Any tips for recording quiet vocalists live?

[soundinista]

Hello, I haven't posted on here before - I'm a studio-only engineer, and mostly a mixer these days, but I need some advice from people more knowledgeable about the live environment.

I've just started getting a lot of work mixing for a company who video bands playing live, at gigs or in simulated gig conditions (ie. it's a music venue, and set up like a gig, but just cameras instead of audience, and only monitors, no FoH). They have another engineer who handles recording and monitor mixes and he seems pretty competent, but I have attended a couple of sessions just to observe and give feedback on the recording process.

I have one specific and one general question:

Specifically, I have just spent a really boring morning doing micro-automation on some vocal tracks by a female singer. She's just one woman and her acoustic guitar, and has an extremely quiet, breathy, whispery voice. Nice, but every little lip-smack, sibilance, capsule pop, and breath is absurdly loud in relation to her actual voice. What would be a good alternative to an SM58 to use for singers like this? I can think of a few i'd reach for in the studio, and obviously I'd back her off from the mic, but what would you do in a live situation?

And in general, any tips for getting manageable recordings in this setup? I suggested all the obvious things, like being aware of where mics, monitors and amps are pointing, and we tried putting BV mics low, just below chin height, pointing up at the mouth, so they are off-axis to any other sounds on stage, which seems to help somewhat. We're trying to keeps the bands disciplined about monitor and amp levels, and putting overheads as low as they can go and still sound decent. Anything I'm missing?

Overall, I'm pretty happy with what we've got so far, considering what is for, and enjoying the challenge of working with spill and limited editing and correction options, but the biggest challenges so far seem to come from quiet vocalists.

[Jungle Jazz]

If it's just a solo singer playing guitar, you could try a pair of figure 8 mics, with the null of the vocal mic pointed at the guitar and the null of the guitar mic pointed at the mouth. You could put your monitors in the side nulls, or use in ear monitors. Oh yeah, use a good popfilter on the vocals, and keep her off the mic.

He's what that setup looks like.

Musikanto - To See You One More Time on Vimeo

[soundinista]

thanks - I've used the 2 figure-8 trick in the studio, but I'm not about to suggest that they buy a couple of 414s. It's a new company, yet to see a profit, and they have just sunk a lot of money into buying cameras, computers, a hard-disk recorder, etc., etc. I've already persuaded them to lash out on 16 channels of decent outboard pres, and I don't think they're going to invest any more serious money in audio gear until the money (hopefully) starts rolling in.

Pop shield is not an option either, because they don't look good on video.

I also should have made the question less case-specific. Next time a similar situation arises, there might be other musicians as well, so more distant mic'ing with condensers or ribbons possibly not so good.

Or even simpler - how about - when you're on an FoH gig, and the singer sounds like crap through an SM58, what's the next thing you reach for?

[soundinista]

oh - and should add - we're not using in-ears unless the band bring their own. They are just too disorientating for a musician who hasn't used them onstage before, and the performance suffers.

This is about capturing the band doing their thing in a familiar environment, so trying to make the recording process as unobtrusive as possible, even if that means we have to live with a few sonic compromises at mixdown, but obviously I'd like to get the best recording we can within those limitations.

[mllrtms]

Throw a 441 up, they sound much better then a 58 imho and they're supercard which makes for better isolation anyway. You can pick a used one up for $600 easily.

[hbphotoav]

The first thing I'd grab from my kit would be a BeyerDynamic M500... but, as I've owned it since it was a current offering in the '70s, it might be difficult to find. Easier to find (rental-wise) would be a Neumann KMS-105. They sound pretty fabulous on most anything but hard rock (and who's to argue with Diana Krall's choice?) and, as the singer pulls back (or is pulled back) the proximity effect nulls nicely (no need to roll off 120 and down) and otherwise, the character of the sound stays remarkably consistent. And, as it's a supercard, it helps if wedges are necessary.

The KMS-104 is similar (a bit more proximity effect, and a bit less off-axis rejection as it's a cardioid), as is (from what I've heard) the Shure KSM9, designed to compete with the high-end Neumanns. Next down the list would be the Shure Beta 87A... but it's a bit peakier in the upper mids, and would likely require a bit more EQ tweaking than any of the aforementioned.

However... all that aside... good vocal technique trumps all. If her voice is mousier than her lip smacks and breath intake noise, any mic worth using will reproduce pretty much what's fed into it. If she wants to mouse whisper the vocal, she will need a producer to tell her to work on eliminating lip smacks and learn to breathe quietly for that style. Seems to me that your engineering-based repair should be an "extra hours = extra billing" service. But, then, I'm in it for the money...

HB

[soundinista]

thanks for these suggestions, appreciate it

[baze sax]

hi, what do you think about inserting some kind of exiter(ultramizer) in the signal path of a live vocal. there are some cheap stereo(dual mono) devices on the market for instrument rigs and whole mixes. why not for live solo vocal. would it be a real enhancement? best regards, billy.