I have always had trouble finding a vocal sound I'm happy with.

Perhaps it's my singing as much as anything, but I was looking for some specific suggestions on settings for EQ and effects.

I'm more interested in a conventional sound (clean, with maybe some EQ, compression, & reverb or delay) to build off of than a weird one, but any suggestions are welcome.

I'm using an akg c3000 condenser mic, recording to a tascam digital. I have a cheap behrenger mixer, cheap behrenger mic preamp, and basic effects built into the tascam, as well as a multi effect processor.

Thanks in advance.

You might want to try out several other mics.
The c3000 is kind of a "prosumer" mic. Go to a place where you can demo various pro mics and see what works best with your voice.

Definitely. Spend the money on the mic - $100 is the starter range - and you'll be happy you did. Think of it like any other instrument - guitars - $100 will get you a guitar, barely... same with a mic. How serious are you about your voice? If you're just interested in messing around, but you DO want to get a decent sound, then go get a good decent studio mic.

Another suggestion is to record in a very tiny room - bathroom, closet, fetish room, whatever you have that's small. It seems (to me) to help amplify the deeper/boomy range - answering the question, "why do I sound all kickass in a car, but when I'm recording in my basement, I sound pitiful".

Smaller space, sound waves have less room to dissipate, and the mic picks it up. Ditto with recording acoustic guitars.

Just my opinion.

otan said:

I will probably build some kind of isolation booth, which will probably help. Some people suggest bathrooms, some suggest closets. Those seem very different acoustically. Are you suggesting a reflective surfaceas well, or just the small area?

As for the mic, I know there is much better out there, but I have heard better sound on cheap karaoke machines & cheap mics than on some of my recordings. I think there has to be something I can do with EQ & reverb to help.

A lot of people say that a mic is really important and I'm in agreement to a point. Some of my best results have been using dynamics. I always use a dynamic mic in all my recordings, but I pair that with a condensor (but not always).

Some good inexpensive condensers you should look at getting

CAD E200 - This is a multi-directional mic so it has more than one use, it's a little dark but very smooth and can be had on ebay for $200 or less

Studio Projects C1 - I like using this mic with my JoeMeek VC6 - this mic is pretty much the exact opposite of the cad it's very crisp, almost too much at times. $200 new

Audio Technica 4033 - this mic is like a combo of the two above, great for any number of things, especially vocals. this one is a little over $200

Now Dynamics are the thing and preamps really make a big difference with dynamic mics. I almost always use an SM57 for vocals with my best preamp an FMR Audio RNP. The cheap JoeMeeks are a good value and the Studio Projects VTB-1 is also pretty cool

---

For environment, yes small space is good but not necessary. Just make sure the room your singing in doesn't have a ton of echo flutter also don't face a hard surface. I plop my air mattress right in front of my mic and it works pretty well to avoid the natural reverb of the room. Also remember to adjust your gain properly, distance yourself around 6-12 inches from the mic, get a pop screen and get a good mix of the music in your cans before you start.

Hope that heps in some way.

Toy
http://www.soundclick.com...nmusic.htm

andyman91 said:

Well... you'll obviously get different results with each room. A closet would give you a better clean boomy sound, the bathroom would give you a better crisp sound. I like the bathroom because I can deliver a song, Millie Jackson style. It's basically, whatever you got, use.