Great mic pre/mic combo for female contemporary style vocals?

[grobichaud]

Hey everyone I'm going to be doing a recording for my sister soon who wants to record a song for her first dance at her wedding so I want a solid mic pre and mic to use in the recording. I will be renting the equipment so don't worry about cost. I use an mbox mini and was also wondering if I should also rent a digi003 or will going through the line input be good enough.

Please help, thanks.

[goldenlotus]

If you are renting grab a Sony C800g and a Neve 1073. You could also just book a couple hours at a studio for not that much money.

[Backhousepro]

If money is no object, rent the following signal chain: Pearlman TM-LE to an A Designs Audio Pacifica to a Daking FET 2 compressor. Then go line in to your Digi. (This combination is currently being used to record a mega-selling pop female vocalist).

Other good mics for pop girl vocals are the Sony C-800g, Beyer MC 740, and the AKG 414.

Any good preamp will do for your purposes; if you want transparency, a Grace m101 or GML 8302 will do ya; for some punch, a Neve 1073, Great River MEQ-1NV, Groove Tubes ViPRE, the aforementioned Pacifica, etc, etc. In reality, all of this is an overkill for what you're doing.

More of a budget route (and one that seems to be more in keeping with what you doing) that will work quite well would be a Studio Projects LSD twin to a Joemeek OneQ. The OneQ will give you preamp, EQ, and an opto-compressor to prevent digital overs, plus 24-bit/96kHz converters and digital outputs, so you can bypass the Digi's converters. The unit was designed by Allan Bradford, who designed some pretty respectable gear for CLM Dynamics. I've tested the TwinQ (2-channel version) for a magazine review and was pretty impressed with the results.


-B-

[grobichaud]

hahaha wow what does it say for the company (Long and McQuade) when a staff member doesn't know what a Sony C800g is...

So renting a C800g is out of the question, what would a Neumann U87 sound like on female vocals? I can get a Neve mic pre but they don't have the one you mentioned. But I'm sure there is no such thing as a bad Neve pre.

Thanks for the input. Any more help would be great.

[Backhousepro]

Imogen Heap uses a Neumann TLM 103. And, if I recall correctly, an Avalon Vt 737sp channel strip. You should be able to find these without too much problem.

Certainly a Neumann U87 is going to give you good sound. That's why they've been a standard studio vocal mic for so many years. You put them up and they work. Also, don't be too hard on the Long & McQuade staff monkey boy (said affectionately), an $8,500 mic generally falls outside of their customer base.

-B-

[Roc Mixwell]

Originally Posted by grobichaud

hahaha wow what does it say for the company (Long and McQuade) when a staff member doesn't know what a Sony C800g is...

So renting a C800g is out of the question, what would a Neumann U87 sound like on female vocals? I can get a Neve mic pre but they don't have the one you mentioned. But I'm sure there is no such thing as a bad Neve pre.

Thanks for the input. Any more help would be great.

A "Bad Neve" would all depend on who you ask. I would highly recommend the Microtech Gefell UMT70s with a Great River ME1NV. Save your money. You don't need a 1073 or a U87 to cut amazing tracks.