Hey Im Trying To Decide What To Buy So I Can Get My Vocals Better

[brandondrury]

I think he's just talking about the sound quality recorded of vocals, not how to make himself sing better

The two are completely inseperable. Use the same mic on any two singers with similar voice types. The great singers will sound amazing and the crappy singer will sound like an idiot.

There is a lot that goes into this whole recording thing, even from a purely audio engineering standpoint. The #1 audio engineering principal is getting the noisemaker to sound great before you even put a mic in front of it. Of course, this gets into producing.

Needless to say, in this situation, I wouldn't buy any gear. I'd spend more time experiementing. I'd have a buddy come over who wants to record and waste the night messing with mic placement, different compression, etc. I'd also spend quite a bit of time getting the monitors setup to be more accurate.

Brandon

[DT Chris]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

The two are completely inseperable. Use the same mic on any two singers with similar voice types. The great singers will sound amazing and the crappy singer will sound like an idiot.

I'm confused... Of course I agree with the statement that a better singer will sound better.. but are you saying that a singer will sound good no matter what the equipment used?

[brandondrury]

I'm confused... Of course I agree with the statement that a better singer will sound better.. but are you saying that a singer will sound good no matter what the equipment used?

Well.. answering that question "yes" or "no" could be taken entirely the wrong way.

First, let's not use vocals as our example. Let's use guitar amps. Let's say we are going for the classic rock guitars like Thin Lizzy or Boston. I'm of the opinion that (WITHIN REASON) a vintage Marshall will always sound better than a Boss Metalzone through a Behringer modeling amp no matter what mic and preamp you use. Remember, the focus is on the mic and preamp in this example.

I'm saying that a great sounding instrument is going to sound better through maybe less ideal recording gear and a crappy instrument is still going to sound like crap through the most expensive mics and preamps.

The mics and preamps just don't do that THAT much.

Now going back to singers, the issue is not nearly as cut and dry as the Marshall vs Metalzone / Behringer situation. Then again, maybe it is. If I had a single mic (maybe a 57) and 10 singers lined up, I probably wouldn't have much trouble finding the best singer for a given song. If you had the best singer for a given song and I had a singer who did not sound good with that same song, you would beat the living crap out of my vocal sound with a cheap mic even if I had access to the best mics in the world.

The best singers have the best tone. It works that way with lead guitar players too. Great lead guitar players have a certain feel to their playing that just sings or screams or whatever. When Steve Vai whales, you know it. (Not that he's my favorite by any stretch of the imagination.). In that same light, you know the great singer when you hear them.

Great singers just know how to sound good. Bad singers make bad sounds with their mouth and do bad things to their tone. I've never heard a terrible singer who had great tone. It just doesn't work that way.

The issue is futher complicated by the fact that the every singer sounds different than the next singer. One mic may be too bright for one singer but perfect for another. However, the brightness of the mic can be changed down the line with EQ, compression, and various other tricks. The talent of the singer is what it is.

That's my official stance.

Brandon