Vocal tracking

[Ericlingus]

I'm going to be recording a female metal singer and was wondering if you could give me advice. I made acoustic panels out of rigid fiberglass to use to track the vocals and was wondering where to place that in relation to the singer and how far away. Also, how far from the mic should she be and what type of placement should I have (I'll be using a shure sm7b) . Any other tips you could give as well would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

make sure there is something blocking the ceiling and floor reflections...even a thick towel can really help there
use a pop blocker
ask her if she needs a music stand...it's a bitch to set everything up and then have to take it all down and reset for a music stand bleh
more important than what distance to the mic is that she maintain the same distance throughout, especially on quiet passages
spend a lot of time getting the right mix in her headphones…that is absolutely crucial
stay positive and treat her like a queen…ie let’s try that again, see if we can get a little tighter NOT that take was shit…women have about 1% as much self confidence as you did when you were a horny 14 year old zitface listening to gwar
get a little delay in her cans (earphones not her knockers)
run through and record the song at least once in its entirety….guaranteed there will be something amazing in the first take, even if it is not a keeper, at least she’ll do something that will sound fresh and will be good to emulate later

record everything

 

[RedDog]

What the genius said. "Get in her cans"

I love you, GGI.

For srsly, make her comfortable and mic accordingly. Be patient and focus on both of your comfort, but do not lose sight of the goal. Same as any weak singer, honestly. Just with boobs.

 

[Ericlingus]

would you use a pop filter even with the sm7b's foam pop cover that it has on it? Also, would you have her facing directly at the mic? How far away about?

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

forgot we were talking about 7b...i meant to use a pop filter in general

 

[Ericlingus]

so no pop screen just the foam one then?

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

probably do not need another pop screen. but it wouldn't hurt to have in your back pocket.

 

[Studdy]

I like the sound of the sm7b with the windscreen off. I tend to use a pop filter.

 

[Ericlingus]

do you guys use the highpass filter and/or presence boost on the sm7 when tracking vocals?

 

[Nimvi]

+1 to everything GGI said.
I too think that tracking people with lowered self esteem (so pretty much all vocalists) is all about making them feel at ease and sound great in their headphones. Compliment a good take, or simply give them a thumbs up in the pause of a nice run. It's amazing how much impact this can have on their performance. You will both walk out of there happier.

If a part doesn't work out after a few takes, suggest to move on to another part for now. Sometimes people just need a reset.


On the technical side of things, I too prefer the SM7 without the foam shield but with a popscreen in front of it, and I like to keep the EQ on it flat.

If you are familiar with it, it's also nice to track with a little bit of compression on the way in, or at least in a way that the vocalist can hear it. Especially on dynamic parts it can make it so the artist hears him/herself more consistently in the headphones. So far, everyone I've recorded has preferred this "rubber band feeling" over clean tracking.

If you like the way things sound through the microphone, but the sibilance is too strong, you can also try putting the microphone at a slight angle over/under their mouth, so the artist sings a bit "over it". Especially on females, this tends to sound a bit smoother to my ears.

EDIT: "Record everything" should be the first commandment in the bible. And when an artist tells you not to record something...record it on two channels!