Session Log: Vocals

 8/5/24

To capture the vocals I utilised the intended Neumann U87 in cardioid mode, with an added pop shield to reduce sibilance and plosives (figure 1). I sang 7 inches away from the microphone as planned (figure 2)


Figure 1: Mic and pop shield setup in the vocal booth.


Figure 2: Singer distance from the microphone.


Once recorded both vocal tracks were bussed out of Pro Tools into a Neve 1073LB EQ and Dl441 compressor before returning on new tracks (figure 3).



Figure 3: Routing order for the session.


The EQ is quite subtle however, misreading the unit I improperly boosting at 80Hz whilst correctly boosting the highs at around 5kHz (figure 4) I later applied F6-RTA plugin EQ within my DAW to make more substantial changes fixing my mistakes, engaging a slight cut at 15kHz to make room for the hi-hats, a high pass below 125Hz cutting out unwanted rumble and a subtle reduction at around 750Hz - 1.5kHz to reduce some nasally frequencies (figure 5).



Figure 4: EQ settings used on the Neve EQ.


Figure 5: settings used in the F6-RTA plugin.


The DL441 compressor applied directly after the Neve EQ is quite subtle, just tickling the vocals with a moderate ratio of 2:1 that dabs the tracks with a low threshold of around -4 (figure 6).


Figure 6: settings used on the DL441 compressor.


Post recording within my DAW I applied some subtle reverb using H-Reverb to add a little room to the sound (figure 7).



Figure 7: Reverb settings applied to vocals post recording.


Reflection:

Overall I feel the vocals came out ok, the mic usage and placement creates a clear and crisp recording and went as planned, the compressor makes nice subtle changes. 

I feel however, that similarly to the clavinet session, the use of the Neve EQ was poor and insubstantial due to my lack of reading the adjustments properly. I feel the F6-RTA EQ fortunately saves the tracks.




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