Recording - May 2013 - 25

Earthworks, Lewitt, MXL, Neumann, sE
Electronics, Sennheiser, Shure, Sontronics,
and Telefunken among many fine choices.
A pop filter is a necessity as well, and
its proper placement is key (see Figure 1).
It should be set parallel to the mic’s
diaphragm, at a distance that not only
provides protection from plosives (‘P’s,
‘D’s ‘B’s ‘Fr’s and other blasts of air), but
keeps your vocalist from “eating the mic”
by standing too close to it.
Position the mic so that the diaphragm
is pointing comfortably toward the
singer’s lips. It should be high enough to
keep the singer from slouching, but not so
much that he or she is straining to reach it.
I often tilt it slightly downward as well (see
Figure 2), which picks up more chest tones
and helps minimize plosives.
Dynamic mics like the Shure SM58 can
make a fine choice when dealing with
exceptionally “bright” voices or aggressive musical styles, such as Metal, Indie
Rock or Rap. In fact, many successful
singers like Bono and Björk often use them
when recording, because they are familiar and stand up well to handling noise.
This allows them to ‘perform’ in the studio
much as they do in concert.
While it is certainly true that professional results can be obtained using “ordinary” microphones, the best advice is to
purchase the best microphone and cable
you can reasonably afford for this important task.
Preamps, eq and compression
The next link in the vocal recording
chain is the preamplifier. Microphones
typically have very low output levels. A
preamplifier (or preamp) increases this
signal to line-level, the signal strength
required by effects and other devices in
your signal chain.
For many of us, the only preamp available is the XLR mic input on our mixer or
digital audio interface. There is generally

FIG 1
an associated Trim or Gain knob for fine
tuning just how much the signal is boosted. Most likely, there is a single red LED
light that will illuminate when your signal
is clipping, exceeding the recommended
level and causing distortion. Having the
singer go through some of the loudest passages during setup will help you to find
this level, at which point you can turn it
down slightly until the clipping disappears. The quality of your preamp can’t
be overstated, because an inferior one
can degrade the sound of even the best
microphone.

EQ (or equalization) is the salt and pepper in your sonic pantry. Some microphones sound great right out of the can,
while others could use a little more or less
of certain frequencies. You might want to
add a bit of ‘air’ around 12 kHz, for
example, while de-emphasizing muddiness by pulling things down 2 or 3 dB at
250 Hz.
Less is definitely more when it comes to
eq and if you can get by without it at this
stage, all the better. Why? Because eq is
yet another form of distortion. You are permanently altering the signal by moving
RECORDING May 2013

Recording - May 2013

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