nt1a for screaming vocals?

[dankarghh]

hey guys,
im tracking a band on the weekend, not too sure what to use on vocals.
i can borrow a rode nt1a and im interested as to any experience positive or negative people have had doing the same?

 

[*KeepControl*]

Hey bro,

Ive had to use the nt1a until a month ago when i got my sm7b. Its honestly not a very good mic for vocals. Its weak sounding and quite bright sounding. I would suggest you double everything on vox. Because the mic doesnt have the strength to carry through any small nuances that the vocalist will deliver. Its also picks up alot of room noise so make sure you record somewhere treated. Put a foldout mattress in a closet corner and put a sheet on two micstands behind the vocalist to eliminate some of the room noise.

This mic NEEDS EQ to make anything sit right. So make sure you tailor that to the persons voice.

ill upload something i did with the nt1a and show you what it can do.
You can get good results out of it. just not great ones.

 

[dankarghh]

thanks man! that helps heaps. i have a few other mics at my disposal, a sm57, a sony ECM260F, an ATM10a and a pair of MXL 603's. what are your thoughts?

 

[Dollarosa]

used this mic alot on vocals, I don't think it is a weak mic and have got great results out of it with singing and screaming. Record in a dead room, high pass, compress the hell out of it, add tap delay, some chrous, and reverb and it will come up great.

 

[updog]

I have this one, it's my first mic but I think it works pretty well. See the points above.

I'm not sure whether it's our vocalist or the microphone but the tracks need a shitload of de-essing...

 

[Kadmium]

I use and love the NT1A - it's my favourite vocal mic. It needs a good pop filter and it's good with mildly aggressive vocals (think Bruce Dickinson or James LaBrie type screaming) but if you're going for Devin Townsend or Mike Akerfeldt screaming/growling then I'd say you're better off with the SM57. I used the NT1A on all the vocals for the new Arcane album (samples) and I think it was perfect for them.

 

[Fragle]

nt1a is fine. i largely prefer it over the sm58. a good pop filter is a must though.
it's quite bright and clear, but that's just how i like my vocals, and having a brighter mic means i don't have to add so much high end come mixing time. sm58 is always way to dark imho.

 

[ahjteam]

I have used the NT1A on this back like 4 years ago when I was a n00b and sucked at this stuff, but I think it's a decent mic if used with a popfilter:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338211/centuries.mp3

But to be honest, I prefer the U87 we used last year to record the same song for their album:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338211/centuries2.mp3

 

[cloy26]

I used a 57 on my last project and it came out far superior to anything I have done vocally (screaming) with my AT 4040. Don't throw out the sm57 just yet. I think it's a very useable mic for metal vocals. Hell, the vocalist didn't even use headphone. We blasted it through my monitors and gave him a 57 to hold onto and he went to town. However, make sure to use some sort of pop filter, I made that mistake and ruined what could have been amazing vocal tracks.

 

[dankarghh]

thanks for the feedback guys! we tracked today using the nt, the band was hardcore moreso than metal, so yelling vocals i guess. i used a popfilter and i think they sound great! i'll post up clips when i've done more