I was asked by a forum member about recording vocals.
"...your vocal sits really well in the mix. Can you reveal how you record your vocals?"
I was actually surprised by the request. I think there are others here whose vocals are
much better recorded than mine. But I certainly don't mind "revealing" my setup and "technique".

Hopefully others - some of those people whose vocals make me think "wow, how do they get such
crisp, clean vocals" - will chime in and we might all learn something new.

Let me preface this by saying - I know almost nothing about the technical aspects of recording.
I tweak a few settings until it "works" and pretty much leave them there...

I have a condenser mic (Audio Technica 4033a). That goes to an Aphex 107 pre-amp, the gain set to
about 11 o'clock. It shows a range of 18-64, but that doesn't mean anything to me (I told you
I don't have much of a clue). That then goes through an Alesis 3630 compressor - threshold -10dB,
ratio 6:1, attack 5ms, release 2s, output +7dB. Those were set at some point by the
I-wonder-what-this-does method.

I record to a Roland VS880 after putting an instrument track mix there to sing to. I use its internal
effects for reverb set to 70. I roll off a bit of low eq because it's a bit bass-y. Here is where
I have the most trouble because I have to be careful not to record too hot (hit that red-light point).
I get pretty loud sometimes on the high stuff. So I record at a fairly low level - trying to keep
the meter below the 75% point. I've ruined plenty of takes by maxing it out in the past. It's a
whole lot easier to bump up the volume in the mix. With this setup up, I sing close to the mic -
almost right up on it.

I mix in Acid Pro. Often I end up adding some hi eq to get the vocal to sit right in the mix.

That's pretty much it. Hopefully others (who KNOW what they're doing) will share...

floyd

150+ Songs produced using BIAB RealTracks
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