Fab Dupont explores the most important aspect of recording a singer: microphone placement.
Learn how to take your vocal recordings from average to professional as Fab shows you all of the classic techniques as well as often overlooked details and tricks.
What should the distance be between the singer and the microphone?
What are the pros and cons of recording right up on the mic?
Is there an efficient way to get rid of pops and other disturbing vocal noises?
How truly amazing is Chester Gregory?
All of these questions and more will be thoroughly answered in this video. Watch as Fab and Chester experiment with various mic placements, singer placements, microphone angles, and so forth. If you ever have to record a human being singing into a microphone, this video is for you.
For more music by Chester Gregory, please check out his website, follow him on Twitter and like him on Facebook.
00:00:07 Good morning children!
Today, we're going to talk about
microphone placement for singers,
with the great help
of Mr. Chester Gregory.
00:00:15 Microphone placement is only
one variable in the whole system.
00:00:18 But it deserves a lot of attention,
so this video is gonna focus
on just that.
00:00:22 We'll do other videos
for the other elements.
00:00:25 Production side note:
while the assistants are setting
everything up in the Live Room,
it's always a good idea to hang out
with your singer in the Control Room,
and see what mood he's in, if his voice
is warmed up or not...
00:00:36 basically, hang out with the talent.
00:00:39 So that when you tell him that he has
to do it again, and again, and again,
he'll feel that he's your friend,
and won't be mad at you. Right?
- Absolutely.
- Right.
00:00:47 I just heard that Chester's voice
is perfectly warmed up,
so I propose we go to the Live Room
and start singing.
00:00:52 - After you, your Majesty.
- Alright.
00:00:54 Let me describe the setup.
First, the microphone.
00:00:57 It's a Bock Audio 251, which is
a knockoff
of an ELA M 251,
which is an old microphone.
00:01:03 The new one has the advantage
of not breaking as much,
which is great.
00:01:07 Also, we use this,
because I worked with Chester before,
and we know this sounds great on him.
00:01:11 Experience is a good thing.
00:01:13 We're also using
the Universal Audio 2108 Preamp,
which is the one we use for most
Puremix sessions,
so that you have the ability to compare
from microphone to microphone,
with the same preamp,
which is nice.
00:01:23 Something else I wanna mention
is the gobos.
00:01:25 They're here for two reasons:
to cut reflections in a big room,
of course,
but also to create some coziness
for Chester, the singer.
00:01:31 Because a lot of singers, not Chester,
because he's a pro,
but a lot of singers feel a little kind
of like...
00:01:38 shy about singing in a big room,
in a small microphone.
00:01:40 If you bring some gobos in, it creates
kind of an intimacy kind of vibe,
and that actually helps
quite a bit.
00:01:46 So we always put the gobos
in a triangle way like this,
and we see how it goes.
Sometimes, we move them closer,
sometimes we open them a little bit,
but usually, this is about how they are.
00:01:55 Then, there is the Cue system.
00:01:57 The Cue system here,
we always put it within range,
arms reach of the singer, so that
the singer can turn himself usually up,
rarely down,
without having to look at it,
and always while singing.
00:02:09 So maybe you'll see Chester go
like this while he's singing.
00:02:12 He's actually adjusting, so that he can
feel comfortable with the Cue.
00:02:16 The Cue is the most important thing.
00:02:18 As important, or more important
than the microphone, actually.
00:02:20 And then, the music stand.
00:02:22 Don't underestimate
the power of the music stand.
00:02:25 If the singer is gonna read lyrics,
where you place the music stand
is gonna change the sound of the voice,
because the singer is always gonna be
drawn to look at it,
and his head is gonna turn. It's gonna
change the way the mic picks it up.
00:02:37 So in this particular case, it's way
too low, so I'm gonna bring it up.
00:02:40 I'm gonna show you how.
00:02:42 So Chester, come in.
00:02:44 I'm gonna have to adjust this up
a little bit.
00:02:47 We're gonna start here, because
I see a lot of this happening,
very close, it's an appealing sound.
00:02:54 I'm gonna move the Cue system
a little closer,
so that Chester can reach it
without turning his head,
which is probably gonna help us
avoid ruining tracks.
00:03:02 And then, the music stand
is gonna go up too...
00:03:06 so that I can...
00:03:10 make sure that this works for me.
00:03:13 Because Chester is gonna have
a tendency to read the lyrics,
and so, he's gonna look this way.
00:03:18 So it's now predictable...
00:03:19 his position towards the microphone
is becoming predictable,
it's being enforced by the music stand.
Very nice.
00:03:24 Alright, this is cool,
are you comfortable with this? Ok.
00:03:27 Here's your headphones.
00:03:29 Alright. So, what we're gonna do now
is record this,
see how it sounds,
and move on from there.
00:03:36 - You're ready?
- Yes.
00:03:38 - Here we go.
- Alright.
00:04:28 Cool! So...
00:04:31 I like the tone of it,
because we have a great singer,
but you heard all those...
00:04:36 and that dynamic stuff,
and the peaks, and everything.
00:04:38 That's from being too close.
00:04:40 Now, if you think that I'm exaggerating,
don't think I'm exaggerating.
00:04:44 I get a lot of tracks
from a lot of people,
for me to mix their record,
and that's what I hear on the vocal.
00:04:48 Maybe not as much as this,
but quite a bit.
00:04:51 And it's basically impossible to mix.
00:04:53 Why do people do this?
Because that proximity effect
is really addictive.
00:04:57 It's nice to have all that roundness
and intimacy,
and it's really difficult to have both
the roundness and intimacy
and be able to avoid all that... thing.
