munmun
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How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
Curious- centre of mic side face aligned with mouth, top tip of mic aligned with mouth? ALso, hoow far do you stand back. Finally what mic are you using for vox?
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The Maillard Reaction
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/06 08:50:32
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Hopefully the sound of the room is taken into consideration.
I prefer to work back 2 feet... but don't do that in a nasty sounding room.
I also am comfortable with my lip hanging on a mic in a loud stage setting... but I use a completely different voice.
When I close mic in the studio I'm using the same *stage* voice... and I use a more open diaphragm driven voice as I get further away.
You have you balance what the room offers (good or bad) with the way the singer wants to sing.
I once placed a AKG 414 in front of a friend who has a fantastic voice that has LOTS of reach. She's both a stage and studio veteran. About 3 songs in she stoppped and asked for an SM58... all without listening to the results.
She just felt more comfortable with close micing and a familiar windscreen. I'm glad we worked that out and she was comfortable... that helps a lot.
So, there's lots to consider when choosing how you want to do it.
best,
mike
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Randy P
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/06 10:42:32
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For me, it really depends on the material. Soft, breathy style, upclose with popscreen about an inch from the mic, and mouth about 2 inches from screen. Louder, rock style vocal, windscreen about 6 inches, and mouth about 6 inches from screen. I use an AKG 414, and usually have the top of the mic above my mouth, with no tilt of the mic. For me, this cuts down on sibilance, and makes it more comfortable, breathing wise.
Interesting point Mike made about the singer wanting an SM58. Live singing ofter requires the close style he mentions. I've heard of singers in the studio having an unplugged SM58 positioned in front of a "live" condensor, just so they felt more comfortable. Hey, whatever it takes.
Randy
http://www.soundclick.com/riprorenband
The music biz is a cruel and shallow money trench,a plastic hallway where thieves & pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side. Hunter S. Thompson
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jacktheexcynic
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/06 17:53:27
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typically i get pretty close because of room acoustics and ambient noise. i also typically sing off-axis (with a pop filter) to cut down on plosives. i also typically position the mic so it is pointing down at my face rather than up, to reduce the nasal sound.
with a condenser you can obviously get further away if room sound permits, but in my case it does not, so usually 4-12" depending on volume. i keep the pop filter about 4" away from the mic (seems to help having an air gap) and i use the pop filter as a guide for stage singing as mike said and i back off if i'm going to belt it out.
if the mic has a proximity effect that can also come into play, you do not typically want to eat a mic with a proximity effect unless the singer has a thin voice. basically you want to experiment a lot with different positions until you find one that gives you good results. and that of course depends on what you are looking for - you might want to crowd the mic for a rock song and back off for a ballad, etc.
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Spaceduck
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/06 18:46:49
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ORIGINAL: jacktheexcynic
if the mic has a proximity effect that can also come into play, you do not typically want to eat a mic with a proximity effect unless the singer has a thin voice. basically you want to experiment a lot with different positions until you find one that gives you good results. and that of course depends on what you are looking for - you might want to crowd the mic for a rock song and back off for a ballad, etc.
If you're looking for a round, throaty, yet non-annoying prox effect, you can sing really close but use the mic's low freq rolloff switch. Be sure to use the mic's built-in rolloff, not a post effect because the effect isn't the same. I've had decent results doing this at 1" away from the mic (so close I bump the mic if I didn't shave that morning!) singing way off axis, 45 to 60 deg to avoid plosives (example: the song in my sig, 1st verse). For backup vox where I don't want "character" but would rather have something that blends, I back off to 2 feet and sing direct on-axis (example: same song at the 1:00 and 3:00 mark). I don't use a pop filter because they make me dizzy. It's hard to focus on the mic while avoiding the pop filter with your face 
post edited by Spaceduck - 2009/01/06 18:51:35
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jacktheexcynic
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/06 20:54:15
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i actually put my nose on the pop filter so i don't have to concentrate on the mic. hey, it's my pop filter  but i've gotten a lot more consistent dynamics that way.
