When tracking lead vocals I usually try to match the song, it's feel and
vibe with an appropriate mic pre and mic. This never seems to be a problem
area for me. I can usually get a nice lead vocal mix every time.

I'm talking about a one man show here and I don't usually have the luxury of
having another person "engineer" for me while I'm doing my vocals. So, I
usually start out my backing vocals/harmonies placing the mic further away
to get a smaller sound so I won't need a lot of subtractive EQ later to fit
them in the mix properly.

What I find myself doing is inching up closer on the mic after listening to
what I've done repeated times and end up with a few artifacts like my vocals
getting louder as the song progresses (probably a sign that my ears are
compressing with the headphones as time goes on/compensatory reaction), and
that the tone obviously gets "closer" sounding at the same time. Now, I may
have put down a great backing track, but by the end of the tune I have
mixing problems that I try to fix with subtractive EQ.

Anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to obtain a more consistent
level and tone. Like I said, I think this is largely due to the fact that my
ears compress during the recording and I think I also have the tendency to
keep turning up the headphone mix. Then, when I proof the tracks I have to
turn THAT mix up, etc, and so on... It's a cyclical thing and I can't be the
only person that has noticed this. I also have never seen a thread here that
addresses this issue.

What do some of you guys do to prevent these sort of anomalies from
happening?


--
Jeff
http://www.mp3.com/JeffLiberatore

What I find myself doing is inching up closer on the mic after listening
to
what I've done repeated times and end up with a few artifacts like my
vocals
getting louder as the song progresses (probably a sign that my ears are
compressing with the headphones as time goes on/compensatory reaction),
and
that the tone obviously gets "closer" sounding at the same time. Now, I
may
have put down a great backing track, but by the end of the tune I have
mixing problems that I try to fix with subtractive EQ.

Do you record with both your ears covered by the headphones? It helps to
leave one off. It will put your volume and pitch in a natural perspective
but also allow you to be in time and pitch to the track.

"Jeff Liberatore" wrote in message


Anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to obtain a more
consistent level and tone. Like I said, I think this is largely due
to the fact that my ears compress during the recording and I think I
also have the tendency to keep turning up the headphone mix. Then,
when I proof the tracks I have to turn THAT mix up, etc, and so on...
It's a cyclical thing and I can't be the only person that has noticed
this. I also have never seen a thread here that addresses this issue.

What do some of you guys do to prevent these sort of anomalies from
happening?

I don't perform, but I observe that many performers get more consistent the
more often they perform a song, especially within a short time frame.

You might want to loop the rest of the tracks and sing the new track several
times in quick succession.

"anthony.gosnell" wrote in message
...
"Jeff Liberatore" wrote

What do some of you guys do to prevent these sort of anomalies from
happening?

You can set up a pop filter at the distance that you want to stand from
the
mic and sing right up against it.

Yes, I actually thought of this (yesterday) right after I posted my
question. I have NO idea why I never thought of this before hand. Anyway,
this seems like the simplest method to try. (banging my head on the wall).

Thanks,


--
Jeff
http://www.mp3.com/JeffLiberatore

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
news
"Jeff Liberatore" wrote in message

I don't perform, but I observe that many performers get more consistent
the
more often they perform a song, especially within a short time frame.

You might want to loop the rest of the tracks and sing the new track
several
times in quick succession.

Yes. Someone mentioned this the other day but another trick if you're trying
to do say a BGV with three parts is to record each part (as in bass, tenor,
alto). Then record them again each time throwing away the "old" track (e.g.
if you're recording bass you throw away the previous bass track). After
about three rounds of this you get a pretty tight stack.

Yes. Someone mentioned this the other day but another trick if you're trying
to do say a BGV with three parts is to record each part (as in bass, tenor,
alto). Then record them again each time throwing away the "old" track (e.g.
if you're recording bass you throw away the previous bass track). After
about three rounds of this you get a pretty tight stack.


in a similar vein, I often set up 4 or 5 BGV tracks and sing the same
line on all of them. that way i can comp together a good take, just
like the lead. often i end up with a good doube and sometimes a
triple, which is a good way to make the BGVs sound think and chorusy
without too much presence.
for a good example of the type of sound this produces, listen to the
chorus of the sting tune "love is stronger than justice" off of ten
summoner's tales.

"Rich Wilner" wrote in message
om...
Yes. Someone mentioned this the other day but another trick if you're
trying
to do say a BGV with three parts is to record each part (as in bass,
tenor,
alto). Then record them again each time throwing away the "old" track
(e.g.
if you're recording bass you throw away the previous bass track). After
about three rounds of this you get a pretty tight stack.


in a similar vein, I often set up 4 or 5 BGV tracks and sing the same
line on all of them. that way i can comp together a good take, just
like the lead. often i end up with a good doube and sometimes a
triple, which is a good way to make the BGVs sound think and chorusy
without too much presence.
for a good example of the type of sound this produces, listen to the
chorus of the sting tune "love is stronger than justice" off of ten
summoner's tales.

Yes. It definitely helps to have a bunch of tracks setup and just let it
roll through all automatically so you can get in the groove and forget about
the technical end of it.