low profile vocal isolation device for live recording

[Jeremy Oswin]

Greetings!

In my searches I haven't yet found an answer for this need. Could someone direct me towards a relevant thread or offer their expertise?

I will be tracking a live recording of a band in one room with isolation on every instrument except the drums and lead vocal. I mostly need isolation on the vocal (minimal drum bleed). Vocalist will face the drums while having an open door and 2 sleeping bags draped over mic stands behind him. The arrangement I'm considering is an Audix OM7 mic with some sort of low profile acoustic barrier between the mic and drum kit. What are some barrier/gobo candidates?

So far I'm considering the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter, the SM Pro Audio Mic Thing, and a few other products.

Priorities are rear rejection (high STC), band mate & music stand visibility, portability & sturdiness, attractiveness, and price (preferably under $350).

Any tried and proven products and/or methods come to mind?

Thanks!


-Jeremy

[pkautzsch]

Make the singer hold a SM58 in his hands.

In a small room, it's always gonna be VERY difficult to keep all the reflected drum sound out which comes from just about everywhere. I don't think portable stuff will be enough - a windowed large gobo might do the trick, but basically you'll need to make a full-size booth either for drums or for vocals.

So, indeed, give him a 58 and make use of Good Leakage.

...And do a search for Steve Remote aka Remoteness' Virtual Gobo technique.

[marcpl]

i have the SM Pro Audio Mic Thing and it works very well. i haven't tracked vocs with a live kit in the room though. i would imagine that the bleed from the drums to the voc mic will be pretty hard to deal with.

is it an option to put the singer in another room?

[Jeremy Oswin]

Thanks for suggesting Steve Remote's virtual gobo technique. I spent the last couple evenings reading some of those threads and learned a lot.

E.g. Remoteness-"virtual gobos"

Originally Posted by marcpl

is it an option to put the singer in another room?

Not for this session. (Down the road, definitely. -After I swap the control room with studio B, which = visibility as well as isolation.)

The singer also plays electric guit and will be confined to a vocal mic stand. My current idea is to position an OM7 (hypercardioid) at a 45˚ so it's rear lobe faces a waist high gobo in front of the kick. A secondary barrier could go directly behind the mic for additional rejection, kind of a "micro gobo." Any additional bleed would become drum room sound (or get time aligned & polarity inverted with respect to the drum mics, if it sounds better.)

I like the Reflexion Filter for it's small size, slick look, and well designed acoustic absorption & diffusion layers. 8 lbs.

I like the Mic Thing for it's heavier mass (higher STC & NRC I understand), optional reflection grills, angling flexibility, and heavy duty stand. 14 lbs.

I like the Realtraps Portable Vocal Booth for it's larger surface area (sound blocking & absorbing front) and it's company's generous educating and acoustics improvement efforts. 11 lbs.

I'm leaning towards the Mic Thing at this point.

Thanx gearslutz and you alls for your wealth of information!

Cheers


-Jeremy Oswin

[pkautzsch]

You need, then, to make sure that as little drums come bouncing back from behind the singer. Proximity Effect will be your friend, too.

or...is there any chance for the singer to do a temp vox track during full band recording, and doing a clean vox take afterwards?

[DannyL]

Do you have access to a Coles Lip Mic?

Or you could use a similar technique, though with a bi-directional pattern...the off axis response would be excellent.

Also: a Countryman Isomax II Hypercardioid on a headset boom gives incredible isolation....has great dynamic range, is a good sounding element and allows your singer to move his head.

Danny

[Jeremy Oswin]

Originally Posted by pkautzsch

You need, then, to make sure that as little drums come bouncing back from behind the singer. Proximity Effect will be your friend, too.

or...is there any chance for the singer to do a temp vox track during full band recording, and doing a clean vox take afterwards?

Possibly. For budgeting purposes we've decided to track the LV live to save time and capture his live energy. If the performance is below their standards, they will consider overdubbing. So it's my goal to get a useable sound live.

An open door to the bathroom behind him should vent some drum sound, I suspect. And 2 heavy sleeping bags hanging just inside will create multiple layers for dissipation before those reflections bounce back into his mic.

Yes, proximity effect will be on my top 3 best friends list! And hopefully the vocalist's too, as he will have no choice but to be osculating with the microphone all afternoon! ;-)

Originally Posted by DannyL

Do you have access to a Coles Lip Mic?

Or you could use a similar technique, though with a bi-directional pattern...the off axis response would be excellent.

Also: a Countryman Isomax II Hypercardioid on a headset boom gives incredible isolation....has great dynamic range, is a good sounding element and allows your singer to move his head.

Danny

I like those ideas. The Countryman stands out with it's mobility and specs, could be useful in many of my situations. Hmmmm....

Curious, anyone had success using a shotgun mic to record vocals in a noisy environment?



-Jeremy

[pkautzsch]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Oswin

Possibly. For budgeting purposes we've decided to track the LV live to save time and capture his live energy. If the performance is below their standards, they will consider overdubbing. So it's my goal to get a useable sound live.

or, maybe it should NOT be your REAL goal, if they're gonna pay extra for the overdub.

An open door to the bathroom behind him should vent some drum sound, I suspect.

Depending on the bathroom, it could also make up a very nice reverb chamber for the drum sound, with the vox mic picking up that reverb. The sleeping bags are the safer bet. A closed door could even make for a LF absorber...
[/QUOTE]

Countryman (or any other good headset mic) could be a nice option indeed.

[colinhart]

I'm a fan of the SE reflection filter. Works well, and is fairly pretty. You just need a decent mic stand for it...

To reduce the drums even more, you could try using a mic like the EV N/D967, which takes advantage of the Inverse Square Law by getting the vocal virtually on top of the diaphragm. A mic like this allows you to use less gain on your pre to get the same level on the vocals, and therefore are effectively pulling in less noise (e.g. the drums in this case)

Hope this helps! Good luck!

EV Mic:
N/D967 - Electrovoice

Inverse Square Law (if you don't know it already)
Inverse Square Law for Sound