Hi

A little "thing" that occurs when we record our stuff on our computer...

The vocalist sings very full and brutal on rehearsals, using a Shure SM 58 directly into a behringer B300 monitor.

when we plug the SM58 into my pc line-in, recording the stuff, it sounds rather thin and not very good anymore (the quality of the sound is good but the vocals itself are shit, not like they are 'live')

This is without any effects on them... In recording studios (and even live), what effects might be applied? Echo, ...? It would be cool if I could get the live-sound back.

Thanks

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you might try using a tube mic preamp and or an effects unit.
vocalist-effects unit-tube pre-mixer-computer..... a setup like that should be able to help any decent vocalist sound better recorded.

just dick around with some vocal effects and stuff and see if you can't come out with a sound you like.

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Hm.. Definitely go for the mic tube preamp. It makes a pretty big difference at times. Maybe if you can manage it, put in a little reverb, smooths the sound a bit. Don't put too many effects on his vocals because I've found that vocalists usually get pretty pissed when you start putting effects all over their voices. Try having him go through a song the same way or slightly different (lower maybe) and double them up.

Also, you said that you're running an SM58 into your PC's line in... I'd try plugging into a mixer and then into your line in or whatever.. What kind of sound card do you have in your computer? That might be playing a big role, too.

Ah, thanks.

well I wouldn't know what sound card I have...

I've been looking for a cheap secondhand mixer but I can't find one.

I'll give the reverb a try on the next recording sessions, hope I can keep it subtile enough so I won't screw the vox

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instead of putting it in the pc line-in jack, try putting it in the pc-mic jack!

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Yeah well

that's where I actually put it in, sorry I termed it wrong...

In fact I put my guitars in the mic-in too... now that I think of it

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ya you dont want your guitar going through the mic input. mic input's have a built in amp on the soundcard, and it will make your guitar sound like ass

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Helpful...

Alright so I have three coloured jacks at the back... One for microphone (I guess because I've used it and all programs accept that for a mic), one line-out for my speakers... So it the third one the regular line-in or what?

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Thats right
The only thing you would want plugged into your mic input is a microphone. Everything else goes through your line-in.... cd player, guitar, tape deck, anything that you want to record that alredy has power running through it.
You'll notice a guitar without an amp plugged directly into the mic slot will be much louder then when its plugged into the line-in.

You might want to check out your windoes sound config too. By defauly windows sets the sound quality to "good" and you'll want to change it to "excellent" if your doing any recording. Click Start/Settings/ControlPanel
Click Sounds and Multimedia then click the Audio tab. You'll see 2 buttons that say "advanced" in there, you can change the audio qulity.

This might help you get a better vocal sound also. Besides drums, voc's are definatly the hardest to record properly. Make sure your vocalist is holding the mic the exact same distance away from his mouth the whole time. You might want to try compressing and amplifying the secions that you see is low and high. These are just a few tips but practicing and playing around with your software and its effects will help you the most. Try cool edit if you haven't already. Its very easy to use and comes with more then enough fx. Hope this helps.

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i just read your original post again....
try turning the rest of the instruments down and keeping the vocals turned up. Then when you mix the tracks together at the end, amplify the mix so everything gets louder. You might want to try recording the voc's in stereo (if your not already) meaning left and right. This will give a HUGE sound. Keep the tracks pretty close (20-30% left and right) the further you channel them (80-100%) the less your gonna hear them, and it wont sound very good.

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The reason is you need a mic preamp. Get a mic preamp and if you want it to sound really brutal put a lot of gain in the mic preamp and the vocals won't sound dry and little anymore. Also if you add effects to it after you'll get even a bigger sound. Put more gain than volume. The gain is what makes you sound big.

ressurecting a year old topic... smooooothhh.

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