How to properly mix vocals into music?

KitC · Posted on 09/25/2005 at 00:42:27

Thanks, ag!

Yeah, I've been to the site myself. Was just curious if this particular mic passed thru your hands. Well, I guess since it's a Blue product, it shouldn't be bad at all given BLue's reputation for boutique mics. I'm seriously considering either the Blue Ball or 8 Ball myself so having another candidate for the mic cabinet would be a nice option. I've a friend who's using a Blueberry in his PT HD studio and he's quite satisfied with it.

Cheers!

agaudio · Posted on 09/24/2005 at 23:54:46

%1$s a écrit [quote=agaudio]Axeman,

Unfortunately, they do make USB mics...not good for the serious wannabe audiophiles!
Read it and weep:

https://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1810&brandID=2

agaudio,

I know about Samson's attempt. But what do you think about Blue's usb mic, the Snowball?

Best,[/quote]
I'm not sure about the Blue Snowballs, KitC. I haven't personally used them myself. I would just be concerned with how good their A/D converters are or if your computer processor is going to have to do the converting (The more RAM used for A/D processing, the slower your system for other applications).

Personally I'd rather go through an A/D mic pre with a typical XLR connector for good grounding...the PC line feed from the mic may have noise inherent circuitry, although I admit that is speculation on my part and I haven't actually used one. My main concern, however, would be, again, the processor use of the CPU verses an outboard A/D mic-pre. After having read their specs in the manual, I'd also be a little concerned with it's slightly off center-axis polar frequency response, probably having to do with the fact that the Snowball has two capsules in it to make polar pattern changes possible.

Blue's website also states that "itâ€™s ideal for podcasting," so I wouldn't be expecting hi-end from a "16-bit word" mic (in the following rep's for Blue response). I would be curioius just how well it would do in a listening test against another condensor in its price range and I have to admit, it looks tempting for its price and features...but as the old adage goes when it comes to anything, "You get what you pay for." I'd rather use a condensor with its own power supply and pre-amp, or a condensor through an A/D converter mic-pre. Anytime a mic manufacturer fails to comment about a mic's signal-to-noise ratio, it's cause for a little uncertainty when it comes to quality.

Here's what someone over at Blue had to say about them in response to a potential buyer:

http://www.bluemic.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=156

KitC · Posted on 09/24/2005 at 21:42:36

%1$s a écrit Axeman,

Unfortunately, they do make USB mics...not good for the serious wannabe audiophiles!
Read it and weep:

https://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1810&brandID=2

agaudio,

I know about Samson's attempt. But what do you think about Blue's usb mic, the Snowball?

Best,

agaudio · Posted on 09/24/2005 at 20:50:41

%1$s a écrit i'm having the same issue.. so what exactly should i adjust to properly merge the instruments and vocals and avoid the live recording sound.....

The best way to avoid the live sound is to make sure that you are doing your best mic arrangement around instruments and vocalists in order to avoid their mics picking up any other sound but the intended source; in other words, achieve good signal-to-noise ratio and source isolation (when possible). Otherwise, if your mics are picking up everything else, including your intended instrument or vocalist to be recorded, you are going to achieve just that-- a very "live" sound.

agaudio · Posted on 09/24/2005 at 20:05:32

Axeman,

Unfortunately, they do make USB mics...not good for the serious wannabe audiophiles!
Read it and weep:

https://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1810&brandID=2

agaudio · Posted on 09/24/2005 at 20:57:22

KurpKarso,

It is better to record two tracks mono instead of stereo say, overhead drum mics, L and R, because when you do so you can pan this recording into any area of the stereo spectrum, unless of course you have an application, ProTools for example, that will allow your stereo tracks a pan for both the left and right sides (in which case it's not an issue). However, if you are using an application that only has one pan for both sides of a stereo track, then you will only be able to place that stereo item in a set width anywhere in your stereo spectrum. Recording in mono helps you to forego the limitations of an application that will only let you pan a stereo track with a single pan, instead of two, one for left and one for right.

Your mono recording tracks, L and R, can be varied in width in the audio spectrum. For example, Let's say that the "[ ]" below represent the stereo width of your sound spectrum and "X-Y" indicate your stereo L-R variables. You can spread them however far apart in your mix as you'd like. Say you recorded a very small choir with only about 4-10 people but you want them to sound like you have a powerfully full group in your final recording, you could pan the small choir originally recorded with stereo mics in a narrow spectrum like this:

(small choir onstage)
[ X - Y ]

mixed down to sound like larger, fuller choir in mix, with a little help from processing and panning as:

(now your choir sounds much larger in the stereo width...just be careful how thin you spread them.
[ X - Y ]

...and you have greater flexibility in panning for L/R because you recorded L/R sides each in mono.

With a software program that will only allow your stereo tracks one pan, your originally recorded sound width could only be moved as such, maintaining only the original width or breadth in the sound spectrum:

[X - Y ]

OR

[ X - Y ]

OR

[ X - Y] or any variations in between extremes with X-Y at fixed width.

Mic placement is also something to consider in how wide you want your stereo sound or breadth to be if you don't want to deal with it in the panning scheme.

agaudio · Posted on 09/24/2005 at 19:18:47

For one thing, have you tried panning all of your instrumentation into given areas of the stereo spectrum so that there is an opening for vocal placement? Your ears can only decipher so much coming out of the center of the stereo spectrum and everything having its place makes it easier to hear everything with greater clarity, especially vocals. Just likea group onstage, no two instruments or performers occupy the exact same place in the sound spectrum, no matter how close they stand to each other. It wouldn't hurt to save some $$ to go toward the purchase of a good condensor microphone if your primary use is for vocals, tremendous difference when compared with a dynamic mic, espeicially if it's used in isolation while multitracking.

Here is a good place to start:

http://www.tweakheadz.com/microphones_for_the_home_studio.htm
http://www.tweakheadz.com/how_to_record_vocals.htm
http://www.tweakheadz.com/how_to_process_vocal_tracks.htm
http://www.tweakheadz.com/perfect_mix.html

saiofrelief · Posted on 09/20/2005 at 10:20:39

i'm having the same issue.. so what exactly should i adjust to properly merge the instruments and vocals and avoid the live recording sound.....

VGAES · Posted on 03/02/2006 at 15:00:10

First off mixing is not something you can just pick up .. in order to do it properlly and professionally you need to be tought by someone like an audio engineer (myself) along with hands on practice.. but really quick .. your vocals are always recorded in mono , get a decent A/D, D/A convertor such as a mbox, digi , etc etc and use a multi tracking program such as pro tools, logic, etc etc ... nuendo is decent as well... don't worry about effects and plug-ins until you can properlly record, cause if you input shit it doesn't matter how much you eq or compress the wave it's still gonna sound like shit. Mixing your entire mix together can't be explained you have to have hands on experience.. the same goes your setting up an EQ (knowing your freq's and which ones to notch or which ones to raise) then leaving yourself the proper headroom b4 u raise freq level in the eq, then there's compression, knowing what ratio and threshold to use and it goes on from there.. if you want some help email me @ blazeinc@gmail.com