Breathy vocals and vocals in general

[rckandorroll]

Hey everyone, I'm new to protools and i've been trying to record vocals with sort of a breathy almost whispery quality, sort of like chino of the deftones if you know them. i'm not playing metal, mostly ambient type stuff but i can't get a level right without it clipping or just sounding really [bleep]. what are some good ways to maximize the breath. im using an MBox 2 by the way.

also, does anyone have any tips for recording vocals in general? everyone always says "make sure you use compression" well i do but it doesnt seem to affect the overall sound at all so maybe i'm doing it wrong.

thanks!

[Naagzh]

Tape a pencil to your mic vertically, directly in front of the diaphragm. This will deflect some of the incoming air to the sides and decrease the "rumble" (proximity effect) when you breathe heavily. Use a pop-screen as well.

Use the Comp/Dyn III plug-in. The vocal levelor preset is a good place to start.

[Naagzh]

I believe in the Deftones stuff there's a filter of some kind on the vocals. You might try Izotope Vinyl or a telephone-voice type of effect. Or try Amplitube or other distortion plug.

Compression on vocals should be used to even out the quiet and loud parts. You shouldn't "hear" the compressor working, unless you're going for a specific colour or pumping sound.

[mixx]

squash with a compressor for breathy after the fact

[therm]

I tried to post this once already, but it didn't seem to come through. Here it comes, again
1) Buy 'Russ Long's Guide to Nashvill Recording' for $30/$40. Great investment and it covers a lot of this stuff.
2) Use a high-quality mic like a Neumann U87 or a ribbon, through a preamp, to a compressor (I use a crappy Behringer Composer Pro & it works great) into PT.
3) Use a stocking or a pop-filter (esp on a cheap mic like a SM57).
4) Adjust the ratio to 2:1 or 3:1, set the attack & release to fast; bring up the threshold until you're getting 1-2 DB Gain reduction on meters as you're singing.
5) If you want a better SNR (signal-to-noise-ratio) go back and bring up the expander threshold (at a ratio of 2:1) until you get rid of the ambient noise (you can see this on the PT meters when you're i n Record-mode).

Works great on my projects.

HTH,
therm

[Deafeye]

Double, triple, and quadruple breath takes. This makes them louder, richer, and if you do it right, you can't even tell they're doubled, cuz you're whispering. And you don't need a Neumann U87, a pencil, or Izotope.


It works, trust me. (also try putting a layer of whisper takes above the main vocal that is being sung, that sounds cool...) Now all you would have to do is blend it to taste.




Cheers,
~Ben~