How do i record vocals well?

[£ Î Z @ R Ð]

I'm a newbie and I've never actually recorded/mixed a vocal track before. I
tried for the first time today, and it just sounds... weak.. almost exactly
like a karaoke machine.

I use a Yamaha AW4416 SIAB, with two mics, a Shure KSM27 Condenser and a
Shure Beta 57 Dynamic (i think the 57 sounded warmer). But still, the vocal
track sounds very stale and dry and boring. I used a little bit of
compression, and some reverb, and that made it a little better, but still
not professional.

What should I do?


--
*·.¸_¸.·'¨¨)
¸.·'
(_¸.·' Jonathan

Go to http://www.unc.edu/~bhill/lizard.html to
hear some music from my upcoming solo album,
Guestroom Project (website coming soon).

[Ricky W. Hunt]

"£ Î Z @ R Ð" > wrote in message
...
> I'm a newbie and I've never actually recorded/mixed a vocal track before.
I
> tried for the first time today, and it just sounds... weak.. almost
exactly
> like a karaoke machine.
>
> I use a Yamaha AW4416 SIAB, with two mics, a Shure KSM27 Condenser and a
> Shure Beta 57 Dynamic (i think the 57 sounded warmer). But still, the
vocal
> track sounds very stale and dry and boring. I used a little bit of
> compression, and some reverb, and that made it a little better, but still
> not professional.
>
> What should I do?

I'm guessing you are a home recordist which almost surely means you don't
have an optimum room for cutting vocals (or anything acoustic probably). And
anything you try to do post-recording will just make the room's effect all
the more obvious. E.G. Compression will just bring up the honky tone or
reflections. Trying to EQ it out will most likely take something away from
the vocal you don't want taken away. Reverb will just make a muddy,
undefined sound even more so. Etc. I'm guessing that and/or your preamp. The
Shure KSM series is pretty good and the 57 should be fine. Can you post a
clip?

[Garthrr]

>I used a little bit of
>compression, and some reverb, and that made it a little better, but still
>not professional.
>
>What should I do?

To begin with you must have a mic that "likes" the voice its recording if you
know what I mean. Then you need an acoustic space that isnt contributing a bad
ambience to the sound. You might just hang blankets or twoels around the singer
to deaden the area since you probably arent in a proper acoustically tuned
space. Then its a matter of finding the right verb and other effects to make
the vocal work in the particular song.

Garth~


"I think the fact that music can come up a wire is a miracle."
Ed Cherney