Back off the mic on vocals!

When there’s a lot of bass and warmth buildup on a vocal track it gets hard to sit it properly in a mix.

The main reason for all of the buildup is using a cardioid microphone and the singer being too close to it. Getting close to a cardioid = proximity effect = too much down there and a goopy, slovenly vocal track that doesn’t sit right.

One solution might be to use an omnidirectional mic, which won’t have proximity effect (unless it’s a multi-pattern condenser), but there will be a ton of room sound recorded with that vocal, and if you don’t have a good-sounding room, that will cause other problems for you.

I’m guessing a lot of you don’t have good-sounding rooms so you feel you have to record up close to the mic. I’m guessing there are a lot of vocals being cut sitting in front of a computer. I’m guessing there’s a lot of cardioid condensers used up close. I’m guessing vocals recorded that way are a PIA (pain in the ass) to fit into a mix.

Try this. BACK UP FROM THE MIC.

When you cut vocals from about 18 inches to 2 feet away from a cardioid mic, the proximity effect is very much diminished and you get a more balanced, “thinned out” vocal recording. There are some other benefits to recording further away.

1) The vocals don’t sound like you’re right on top of the mic. This is like DUH obvious, but that bit of acoustic distance really helps.

2) You’ll get easier to deal with recording levels. Vocalists bounce around. And everytime the distance from the singer’s mouth to the microphone changes, the level goes up and down, dependending on the inverse square law.

The inverse square law says that if the distance decreases by half, the level goes up 6dB, and if the distance doubles, the level drops by 6db.

So... if a singer is 2 inches from a mic and they move a little in, say 1 inch, the level jumps by 6dB. Should the singer lean back a bit, or even shift their weight to their rear leg, that moves their head away from the mic and the level drops. If they shifted 8 inches, which isn’t much, the level drops 12dB. Have fun recording a singer that’s level could be changing by as much as 24dB depending on their movement.

And have fun getting a decent performance when you force the singer to keep their head still and in exactly the same place, take after take.

Back that singer up a foot off the mic, and now they have to move in 6” to get a 6dB level increase, and move back 2 feet to get a 6dB drop in level. In other words, that singer can now bounce around a bit and the levels aren’t all over the place.

Do this: Stick a pop filter a foot or 18 inches away and stick the singer in front of it. They’ll almost naturally control the distance themselves without you saying much, and you’ll get a free, loose, easy to record and fit into a mix vocal.

Now... yes, you will get more room sound on that performance. To cut that down, use a moving coil mic or do some acoustic treatment. I think most of those little isolation shields that people stick around a mic don’t do all that much (because acoustics).

Make a little boothie thing with blankets or stick the singer in the clothes closet facing out with the microphone facing in.

If you’re in a good-sounding room, just record the vocal from a few feet away.