Comments on: Lead Vocals: Singers, don’t fear your voice

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By: penor shock

penor shock — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:55:00 +0000

This made me laugh, thanks for that! lol

By: Chance Hoelter

Chance Hoelter — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 02:27:19 +0000

I seen your website. Extremely cool. Will arrive again.

By: Carmelia

Carmelia — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:29:43 +0000

Wonderful posting, I truly enjoy messages of your stuff.

By: jason

jason — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 05:25:00 +0000

On the other hand though, a wonderful example of vocal doubling: Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca.

By: Gas Fires

Gas Fires — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 09:50:49 +0000

::’ I am really thankful to this topic because it really gives great information –’

By: Joe Beblavy

Joe Beblavy — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:13:09 +0000

Hi Bill,
This is a like a gold mine of honest advice for someone like me. I’m pumped that I’ve stumbled upon this website, and I hope that there’s more to come. I’m also a huge fan of dr dog and the sound of the records you and them put out there. I write, perform, and record music of my own and friends of mine, and I hope one day to turn it into something more. Its hard to tell where to start though. What advice would you give someone who is starting up in your profession? I also live in philly, and I dabble in some studies at temple university. But I have wondered if it would be a smart move to major in some like “sound engineering” or something of that nature. On the other hand, I feel like there’s much more to the profession than to simply go to school for it.

Joe

By: Bill Moriarty

Bill Moriarty — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:30:11 +0000

Hi Brielle,
I actually don’t have a Shure Beta 58 but most everything Shure makes is good so I’d trust that mic. If you record your instrument and vocal together and love it that’s perfect. That’s how Bob Dylan does it so we know it works. You’re right that the sound is secondary to the performance and you’ll find you can actually change the sound significantly after recording it if you want to. Everyone feels under a bit of pressure when the record light flicks on but I think it’s helpful. It focuses your mind on what you’re doing.

By: Brielle

Brielle — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:33:21 +0000

I like your site and the way that you approach music and recording etc. Some cool tips that I am going to try. I’ve tried recording my songs and redoing the vocals, and I have never found that I felt comfortable enough with the second try. It always feels fake or something. I’ve put together a few CD’s of my songs and for the most part they are recordings that I made right when I wrote the song. I just turn on my recorder (which back then was a sony camera!) and somehow the pressure makes me stick it through to the end. I mean, I have a lot of recordings that are not that good quality and the songs need work etc., but the point is that getting a good vocal track for me is about feeling it right and having a good sound setup. I agree totally with what you are saying in that regard. I also wondered what you think of the Shure Beta 58A ?
Cheers and thanks a lot for doing this site. Brielle

By: Bill Moriarty

Bill Moriarty — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:46:23 +0000

Hi Luke! Thanks for the compliments.

Well, the way I record vocals has been….
Super close up to an expensive mic Wunder Audio CM7, or farther back with a cheap mic like the 57. I particulalrly like EV mics like the RE20 and PL6. I didn’t have any good mic pres for a while so we used the pres on our Allen & Heath board and we recorded through an 1176. I tend to use a low cut around 90Hz.

When mixing the vocal I use at least one compressor. I usually am mixing from a computer and so I’ll put a de-esser on first, then a hardware compressor, then a hardware EQ. I like to boost a lot when using an EQ so it has to come after the compressor or my boosting will trigger it. Then I often use a mono, distorted tape echo (or digital echo that I EQ to sound like tape) and a quiet mono spring reverb. I have a real tape echo and spring reverb but there are some great plugins – even the ones that come with Logic – that sound great: Space Designer Old Spring Reverb sounds good and there tape echo if you use the distortion and tape fluctuation.

Also, I often add, in the computer, some distortion. I’ll send the recorded vocal to a bus and put Logic’s clip distorion on it and quietly sen it out along with the dry vocal and onto the hardware compressor. If the studio has an iso room I’ll setup a small amp instead with a mic and send the vocal from the console to the distorted amp and mix that back in.

If you’re trying to make your vocal sound older with what you have try the Shure SM7, sing close to it into the Brick or the ART. Cut out everything below 90Hz. Put it through compressor or a plugin that emulates an 1176. Set the attack sow and the release fast. In mixing add a little of the Holy Grail (that’s the reverb on the We All Belong record) and also put the vocal through one of your amps, turn it up and the high end down, put a 57 on it and mix that in quietly. (I’ve never used The Brick or the AKG or MXL so I’m unfamiliar).

Often, I find to make it sound older requires a lot of EQ, up or down, in the high end. All mics sound different so I can’t say if your recording will need the high end boosted or cut but that’s usually where I find the biggest impact for making it sound older.

As an aside, I actually am not trying to make mixes sound old. That doesn’t appeal to me. I’m trying to make them sound great and if what sounds great happens to also sound old then that’s fine. I know what you mean, though.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you want any more specifics.
Bill