handheld mic for female singer - live in studio recording

[joninc]

hey guys - i am doing a live off the floor session with a band in a few weeks and we will have pretty decent isolation etc..

it's a band that i have done a record with before and we want to capture a more raw sort of feel so we're going to a larger studio for a day to try a few tunes and see how it goes.

the vocalist is used to singing with a 58 and would love to be able to hold the mic while she sings as that is what she is most used to and feels more natural than standing in front of a fancy mic etc...

the studio a lot of nice gear but i am not sure they have much in the way of options
for this type of a think except a 58. i know there are a few diff options out there and some handheld condensors options too - anyone recommend anything?

i'd like to have a little sweeter top end than a 58 if possible as they want the voice out front and center.

[Nick Sevilla]

If you possibly can, try a Neumann KMS105. They are appropriate.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/KMS105MT/

Logical.

[wren]

Beyer M88.

[accordion squeezist]

could be wrong on this but I believe that Buddy Miller, who sings through his beloved Sony C37, gave Lisa a handheld 58 on Written in Chalk. She curled up in a chair and sang through it. The record won a Grammy.
I have a love/hate relationship with the SM58, mostly due to hearing it used poorly in live situations. You just have to trust it.
The unidyne 565 is a little smoother on top to me.
My handheld condensers that you mention sound great live, but pop too much in the studio, after all, they're just small diaphragm electrets.
I'd go with a dynamic.

[eeldip]

earthworks sr69, sr20 absolutely refuses to pop more than any hand held mic i have experience with. additionally, it has near 0 handling noise. decent rejection.

as far as the tone, it needs work. nothing particularly sweet about it, but you can sweeten later.

[calaverasgrandes]

sm57?
I also like to give singers like that a 58 and then also put a LDC about 3 feet away about chest height or so. I then feed them the 58 for cue mix and might not even record it. I get pretty good results with screamy punks and metal kids.

[Nick Sevilla]

Or even, dare I say it, a Beta58.

Logical choice

[Injured Ear]

I've tried a lot of different mics for this job, here are my experiences:

M88 - it had better be one of the older silver ones, the black M88-TG's have the worst p-pop plosives of any handheld vocal mic I've ever used. The older style (I have one of each) does not seem to suffer this problem. The plosives get more pronounced as you back away from the capsule.

Neuman KMS105 - Arguably the biggest sounding vocal mic, but at the cost of allowing the most bleed from other sources

Shure 58 - The devil you know

Shure Beta87 - I bought one of these with the expressed reason for tracking scratch vocals. It does a marvelous job of bridging the sound of the KMS105 and the rejection of the Shure 58. It's not a be-all end-all vocal mic, but it is the happy medium that I live with in those situations.

Heil PR-20 - second worst P-pops to the M88TG. Also, if you work the mic up close those problems go away but you are left hearing wind noise across the screen instead. (A fine snare/guitar mic, an awful vocal mic.)

Shure Beta57a - Plosives are not a problem, the freq response is usable and eq'able and the proximity effect when you get right up on it is not as pronounced as with a Beta 58, so you have a more homogenous tone if the singer is working the mic at various distances (ie: inconsistent)

I would be interested in trying out the Earthworks. I was eyeing them a while back when trying to come up with a viable in-studio live performance vocal mic for video things I did for AOL Music. The problem I had there was that many performers had their own mic endorsements and I had to go with whatever they chose, so I gave up on purchasing my own.

Hope that helps:
-Greg

[Jim Williams]

Any quality mic will have plenty of hf leakage. Therefore, if isolation is ideal it can be done.

I have had excellent results with AKG 535 condenser mics. Yes, they are brite, but they also reveal sonic details that most dynamics will miss.
If she's lispy, then a KM105 will do.

It's very important to avoid hf leakage as most condensers are omni at high frequencies. Therefore cymbal wash can be a pick up problem.

Control that and you can get excellect results if she doesn't handle the mic!