and by Machine as a talkback mic.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Well, when I worked with him, he said he preferred to work with a handheld. My philosophy is to give the singer what he wants.

In case you're wondering, "How the fuck did you get to work with him?" he came up to do some backgound vocals with a local group he's good friends with. Funny thing is, anyone who's heard the record & is a LOG fan said it's the best he's ever sounded. I wonder if that had to do with the 10 or so beers he put away before getting a mic in his hand!

 

[CJWall]

According to the DVD, the SM7 was only used on a couple 'spoken voice' parts, and by Machine as a talkback mic.

cool. I've never seen the DVD, was only speculating.

 

[nwright]

Well, when I worked with him, he said he preferred to work with a handheld. My philosophy is to give the singer what he wants.

In case you're wondering, "How the fuck did you get to work with him?" he came up to do some backgound vocals with a local group he's good friends with. Funny thing is, anyone who's heard the record & is a LOG fan said it's the best he's ever sounded. I wonder if that had to do with the 10 or so beers he put away before getting a mic in his hand!

I'd think he would do that at any session.

 

[joeymusicguy]

According to the DVD, the SM7 was only used on a couple 'spoken voice' parts, and by Machine as a talkback mic.

thats whack
it sounds like an sm7 to me

 

[ArtGarceau]

Pantera used an SM58.

Deftones used a Beta58.

Sammy Hagar used an SM57.

The list goes on.......

Chevelle used an SM7 as a handheld. (Take the yoke off).

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

Chevelle used an SM7 as a handheld. (Take the yoke off).

Anyone see the video for the new Dimmu Borgir? Looked like they were using a SM7 as a handheld holding in a really weird place. Looked stupid to me, but it sounds great, and what do I know.

 

[KeithRT99]

bono uses a 58, the last unearth was a 58...

 

[Kevin Kitchel]

Robert Plant only uses a 57, but it was not always in his hand.

 

[16S]

.............ok....this is all good but how is it done? how are the 'plosives' and mic body noise dealt with? Some technical help please

 

[Radd]

Wow, I would have thought that most singers of that stature (Plant, Hagar, Bono) would be using high end condensers. Or maybe they do and these are some of the rare exceptions? I'm talking studio, not live of course.

 

[dreamcatcher]

.............ok....this is all good but how is it done? how are the 'plosives' and mic body noise dealt with? Some technical help please

Nancy Wilson of Heart only used handhelds. I read some producer describe wrapping the handle in thick foam to reduce handling noise, and basically worshipping her mic technique to avoid explosives and all that.

Whatever works, I guess.

 

[Chryst Krispies]

I saw a video of Trevor from Unearth singing through the 58 and he was like moving around and screaming into the mic like he was onstage so I'm pretty shure that anything to make the artist happy and or to give the tracks a certain feel then It's all good.

 

[gumplunger]

Randy was using a 58 on that DVD. A good screamer with a 58 can sound damn good if produced well. I think the raw sound of an SM7 beats a 58's raw sound, but you can do things with each that you can't do as well with the other. It's pretty easy actually, to get a decent vocal plugin chain for a screamer with a 58.

Just throw a de-esser and some kind of subtle vocal overdrive (tape plugins, Vintage Warmer, stuff like that - I like Voxengo's Voxformer and I just turn off everything but the de-esser and the saturation). I like to run a kind of dirty sounding EQ before compressing the vocals because I think it gives it some extra character sometimes - one of the URS EQs or the Waves SSL EQ would work pretty well for that - and then run it into a pretty hard compressor/limiter (again, URS 1980 or 1970, Waves SSL Channel, that kind of thing). Then just set up send channels for a little split harmonizer to add a little widening and thickening, and a nice sounding vocal reverb. Maybe a little delay too. Do like 2 tracks of the main vocal panned center and put do 2 tracks panned like 25/25 or 50/50, pulled back in the mix a little for accents and overlapping parts. Then you can have like 4 more pulled even farther back and panned even harder for that kind of big chorus, pitched screaming stuff.

All that and you can probably get a pretty decent Randy-ish vocal sound, if that's what you're shooting for.

 

[discordless]

hey do you kow smth similar to DPP-1 , as a split harmonizer? vst/win