Why is getting a decent vocal so difficult?

[cookiecookiesunda]

Or, if you don't want to actually learn how to get a vocal out of what you got,

Go buy 15,000 USD worth of equipment, then at least the rest of the forum will congratulate you in how "excellent" your vocal will sound with the expensive equipment. The distortion will be AWESOME!!!

Now, to the OP, have you done anything I or the others who suggested you take a look at how the signal is going through to the computer?

Or are you going to fall prey to gearholism?

Cheers

I'm not recording to a computer. Boss br, a digital 8 track.

With my setup, I have 3 knobs to control gain staging; one on the preamp, the recording level of the boss and the mic level of the boss which are quite low.

I have gained the stage. On the stage there is gain. To gain is to be on a stage. The stage will be gained.

Please know: I poop in my pants everyday just for kicks.

[chris harris]

for fuck's sake, just go buy a fucking compressor.
Distressors are nice.

[Jay Reynolds]

Or, if you don't want to actually learn how to get a vocal out of what you got,

Go buy 15,000 USD worth of equipment, then at least the rest of the forum will congratulate you in how "excellent" your vocal will sound with the expensive equipment. The distortion will be AWESOME!!!

Now, to the OP, have you done anything I or the others who suggested you take a look at how the signal is going through to the computer?

Or are you going to fall prey to gearholism?

Cheers

I'm not recording to a computer. Boss br, a digital 8 track.

With my setup, I have 3 knobs to control gain staging; one on the preamp, the recording level of the boss and the mic level of the boss which are quite low.

I have gained the stage. On the stage there is gain. To gain is to be on a stage. The stage will be gained.

Please know: I poop in my pants everyday just for kicks.

1. What model boss are you using and why haven't you simply plugged the mic directly into it? Why use the Audio Buddy at all?

2. The guy to whom you are replying to in the above post (as is the case with a lot of people who have responded to your thread) knows what he is talking about and makes his living recording music in a pretty competitive market. If you just posted here to get recos on what gear to buy next, fine. But if you really want to learn something, I'd suggest taking his advice to heart. If it doesn't make sense, ask for clarification, or make sure you are providing all the pertinent info (like the model # for your BR, for instance).

BTW-I'm going to throw my vote into the "operator error/malfunctioning gear/don't try to spend you way out of recording 101" column. Yes, I too felt like my life got better when I bought my SM7. But, then again, I'm generally aiming for -18bdfs when tracking to digital. What good would it do me to drop the money on that mic if the signal it produces is getting raped when it hits the inputs?

[Ryan Silva]

http://www.outofstockrecords.com/2009/0 ... hobby.html

[Nick Sevilla]

I'm not recording to a computer. Boss br, a digital 8 track.

With my setup, I have 3 knobs to control gain staging; one on the preamp, the recording level of the boss and the mic level of the boss which are quite low.

I have gained the stage. On the stage there is gain. To gain is to be on a stage. The stage will be gained.

Please know: I poop in my pants everyday just for kicks.

So,

After cleaning your pants, have you done anything in the way of using your digits on your hands to actually move your 3 knobs in any way to increase the likelihood that your distortion goes away, while retaining the mic proximity effect going?

Or am I just pissing into the wind here?

Cheers

[dsw]

between him pooping his pants and you pissing in the wind, I'm staying the hell away!!

[strdsk]

Lol!

[cookiecookiesunda]

I purchased a mxl v67 and a art tube preamp + levelar for very good prices on ebay. I spent less than $100.

I spent a long time with the gain staging both before and after posting this thread but still encountered distortion in the same areas.

[cookiecookiesunda]

I purchased a mxl v67 and a art tube preamp + levelar for very good prices on ebay. I spent less than $100.

I spent a long time with the gain staging both before and after posting this thread but still encountered distortion in the same areas.

[Nick Sevilla]

I purchased a mxl v67 and a art tube preamp + levelar for very good prices on ebay. I spent less than $100.

I spent a long time with the gain staging both before and after posting this thread but still encountered distortion in the same areas.

Then spending money did not fix the issue, did it?

You need to spend time learning mic technique then.

Cheers

[cookiecookiesunda]

I purchased a mxl v67 and a art tube preamp + levelar for very good prices on ebay. I spent less than $100.

I spent a long time with the gain staging both before and after posting this thread but still encountered distortion in the same areas.

Then spending money did not fix the issue, did it?

You need to spend time learning mic technique then.

Cheers

They have not arrived yet. Spending money may yet save the day.

[firesine]

You don't need a compressor to record vocals.
Set up a mic in front of the recorder, put on headphones and sing into the mic. Then turn the knobs up until it sounds good. Increasing the gain in small increments is probably the best way to find the sweet spot. And you probably don't want to turn up one of the knobs much more than the others. Try to keep them all fairly equal so you don't overdrive something.

Don't over think this it's just like recording anything else.

[Nick Sevilla]

I purchased a mxl v67 and a art tube preamp + levelar for very good prices on ebay. I spent less than $100.

I spent a long time with the gain staging both before and after posting this thread but still encountered distortion in the same areas.

Then spending money did not fix the issue, did it?

You need to spend time learning mic technique then.

Cheers

They have not arrived yet. Spending money may yet save the day.

Sorry, but the way you worded your post, it sounded as if you had bought these items and used them, and gotten the same results.

I predict you'll get the same results though... but also am hopeful you will figure it out so you can move on to creative things.

Cheers

[doctari]

2 loud electric guitars, bass and drums came over wanting only a demo.Not wanting to throw a wet blanket on their fun with my usual small amps work better in my room routine,They set up pretty much like a gig with a floor slant and my ev 357 and 757 vocal mics. was pretty careful not to overdrive the vocals with the presonus digimax fs into protools le. i was hoping to recut the vocals with different mics and preamps but time didn't allow. come mixtime was having a hard time making the voices happy. for the first time I used the digi Dynamics ii plugin as inserts on the two vocal tracks and used the vocal presets. suprising to me this really softened the voices up and helped the songs.

[JWL]

Also, no one has mentioned the room you are recording in. This could also be contributing to the distortion, for instance, if you have (say) a 15dB peak at a particular frequency because of the room, it can cause distortion.