phasing and screaming

[evilmanny]

Hey guys, finally decided to post here after many many months of browsing... yes, evil lurkers... hehehe.

Anyway, a couple of quick questions:

done a fair few recordings with my singer already (www.interlock.org.uk) using a Neumann U47 and another large diaphram mic (totally forget what it was though). These have been in fairly salubrious settings with a steaming cup of coffee and a pop shield, but we're noticing the vibe for some of his more 'extreme' vocals are lacking a little. We've decided to try the cranked up monitors and hand held approach to try and remedy this.
So, any particularly good tips for this? what should I be watching out for? A few things I've been trying to check out and will no doubt try recording a 'blank' music track and then inverting the phase (should cancel out the offending track). stop me if I'm talking rubbish here...
Would 57 suffice do you think?
But what to do about plosives, mic knocking (hand held after all) Anything like that?

And question number two
the great 5150 and Tubescreamer combo. I've been recently trying to find as much as I can on this, but there's a couple of bits of info I'm wondering about:
- A tube screamer is essentially an overdrive... so, if using live, I assume you would have to switch off the unit or switch amps to get a clean channel. right?
- At which point in the chain is it best to put that little box? guitar into TS into amp (and if we're talking 5150mk1 high or low gain?)? or in the FX loop?

I'm sure with a little bit of time and tinkering I could work this out on my own, but seeing as I've finally decided to ask some questions here!!!

Cheers guys!


J

 

[evilmanny]

anyone?

 

[James Murphy]

guitar into TS into amp... do not switch to clean channel.. the TS is only for a slight extra "edge".. and even with the Drive pot turned all the way down it will help control low end and tighten up your sound.

for your "singing with monitors cranked" question.. just put the singer directly between both monitors and put one of them out of phase.. as the signals from the 2 monitors enter the mic they will cancel each other out.. at least a great deal. don't forget to put your monitor back in phase when you are done.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

And don't forget to switch your output to mono, you'll want both monitors to play the same thing, phase inverted, not a stereo track.

 

[evilmanny]

aaahhh! Thanks James, Thanks Brett! That's very cool of you.
Thanks for all the help.

 

[James Murphy]

And don't forget to switch your output to mono, you'll want both monitors to play the same thing, phase inverted, not a stereo track.

yeah.. i neglected to mention that step.. very important.. if your console's master section does not have a collapse-to-mono button you can use one of several workarounds... one of which is to pan all your tracks up the middle.. then on your master channel you can insert a waves Q plug.. doesn't matter about the number of bands, since you won't use them.. and just hit a phase flip button under the input meters on one side... that way you don't have to literally swap the leads on the terminals of one of your monitors.