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Spaceduck
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/06 21:27:18
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ORIGINAL: jacktheexcynic
i actually put my nose on the pop filter so i don't have to concentrate on the mic. hey, it's my pop filter but i've gotten a lot more consistent dynamics that way.
Now that's a great idea. I bet it keeps you at the precise distance & angle from the mic. I may have to revisit this whole pop filter thing... Haha I once had the idea to mount the pop filter to my head by clipping it on a baseball cap! Let's just say it was not exactly cool
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jacktheexcynic
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Middleman
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/06 23:38:32
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Mic about 12 inches away and behind the pop filter aimed just above the tip of my nose. I want the air to pass beneath the capsule to avoid plosives.
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Russell.Whaley
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/06 23:53:13
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Mic at about chin level, pop screen 2-3" away, me 8-12" away. Seems to work for most things.
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krizrox
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/07 11:24:02
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ORIGINAL: Russell.Whaley
Mic at about chin level, pop screen 2-3" away, me 8-12" away. Seems to work for most things.
Sounds about right for me too. I tend to start with this and then modify depending on the singer. A singer with good technique will turn their heads slightly or back away from the mic when hollarin' :-)
Larry Kriz www.LnLRecording.com www.myspace.com/lnlrecording Sonar PE 8.5, Samplitude Pro 11, Sonic Core Scope Professional/XTC, A16 Ultra AD/DA, Intel DG965RY MOBO, Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz processor, XFX GeForce 7300 GT PCIe video card, Barracuda 750 & 320GB SATA drives, 4GB DDR Ram, Plextor DVD/CD-R burner.
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JayJayVee
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/07 15:35:54
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LMAO- hey that's a pretty good idea, Spaceduck!
At least it keeps a consistant/constant distance between your mouth and the pop screen!
I guess you need to post a picture of that now.....
JV
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ohhey
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/07 15:47:03
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It takes some trial and error for me, I start about a foot back and move around till I find the spot that has the sound I want. Also, I work the mic (more around) during the performance to prevent overloads or low levels. It also depends on the mic, some you can sing right into and other work best a little axis.
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skullsession
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/07 16:31:25
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I just put that shizznit in front of my face and I sing my ballz off.....no pop filter for me, thanks.... 
HOOK: Skullsessions.com / Darwins God Album "Without a doubt I would have far greater listening and aural skills than most of the forum members here. Not all but many I am sure....I have done more listening than most people." - Jeff Evans on how awesome Jeff Evans is.
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Randy P
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/07 16:50:27
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Is your "shizznit" factory stock, or have you had it modified? Personally, I prefer the classic shizznits, as the newer models just dont have that warmth. Randy
post edited by rsp@odyssey.net - 2009/01/07 16:54:04
http://www.soundclick.com/riprorenband
The music biz is a cruel and shallow money trench,a plastic hallway where thieves & pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side. Hunter S. Thompson
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Spaceduck
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skullsession
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/08 06:39:40
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LOL...THAT's AWESOME!!!
This pic could be an internet legend!!
I just saved it to my hard drive....she's getting posted everywhere I can think of today!! LOL....
HOOK: Skullsessions.com / Darwins God Album "Without a doubt I would have far greater listening and aural skills than most of the forum members here. Not all but many I am sure....I have done more listening than most people." - Jeff Evans on how awesome Jeff Evans is.
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Spaceduck
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/08 07:51:18
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo! a lifelong music career... tv... film... no recognition. But strap one little pop filter to your head and you're famous 
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tcaylor
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/08 13:55:57
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ORIGINAL: Spaceduck
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo!
a lifelong music career... tv... film... no recognition.
