Problems with compressor on the voxbox

[spiritfallrecording]

So I got a quick question and want to see what others experiences with the Manley Voxbox and Reference Cardiod combo are. I'm producing aggressive spitfire style hip-hop and I've been having a problem with the compressor and limiter not engaging fast enough on the first syllable of a vocal part. This really only presents a problem with plosives such as t's, s's, p's,d's, b's, etc. My work around in yesterday's session was to have the vocalist throw a dummy wordbefore a line here and there so that the compressor would grab the actual line right. I love the sound I'm getting so I don't really want to mess with mic positioning too much. I tried angling the mic and raising it up a bit so the vocalist's air is going just below the capsule but it still isn't changing much. The only thing that completely solved the problem was to raise the mic to where its not very close to vocalist and that is not what i want. I want an in your face agressive attack type vocal. Should I insert another compressor before the voxbox just to grab those few peaks here and there? I really like the "color" of the voxbox limiter and compressor. I just don't like this problem with plosives. My attack and release are both set to fast. I am compressing fairly heavily. If anyone has anything to chime in let me know. thanks!

[shtik]

One thing I can recommend - if any piece of equipment is not doing what you are looking for - don't insist on using it.. Especially when printing that sound to your DAW. If messing with attack / release times and the threshold (maybe less compression would do the trick) did not give you the result your looking for, just switch the compressor off and record with no compression.

[Ben Jenssen]

If you DO insist on keeping everything as is, then you could add another microphone that records the plosives better, and manually or magically let that track take over the parts you don't like. Just an idea.

[elicious]

since you "love" the color you're getting;
the best answer is to ride the fader (or eq)
and automate those plosives.
e

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by elicious

since you "love" the color you're getting;
the best answer is to ride the fader (or eq)
and automate those plosives.
e

Or splice the words up (first strip silence function and you have all your individual words as separate regions) and then fade in the plosive words slow enough to make them go away but fast enought to not lose the beginning of the word.

That said;

You probably would get that lovely aggressive sound without plosives if you change your setup a little. Move your vocalist a feet away from the mic and turn up the monitoring volume. The aggressiveness usually comes from the vocalist and not the gear. As you know, if it's a cardioid mic it has proximity effect which means closer you sing the worse plosives you get.

[elicious]

'cept that's not what he wants;

The only thing that completely solved the problem was to raise the mic to where its not very close to vocalist and that is not what i want. I want an in your face agressive attack type vocal.

and proximity will enhance the presence and girth of the trak.

is he using a nylon between voc and mic?

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by elicious

'cept that's not what he wants;


and proximity will enhance the presence and girth of the trak.

is he using a nylon between voc and mic?

I'm assuming you're talking about a pop filter and that's one thing no one else mentioned and stuck right out at me. Get a decent pop filter (whether it's a nylon, plastic or metal one) and mount it in front of the mic. This also has the added benefit of pushing the vocalist back a little from the mic.

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by musicman691

I'm assuming you're talking about a pop filter and that's one thing no one else mentioned and stuck right out at me. Get a decent pop filter (whether it's a nylon, plastic or metal one) and mount it in front of the mic. This also has the added benefit of pushing the vocalist back a little from the mic.

And not to mention a PopFilter prolongs the life of the Mic aswell since it protects the capsule and electronics from spit and saliva. We would never record anything without a popfilter. Our 4K mics and up are too precious to be covered in peoples "stuff" and a $50 investment in a filter not only protects but makes these problems we are talking about here less of a problem

[mesaone]

Regarding pop filters: This is what I use with my ribbon mics and anything with a single-layer headbasket. It's cheap enough, and works exceptionally well. Everyone loooooves stedman, but I use either the one I linked or a Shure Popper Stopper (the easiest to position). Metal pop filters are (IMO) a gimmick, not nearly as good as using nylon.

http://www.amazon.com/Stage-ASFSS6-D.../dp/B003LZ2IT2

Regarding the Vox Box: if using it requires the vocalist to add words to his/her lines, then either you're using it wrong or it's just not the right tool for the job. You say you love the sound, but apparently you really don't - because you are getting undesirable results.

EDIT: That last bit sounded harsh. I didn't intend for it to be that way. I think you are focusing so much on the goodness of your gear, that you are paying less attention to the source and destination than you should.

[shtik]

I think everything that has been written here until the "using pop filter" advice was due to the assumption that:

No one with minimal respect to his gear would ever record a rapper with zero distance from a Manley Gold Reference without a pop filter...

But, if that's the case, and if the microphone is not damaged in any way, then - yeah, a pop filter would be a good place to start.