Inline attenuator for vocals?

Does the Brick have a Pad? Many mic pres do. Engaging it would typically lower your incoming vocal by about 20db.

That's something I forgot to say, neither mic nor preamp have a pad. I have tried standing away, but as a singer, I find it hard to work the mic once I get more than a foot away. I also sometimes found myself pulling back and affecting my performance so I didn't distort. This of course was not good either.
 
It seems an attenuator is sort of a lame thing to try, because it would defeat the purpose of the preamp. Yet, presumably, I would still get the Brick's coloration. I think I'll try this method, but there are certainly no guarantees that it will work. It also may screw up the sound and add noise.
 
I also thought of an external compressor, but that may get rid of some of the nuances of louder vocals. Also, who knows which one to get? There's also a learning curve, and such devices can be pricey.
 
I don't know what singers like Eric Burdon or Van Morrison had in the 60's. Maybe analog was better for loud voices. I am not a metal singer, but how on earth do they do vocals without clipping?

Yea, it is a real pickle.  Performance and tone seem to be contradictory.  I like lfm's suggestion about a pop screen on another stand. 

Or simple discipline - pick a spot and stick with it distance wise.  If you don't get the tone on the quieter spots, do a second take.  Skip the loud passages, get close to the mic, reset the preamp volume and do the lower amplitude sections, splicing them in. 

The other thing might be a preamp with more gain - the brick doesn't have as much as some others.  The focusrite has 80 dbs of gain, a nice input transfomer for tone and lots of headroom so you won't distort.  It is cheap these days - $500 or less.  Or get the RND Portico II channel strip.  I guarentee you'll blow your diaphram out (either yours or your mics) before you distort it.  I'm sure the Aurora and any number of professional kits would work as well, but you are talking real money.

@

I guess there's no easy solution, lol. I do have the ability to stay in one place when singing in the studio, so I guess that is good. It may just be that I have to keep doing multiple takes and punch. Not fun, but I definitely have experience with this....

johnnyV


Padding down the signal will not help if you have overdriven the the mikes electronics. 

What if the mic isn't overdriven, and it is the preamp doing the overdriving? Is it okay to attenuate the signal going into the preamp then?

I'm pretty sure it is the preamp and not the mic, because I plug the mic directly in with no preamp and do not distort.

EightMilesHigh


For vocals, I use a Rode NT1 and have a groove tubes brick preamp. I have a powerful voice, and no matter what I do, my louder vocals always seem to distort. I've tried lowering the gain, and also have stood further away from the microphone. I’ve also tried changing the ground signal switch, and have used different cables and inputs (XLR or line). I'm thinking that I should try an inline attenuator, but would this negatively impact the sound?
 
Also, where would this inline attenuator go? Would it be between my mic and the preamp, or the preamp and the recording box? I believe it is my preamp that is actually distorting the signal, not the mic, because I plug the mic direct in the XLR with phantom power and do not distort. I have been doing vocals this way, but miss the warmth and tone of the Brick.
 
I've seen a model made by Audio Technica (AT8202 Adjustable Inline Attenuator) for $40, and it seems that it may work, but I have no idea what the quality is. I only would need this for singing. I wouldn't need more than one channel. What might you recommend? Do you know of anything that lowers the volume between preamp and recording box? If so, is this a bad idea?

I would expect that you'll need to use a pad/attenuator with the brick.

The brick provides 25db gain on the MIC input with the gain all the way down (fully couter clockwise).
That's a good chunk of gain at the lowest possible setting.

I wouldn't hesitate to try the attenuator - that AT8202 is probably a good choice since it is adjustable -10/-20/-30 DB.
You'll probably be in for a bit of mucking around to find your 'sweet spot' to get the preamp warmth without any overloading.

Let us know how things turn out.

Cheers - Cliff