Recording vocals.

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gamda59

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I work with a low budget. I dont believe in paying more then what I have to pay for something.

I work with Fruity loops 4. and my intrumentals sound pretty proffesional (I got skills like that)

as far as recording Vocals I work with Cool Edit pro 2.

I want to know what things affect the sound quality of vocals?

for example the hissing noises . that really gets me mad and upset and sometimes makes me want to quit recording.

So anyways, Do cables have anything to with it ?
 
man u gotta let us know what your using, and just from reading your post, off the top of my head it doesent sound like your using anything good.

Check this out man, if you wanna go the cheap rout your will have cheap sounding music, take the decent rout spend sum cash and you will be good. so your analogy of beliving of not having to pay more for sumthin, you can throw it out the window.

this is an expensive business so you gotta cough up doe

By the way tell me what you have and i can help

but off top. if your using your computers sound card a dynamic mic and cool edit thats your problom right there. buy a sound card pre amp and a condensor mic. Checp stuff can not be able to achive Standerd quality
 
Usually cables are not a problem,,,, there's a huge hype regarding cables for short distances.

Check your mic pres and what kind of mic are you using ?
 
Buy a Monster or Furman power conditioner, that can help get some of noise that may be coming from your house and from the computer...
 
I'm agreeing with some and disagreeing with some...

Quality is more than just equipment - It's knowing what to do with it. An experienced engineer can make a decent recording with rather crappy gear. And inexperienced engineer in a $3,000,000 SSL room will make the same garbage he would with anything else.

Proper technique (gain staging, recording levels that aren't pegging the meters, solid headroom along the entire signal path, etc.) combined with a base of *decent* gear will go a lot farther than poor technique with a solid gold microphone.

On the types of microphones - Contrary to "urban myth" about condensors, most "staple" vocal microphones are dynamics - And for good reason - Especially where aggressive, staccato fluctuations are on the menu (like in rap, hip-hop, rock, metal, etc.).

Condenser mics tend to look a lot sexier in music videos. But in many cases (in MOST cases), a dynamic is the first choice for vocal recording. EV's RE-20, Shure's SM7, Sennheiser's 421... Ribbons (all dynamic) - There are so many others... THOSE are the mics that capture the vocals on most of the albums you're listening to. Not the chrome-plated bling mics in the video and the photo shoots.

Back to the problem - Hiss is almost always a user-error. Recording too hot (-0dBFS is around 18-20dB hotter than a mic pre is designed to run, for those who didn't catch day-one of recording class), using improper gain-staging, using condenser mics when a dynamic should be used, mixing balanced and unbalanced signals (day one of recording class again), etc.

That all being said - Knowing your chain would certainly help...
 
gamda59 said:
for example the hissing noises . that really gets me mad and upset and sometimes makes me want to quit recording.
Click to expand...


make sure there are no snakes in the room or punctured tires in the room with you when you are recording. They can cause hissing to be present in your recordings.



also, make your recording environment as quiet as possible... try to get as far away from your computer as possible when you record through the mix (fan noise)... make sure the windows are closed and your air conditioner is off.

Don't have your input level too low (or too high)

The higher quality mic's and pre's and interfaces, will get you cleaner recordings.
 
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Thanx for all yall post. Yall really put things in perspective and what not.

the sound card is Direct X sound something. and I use monitor speakers (my stereo about 150 watts its good)
I use adobe audition.2.
A ghetto lookin vocal booth. the closet.yamean I keep it real Im not gonna lie about anything It works for me .Its pretty quiet inside the booth.But I might need to use some acoustic foam becouse it gives like a dry reverb on tracks

I use a tascam 4 track recorder for mic volume and amplification.
.

I equalize on tracks. you know decrease the highs on vocals. Use the Hiss removing thing.

Im trying to have good enough study setup . quality over quantity.
I know alot about cool edit pro and its features and how to use them so I get the picture. Im not clue less as a beginner might be. however what does this mean

"Equivalent noise level to IEC 268-4 (A-weighted): 18dB"

This from a Nady ribbon microphone cost like $158. Im thinking about gettin this along with some matching cables it says on the catalog it reduces self noise.

and for that dude that said something about snakes Im kinda new to Burlington ,New Jersey. so Im not sure.

Man I bought a Nady phantom in advanced for nothing then. so what do you/yall recommend I buy now ? could me pluggin a new dynamic mic into the 4 track recorder still cause hissin'? and if so what should I connect the mic to . better yet what do most you use for recording. be as detailed as you can.Im thinking about get the "M-Audio Fast Track Studio USB Bundle" from musiciansfriend.
 
