| Author |
Thread |
|
atomsk
Advanced Member
United States
1,660 posts
Joined: Jan, 2009
|
 Posted - 2009/05/07 : 08:38:38
so like how would you record vocals for a song, if you cant get to a studio?
how would you get the beat, would you but head phones on and have the song really low?
with the other noises, would you want to do it in a closet, bathroom, or a small room with nothing on?
should you run it right into the computer (if you could) with out any mixers or anything?
do you HAVE TO HAVE a pop filters?
filter thingy
please help me out
Alert moderator 
|
Owen P
Average Member
United Kingdom
154 posts
Joined: Nov, 2005
|
Posted - 2009/05/10 : 00:02:18
Get closed-back headphones - they don't spill too much sound. Also, don't put the full song in the headphones - take out any elements that are really treble-heavy (or turn those elements down). If the vocalist is really loud (and they almost always are), the record level you set should be relatively low, so background noise won't get picked up much. Does that make sense? Remember the mic and vocalist are close and the mic will have limited range. If someone was singing directly into your ear (um, and you only had 1 ear), how aware would you be of backround ambience? Not very.
If you're still concerned, record 30 seconds of silence in the room as well and use that silence as a noise profile in your noise reduction software and run a gentle noise reduction on the takes (but don't do the 30 second silence until after you've set your record level).
If you're STILL concerned, mask any background sounds creatively with sound fx and other funky bits in your production. Backroung noise should never be a huge problem.
Doing it in the closet is not a bad idea, so long as it's comfortable - don't have the vocalist performing in a less than comfortable environment. I would guess a bathroom would reflect the voice too much and cause ringing that would be impossible to treat once you've captured the performance. BUT, you shouldn't need to go to that length. Try hanging a bed duvet on the side of the room the mic is picking up sound from! I'm lucky enough to have a nice vocal booth to work from, but I've achieved professionally acceptable results in less than ideal scenarios before.
The mic should go to a preamp before the computer. Hopefully your soundcard has nice analogue to digital conversion as well.
You don't have to have a pop filter - in fact I would recommend NOT using one (at least to learn more about the recording process). BUT, be prepared to find other solutions to the plosives challenge. Try different angles and positions for the mic, in order to avoid jets of air. OR you could use a pair of tights on a bent coat-hanger (my mum still hasn't forgiven me for that one). If you're going to spend money on one, you're best off getting one with a metal grill as they sound slightly more natural.
Hope that helps, best of luck with your songs!!
__________________________________
http://www.hattrixx.co.uk/
Alert moderator
Edited by - Owen P on 2009/05/10 00:06:28 |
|
Printer friendly
