what REALLY makes a clear recording?
- Thread starter inasense206
- Start date
There is a lot that factor into a nice sounding recording. First I would say is Mic Technique/placement. I learned a lot from various engineers and the general concenus is that proper mic technique can go a long way. Now it is really hard to do this in accoustically bad envirornments which is why most home user stick a mic right in front of a vocalist with a pop screen, which will help get rid of background noise and ambience, but still this is not a good substitute for a nicely treated room with proper mic technique. Next would be the obvious Microphone and Preamp. Microphones all have their own different characteristics and finding one that fits your voice is the key. This is one reason studio's have a larger selection of mics than the average home user. There is not one simple solution as far as mic's go. Next I would say is your A/D converters. These are what convert the analog signal (your voice) into a digital domain. Higher quality converters generally give you a "truer" conversion which results in a more pleasent sound. Cables also have an impact as well, while not as big as the former but still a factor. Last Would be the Mix. I can almost certainly say that no rap or R&B album has been release within the last 10 years that had no post processing on the vocals, whether it be compression, eq, reverb, chorus, delay etc...
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Best way is to do a/b test on hella different microphones and see what sounds best to you. Sometimes you'll be suprised on certain vocals a hundred dollar mic might sound just as good or better than a thousand dollar mic? Depends what sound you're going for. Example... Micheal Jackson used the shure sm7 on some songs for his thriller album. Someone who had access to almost any equiment used a $350 mic on a classic record. It's all about the sound your'e going for and what mic sounds right for the situation. But since for a home user its not really practical to have hella different mic's laying around your best bet is to find a mic that fits your vocalists' voice best, and use that as your foundation. Just note it might not sound good on everybody that comes through but whatever mic you chose just learn how to eq it for the sound you need. Hope this Helps
record at at least 24 bits/44.1 khz. the higher the sample right the clearer same thing with the bitrate. if u record at 44.1 khz its taking 44,100 samples of audio per second some interfaces let you go up to 192 khz so that would be 192,000 samples per second which would techically make it clearer. so higher bitrate/sample rate would make it clearer regardless because a lot more information is getting captured. just like if u had a digital camera with 2 mega pixels vs. one with 12 mega pixels.
after that your preamp does a big job providing the gain and clarity of the gain to your mic. the stronger the signal the better usually and good ones cost gwap. get you a nice preamp though that will help u out more than anything.
last is your mic u want different mics for different tasks your not usually gonna put a sensitive ass mic on a loud ass source or a sensitive ass singer on a mic meant for loud people u gotta find the right mic. price dont matter like they say half of the time your paying for the brand but i will say neuman makes nice condensers but then again ive gotten good recordings with a $50 dollar MXL mic. industry mics are usually condesers: nueman tlm 103, neuman u87, akg 414 for rap, on tweakheadz they recomend a dynamic shure mic i dunno what its called though (not sm57 or 58) go to www.tweakheadz.com.
also where you place your mic makes a big difference if u put it in the corner of the room your voice might sound kinda boxed in and nasal because theres not much room (and a lot of rappers like to record in the corner i dunno why). i say try to put it in the center where not too much sound can bounce off or if u gotta put it by the wall put some sound deadener behind it (even clothes will work if u recordin in your closet or somehting) every room sounds different and will make u sound a little different thats why people pay hella to make there room sound good.
also all that wont matter for shit if u dont know how to get your shit mixed/mastered. make sure u recorded with some headroom (no clipping) and get them vocals eq'd compressed, reverb and a little delay, chorus effects for the hook and get the whole song squashed to shit for rap.
after that your preamp does a big job providing the gain and clarity of the gain to your mic. the stronger the signal the better usually and good ones cost gwap. get you a nice preamp though that will help u out more than anything.
last is your mic u want different mics for different tasks your not usually gonna put a sensitive ass mic on a loud ass source or a sensitive ass singer on a mic meant for loud people u gotta find the right mic. price dont matter like they say half of the time your paying for the brand but i will say neuman makes nice condensers but then again ive gotten good recordings with a $50 dollar MXL mic. industry mics are usually condesers: nueman tlm 103, neuman u87, akg 414 for rap, on tweakheadz they recomend a dynamic shure mic i dunno what its called though (not sm57 or 58) go to www.tweakheadz.com.
also where you place your mic makes a big difference if u put it in the corner of the room your voice might sound kinda boxed in and nasal because theres not much room (and a lot of rappers like to record in the corner i dunno why). i say try to put it in the center where not too much sound can bounce off or if u gotta put it by the wall put some sound deadener behind it (even clothes will work if u recordin in your closet or somehting) every room sounds different and will make u sound a little different thats why people pay hella to make there room sound good.
also all that wont matter for shit if u dont know how to get your shit mixed/mastered. make sure u recorded with some headroom (no clipping) and get them vocals eq'd compressed, reverb and a little delay, chorus effects for the hook and get the whole song squashed to shit for rap.
Recording with high sample rates does not always yield the best sound.
Also, @ the OP, when picking out a mic you need to not only consider the frequency response but also consider the pattern of the microphone. This will show you where the mic's sweet spot is and this gives you the freedom of where you want to place the vocalist. If the mic is good at off axis recording you may wanna try that as well.
Another thing people overlook is the grounding of the studio and other appliances in the building that contribute to dirty power. Whether you know it or not, fridges, tvs, microwaves, radios, playstation 3's and whatever you can think of thats plugged into your outlet contributes to dirty power because it's all on the same grid. And if the gear isn't grounded you're bound to pick up 60 cycle hum or some other shit.
Finally, keep the signal chain short in cable length and in what you put in front of it (outboard gear) before it hits your desition.
Also, @ the OP, when picking out a mic you need to not only consider the frequency response but also consider the pattern of the microphone. This will show you where the mic's sweet spot is and this gives you the freedom of where you want to place the vocalist. If the mic is good at off axis recording you may wanna try that as well.
Another thing people overlook is the grounding of the studio and other appliances in the building that contribute to dirty power. Whether you know it or not, fridges, tvs, microwaves, radios, playstation 3's and whatever you can think of thats plugged into your outlet contributes to dirty power because it's all on the same grid. And if the gear isn't grounded you're bound to pick up 60 cycle hum or some other shit.
Finally, keep the signal chain short in cable length and in what you put in front of it (outboard gear) before it hits your desition.
