Recording a very dynamic vocal without clipping

[runpre311]

What if I need to record a song with whispery choruses and screamy loud verses. How do you get both parts on tape without the sreaming part clipping out? I know mic placement is a big issue, as well as setting the levels low enough to not clip on the screams. Is there a good filter or compressor setup that may help with these issues? I have never really like using compressor on the voice because its too apparent. What do most of you go through when recording your main vocal track. I like to mess around with settings on backing tracks... but the main one, I am always looking for the perfect tonal quality..

[johnS]

The obvious solution is to record the whispery parts, then turn down the preamp and record the loud parts! Or if you wanted to do it all in one take, you could split the signal, record onto two different tracks with two different levels, then comp it together.

In general, I usually end up doing lots of messing with the dynamics on the vocal track. Depending on how dense the arrangement is, important parts of words tend to get buried. (At least, when I sing they do. I'm sure this is less of a problem with real singers.)

But I usually find at least a few syllables that get masked by other stuff when the rest of the mix is up, so I tend to have to do some corrective "fader moves" in the DAW. Does anyone else have this problem or do I just need a vocal coach?

[dagosto]

The easy answer is a good transparent limiter, or as close to that as you can afford. Even the best ones will color your sound when you are hitting them really hard by adding some harmonic distortion. This can be a good thing or something you want to avoid.

It never hurts to have a singer with good mic technique as well. If the singer lacks this it doesn't hurt to explain that it might be a good idea to back off the mic a little at times. Do this carefully though, singers can be really sensitive.
Also keep in mind that they have to be hearing enough of themselve in the headphones for this to work.

[runpre311]

I have that problem too, JohnS, I am also limited in my tracks,( I just use an 8 track), so I try to get the main vocals on 1 or 2 tracks max, and try to get the right level and EQ going in, because if I need to record several different takes its nearly impossible to put different post-prod etc. on the one track with the diff parts. So I always hope for the perfect 1 take, with dynamics and mic position doing all the 'mix' work. Maybe I am too much of an idealist. I'm gonna give it the verse-by-verse try.

[lukedavo]

Verse by verse will end up sending you to the looney bin....

do it all at once you'll get a better result!

[johnS]

In the dozen or so songs I've "seriously" recorded, I've only nailed a take once. It was a bombastic guitar solo at the end of a really long song. I must say it felt great. I walked up the hall, set up my amp, nailed the solo cold, and walked back down the hall. Funny thing, this happened while a friend of my bandmates was working the console, so the pressure was on!

With everything else I do, I'm usually recording myself, so I end up doing it way too many times. Chalk it up to piss-poor chops. Plus trying to be the engineer, producer, arranger, and performer all at once is kind of distracting.

runpre311, as for your dynamics issue, the only other option I can think of would be to do some live gain riding. (There would have to be a distinct jump from the soft to loud parts for this to work.) Use two mikes and two pres, one pair set up for the soft bits and the other pair for the loud. Keep the mikes as close together as possible, feed the signals into adjacent mixer channels, and do a manual cross-fade between zero and unity gain as the singer switches from verse to chorus. No pressure!

Other things that might help for a one-mike setup:
Quiet mike pre with lots of headroom
Tell the singer to stand back from the mike for the loud parts (only if you have a good sounding room though)

[runpre311]

Thanks for the advice JohnS. There are some good ideas there. I like the one about two mics and doing a manual crossfade. My room doesnt sound that great though- for the screaming. (the other day I was recording and it took me a little while to realize the yelling was causing the drum cymbals to give off the slightest sounds. So I had to cover the drumset with comforters) :-) ah, the pleasures of home recording. I too have a problem with recording my own vocal- I can never nail it in one take because I always have the mentality that I can do it over. So I sit at the console for hours and nothing ever gets done. I am working on changing that mentality and adopting a sense of immediacy.

[lucidlou]

If you can afford it, run it through a Universal Audio LA-3A. It's supposedly the best leveler for vocals ever made. I've personally never heard it, just the LA-2 which is also fantastic.

[clineaudio]

if you have someone at the desk, have em ride the gains. THat's how they did it in the old days, one take, it better sound good, and it better not clip. When you think about stuff like that, old chess records, motown, etc are even more impressive

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by clineaudio

if you have someone at the desk, have em ride the gains. THat's how they did it in the old days, one take, it better sound good, and it better not clip. When you think about stuff like that, old chess records, motown, etc are even more impressive

damn straight, kick it old school dudes!