Mic recommendation for female singer

[paulears]

I suspect that's the most critical difference between singers. We've all come across those 'names' who at soundcheck pick up the mic, speak a few words into it and then say, great - thanks. The sound op looks astounded, and the name wanders off stage unconcerned - then a few hours later gives a stunning performance that just sounds amazing, with no messing about with eq, processing or even accurate monitors. We've also experienced the ultra tweakers, who need assistance to make their voice sound nice - and constant vigilance to keep it nice during the show. Give a good singer a microphone that functions and it's trouble free, but be prepared to spend ages swapping mics to find a flattering one. It's not about the microphones 'sound'. I've got some of the Line 6 handheld radios that have really good virtual modelling of half a dozen popular mics. They sound very, very close - but the polar pattern doesn't change, and that does make a difference. Changing the eq isn't the same as swapping the mics. Mics have become tools to make people sound better than reality, not just to make them louder. That's a bit sad!

[kerry davies]

Lots of decent suggestions but you really should try out all sorts and then buy one for her personal use.

 

Back in ye olden tymes the sound man had terrible trouble with Pentangle because Bert Jansch was "mic-shy" and every time the humhead positioned the mic, Bert moved his chair away. He was cured by giving him his own personal mic to carry in his guitar case and handle all the time. Saved chasing him round the stage all night!

 

Find one that suits her voice, give it over to her personal care and allow her to make friends with it.

[dbuckley]

Mics have become tools to make people sound better than reality, not just to make them louder.

 

If all a mic was expected to do was make stuff louder, then we would only need one type of mic for everything :)

[RustyBrooks]

The DPA 'de facto' vocal is simply stunning, best, most neutral sounding vocal I've heard, sounds amazing, really should be on the listen list.

[sam.spoons]

Find one that suits her voice, give it over to her personal care and allow her to make friends with it.

 

Sweeeeet, I have visions of her introducing it to her mum http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

 

 

 

 

Mics have become tools to make people sound better than reality, not just to make them louder.

 

If all a mic was expected to do was make stuff louder, then we would only need one type of mic for everything :)

 

And they'd all be bl@*dy SM58s http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/mad.gif

[paulears]

Entirely the point - that's why SM58s are so popular. People believe know that microphones DO just make everything louder, and SM58s guarantee good sounding singers.

[Doug Siddons]

Entirely the point - that's why SM58s are so popular. People believe know that microphones DO just make everything louder, and SM58s guarantee good sounding singers.

 

I assume you missed the sarcastic smiley at the end of that post Paul! With some singers your just hoping the mic won't work! But this discussion does raise the an interesting point on microphones as to why do designers voice them differently when the ideal with a vocal mic would be absalute transparency?

[jamesperrett]

 

I'd second a vote for Audix but the OM7 is exactly the wrong mic in their range for your purposes...it's deliberately a low sensitivity, very directional mic for use where the stage wash is high and the singer is screaming. It's my go to mic for drummers etc., not for soft-voiced female singers.

 

 

I know someone who uses the OM7 very successfully for a soft voiced female singer. It would have been my first suggestion too.

[sam.spoons]

The SE-H1 is currently on offer at PMT (in the UK) for £99. It's an SE1A studio mic capsule in a live mic form, very nice, natural sound but it is a cardioid so probably doesn't have the feedback rejection of a super cardioid. OTOH if your singer wanders off mic it'll capture her better than a super cardioid.

[richardash1981]

Certainly lots of better options than an SM58 for female vocals in my opinion - even the budget Sennheiser evolution series (e825 etc) have much more top end which will probably help punch through (I find myself using upper mid boost on SM58 often, which never sounds good). Don't have this problem with the Sennheisers - but I wouldn't be anything like as happy with them for a screaming male singer with the chainsaw edge ...

 

Ultimately the resonance in vocal mics does something (storing and releasing energy) that EQ (unless you have a much higher Q than normal) can't do - but good modelling can, providing the original mic is good enough to capture the signal!

[sam.spoons]

Just to add, at the money/mouth interface, I have just bought two more SE-H1s. I have a gig with a good female vocalist on Saturday so expect one of them to work better for her than the alternatives (Beta57A, 58A, or SM58) and I prefer them on most male vocals outside of the rock genre. Being based on a good studio capacitor, they will make great drum overheads, snare mics or acoustic instrument mics. BTW I think I said earlier that the SE-H1 has a modified SE1A capsule when in fact it's based on the better SE2A cardioid capsule. Also I have managed to find a couple of the older silver/grey mics as experience of other makes suggests that the black rubberised finish on the later model will be less durable.