samples - clipping of the voice itself, or is it my bad?

[danijel]

hi again!

last couple of days i got great advice on how to record soprano & classical guitar (i would do it completely wrong without this forum ):
classical guitar + soprano

i got to the hall two hours before everyone else, and had the in-house sound technician help me with finding the best acoustic spots for performers and mics. he was clapping hands and shouting from different possible performer's positions while i listened from different possible miking positions. (we were also moving curtains and other things.) this was the most important part of the recording, as i found the spots which gave no flutter or echo - just straight dumping (RT60 about 1.5 sec).

i did ORTF (from about 5m) because i didn't like what was coming back from the hall and wanted to emphasize the reflections off of a huge inward-bended concrete wall behind the performers. i also spotted the guitar (2m) as suggested here, with a figure-of-eight, which gave much more isolation than i expected.

overall, i am very pleased with the recording, except:
in certain (but only certain) singer's fff's, i have unpleasant distortion!

i noticed this during rehearsals, but i couldn't determine the cause (due to lack of time and singer's loud/high notes available). i am sure it didn't occur anywhere in the signal-path, so i was left with two options - either clipping on the microphone membrane, or an artifact of the voice itself. it was out of my logic that she could clip the mike from 5m, so i decided not to engage the pad, and at that moment the audience was let into the hall.

first of the samples i am posting is 46" ending of a well-known aria from bizet's carmen (these are all quick premixes):
carmen-sample.mp3 - 1.41MB
you will notice the above-mentioned clipping on the highest note just before the end.

here is the same note recorded on a mike which was also spotting the guitar (but which i will not use in the mix, due to a lesser degree of separation):
carmen-alt-mic-ending-sample.mp3 - 0.26MB

here are some other loud notes (some of them even louder then the one above!) which don't clip:
no-clipping-sample.mp3 - 0.29MB
.....or clip a little:
some-clipping-sample.mp3 - 0.29MB

so, my main concern here is:
is this a clipping of the voice itself, or is my bad?

also, would you comment on the performance/acoustics/recording itself?
thank you,
danijel

P.S. for your enjoyment, ave maria by franz schubert (first verse):
ave-maria-sample.mp3 - 4.18MB

[RichS]

The voice has an extremely "covered" quality. Way up in the sinus cavity and very "hooty" sounding. Makes for a very mumbled diction. That being said, I've heard singers with that kind of sound actually make a mechanical noise from sinus crud vibrating in the head when they push on the high notes. It very well could be her and not the mic.

BTW, if she's in the 40-50 year old range, she needs to do some sit-ups. The vibrato and "swooping notes" are killing me. It's indicative of poor support.

As for the recording, nice balance. The spot on the guitar is just right. The room's not to bad either. Good job overall.

[Shadow_7]

Doesn't really sound like clipping. Doesn't look like clipping in the waveform. What mic(s) and shockmount did you use? It sounds almost like something is sympathetically vibrating with the sound source. Maybe the pad would have helped. Or maybe there's something loose on the mic grill or stand/shock mount. Or you are exceeding the SPL specs of the mic. A little harder to do on voice than say trombone. But not impossible given proximity.

Or at least that's my impression as reproduced on my laptops poor soundcard and low quality speakers. On my desktop it's hardly noticeable. Almost sounds like something on the guitar is sympathetically vibrating. But I only listened to the first clip.

[danijel]

Originally Posted by Shadow_7

What mic(s) and shockmount did you use?

schoeps MK4 pair (original shockmounts) through an API A2D (gain knobs at 11 o'clock).

Originally Posted by Shadow_7

Or you are exceeding the SPL specs of the mic. A little harder to do on voice than say trombone. But not impossible given proximity.

sorry, i use the term 'proximity' when i have a mic 5-20cm (2-8 inches) from the mouth so, i just want to make sure you are aware that this was recorded from a 5m (16 feet) distance? i'm checking, because common sense tells me it shouldn't clip at that distance, but i just don't know....

[danijel]

Originally Posted by RichS

The voice has an extremely "covered" quality. Way up in the sinus cavity and very "hooty" sounding. Makes for a very mumbled diction.

and i though her diction was good, as i could understand a few words from each of the songs

Originally Posted by RichS

That being said, I've heard singers with that kind of sound actually make a mechanical noise from sinus crud vibrating in the head when they push on the high notes. It very well could be her and not the mic.

that gives me some relief

Originally Posted by RichS

BTW, if she's in the 40-50 year old range, she needs to do some sit-ups. The vibrato and "swooping notes" are killing me. It's indicative of poor support.

you're right on spot about the age! even a bit under the spot

Originally Posted by RichS

As for the recording, nice balance. The spot on the guitar is just right. The room's not to bad either. Good job overall.

thank you - i did my best, and found it very interesting! gonna try to get more gigs like this in the future, as it's a great paradigm shift from my daily dialogue-editing routine.