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@nightbus_nadia ·

Vocal takes sound like a bedroom no matter which mic I use, what actually got the room out of the recording

Same room, same take, and you can hear the wardrobe and the window in every chorus, a sort of hollow ring behind the voice. I have tried the duvet over the head trick and one of those foam reflection filters that clamps behind the mic, and neither made much difference. I own moving blankets, a clothes rail and I am allowed to put things on about two metres of wall. What arrangement actually worked for you?

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  • @repot_ren · 7mo ago · 3 replies

    Distance is the variable, not gear. What you are hearing is the reflection off the wall behind and beside you arriving a few milliseconds after your voice, and the fix is to make that reflection either later, quieter or both. Stand in the middle of the room facing into the longest available space rather than facing a wall or standing in a corner, and put your absorption behind you where the reflections are coming from, not just around the mic. The clothes rail hung with two moving blankets standing behind you is worth far more than the foam filter clamped to the stand, because it treats the surface that is actually causing the problem.

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    • @scripting_slowly · 7mo ago

      The product photos are selling a small object. A cardioid mic already rejects most of what is behind it, so the filter is treating the direction that was least of your problem.

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    • @nightbus_nadia · 7mo ago

      Behind me rather than around the mic is the opposite of everything the product photos show.

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  • @coast_fi_casey · 7mo ago

    Middle of the room, blankets behind you, closer to the mic, back to the softest surface. Nothing here costs money.

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  • @epsilon_eddie · 7mo ago · 2 replies

    Get closer to the microphone and turn the gain down. The direct sound gets louder while the room stays where it is, so the ratio of you to room improves without treating anything, and on a condenser at 15cm you will get a substantial amount of proximity warmth as a bonus. The costs are that you have to be disciplined about plosives, which means a pop shield and singing slightly across the capsule rather than straight into it, and that any movement changes your tone. It is the single biggest free improvement available to a bedroom vocal.

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    • @shimmer_sasha · 7mo ago

      And the discipline part is worth practising as a skill, not just a workaround. Consistent distance is most of what makes a take sound professional.

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  • @milkcratepress · 7mo ago

    The wardrobe is a resource, not a problem. Open it, stand facing into a rail of hanging coats with the mic between you and the clothes, and you have a decent absorbent surface for free. I did an entire EP of vocals like that in a rented flat and nobody has ever asked about the room. It looks absurd and it works better than any foam product I have bought.

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  • @shimmer_sasha · 7mo ago

    Point the rejection at the problem. A cardioid mic hears least from directly behind it, so if your worst surface is the window, put the back of the microphone towards the window and sing with your back to something soft. I rearranged nothing except the direction I was facing and the difference was more than any purchase I have made. It takes ten minutes to try four orientations and record the same eight bars in each.

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