Tips to deal with Acute Female voice???

[sebdj]

I'm working with a female singer that have a acute voice.
Almost like a child voice...
She sing very well
But to mix it is complex

My vocal chain is :
Mic: Rode NT2-A (wich I had a Neumann U87)
Pre-amp : Summit Audio 2ba-221

Do you have any tips on mixing a acute voice??

[chrysb93065]

We may need more information. Maybe post an example of what she sounds like. Is the voice bright (edgy)? Then EQ will tame it down a bit. A plugin channelstrip or tape/tube warmer plugin could also soften it. If it's weak (childlike?), try doubling or cloning the track and adding some delay or chorus to the second track. Good luck.

[Colonel Blues]

What do you mean ??? Something like Cindy Lauper ??

[sebdj]

Sorry I can't provide sample since it's copyrighted but
Yes It is even more acute then cyndi lauper.

I tough about removing some mids in the EQ.
Since it's the major problem.
I'm looking to mix her voice as the primary object in the song
So I try to put her voice as confortable for the listener even at a high volume.

I have tryed the WaveArt Tube Saturator
It's good. But it seem like a can't make the voice standing out with little spralkle (great voice detail and nice clear high frequency).
if I remove the mids, and if I don't remove it it's hard for the hear.

[studiostuff]

If you have time to re-record, try a ribbon mic. Might just be the ticket.

If she's really acute, post some pics...

[joeq]

Instead of EQing, how about a de-esser tuned to the mids that you find painful? it could kick in when they got to be too much and stay out when they were normal.

[travisbrown]

Originally Posted by sebdj

Do you have any tips on mixing a acute voice??

Is she cute?

Shrill voices....hard to deal with. You don't want to change her sound so much that she's unrecognizable, but you might try a multiband or sidechained comp to treat just the frequencies where she's too cutting.

You might try getting a vocal coach in to coach her through shaping her sound for these performances.

Scooping her voice with EQ alone might just take the guts out.

Hard to tell without hearing it, though.

[solo-bration]

I find that shrill 'pain' lives somewhere between 2.5-4k. Maybe set a de-esser down there to keep the piercing stuff down. And as someone said previously, doubling may soften & warm her up. Compression

[Jules]

A FOCUSRITE 115 series eq is good for removing 2 seperate mid frequncies at a narrow enough eq on a female vocal to still leave some of it left.

I would say it could be a great hardware repair tool for this situation.

[sebdj]

Do you think buying a neumann u87 will resolve the problem?
I tryed to work the eq on voice sample of the u87 here on gearslut
And it's really easy to bring the details without the mid starting to have a "phone effect"

[joeq]

Originally Posted by sebdj

Do you think buying a neumann u87 will resolve the problem?
I tryed to work the eq on voice sample of the u87 here on gearslut
And it's really easy to bring the details without the mid starting to have a "phone effect"

rent an hour of time in a studio that has a U87 and see.
you will get another vocal done and you will learn if the mic works on your problem

in fact go to a studio that has a selection of nice mics -including some ribbons

[drtechno]

here is some Ideas:

1. have one mic has the primary mic she sings through, and have another one (like a condensor of any size, but different or even an SM57 if you have a good enough preamp for the gain required.) on a guitar stand below the other mic pointing up (45-60 degree from horizontal ) tack it in, Eq and compress the tracks differently if you need to.

2. duplicate track in the DAW, compress and EQ differently

[sebdj]

I never tough about a duplicate track and eq them differently.
This is a good idea. I wonder why I never tough of that.
Thx drtechno !

Do you use that technic often??

[Storyville]

NT2A will probably exacerbate the problem. There's a brassiness living in the 2.5-5k zone, which seems to be common of rode mics in general. Not good if she's concentrating her frequencies into that range.

Acute Female vocalist. Askher if she's single? Hahahahaha. Stupid pun. Stupid stupid pun.