This is a long post, but -- in short -- I found that a few tweaks on the A 31 patch ( VO: Vocal EFX) and the B23 patch ( MS: SM57>U87 ) resulted in a good vocal sound using a mere Shure Unidyne Dynamic. I'm always looking to improve, so I thought I would post what I did in detail in case anyone had any constructive suggestions.
Additionally, I provided a lot of detail (including mic placement, etc.) for the benefit of those who may be new to recording and/or to the VS. I set everything out to follow the signal path, i.e., from mic to VS. So if you only want to see what few tweaks I made to these patches, you can scroll down now. Of course, these tweaks are subjective decisions made in the context of my voice, the song I'm doing, the equipment I have, and my tastes. But perhaps for some it may serve as a starting point from which to make further improvement (if so, I'd like to know what you did).
ROOM AND MIC
I record in a walk-in closet I've converted into a vocal booth. One side is covered with Sonex (leftover from a producer friend) and I've hung 2 layers of U-Haul moving blankets on the other walls. I sing towards the Sonex into a Shure Model 515SAC Unidyne B Unidirectional Dynamic Mic.
This isn't the best of mics, but it was a cheap buy at the flea market. A newer version is still sold by Shure (the 515X series), but the frequency range is narrower than the SM57 -- it's only 80 to 13,000 Hz. I'm budgeting for a Neumann U87 rather than the VS 1680. But with the Shure, my voice sounded real smooth and close to my CD references. I tried it with an AKG C1000S (condenser), but my voice sounded harsh. The Shure is pointing down toward my nose (helps cut plosives) and I use one of those panty hose screens from Raxxess (rather than those foam slipons). The song has a lot of vocal dynamics -- from very soft singing to full-out belting. So the screen is about 2 inches from the mic and I'm anywhere from being right up on the screen to about 5-6 inches away. I'm essentially being my own volume control this way.
COMPRESSOR (JOEMEEK VC3)
The VC3 does not have a ratio knob, but I set it so that the compression is pretty light. I didn't use the enhancer so those knobs are set hard left (i.e., "off").
Input Gain hard right Compressor On Compression 8 o’clock Release hard right Attack out (slow) Drive hard left Q hard left Enhance hard left Out Volume hard right
VS INPUT SENS AND CH EQ/EFFPREINS
Fortunately, I have enough room in the walk-in closet to have the VS and the VC3 in there with me. It's a lot easier this way for me to reach over to the controls and to glance over at the levels. No noise at all gets picked up by the mic.
However, I now drape some flannel shirts over the stands and the VC3. Before I started doing that, I was getting some "boxiness" to the recorded sound. The mic is up about 3/4 the height of the room, so I don't think the boxiness was caused by the mic placement. In any event, these are the settings on the VS:
Input Sens 10 o’clock. CH Effect 1 Insert (preset is Off) CH EFF 1 InsSend 100 (preset) CH EFF 1 InsRtn 100 (preset) CH Effect 2 On (preset is Off) CH EFF 2 InsSend 100 (preset) CH EFF 2 InsRtn 100 (preset) CH EQ/EffPreIns On (preset is Off)
By the way, I sing with one headphone cup off the ear -- it's easier for me to hear my pitch this way. If I'm monitoring with my left ear, I pan everything on the VS to the left so that when I keep the right cup off my ear, nothing will bleed from it to the mic. After a few passes, I will alternate the panning and will monitor from my other ear. I don't want to overdo it on any one eardrum. :-)
VS EFFECT #1
For easier reference (as I have done above) I have not only included my settings, but I have also indicated whether I left the preset as is.
VS FX A 31 - VO: Vocal EFX ("Basic setup for recording/mixdown of vocals") NS: NoiseSup On (preset) NS: Thresh 85 (preset is 30)
For my voice, if I go any higher than 85, a millisecond or 2 gets cut off in the beginning of any words beginning with S.
NS: Release 50 (preset) LD: LMT/DES On (preset) LD: Mode Limiter (preset) LMT: Thresh 91 (preset is 85)
Since I had the VC3 set to compress lightly, the limiter here really helped keep the level from clipping.
LMT: Release 20 (preset) LMT: Level 60 (preset) ENH: Enhancer On (preset) ENH: Sens 10 (preset) ENH: Freq 7.0 kHz (preset) ENH: Mix Lvl 20 (preset) ENH: Level 100 (preset) EQ: EQ On (preset) EQ: Low Type Shlv (preset) EQ: Low. G -3 dB (preset) EQ: Low. F 110 Hz (preset) EQ: Low. Q 1.0 (preset) EQ: Mid. G 3 dB (preset) EQ: Mid. F 250 Hz (preset) EQ: Mid. Q 0.4 (preset) EQ: Hi Type Shlv (preset) EQ: Hi. G -1 dB (preset is -2)
I needed just a bit of boost for sparkle (my mic cuts off at 13 kHz). When I boosted higher, however, it sounded harsh.
EQ: Hi. F 10.0 kHz (preset) EQ: Hi. Q 0.4 (preset) EQ: Out Level 100 (preset) PS: P. Shifter Off (preset) DLY: Delay Off (preset) CHO: Chorus Off (preset)
VS EFFECT # 2
VS FX B23 - MS: SM57/U87
("Converts a general-purpose dynamic mic to a large condenser mic. For vocals and acoustic instruments")
LNK: MSLink Off (preset) MCA: MicConv On (preset) MCA: Input Sml. Dy (preset) MCA: Out Lrg. Cn (preset) MCA: Phase Normal (preset) BCA: BassCut Off (preset) DSA: Distance Off (preset) LMA: Limiter Off (preset) MCB: MicConv On (preset) MCB: Input Sml. Dy (preset) MCB: Out Lrg. Cn (preset) MCB: Phase Normal (preset) BCB: BassCut Off (preset) DSB: Distance Off (preset) LMB: Limiter Off (preset)
WHAT I CHECK FOR ON PLAYBACK
Proper Pre Levels Esses Plosives Distortion/Clipping Bad gain hiss/sizzle Phasing Boxiness Warmth Brightness Background noises Mouth noises Pronunciation Intelligibility Timing Pitch
CD REFERENCES
The song I'm doing is melodic, midtempo pop (Beatlesque). I compared the vocal sound I got from these patches with the vocals on the following CDs.
Artist: David Byrne CD: David Byrne Tracks: #5 "Sad Song" #6 "Back In The Box" #9 "Lilies of the Valley" Artist: Lyle Lovett CD: "I Love Everybody" Tracks: #7 "They Don't Like Me" #9 "Ain't It Something" #11 "The Fat Girl" Artist: Blind Melon CD: "Blind Melon" Tracks: #4 "Paper Scratcher" (in particular, left channel ~ 0:32) #8 "Deserted" (in particular, right channel ~0:08-0:12) Artist: The Beatles CD: "Sgt. Pepper" Tracks: #3 "Lucy In The Sky" (right channel)
As you can see, these CDs don't necessarily have any stylistic relation to the song I'm recording. I simply liked the way the vocals sounded and it gave me something to aim for. Of course, the patches did not give me an identical sound (but then again, my voice is not identical to these artists either), but I've gotten as close as I have ever been able to as a direct result of the patches on the VS8F-1.
On playback of my vocal, I found that I got even closer yet by boosting the EQ about 3 dB on the high end -- I think it was ~10k. But I still have to fine tune the EQ here because the boost also makes the sound a bit boxy . I suppose I could also try fine tuning the EQ more at the A 31(VO: Vocal EFX ) patch.
Richard P. Dieguez (rpdieguez@juno.com)
1 Feb 1998
1998/03