The vocals are the main instrument for musicians. Through the vocals, it’s easy to convey shades of emotion that are inaccessible to other instruments, and in terms of emotional impact, it compares with the rest of the arrangement in the track.
Musicians often need to master vocals – some want to rap, some want to sing on stage, and some simply lack the backing for their work in Fruity Loops. What they all have in common is the need to record their voice for classes and demo recordings. So what kind of gear do you need?
Microphone
A guitarist has a guitar, a violinist has a violin, and a vocalist has a microphone. Only opera doesn’t need one, in all other cases you have to sing into it. The choice of a microphone is an individual thing and depends on the timbre of voice, manner of performance and of course budget.
This device seems to be simple in appearance, but it has a lot of features, which can easily confuse you. That is why it is easier to choose a microphone based on the area of application.
To record exercises and to analyze mistakes during training, USB-microphones of condenser type with cardioid directionality will do. First, they combine a sound card and a microphone, so they are two devices in one. You can even work in DAW and mix music with their built-in audio interface.
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Secondly, the cardioid directivity will cut off the stomping neighbours, the noise of the highway and shouting kids on the playground outside the window. Condenser microphones are very sensitive, so they catch all the noise with flying colors. Directionality can also be switched – such microphones are more versatile and will help you run your blog or podcast.
- USB microphones come in different classes:
For networking, streaming 22 Bet betting, and gaming. Usually care little about detail and dynamics, but sometimes come with utilities to improve voice clarity and eliminate interference. - For voice recording – podcasts, streamers, blogs. Usually these are desktop microphones, which are often equipped with a small stand so it’s convenient to speak while sitting at a PC. Often made by computer equipment manufacturers.
- For home studios. These are models from manufacturers of professional audio equipment.
Microphones from the second and third group may be used to record vocals – the voice will not sound as expressive compared to adult studio models, but for the demo recording is more than enough.
At concerts and rehearsals the situation is different – noisy environment, the risk of crosstalk from nearby line speakers. Dynamic cardioid microphones cope best with these conditions. They are not as sensitive as condenser microphones, so you have to sing into them up close. But they don’t pick up the signal from the instruments around them and don’t get turned on by feedback.
Microphone Accessories Stand
The right solution is a microphone stand. Useful for lessons, necessary for recording, and custom stands of unusual appearance can become a decoration for concerts.
Pop Filter
Explosive consonants overload the microphone diaphragm, and it is not easy to remove this recording defect programmatically during processing. The problem is solved with a pop filter that attaches to the stand and covers the diaphragm with a thin double mesh to keep sudden air movements from overloading it.
Spider-type Mount
Sensitive condenser microphones are great at picking up the smallest nuances of a performance, as well as the footsteps of a neighbor’s child. Even the recording studio uses spider-type mounts for all its soundproofing, at least to remove the vocalist’s own footsteps. Such mounts decouple the microphone stand and microphone so that floor vibrations don’t get into the recording.
XLR Cord
While a balanced connection eliminates the effect of conductor quality on sound quality, that doesn’t mean you can use the cheapest cable. These often tear around the connector, and a short circuit when the phantom power is on can take the sound card or microphone with it. It’s easiest to choose a cable by its thickness: the thicker the cable, the more reliable it is.
Headphones
Whether you’re practising at home or recording vocals professionally, you need a good pair of closed earphones. The closed design prevents sound leakage from the headphones into the microphone. Vocalists often record with a metronome, a high-frequency click that is perfectly captured by sensitive condenser microphones.
It’s hard to get it out of a recording later. So the better the headphones are soundproofed, the less processing problems you’ll have, and the better the vocals will sound.
The frequency response of headphones for recording vocals isn’t as critical as that of headphones for mixing music. There may be a boost in the sweet spot of 1-5 kHz, as well as a slight hump around 100-200 Hz, to make vocals sound more assertive.
However, there should be no sudden peaks and troughs either, otherwise some notes will sound louder than others, which will confuse the vocalist. Detail and resolving power of headphones is also important – they have to play back nuances well so that a performer can hear his mistakes.