Hello,

Currently in a session recording a female classical singer, she has a very powerful voice.

I find that at the higher notes they sound distorted despite all the gain settings being well within their limits?

Could I have a problem with the acoustics in my room rather than my system?

I am using an SPL Channel 1, AKG414 mic into my desk?

Hope you can help thanks.....

First thing is to make sure you're not distorting the mic itself. With the pad engaged you might not see that downstream.

There is an acoustic effect where especially classical singers create a sort of distortion in a smaller room. Run a cable out of the window and get her to blast outside for a few seconds and see if it goes away. I've most often heard that with two or more singers but I'm inexperienced with classical recording. I did run it past a very experienced classical guy who told me about the small room thing. Solution: big space, distance.

J

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www.jackruston.com

I tend to agree with Jack. Classical soloists are trained to fill concert halls unamplified, whilst competing with a symphony orchestra, and that can result in high SPLs (think of the old cliche of sopranos shattering glass).

So you really don't want a delicate mic too near the source of this raw power. And that of course means admitting much more room sound into the recording, so the room itself becomes more of a critical factor.

That said, a C414 with the pad engaged is supposed to be good for SPLs beyond 150db.


Edited by Steve Hill (23/10/11 09:02 PM)

Jack/Steve,

Having had problems with other powerful singers in that room I think you are spot on.

I went in the room whilst she was singing and asked her to run through a scale and there was a definite resonance with some of the higher notes.

On one hand it's quite reassuring to know that I'm not completely being a bad engineer on the other this experience has now taught me that I cant record classic singers as professionally as I would have liked to in there.

If I built a vocal booth on that room would this perhaps be worth a go?

I'd love a bigger space....if only.


thanks for your replies.

Honestly I don't think it would help. It's not a question of reducing HF reflections as much as getting the singer away from the boundaries. I really don't know the physics of it but the way it was explained to me was that it was actually a distortion created in the room itself, especially by certain combinations of frequencies and intensities. I'd look for a local hall that you can rent to do those recordings and try that perhaps.

J

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www.jackruston.com

Which 414 variant is it? ULS, TLII, XLS, XLII?

I have had problems with operatic sopranos with the 414 ULS, for me the solution is to use a different mic, usually a Neumann TLM 193. I have been told the TLII can handle hotter SPLs, but I have no first hand experience with any of the other 414s.

Hi ya,

I was using the B-ULS model so just like yours that failed :-)

Originally, I was using it in figure of eight mode with a reflexion filter and a speaker for monitoring, the singer really liked the speaker which was barley audible in the null point.

However due to this issue I switched to my TLM103 and had to resort to cans, it was a lot better, but I am guessing the figure of eight from the AKG didn't help much as the room was getting in the back route too.

I wince every time I hear those recorded distorted notes.

I know I need to find a bigger space to record but I will have to make do for now.

One idea a friend of mine had was to open the studio door leading to my hall and downstairs but create a temporary wall of rock wall(I've already got dust sheet covered rockwall made up) or hang a futon over the doorway and back the singer to that or the other way and see if that acts as a bass trap and allows the room to breathe without letting the sound back in.

If that don't work I am just going to try the singer much further back and deaden the room as much as possible.

I read on one forum how a famous opera singer had been recorded, in a nice space of course, but ten feet back using a small diaphragm condensor mic. According to the article small diaphragm mics have a better flat off axis response than large hence work better when you have lots of 'room' going into the mic.

Interesting lesson learnt, I may stand her back a few feet, deaden the room and use my Rode NT 5... ha ha

You don't say where you are, but don't rule out hiring a space. You could get the perfectly serviceable village hall where I live in Oxfordshire for about £15 for a day. Lots of churches need the money....

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Dynamite with a laser beam...

I am in Croydon !

£15 a day would be a dream, I could record drums there too, never been that happy with drums in this room too despite the high density rock wall straddling the room corners ha ha

I've had a look at some local halls and they charge about £25 an hour but there's plenty of churches/small halls in my area. I think a casual reccy is in order, this could be the start of something :-)