What equipment should i buy to have great vocal sound ($1700 to spend)

whats-up peeps, i need some help on studio equipment to get great sounding vocals, my budget is $1700, im not looking into buying monitors, all i want is equipment to make my vocal sound near quality studio or great. i just bought a sm7b mic since everyone i spoke to recommended my that and i also but a spark mic. my interface is Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and konnekt 6 what do you guys recommend me to buy, mic preamp? new interface? mixer? my laptop is great for recording, i will isolate my room later on when i save up more, got now just looking for equipment to bring out my vocals, thanks guys for rap vocals only by the way

hey there bitflipper, anyone can have a mic and interface and record, but i want some juice on my vocals, sound good enought to lay on the mix, any more preamp or interface to recommend me

Listen to Mr. Bitflipper....

Sounds like you have a good start.   Getting a good vocal track involves so many things..... 

like BitFlipper said.... the mic and the room are KEY!  

Jim is right that you must have a good monitoring system to hear what you are doing after the vocal take.
I would suggest Ozone if you do not already have it.  I know that for me personally, Ozone brings the tracks (of all sorts) to life and gives them the sparkle that is needed. 


I record my tracks in a room where I can hear barking dogs and traffic and other sounds, and there is no way I can use sound proofing here.....so I have to work with what I have...... be sure the train isn't coming and the garbage truck isn't outside when I'm doing my vocal and acoustic guitar takes....and recording again if I happen to capture that car horn. 

Essentially, it sounds like you are on the right track and have most of the "gear" you need to do it right.

The common breakdown of recording from most to least important is Source (instrument, performance, room) and Chain (mic, preamp, effects, convertor).  Monitoring should also be thrown in there towards the top, cause, as pointed out above, if you can hear it you can't correct the problems.

You have a good mic (esp. for rap or radio announcement work).  If I was in your shoes I'd look to buy 2 things first.  A good monitoring system would be at the top of my list so you can hear to record and hear to mix (that is a 2for1 deal).  Next, simple room treatment.  Unless your room is completely square or has other problems, it isn't too difficult to make it acceptable.  A bed or sofa acts as a good abosorber, book cases (w/ books) does the same as well as adding some diffision.  All you might need is a quilt to hang behind you when you sing to keep the back wall reflections for going directly to your mic.  $25.  I have one I can put up over a cable behind my singer's spot.  You can spend more - a lot more - but there are lots of places to look for cheap, easy to make alternatives.

So, with your budget I would think a couple of hundred $ in room treatment would be all you need.  That also does double duty - recording and monitoring.  Monitoring ...  I'd get the Yamaha MPS 7.  $800, good bass extention and pretty flat.  And if you get bored of doing music, they make a long lasting pair of listening speakers.

Lastly, a nice, high-gain preamp.  The Focusrite ISA One is a good choice.  Enough gain so you could use a dixie cup on a string to record and kinda middle of the road as far as sound.  Neither too clean or too dark, but a Goldilock means.  It should work well with Rap
or just about any style.  The Warm preamp is another lower cost contender.  More of a vintage vibe and really puts through a lot of bass.  Either of those are $4-500, are well built and high-end enough you won't want to sell them when you hit it big.  Professional grade equipment.  Either of those (or the gap, grace, daking etc.) will allow you to use certain techniques that are hard if not impossilbe for built-in preamps to replicate.  If you are a screamer, those techniques might be moot.

That gets you somewheres around $1500, so you have a little left over to start saving for your next purchase or get more room treatment.

@

Your equipment seems adequate. What, if anything, do you think is lacking? What do you feel is wrong/lacking with your vocal tracks? 

You do realize that even with the best equipment, your vocals won't sound "studio quality" if you aren't recording in a space with as good acoustics as a studio.

Ok, you seem to have a bout of GAS and just want more equipment, so I'll play along. 

I like tube pre's and have even built a few of my own. SM7 + a tube pre can be warm and syrupy sweet as you want.

You can get a decent (if not better, ok, different sounding, and much better featured) 2-channel tube pre for moderate cost, like the ART MPA-II or TPS II, especially if you want some tube "warmth" going in. Handy to be able to adjust input impedance with dynamic mic's too, can make a big diff sometimes, although I doubt it's very critical for rap. 
Or just a single channel or lower spec version, to save cash. ART also offer a combo tube pre and comp which is cheap and cheerful, and nice for guitar also. Other companies offer similar.
A variety of pre's is always nice, especially if you ever need a different vocal sound OTB. Heck, even a Presonus Bluetube will give you more options at moderate expense.


And get some decent monitors as others have suggested. And some good cans too, if you don't yet have some.

So, my recommendation is, listen through some tube pre's on decent monitors and through good cans, and compare to how it sounds through your Scarlett/Konnect pre's.

But seriously, I wouldn't worry too much about getting to "studio quality" with your rap vocals because I doubt anyone but you or some label exec is going to notice anyway. Maybe you should aim for "PA system quality". 

Sorry for - what
I was just sayin'!
But like I told ya,
I was just playin'!

Might want a reflexion filter, and a mic that sounds good for your voice, whether it is a cheaper mic or an expensive mic. Pre-amp or maybe better - a studio channel also useful on other instruments. http://www.sweetwater.com/ or whereever musical equipment is sold.

I think you're actually going into it a bit backwards.  You say you're not into monitors, so I have to assume you have high quality ones now, or you don't realize that if you can't accurately hear what you're doing, you won't hear what better equipment is actually doing.  The space is next, so you monitors translate to you, what's going on.  After that, everything else is really waaay down the list.  The proof is all the great recordings using cheap mics or equipment, but attained the desired results.
 
Now...let's say you have monitors and space covered, you're looking for that last detail that is going to help...as we're actually on agreement now that you can reliably hear what you're recording.
 
I think there is a reason why certain pieces of equipment sound good on most everything, such as using an 1176 compressor or LA2A or one very flattering mic pre for YOUR voice.  I might be inclined to spend your entire budget on one of those first, as you'll get your money back if you don't like it.... and yes use it while tracking.

You probably will want some kind of mic preamp with a SM7 due to the low gain characteristics of the mic. I thought mine was defective the first time I used it but quickly found that it came to life when paired with a decent pre. The room is also very important also as already stated by many. A moderately priced vocal booth may be a good option.

No, no, no, don't worry about the room, 
Spend all your cash to buy more boom!  
Record your vocals like all the pro throats-
Inside a closet full of winter coats!