Help with Vocal Recordings

red_ice

I've been starting to notice im getting alot of anoying sounds when recording vocals with my band. Its like our vocals sound to 'thin' and sharp. Unpleasant volumes happen through out playing. I've tried singing slower, as in letting less air out, ive tried singing by letting more air out, ive tried different ways that may effect the pitch at which i am singing at, and the distance from the mic but no matter what happens, we just dont get vocals right at all...

I record with my acustic guitar all the time and sing into a poor mic that comes with my computer (just to jot down riffs and lyrics) and even that makes my voice sound alot better than when we use our 'proper gear'. We have a 'sound lab g742', im not sure if its a reputable piece of hardware, but it does what we want (instrument wise). It looks something like this

Im very self conscious of my voice, and i dont rate myself as a singer, but i know i can sing better than what comes out in our studio recordings. Unplugged i sound acceptable!

Can anyone give some advice on what i can do to help clean up our recordings?

Im lookin at you doc!

red_ice

Ill get me coat :v:

Savman

use a better mic.

Binomate

Your voice sounds different in your head than it does in real life. Do you record and listen to your voice often? Maybe you could post a clip for some constructive criticism.

saibhne

red_ice wrote:

Unpleasant volumes happen through out playing. QUOTE]

To remedy this you need to compress your vocals (and other instruments if necessary) preferrably as you record.

Also best to use a good condenser mic with pop shield for your vocals. A bit of reverb as well may not go amiss..

None of this though will make you sound better than you really are

red_ice

Ill see if i can find something... All the recordings are on the studio machine so i cant do it now!

We have a few different mics, the one i sing into is ment to be a good one its got that weird-ass end on it... not a jack as such, hard to explain, but im sure you know what im talking about.

How would i go about 'compessing' our vocals and other instruments?

Cheers for the help lads, i've got my pen and paper out heh :]

selephonic

Well first thing to do is invest in a decent mic, something like a sm58 will do nicely, if you put a request up on the FS board someone might have one going.

You should also look at the gain levels on the desk, it could be that you have it too high. There should be a pot that says mic/line on it. When it's turned too far to the line the gain will be very high. The eqs on the desk could be lending to the thinness of the sound. Try putting all the eqs at middle settings and work from there. You should do the same with the output/master eq on the desk.

It could also be the PA speakers you're using, or the room you're in. When you're playing with the full band you could be forcing your voice, to compete with the other volumes.

jtsuited

It's probably a combination of dodgy eq's on the mixer and a bad mic. As was said get a 58 (or even 57. they suit certain voices better.) . Oh and if you can get a beta 58 as opposed to an sm58, you'll sound even better!
Good luck
Oh and compression is probably vital too.
Could you give us a full list of what you're using so we can help in a more constructive way than just telling you to buy new mics!

jtsuited

red_ice wrote:

Unplugged i sound acceptable!

MMM? So by that you mean when you sing you reckon you sound acceptable but when you hear yourself you don't?
Let's hope it's a hardware problem.