Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)
I am trying to figure out what makes a vocal sound dry vs wet. I am not
referring to the amount of ambience (real or artificial) in a vocal
recording. I am referring the the timbre of the vocal. I realize most
of it comes down to the tone of the vocalist, but it seems like some
mics may flatter or accentuate this tendency.
The best analogy I can think of to describe what I mean by dry vs wet
is in guitar tone. Think of a the clean guitar tone from a shitty
transistor amp. No matter the EQ of the tone, it has a thin "dry"
stiff, 2 dimensional sound to it. Now think of a tube brownface fender
clean tone. Even with similar overall EQ, it sounds lush deep and wet
and 3d.
My questions are:
1) What the hell am I hearing? Is it really timbre? Or is it the
envelope/transients? Other non-linearities/distortions?
2) How can I move towards this sound, specifically with vocalists that
may not be George Jones or Roy Orbison.
To give an idea of my signal chain, I am recording with a delta 1010,
using modest mics and pres:
AT3035
MXLV67G
Also other "non-vocal" mics (no such thing):
SM57
MXL603s
SP C4
Presonus MP20 (jensen trannies)
Peavey VMP2
Short of upgrading the talent in front of the mic, what would give me a
greater improvement in realism of my recordings, a new mic or better AD
converters? I have been looking at the Lucid 2 channel box.
I am trying to figure out what makes a vocal sound dry vs wet. I am not
referring to the amount of ambience (real or artificial) in a vocal
recording. I am referring the the timbre of the vocal. I realize most
of it comes down to the tone of the vocalist, but it seems like some
mics may flatter or accentuate this tendency.
The best analogy I can think of to describe what I mean by dry vs wet
is in guitar tone. Think of a the clean guitar tone from a shitty
transistor amp. No matter the EQ of the tone, it has a thin "dry"
stiff, 2 dimensional sound to it. Now think of a tube brownface fender
clean tone. Even with similar overall EQ, it sounds lush deep and wet
and 3d.
My questions are:
1) What the hell am I hearing? Is it really timbre? Or is it the
envelope/transients? Other non-linearities/distortions?
2) How can I move towards this sound, specifically with vocalists that
may not be George Jones or Roy Orbison.
To give an idea of my signal chain, I am recording with a delta 1010,
using modest mics and pres:
AT3035
MXLV67G
Also other "non-vocal" mics (no such thing):
SM57
MXL603s
SP C4
Presonus MP20 (jensen trannies)
Peavey VMP2
Short of upgrading the talent in front of the mic, what would give me a
greater improvement in realism of my recordings, a new mic or better AD
converters? I have been looking at the Lucid 2 channel box.