But strap one little pop filter to your head and you're famous
I believe we have just seen the redneck pop filter 
Tom My Soundclick Page Sonar Platinum, AMD FX-4100 Quad Core, 8GB RAM, Win 7, RME Fireface USB, UA LA-610, Dynaudio BM 5A monitors, G&L Asat Classic, Peavy Wolfgang, 1990 Strat Ultra, Alvarez PD-80SC Acoustic
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Beagle
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/08 15:14:01
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you might be a redneck IF.... you wear your pop filter on your ball cap! No, that doesn't work because that's where the drink holders go!  duckman - that's awesome! you're must enjoy life to be able to laugh at yourself enough to post that! cheers to you!
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Spaceduck
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/08 16:09:13
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A can of Bud would fit nicely in the shockmount if I didn't have this stupid microphone and yeah my preamp is up on cinderblocks
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jacktheexcynic
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/08 19:10:40
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that is awesome "before they were famous" haha
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jerry@macwood.com
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/09 00:52:23
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ONe technique I've used on vocals to reduce the plosives is to hod the palm of you hand infront of you chi moving upwards and say P P P P until you hear hte bounce back. place the mic above this point if you are hanging teh mic or below if you an dcoming from the bottom. then it's a matter of gain staging the distance and volume of the singer to get the sound you want. I sometimes use an adk large diaphram above and an audi of sm58 or even an sm 57 below and have the singer sing through the gap. Depending on teh skill level of teh vocalist they can back off or sing to the sid eon the loud passages or I can ride the fader . I usualy use a small 3 to 1 compression ration with a fast attack and a medium slow release. I also like to use a tube preamp to warm up teh adk and push the dynamic mic.
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cryophonik
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/09 14:07:18
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Beagle
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/09 14:21:51
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No How
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/09 14:26:22
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That's my next method Beag. To get the best out of my condensor mic i position it so that it's in front of someone else.
post edited by No How - 2009/01/09 14:27:45
s o n g s – Beauty lodged in a bad hotel has no value. Raymond Lull
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henkejs
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/09 15:34:39
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To get the best out of my condensor mic i position it so that it's in front of someone else.
Now, there's a suggestion I can use!
A few of my songs SONAR Platinum, Cakewalk by BandLab, Windows 10, Focusrite Scarlett 6i6.
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crowellstudios
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/09 23:27:47
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I use a Sterling Audio ST51 which I think is one of the best bargains in the business. Slightly above mouth level, pop filter 4 inches in front of it, singer about 6 inches in front of the pop filter, closer for breathy sections, farther away and angled for belting it out. Check out the ST51. And I too get better results when I position the microphone in front of someone else besides me... send me a good female vocalist ASAP
Warm regards, Richard Intel i5, 4GB RAM, Win7 64-bit, Asio4all, Sonar X2 Producer 32-bit, Dimension Pro, Rapture, TruePianos, Strum Electric/Acoustic, VI.One, Ableton Live, FL Studio
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wst3
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/11 18:25:33
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Interesting! ORIGINAL: Russell.Whaley
Mic at about chin level, pop screen 2-3" away, me 8-12" away. Seems to work for most things.
I was taught to always put the center of the capsule slighting above the singer's mouth, this causes them to extend their throat just a wee bit, and usually improves the vocal performance. Not having been a vocal performance major I have no idea if this is accurate, twas taught to me by an old soundman<G>!
-- Bill Audio Enterprise KB3KJF
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Russell.Whaley
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RE: How do you position your condenser mic for vocals?
2009/01/12 17:13:28
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ORIGINAL: wst3
Interesting!
ORIGINAL: Russell.Whaley
Mic at about chin level, pop screen 2-3" away, me 8-12" away. Seems to work for most things.
I was taught to always put the center of the capsule slighting above the singer's mouth, this causes them to extend their throat just a wee bit, and usually improves the vocal performance. Not having been a vocal performance major I have no idea if this is accurate, twas taught to me by an old soundman<G>!
I only did a minor in vocal performance, so I didn't get all of the deep secrets... I'll have to give that a try and compare. My method came about because it seems to help me keep my chin up.
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