Recording vocals

OKAY! now its taken a lonnnggg time to get here, but i finally have all the beats for my mixtape finished along with a couple random instrumentals im going to use. now ive been saving stacks up so i can have a decent finished product. ive had multiple opportunitys to jump aboard with alot of other local artist, but i want complete control over my mixtape. now i have a new mac i just bought. Im thinking about getting a protools package and a nice condenser mic and preamp. How does that sound? and i know im forgetting things, so please fill me in. because ive been here awhile and i know a lot of you guys are the shit. so if you would be so kind as to give me gear recommmendations/tips on recording vocals over (masteredbeats/instrumentals) while retaining a "pro" feel to it, it would be GREATLY appreciated thank youz.

What kind of money are you trying to spend? You dont have to dump thousands upon thousand of dollars for a good sound. But it boils down to the $

Like i have 2,000$ set aside strictly for the recording setup. so anything within that. i just really dont want to half ass this, i plan on shopping it to labels

I have a Rode M3 which is pretty cheap but gives a decent sound. Pretty good all round mic.

"pro" "mix tape" "2k" "send to lables" and then "what mic"
some of us have a scar on every limb of our body just from working for one peice of gear.. do chronic research and atleast come back with an idea we can tell you what its like... i make money to make music, i dont make music to make money.

first of all your gonna need a decent sounding room to record in or its gonna sound like shit in the first place.

heres my recomendations, if your thinkin about goin protools and all you want to do is vocals with one mic, i would look at an mbox2 mini 299, or the new avid mbox mini 329 (this will also give you the option of getting another 2 pres if you ever wanted to record more than just vocals.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PTMboxMini/

and then youll need a mic pre, becuase the pre-amps on those mboxes suck ass.

id check out the grace m101 single channel pre-amp (565$), and if you order it from bayview pro audio,they throw in a cascade m20u microphone for free with it. ( i havent tried the mic yet, but its still a free mic)
http://www.bayviewproaudio.com/customer ... ctid=23065

OR you could check out the FMR RNP its a dual channel pre, not quite as nice as the m101 imo,but a great pre for the price nonetheless. its 475$ then you get 2 channels.
http://www.mercenary.com/fmrrnmp.html

now for your vocal mic, i would strongly recommend an audio technica at4050 or a at4047, their both good mics, the 4047 has a slight peak at around 5khz and i have heard that alot of people like it to record vocals with becuause around 5k is where the presence of your typical vocal sits.

i myself have a 4050 and i love it, so no point in me buying a 4047. i have used the 4050 and its one of my favorite mics: my go-to mic for vocals and acoustic guitar. (699$)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AT4050/

the 4047 is the same price, but i would listen to the audio clips to see which one to go with.

now, finally, your gonna need a compressor, and your gonna need to learn how to use it, check out FMR compressors they are cheap and the best deals you can find sound wise for compression/ limiting

the fmr PBC-6A will run you 475$ but it hangs in there with compressors like the distressor and 1176 that are triple the price...no joke.

if not, i have heard that the FMR RNLA is alot of peoples go-to compressor/limiter for hip hop vocals and its half the price of the PBC-6a (225$)

some side notes, i have collected about all this stuff. i own a m-audio firewire410 and when i hooked up a RNP to it, it was a night and day difference in sound quality. i would expect the same if you were using it with an mbox.
the only reason i ended up purchasing the m101 was because it came with a free mic, and it looked sexyer. (i hadnt heard it at time of purchase)

both of these mic pres are VERY clean sounding, my whole thing was i wanted something to sound like the avalon 737 mic pre, but that was just wayyyy out of my price range. its like 1500 dollars for one of those things.

so on a whim i bought the m101 and i can tell you that i am very pleased with the sound quality i get and i dont really want an avalon anymore.

onto the compressors, i originally wanted an 1176 and those are like 2000 dollars and that was just too expensive for me, so i ended up buying the pbc-6a based entirely on the reviews i had seen about it; and now that i got it i really dont need an 1176 anymore either.