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18dB of self noise is nothing to worry about.

What you're probably coming up against are the "iffy at best" preamps on your Tascam 4-track.

Ribbon microphones need a LOT of gain - CLEAN gain.

In short, you need a decent preamp. For ANY mic you're going to use, you should have a better preamp than what you're using now. M-Audio's DMP3 is about as cheap as you can get for an "acceptable" preamp. FMR's RNP would be a *HUGE* step up from that (and still a bargain at twice it's modest $500 price tag) and Grace Designs makes a Model 101 with an added gain stage just for ribbon mics.

And obviously, observe proper gain staging. Not saying that you're not, but just driving it home.
 
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It's more than likely your sound card.
Most common out the box sound cards pick up electrical interference (hiss, static) from the other components in the computer. I would start there before investing in anything else.
You can get an M-Audio audiophile for less than $100 bucks there pretty good and will definitely improve your quality.
Haven't seen the fast track yet but if it uses usb to go around your sound card go for it!
 
If I were you I would record the vocals on your setup as a rough version and then go to a pro studio and nail the final vocals there.
 
MASSIVE Mastering said:
I'm agreeing with some and disagreeing with some...

Quality is more than just equipment - It's knowing what to do with it. An experienced engineer can make a decent recording with rather crappy gear. And inexperienced engineer in a $3,000,000 SSL room will make the same garbage he would with anything else.

Proper technique (gain staging, recording levels that aren't pegging the meters, solid headroom along the entire signal path, etc.) combined with a base of *decent* gear will go a lot farther than poor technique with a solid gold microphone.

On the types of microphones - Contrary to "urban myth" about condensors, most "staple" vocal microphones are dynamics - And for good reason - Especially where aggressive, staccato fluctuations are on the menu (like in rap, hip-hop, rock, metal, etc.).

Condenser mics tend to look a lot sexier in music videos. But in many cases (in MOST cases), a dynamic is the first choice for vocal recording. EV's RE-20, Shure's SM7, Sennheiser's 421... Ribbons (all dynamic) - There are so many others... THOSE are the mics that capture the vocals on most of the albums you're listening to. Not the chrome-plated bling mics in the video and the photo shoots.

Back to the problem - Hiss is almost always a user-error. Recording too hot (-0dBFS is around 18-20dB hotter than a mic pre is designed to run, for those who didn't catch day-one of recording class), using improper gain-staging, using condenser mics when a dynamic should be used, mixing balanced and unbalanced signals (day one of recording class again), etc.

That all being said - Knowing your chain would certainly help...
Click to expand...

so most big rappers, 50 and folks like that....they usin dynamic mics ova condensers???
 
Mattnificent said:
so most big rappers, 50 and folks like that....they usin dynamic mics ova condensers???
Click to expand...
Not in the videos... :bigeyes:

But listening to the recordings, I'd guess a lot of RE20's and SM7's.

And one thing is for sure - Unless you're in a good vocal booth - Not a closet - a "real" vocal booth - maybe 15x11 or something, properly treated, I'd use *anything* but a LDC.

It's fairly easy to get rid of some of the overly-detailed strident qualities of a condenser - It's anything but easy to make up for the poor acoustics qualities of the room. A LDD won't accentuate those problems - Sort of the opposite of nearfield monitoring.

But even *in* an ideal situation, LDD's just love the human voice (again, except for smoky jazz female performances where the LDC might come in just a whisker ahead). Less EQ'ing, less compression, that big, powerful "in your face" proximity effect that you only get from a moving coil dynamic...
 
I was just reading some old threads. and I came across the question of recording on different bitrates. ie 16 bit 24, 32,.
What bit rate number should I stay with?

oh by the way . The sound card I use is a SoundMax Digital audio.
 
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dvyce said:
make sure there are no snakes in the room or punctured tires in the room with you when you are recording. They can cause hissing to be present in your recordings.
Click to expand...

hahaha.
 
gamda59 said:
oh by the way . The sound card I use is a SoundMax Digital audio.
Click to expand...

Well, there's one major trouble spot right away.
 
I just run my vocals and tracks in magix audio cleaning lab and it costs about 30 bucks or u can get off kazza or somethn like dat. It works for me and my quality sounds just as good as if i were in a studio around here.

Oh i dont use my soundcard since i have a laptop. I use a m-audio firewire solo.
 
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