Mic for female vocals

boid · Post by **boid** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 12:25 pm

hey,

I'm recording a girl and found her voice to be really ear
piercing on some songs which will really give the mixing engineer a hard time
I couldn't really make it better by eqing mids and shelfing the higher frequenzies
I can't quite put my finger on the frequenzies that are causing the problem, either....
It really becomes a problem if she does bck. vocals and we stack several tracks of high pitched stuff...it adds up and gets so much worse

I've tried various microphones

AT4040 (doesn't work at all)
Rode NT2a (best condenser so far...)
AKG C1000
SM57 (the worst in terms of "piercing")
MD441 (a bit better than the SM57...but did work ok for a track with a lotta distorted guitars)
What worked best was a MD421
i guess that's about the "darkest" one I have

I've been thinking of ribbon mics like the M160 / M 260
tubes would make it even worse I guess
or condensers like the higher priced Blue mics could be interesting?!

Any ideas?mybe I'll just hang a towel on the mic?!^^

Producer/Engineer · Post by **Producer/Engineer** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 4:14 pm

ADK S7b ... smooth, ribbonish, winner on the vocal your describing having trouble with.
Note that some ADK dealers have a try before you buy program.
The ADK S7b should be a winner for you.

blungo2 · Post by **blungo2** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 4:19 pm

I'm kinda talkin outta my ass here as i don't have one, but possibly a beyer m88?

This one i know a bit more about, a cascade fathead oughta take the shrill out of anything.

wren · Post by **wren** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 5:09 pm

A large +1 for the M88.

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 5:25 pm

To me the m88 sounds like a slightly nicer 421. Which means if the 421 sounds good the M88 might be 10-20% nicer but will still be in the same ballpark.

Dominick Costanzo · Post by **Dominick Costanzo** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 5:52 pm

AKG
414EB - with the "teflon" capsule
414B-ULS
414B-TL - not the gold grill TLII
414B-XLS - not the gold grill XLII

Ryan Silva · Post by **Ryan Silva** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 6:06 pm

Dominick Costanzo wrote:AKG
414EB - with the "teflon" capsule
414B-ULS
414B-TL - not the gold grill TLII
414B-XLS - not the gold grill XLII

the 414B-ULS has done very well for me.

m160 works ok, depends on where the trouble spot on the vocal is.

the finger genius · Post by **the finger genius** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 8:26 pm

I'd try an SM7, or if you have access to one maybe a CAD M177 (or 179).

cale w · Post by **cale w** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 9:09 pm

I've been recording a classically trained female singer for a while, and I've been experiencing the same thing: excess shrillness that hurts the ears when the vocal is at a normal mix level. I think it's because she projects so well (the training), which is great in a hall or chamber, not so much a half foot from an already bright condenser mic! It's all between 900 and 4k hz, and no amount of eqing seems to alleviate it.

So I'll +1 on the cascade fathead. We tried a wide range of mics and both agreed this one sounded best for her style. It's easy to add some air by boosting up around like 12 or 16hz, but otherwise the ribbon mellows out the shrill stuff nicely. I'm sure a more expensive ribbon would have the same effect, but this one worked for me.

-Cale

blungo2 · Post by **blungo2** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:21 am

fwiw, the fathead was a little too dark for everything i was doing with it. My current ribbons (r84 and cloud) while not shrill at all, would probably be shrill with the vocalist described.
I bet a coles would work well on her as well.

losthighway · Post by **losthighway** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:32 am

I've had success with female voices with an EV RE10, and an AT 4047. I don't think I've tried my SM7 on a girl (weird sentence), but it sounds so good on the dudes I would give it a shot (weirder still).

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:27 am

I cannot comment without listening to your singer first.

There are ways around a shrill vocal.

It may be coming straight from the vocal chords.

But... Without hearing her voice, it is all speculation.

Cheers

boid · Post by **boid** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 10:02 am

wow thanks guys!

here's an sample of a MD441 into a Neve
no eq, just some compression on the main vocs

http://luut.bandcamp.com/track/setup1

the engineer who recorded that drove my neve a little too hard so I guess
that doesn't help either, but you'll get the idea of my problem

to me it didn't sound too shrill right away but after 1min of listening I got a terrible headache^^

I also tried different preamps (API, Millenia)
But what seemed to work best was a transformerless DIY pre (built after an amek mozart console)
I even tried some sorts of two mic placement trying to shape the sound
with phase correlation

ooff I used an RE10 a while ago (on horns though...but to me the shrillness of her voice reminds me alot of the kind of thing you get recording trumpets you know what I mean? they sound really harsh sometimes)
and I think it's frequenzy response would really focus on her "problem area" (if I remember right !!) never heard the AT4047 though...

SM7 would be interesting as I can see it getting used a lot ...on her

hahaha
(that's why I would really like to try the M160)

A Fathead's been on my list for so long, but I'm from Europe and those things cost around 480$ with the Lundahl upgrade here!
But I'll look into that one more time...
same with adk

I haven't had the luck to get my hands on a 414 of any kinds but I keep reading about how uncoloured and crisp it is in the higher frequenzies
you really think that would be a good match for a singer like that?

I can live with the MD421 but it would be a compromise...

right now I'm thinking M88, M160, Fathead maybe trying a 414 if you think that's wise after hearing the sample?

damn...cant afford a royer right now

Dominick Costanzo · Post by **Dominick Costanzo** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 2:14 pm

The not brass, not TLII AKG 414's are rich in the lower mids, restrained in the upper mids and extended at high frequencies.
Aggressive female vocals tend to have lots of midrange energy which the 414 will subdue without loosing the upper harmonics and getting muffled sounding.
YMMV

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 3:11 pm

boid wrote:wow thanks guys!

here's an sample of a MD441 into a Neve
no eq, just some compression on the main vocs

http://luut.bandcamp.com/track/setup1

the engineer who recorded that drove my neve a little too hard so I guess
that doesn't help either, but you'll get the idea of my problem

to me it didn't sound too shrill right away but after 1min of listening I got a terrible headache^^

boid wrote:I'm recording a girl and found her voice to be really ear piercing

Firstly, her voice sounds fine to me. She is young, and full of energy, and it translated well.

As to the occasional distortion that is heard when she gets loud, on the longer notes, well this can be remedied by having her back off the mic, and if she cannot do that due to poor mic technique or lack of time/ budget for re recording, then you can find that offending frequency, and attenuating it.

Just use a good EQ with an FFT anailzer to pinpoint the exact frequency range to attenuate.

After that you might have to bring up some frequencies either one or two octaves above the offending one, to compensate.

But, to me, I would simply re record her voice and have her sing a little mor off-axis or further away from the mic to avoid the saturation of the mic electronics or the mic preamp.

But, it does not sound all that bad. Not from my speakers in my room.

Cheers

Message Board

Mic for female vocals

Mic for female vocals

Who is online