so basically, i did my research and me not being able to listen to these things before i bought them, i feel that i have gotten a great deal on both of these purchases and will be using them for along time to come before i think about upgrading.

i was gonna get the RNLA at first, but i had the money to get the pbc-6a, so i jumped on it. im sure that the RNLA would treat you just fine though.

the mic i had heard before, and my original signal chain was (that wasnt mine it was at a recording school i was attending) avalon 737-------> urei 1176--------> at4050

now my chain is grace m101------> fmr pbc-6a--------> at4050

so, do your reasearch, im just telling you what i have found and what i knew i wanted out of my chain. these are hands down the best deals for what i was looking for.

now lets tally it up

digi mbox 2 mini 299
fmr RNP 475
fmr RNLA 225
at 4050 699

total 1700

and i know i didnt pay 699 for my at4050, you can get better deals on these, check ebay, i got mine new for around 500 i think.

ive also heard good things about the at4033 its considerably cheaper than the 4050 399 at sweetwater
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AT4033CL


then i would use the rest of the money to build some gobos similar to this with some rockwool or oc703 insulation
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2087/220 ... 38.jpg?v=0

and finally one of these things to put in front of your mic just like the SE reflecion filter which goes for like 300 bucks, but this guy built his for 25
http://myhomestudiobuilddiary.blogspot. ... booth.html


i cannot stress enough how you need a good room first and foremost for your recordings to sound nice.
invest in the fiberglass and get to building yourself a booth. industrial inulation places sell this stuff, most home depots or lowes dont.

and learn your gear inside out, you can get professional results in a home-setup if you really know what your doing.

thats my .02 and what works for me.

you might be looking for something else, but i can tell you that i shopped around and found the great values without listening to most of this stuff first and am perfectly happy with the way i can get things to sound out of my gear.

What I have is an Great River MP-2NV mic pre amp and a Shure SM7b. There is a single channel Great River that runs about $1k. This really is a workhorse mic pre. The reason I went with a Shure SM7b is because I am recording in a home studio where my booth is a closet. The SM7b does very good at shielding outside noise and produces very good results. That combination will run you up to $1300. I found a shop out in NY last year that was going to sell me a 1 channel GR Mic Pre for $1050. Shop around and try to negotiate with people. The microphone runs about $350, but if you go into Guitar Center and ask them to get you a demo model from one of their stores, you should be able to get it for $250. It's brand new, comes with the box, but has been sitting on display.

If you have a closet or a corner that you plan on recording in, you are going to need to deaden the space. Check out www.mcmaster-carr.com and do a search for acoustic foam. You can get different thicknesses for different prices. Do a cost comparison between them and the pro audio stores.

Spend $50 to $100 on foam and you are still sitting on $600. Check craigslist for interfaces. If you are going Pro Tools, I wouldn't go for anything less than a Digi 002. The reason being is that it's got 8 ins and outs. I started with an Mbox 2 Pro and grew out of it within a few months. I'm close to outgrowing the Digi, but I can still make it work. They go for $450-$600 out here, but don't come with software most of the time. PT8LE is running at $150 I think, so if you can get a good deal on any of the above items, you should still be able to come in budget with a nice setup.

Good luck

+1 on the sm7b also

although i havent used it myself for vocals (its a great hihat mic though) i have heard many good things about it on vox.

I would spend it on a enginer. Do vocals in a pro studio. Watch what he does and uses. Ask questions, he will proll have you do 3-4 takes minimum per verse. And 3-4 takes per adlib. He will tell you why you need to go again.. like loss of breath, out of key, to spikey or flat mono tone. Or the most common, lossing timing and rythim. A few hundred on vocal time will save you hundreds of hours trying to get it figured out with new stuff you have yet learnes the pros/ cons ..strong and week points. If you insist on a crazy learning curve on a long worked, heart and soul project then i recomend.. g5 mac or macbook pro. And logic pro. And for.the mixdown and eq,mastering.. iztop - ozone. As for mic i cant recomend.. we use only top stuff and i dont know about mid range mics.