The one thing I need?

[devin]

Jun 10, 2008, 2:28pm, diogenes wrote:The Vocals on Micheal Jacksons Thriller were done with a Shure SM7, available today as the SM7b for about $350., I haven't personsally used one but alot of people say they are the perfect rock vocal mic.Another small studio and I get together whenever we can to either do mic shoot-outs or to help each other with vocal tracking. We're both considered new, so the more ears/hands/gear on hand the better.We've tried the SM7 alot, and haven't gone with it yet for either male or female vocals...found it a bit dark each time (MJ does have a great clear vox though, so he probably got through well enough). For female, we always end up with a Blue microphones "Kiwi". Squids has a Blue "Baby Bottle", which is also rated highly for female.The Kiwi also does well for male voice, although a refurb U87 (1970's vintage) was usually used. We also have an AKG 414 that always seems to come in second place whenever we do the blind test (on both male and female), so that gets used too. The AKG was my first Large Diaphram Condenser because it is a decent all-purpose LDC...about $600 used on eBay for a pristine one.We've yet to track vox with the SM7 over the 414 (rock, hard rock, country, opera)...plus the 414 is much more versatile for acoustic guitar.Just my $0.02 of course! I personally tend to get just a bit more energy out of an SM-58 performance...probably because I know I can abuse it a bit more than the fancier mic that's strapped into the shock mount. Aerosmith uses an SM-57!

[mazz]

Jun 10, 2008, 4:30pm, devin wrote:Jun 10, 2008, 2:28pm, diogenes wrote:The Vocals on Micheal Jacksons Thriller were done with a Shure SM7, available today as the SM7b for about $350., I haven't personsally used one but alot of people say they are the perfect rock vocal mic.Another small studio and I get together whenever we can to either do mic shoot-outs or to help each other with vocal tracking. We're both considered new, so the more ears/hands/gear on hand the better.We've tried the SM7 alot, and haven't gone with it yet for either male or female vocals...found it a bit dark each time (MJ does have a great clear vox though, so he probably got through well enough). For female, we always end up with a Blue microphones "Kiwi". Squids has a Blue "Baby Bottle", which is also rated highly for female.The Kiwi also does well for male voice, although a refurb U87 (1970's vintage) was usually used. We also have an AKG 414 that always seems to come in second place whenever we do the blind test (on both male and female), so that gets used too. The AKG was my first Large Diaphram Condenser because it is a decent all-purpose LDC...about $600 used on eBay for a pristine one.We've yet to track vox with the SM7 over the 414 (rock, hard rock, country, opera)...plus the 414 is much more versatile for acoustic guitar.Just my $0.02 of course! I personally tend to get just a bit more energy out of an SM-58 performance...probably because I know I can abuse it a bit more than the fancier mic that's strapped into the shock mount. Aerosmith uses an SM-57! The PreAmp the mic is going through is just as crucial as the mic. My wife finished an album last year with Ronan of the Recording Boot Camp and he's got a ton of great mics and preamps. They did a shootout and found that an SM58 through some old preamps that were used on Neil Young albums worked out best for her voice and (and here's the key) for the songs that she was recording. They tried U87s and high end solid state and tube preamps and ended up with a 58 and an older preamp. I'm sure an SM7 will sound different depending on what it's going through. That's the art of recording, knowing the colors of the sound of the gear and when to use them.Of course, it always helps to have some stuff to choose from! Cheers,Mazz