With my own band, I’ve recorded my vocals holding an sm7b in my hands. The down at the mic way she mentions kinda happened naturally that way, and I thought it worked great. Also way easier to really get into to it, and get more of a live feeling, being able to move around more. Any downsides to holding it instead of using a stand? You need to be aware of the mic distance from your mouth of course.
I still prefer to mount the mic and/or mic clip/shock mount upside down, but I still set myself up so I'm singing and screaming downward. I position it so the body of the mic is dead even with my eyes, or close to it or at the bridge of my nose with LDC's, and for dynamics, I put the mount or clip roughly even with the palate protrusion under my nose. In both cases, I angle the capsule upwards by 35 degrees or so. I also love to double mic vocals, especially for a mixture of singing and screaming, and angle the condenser mic towards my actual throat with the gain turned up a bit, and then use the condenser as a double for the sung parts, and for up close and intimate parts, like spoken word or whispers, I get right up as close as possible to both and projects as best as I can. also, I chop the condenser out for most of the screaming sections, unless it's really lacking in cut, or if I want the extra volume for emphasis.
I find pointing the mic up towards the nose adds more nasally frequencies to the vocal take so I like to point the mic at the mouth but downwards instead of up and putting a pop filter in front of the mic and tell the artist to sing directly into it. It hides the mic and keeps them from trying to look up.
You know the same concept is true about drums. Sitting above the kit where you don't raise your arms to play the snare and toms relaxes your arms and easier to hit harder and play faster. Also sitting up high enough where your legs are almost straight relaxes them for doing double bass or such vs. totally bent knees at a 90 degree angle from sitting so low.
What would you consider the best mic placement from the perspective of sound quality for metal vocals? I mean, different soundwaves different directionality as emitted from the body and the location and angle of the mic thus has a significant direct impact on the sound as well.
I absolutely loathe the Neumann U87 Shockmount. If I angle mine that way, the metal clanks together because the stupid elastic doesn't hold it in place very well.
hard to say, very depends on the vocalist, the preamp and the room. For screaming, I think that the number 1 thing to do with the SM7b is to disable both filters on the back off the mic. Set the low cut to flat and the 2k boost to flat. It will sound a lot less harsh. It is always a safe bet to keep a decent amount of headroom on the pre and compress a little bit before hitting the DAW with a LA2A or a slow compressor (even a plug-in on the way in) . Then you can add a little shelv at 8k for brightness and air. Beyond this point, it depends on the context
Eyal Levi As someone who sings and produces music, it’s neat to see a video dedicated to this topic. Most producers/ engineers I’ve met don’t always consider the angle of the microphone (maybe they’re not singers themselves), so it’s neat to see Mary explain that. It may be easy to overlook, but is still important! Thanks for the great videos!
Eyal Levi Eyal Levi I’d probably have to go with around 2:00, where she starts relating to some of the basic physiology of singing. It’s pretty simple concept, but now I have I good video I can refer my friends to that are trying to get into music production
Who's gonna try these in their next vocal session??
a guy I know with two thumbs
Me tonight literally
looking on RUclips at this floyd track: who really invented satanic metal?
Me lol am doing some recordings atm, so this will help a lot lol
Very helpful information. I’ve come to find this technique out already but hearing it from a professional ensures to keep it going! Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
With my own band, I’ve recorded my vocals holding an sm7b in my hands. The down at the mic way she mentions kinda happened naturally that way, and I thought it worked great. Also way easier to really get into to it, and get more of a live feeling, being able to move around more. Any downsides to holding it instead of using a stand? You need to be aware of the mic distance from your mouth of course.
I still prefer to mount the mic and/or mic clip/shock mount upside down, but I still set myself up so I'm singing and screaming downward. I position it so the body of the mic is dead even with my eyes, or close to it or at the bridge of my nose with LDC's, and for dynamics, I put the mount or clip roughly even with the palate protrusion under my nose. In both cases, I angle the capsule upwards by 35 degrees or so. I also love to double mic vocals, especially for a mixture of singing and screaming, and angle the condenser mic towards my actual throat with the gain turned up a bit, and then use the condenser as a double for the sung parts, and for up close and intimate parts, like spoken word or whispers, I get right up as close as possible to both and projects as best as I can. also, I chop the condenser out for most of the screaming sections, unless it's really lacking in cut, or if I want the extra volume for emphasis.
Mary Z is beautifully talented
This is awesome! Thanks 🙏🏽
Thanks for watching!
i prefer using a pop filter and remove the foam on the sm7b
I find pointing the mic up towards the nose adds more nasally frequencies to the vocal take so I like to point the mic at the mouth but downwards instead of up and putting a pop filter in front of the mic and tell the artist to sing directly into it. It hides the mic and keeps them from trying to look up.
You know the same concept is true about drums. Sitting above the kit where you don't raise your arms to play the snare and toms relaxes your arms and easier to hit harder and play faster. Also sitting up high enough where your legs are almost straight relaxes them for doing double bass or such vs. totally bent knees at a 90 degree angle from sitting so low.
awesome info! want to hear more tips from her
ruclips.net/channel/UCQ8Imf-grdfjccLUcPLCSeA You can find more of her on the Voice Hacks channel buddy!
What would you consider the best mic placement from the perspective of sound quality for metal vocals? I mean, different soundwaves different directionality as emitted from the body and the location and angle of the mic thus has a significant direct impact on the sound as well.
It's Mary!!!!
I absolutely loathe the Neumann U87 Shockmount. If I angle mine that way, the metal clanks together because the stupid elastic doesn't hold it in place very well.
the only trouble there is the added sibilance. S sounds bounce off the roof of your mouth and down.
EQ adjustment on the back of the SM7B for screaming?
hard to say, very depends on the vocalist, the preamp and the room. For screaming, I think that the number 1 thing to do with the SM7b is to disable both filters on the back off the mic. Set the low cut to flat and the 2k boost to flat. It will sound a lot less harsh. It is always a safe bet to keep a decent amount of headroom on the pre and compress a little bit before hitting the DAW with a LA2A or a slow compressor (even a plug-in on the way in) . Then you can add a little shelv at 8k for brightness and air. Beyond this point, it depends on the context
Hell yeah, more Women in the music industry! Great video!
Thanks for watching. What's your favorite part of the video?
Eyal Levi As someone who sings and produces music, it’s neat to see a video dedicated to this topic. Most producers/ engineers I’ve met don’t always consider the angle of the microphone (maybe they’re not singers themselves), so it’s neat to see Mary explain that. It may be easy to overlook, but is still important! Thanks for the great videos!
Joe Paquin Yeah, but what was your favorite part of it? Anything in specific?
Eyal Levi Eyal Levi I’d probably have to go with around 2:00, where she starts relating to some of the basic physiology of singing. It’s pretty simple concept, but now I have I good video I can refer my friends to that are trying to get into music production
Thanks.
if you point the mic from down to up you get harsher s sounds. So take that with a grain of salt.
Pete Loeffler from the band Chevelle is often singing up into his mic at least when he plays live. 0.0 rip lol
Left out cupping the mic.
does she have relation with hans zimmer? or is it just a common name?
google says nothing, and all i can get is that she's not his daughter
Tristan Paredes disagrees. And from what I know, he is bossing the youtube vocal teacher scene.