Help with recording plosive huge dynamic vocals! (Aretha Franklin)

[dickiefunk]

Hi. I'm currently working on an album with a pro gospel singer and have had problems tracking her vocals. The problems I'm having is that I'm getting occassional plosive sounds and also she has an enormous dynamic range so setting levels are a nightmare!!!
I've got a Rode NT1a and a Studio Projects B1 for mics and an SPL Goldmike Pre into an Echo Layla 3G.
To eliminate to plosives would you recommend using the low cut on the preamp? If this is a good option would it be better to use the low cut the preamp or my Studio Projects B1 ( if I decide to use ths mic? ).
I've also considered buying a new pop shield. I'm using a standard mesh one at the moment but have thought about buying a metal one such as the SE Electronics SE POP or Stedman PS101 / PSXL ?
Would it be better to buy a new pop shield or use the low cut?
What would you recommend about setting the levels? She uses a huge dynamic range from an almost whisper to full on gospel wailing!!
Your help will be greatly appreciated!!!

[con?one]

As far as using the low-cut, I'd say try it and see how it sounds. It may not solve your problem at all... and depending on the singer (and the filter itself) it may take something away from what you're trying to achive. How bad/ often are these plosives? If you're using a DAW to record this, most make it fairly easy to do fade ins, which may be the easiest way for you to edit these plosives after the fact.
As far as settings for tracking someone who goes from a whisper to a wail, personally, I'd track the two parts seperately. If no choice though, the only thing you can do is try to find a nice happy medium where you're not over compressing those louder parts because you set everything based on the lower parts. Shit, you can always compress more later.

Or record one track hi and one track low level and comp them. Common technique actually!

Or try one mic close and one farther away, comp to taste...

[Remoteness]

Have you setup the mic a bit off axis so her ‘plosions are not directed into the mic. Either raise the mic above her or lower it so the air flow is directed away from the capsule.
You May also consider placing an SM58 in front of her patched to nowhere and place the recording mic behind the SM58.

I agree, to handle the huge dynamic range why not set up two mics, one for the louder passes and the other for the softer ones. Then you can edit them together when you comp the vocals.

Again, I’m with you on this one -- To eliminate the plosives I would recommend mic positioning to reduce the effect and drastic EQ in your DAW only where the plosives are heard. I would not want to affect the entire vocal track for the occasional plosive.

Have you tried two pop filters spread apart from each other?