EQing a Dozen Voices

[ernstinen]

May 21, 2008, 3:04pm, lyle wrote: Proximity effect is killing me.Ya know, that doesn't bother me at all. The line with the bass boost sounds natural to stand out like that, IMHO.I love Tom Petty's studio vocals --- RIGHT on the mic (probably an expensive tube mic) which is a big part of his vocal sound.Then I saw him live with the Heartbreakers on TV recently, and the band was great, but Petty sang like s---, er, not very well. His voice is really thin, and the live vocal mic just didn't work for him. He NEEDS proximity effect bigtime!A 58 can work fine for a male vocal, but I've recorded female vocals on them (a long time ago), and it was like fingernails on a chalkboard when that upper-mid peak kicked in. Yow! 58s are designed to be "eaten," and if you get too far away from them they sound pretty puny, even on stage.My 2 cents,Ern

[Mark Kaufman]

May 21, 2008, 6:14pm, ernstinen wrote:Ya know, that doesn't bother me at all. The line with the bass boost sounds natural to stand out like that, IMHO.Well, maybe I succeeded in taking out some of the Bill Cosby-style blowing in the mic distortion. I agree about that line being okay with some bassy oomph...but the earlier version pushed it a little too far, I thought.Yeah, Tom Petty. He's my kind of guy...we both sound a lot better in the studio.Here's some good watching: the DVD included with the Traveling Wilburys collection. It shows them in the studio as they worked those songs...they would get together in the morning, write a song as a group, lyrics and all, and record it before they went home at night. A song a day. Damn. I love those guys.

[ernstinen]

I like 57s for my own live vocals. I eat 'em and know how to not pop my "P's" on a 57. I think it's a better sounding mic than a 58, probably because there's no pop filter on it. I'm sure it's really the same mic basically.But I've got a HUGE voice, like Barry White. The opposite of Tom Petty. Ern

[ernstinen]

May 24, 2008, 1:47am, mojobone wrote:I've been getting excellent results with an inexpensive large-diaphragm condenser, the Marshall (MXL) V57M (69.95 from AMS with clip and shockmount) Not a U87 by any stretch, but in the ball park for under a c-note is muy bangs for the buckage.I've heard good things and bad things about the cheaper Chinese condenser mics. But $69.95 --- Wow!Here's one that I've heard lots of good things about:http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/B1Mic/This Aussie mic has gone up a bit in price, but it's one of the quietest mics on the market, and gets good reviews:http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-ROD-NT1A-LISTErn

[ernstinen]

Wanna hear a SOLO recording of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" by a great musician who lives in the Phoenix area!?Talk about a dozen voices --- Holy smokes! Here's an mp3 download of it:http://members.cox.net/jamesortner/Bohe ... .mp3Pretty amazing --- and pretty intimidating! Ern