Micing Tips

[Riptide]

Hey guys and gals, I'm working on a film project with my brother and it's animation so of course we're going to have to record all the vocals. We are using a AKG Perception 220 What side should be facing the voice? The front flat side I'm assuming? Also what is a good distance to be away from it? We have one of those black screen things too. Also does it matter if it's being "hung" of being "help up?"

 

Thanks for you help and sorry for being such an amateur when it comes to recording vocals :P

[Ryan H]

The side with the two switches (the bass rolloff and 20db pad) and the AKG logo is the side you would speak/sing into. As for distance, it depends on the voice. About 6 inches is a good distance I'd say, to start. For vocals my recording engineer friends generally keep the pop filter about 2-3 inches from the mic, and the singer about 2-3 inches back from the pop filter. Of course, depending on the voice, you may want to move them closer (for voices which lack low end). Basically, the closer they are to the mic, the more bass you get (due to proximity effect).

 

The way you mount the mic (stand, hanging ect.) will have little effect on the sound imo.

 

-Ryan

[Riptide]

Thanks a lot! It's working out really well. We have one problem though, we're getting this really high frequency hum underneath all the recordings. We are even getting that hum when the mic is unplugged from the mixer (Alesis MultiMix4). Any idea what the hum is from? It might be because the mixer power isn't grounded.

[Ryan H]

Thanks a lot! It's working out really well. We have one problem though, we're getting this really high frequency hum underneath all the recordings. We are even getting that hum when the mic is unplugged from the mixer (Alesis MultiMix4). Any idea what the hum is from? It might be because the mixer power isn't grounded.

 

Grounding would be my first guess too.

 

-Ryan

[capmaster]

Hey guys and gals, I'm working on a film project with my brother and it's animation so of course we're going to have to record all the vocals. We are using a AKG Perception 220 What side should be facing the voice? The front flat side I'm assuming? Also what is a good distance to be away from it? We have one of those black screen things too. Also does it matter if it's being "hung" of being "help up?"

 

Thanks for you help and sorry for being such an amateur when it comes to recording vocals :P

The most natural tone you will get when putting the mic in front of the artist's forehead. Pop noise problems are minimized this way, too. Since many years, I exclusively apply this mic positioning for classical as well as pop & rock artists. Some artists want some more mics to be recorded, so I usually record the signals of two additional mics, but the forehead mic ends up in the mixes at about 98%. Sometimes we take a shout from the additional omnidirectional mic spaced farther apart...

 

When combined with the absolutely crucial pre-digital personal monitoring, this positioning will ensure the best control of both intonation and dynamic by the artists. Ignorant professional engineers use pitch quantization like AutoTune and needless compressors as can be heard all through the airplays nowadays.

[Riptide]

Grounding would be my first guess too.

 

-Ryan

Any idea how to ground it since it just has a two prong cord? Might it try to ground itself to the chassis of the mixer itself?

 

The most natural tone you will get when putting the mic in front of the artist's forehead. Pop noise problems are minimized this way, too. Since many years, I exclusively apply this mic positioning for classical as well as pop & rock artists. Some artists want some more mics to be recorded, so I usually record the signals of two additional mics, but the forehead mic ends up in the mixes at about 98%. Sometimes we take a shout from the additional omnidirectional mic spaced farther apart...

 

When combined with the absolutely crucial pre-digital personal monitoring, this positioning will ensure the best control of both intonation and dynamic by the artists. Ignorant professional engineers use pitch quantization like AutoTune and needless compressors as can be heard all through the airplays nowadays.

Thanks for the input! That will definitely help

[EVOL!]

Any idea how to ground it since it just has a two prong cord? Might it try to ground itself to the chassis of the mixer itself?

 

 

Two things to try, in this order.

 

1. Try your setup in a different location and see if you have that hum. That would rule out something on your studio space.

 

2. Turn the plug around so you plug it in the other way. This may not even be possible if one of the prongs is a lot wider.

 

I was looking online to see if that mixer had a polarity 180 flip, but it does not. My guess is that it is something in your studio space. Maybe try an internet search for that mixer and hum?

[milod]

Often a high pitch "hum" can come from wiring or whatever being too close to something like a power source or fan or other possible interference. I had that difficulty for a while with far less sophisticated equipment than yours. I moved the wires around a bit and voila.

 

The fact that unplugging the mikes didn't change anything could be a clue. What else is around or in some sort of electrical operation? Any electrical use in theory can affect this sort of thing. I remember as a kid messing with an old tube radio that I could get to have "morse code" clicks by just clicking wires from a battery together. In effect, your mixer is a radio receiver without a tuner. Some problem could be coming through the electric wiring from something else on the circuit. There are other possibilities too.

 

m