Vocal mic recommendations?

[fretmeister]

I'm going to be recording some vocals at home as my old band is recording all the tunes we wrote over 10 years or so.

I have a couple of mics, but they are my live mics rather than recording / studio.

I've got a budget of maybe £500 to include a preamp if necessary.

 

Any recommendations?

[Chienmortbb]

11 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I'm going to be recording some vocals at home as my old band is recording all the tunes we wrote over 10 years or so.

I have a couple of mics, but they are my live mics rather than recording / studio.

I've got a budget of maybe £500 to include a preamp if necessary.

 

Any recommendations?

Look at the Sontronics range I use their Solo dynamic mic on stage but would go for the ST3-X. http://sontronics.com/stc3xpack.htm 

[skidder652003]

good recommendations on these

https://www.studiospares.com/studiospares-s2000-essentials-studio-pack_449955.htm

[Dad3353]

For a mic, there's not much wrong with a Rode NT1-A (£160 from Thomann, with suspension, 'pop' shield and lead...). For pre-amp, a good 19" rack 'standard' is the DBX 286S, (£140 from Thomann...). A smaller format, 'tube' pre-amp could be the Presonus TubePre v2 (£124 from Thomann...). Good luck with the project. 

[cheddatom]

11 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

For a mic, there's not much wrong with a Rode NT1-A (£160 from Thomann, with suspension, 'pop' shield and lead...). For pre-amp, a good 19" rack 'standard' is the DBX 286S, (£140 from Thomann...). A smaller format, 'tube' pre-amp could be the Presonus TubePre v2 (£124 from Thomann...). Good luck with the project. 

They're a great all-rounder too. I use mine for the room on acoustic guitars, drums, percussion, sometimes electric guitars too

[fretmeister]

The Rode is looking like a good option then.

 

My drums tracks should start arriving on Friday - I don't play at all and I really cannot be arsed to learn to program them either.

So I've got a session dude playing them.

Going to record all the instruments for all tunes first - hopefully 2 tunes per month - then do the vocals. That will give me plenty of time to get the throat working again like it did 20 years ago.

[dannybuoy]

Shure SM7b perhaps? Works great to mic a bass cab also. Might not have the sensitivity of clarity of a condenser, but there's something about the warm sound of them that does great for rock vocals in particular (no idea what singing style you have).

[cheddatom]

6 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

Shure SM7b perhaps? Works great to mic a bass cab also. Might not have the sensitivity of clarity of a condenser, but there's something about the warm sound of them that does great for rock vocals in particular (no idea what singing style you have).

Great vocal mic but at least twice the price of the NT1A and not as good all round

[fretmeister]

45 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

Shure SM7b perhaps? Works great to mic a bass cab also. Might not have the sensitivity of clarity of a condenser, but there's something about the warm sound of them that does great for rock vocals in particular (no idea what singing style you have).

I did have a good look at that, but it seems almost unavoidable to get a Cloudlifter or similar to get the levels up.

[TwoTimesBass]

Another +1 for the Rode NT1. There's a load of large diaphragm condenser mics in your price range, but sound and build quality flatter the price tag.

Pushing the boat out, the Rode NTK valve mic is also superb. Actually swapped out a U87 for the NTK on a solo spoken-word recording session...

Edited September 15, 2020 by TwoTimesBass

[Chienmortbb]

The Rode looks like a very good mic. The reason I suggested the Sontronics is that is hase switchable responses, making is a more all round performer.

[dannybuoy]

17 hours ago, fretmeister said:

I did have a good look at that, but it seems almost unavoidable to get a Cloudlifter or similar to get the levels up.

Depends on your interface - but you were looking at getting a pre-amp anyway?

 

[lurksalot]

I’ve got a Rode NT1, but generally use a std hand held job for what I do , the room I use gives lots of reflections for a condenser type mic , I might try recording some vocals in the cupboard this week and see how it works out. 

 

Note to self , get the pop filter back from the lad ! 

[Dad3353]

23 minutes ago, lurksalot said:

... I might try recording some vocals in the cupboard this week...

Good idea. Leave the mic on the other side of the room, though, please. 

...

 

[lurksalot]

6 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

Good idea. Leave the mic on the other side of the room, though, please. 

...

 

You just might have hit on a plan 

[cheddatom]

8 hours ago, lurksalot said:

I’ve got a Rode NT1, but generally use a std hand held job for what I do , the room I use gives lots of reflections for a condenser type mic , I might try recording some vocals in the cupboard this week and see how it works out. 

 

Note to self , get the pop filter back from the lad ! 

a cupboard might sound very weird! 

I think Mike Skinner did a load of vocals in a wardrobe full of clothes, and that sounds very dry

Great point about the room though, if it's a bad sounding room the NT1 will pick that up

[dannybuoy]

Dynamic mics are better in an untreated room. Or you could just put a towel over your head!

[linear]

Depends on the style of music.  Obviously, the bathroom is good for a wet vocal and backing vox are best recorded in a side room, but many people don't realise that some of the best death metal growling has been recorded in the living room.

[Ramirez]

£500 is a good budget. I've just brought a pair of Austrian Audio OC818, and I'm very impressed. The cardioid-only OC18 is only just out of budget!

However, as great all-rounders that can do a top job on vocals, drums, amps and instruments, it's hard to beat the Beyerdynamic M88 (and M201). Not as immediately exciting as condenser maybe, but proper great dynamic mics (I prefer the M88 to the Shure SM7 in most scenarios), and you'll always find a place for them in any collection if you buy more mics. That can't usually be said for cheap condensers.

Preamps are pushing snake-oil territory for me, unless you're deliberately driving them for some character. The ones in your interface are probably perfectly fine and indistinguishable from high end ones within 'normal' operating parameters (i.e. not being overdriven).

That said, having also just bought a couple of Cranborne Audio Camden 500, their 'Mojo' circuit can add real character to a recording (if that's what you want), and make a great bass DI as well. Very impressive.

[Ramirez]

On 16/09/2020 at 09:40, dannybuoy said:

Dynamic mics are better in an untreated room. Or you could just put a towel over your head!

This isn't really true, though it's often claimed. Different microphone topologies do not differentiate wanted from unwanted sound (apart from noise-cancelling mics eto, which have no place in the studio!). 

The dry-to-reflected sound ratio is determined by microphone placement, polar pattern and room acoustics, not by the operating principle.

It's often claimed that, due to higher sensitivity specs, condensers are somehow more 'sensitive' to picking up room sound. While true in a way, it is also more sensitive to the wanted sound as well, so the net effect remains the same!

[Chienmortbb]

TH

3 hours ago, Ramirez said:

This isn't really true, though it's often claimed. Different microphone topologies do not differentiate wanted from unwanted sound (apart from noise-cancelling mics eto, which have no place in the studio!). 

The dry-to-reflected sound ratio is determined by microphone placement, polar pattern and room acoustics, not by the operating principle.

It's often claimed that, due to higher sensitivity specs, condensers are somehow more 'sensitive' to picking up room sound. While true in a way, it is also more sensitive to the wanted sound as well, so the net effect remains the same!

That is why I recommended the Sontronics, it has switchable polar pattern but room acoustics are just as important.