00:05:05 What we're gonna do now is ask
Chester to move back 4 inches... ish.
00:05:11 Yeah. That's close enough for jazz.
00:05:13 This is gonna create more of an air gap
between him and the microphone.
00:05:17 We have the natural air compression,
because air is a great compressor.
00:05:20 Let's see how much of the proximity
we lose,
and how much we gain
on the "Crrr Crrr" thing.
00:05:26 Here we go!
- We're rolling.
- Ok!
That was much better.
00:06:19 A lot more Chester, less interference,
less noises,
less distraction from the song, really.
00:06:24 We did lose a little bit
of the proximity effect,
that bottom, warm and fuzzy
thing there,
but I can fix that with an EQ.
00:06:30 I'm willing to compromise and exchange
for not having to de-ess so much.
00:06:34 I do hear still a problem
with the P's and the B's.
00:06:37 Some of the air coming out
of Chester's mouth
still overwhelms the microphone,
even that far away.
00:06:42 For that problem, we have
this solution: the pop filter.
00:06:46 The pop filter is gonna serve
two purposes.
00:06:49 Number 1, get rid of pop, which makes
sense, considering the name pop filter,
and number two, make sure that
the singer has a consistent position.
00:06:56 You're not gonna expect your singer
to be there all day long
and remember exactly where he was.
00:07:02 He's gonna have to go to the bathroom,
eat, he's gonna have to go tweet,
it's a complicated life.
00:07:07 In this particular case,
you have the pop filter.
00:07:09 He can come back and be very close
to the pop filter.
00:07:12 Now you have a consistent thing.
00:07:13 He doesn't have to guess how far he was
from the microphone. This is very crucial.
00:07:17 If you're gonna edit text together,
do a lot of text, and comp them
together, you need a pop filter,
even if your singer
doesn't have a P & B problem.
00:07:25 Let's listen to Chester exactly in the same
position as we heard him before,
but just with a pop filter
in the middle.
00:07:33 - Ok, let's see how this one sounds.
- Alright.
00:08:24 The pop filter did his job.
00:08:25 No more P's, no more B's,
it's a very good recording, it's clean,
it's present,
it's intimate,
it's open, it's not too sharp.
00:08:34 I like it, I wish a lot of recordings
I get for mixing
would sound like this.
00:08:38 As a summary, if you get very close,
you get a lot of proximity effect,
it sounds fun,
but you get a lot of artefacts.
00:08:45 If you move back, you lose
a little bit of the proximity effect,
which is ok,
but there's still that sense of loss.
00:08:50 However, in exchange for the loss,
you get a cleaner top-end,
not as many S's, P's, T's,
and stuff like that.
00:08:57 If you still have the T's,
you put the pop filter
and now things get better, but you lose
a little bit of the air.
00:09:03 So what I'd like to do now
is to try and find a position
where we get everything:
proximity effect, not too many
artefacts, presence and air.
00:09:12 Here's an interesting trick that
a lot of people don't think about.
00:09:15 To make your life easier when
you're positioning the microphone,
take the pop filter off that stand
and put it on a different stand,
its own stand.
00:09:23 Make sure you don't hit your singer
in the face with it while you do it.
00:09:27 And do this like this...
00:09:30 I'm a trained professional,
don't try this at home!
And then...
00:09:35 once you have this, you can recreate
this static position right here,
but then you can move whatever you want
here, and it won't change this.
00:09:43 So your reference to the singer
is fixed,
and you can do all the tricks you want
with the microphone.
00:09:48 This is very practical,
it saves a lot of time,
and a lot of grief,
and some swearing at the pop filter.
00:09:52 What I'm gonna do now is move
the microphone a lot closer
to Chester.
00:09:57 Like this.
And then...
00:10:00 I'm gonna offset it over there,
in this case to the left.
00:10:03 Why am I doing that?
Because I don't want Chester
to sing straight into the capsule,
I want him to sing next
to the capsule,
so that the blow of air
doesn't freak the capsule out.
00:10:12 The other thing I'm gonna do is
I'm gonna angle the capsule this way
to face towards his mouth more.
00:10:17 To do that, I'm just gonna
turn the microphone and the stand
towards Chester's mouth, even though
the microphone is offset to his left.
00:10:25 Lastly, the music stand
is gonna help us again.
00:10:29 How? By making sure that Chester
looks this way,
and is looking at the music,
not looking at the microphone.
00:10:36 Also, the pop filter kind of blurs
the line between the microphone,
and the pop filter are now
one entity.
00:10:43 So Chester won't be tempted to sing
into the mic, no matter where it is.
00:10:46 Some singers will actually follow
the microphone wherever you put it.
00:10:49 You could put it over there,
they'll sing over there.
00:10:51 The pop filter makes sure that
they don't really know where the mic is,
unconsciously, and you still get
your reference.
00:10:56 So... You can actually
get a little closer.
00:10:58 And I'm probably
gonna cheat a little more.
00:11:02 Like this.
And I think this...
00:11:06 is gonna sound great.
00:11:08 - Ready?
- Ready!
- Here we go.
- Alright.
00:11:59 That was great,
thank you!
This is my favorite take so far,
because the high end is the same,
but I have the proximity effect,
and I don't have the artefacts.
00:12:09 It's a good compromise.
00:12:11 You have to be careful with the S's
in this position though,
because even with the pop filter,
and even with the angle on the capsule,
you have more S's, it's a fact of life,
there's no real way around it.
00:12:22 You have to be very careful to be happy
with the high end of your vocal,
because if you're gonna
jack it up at mixing,
you're gonna jack up the S's too.
00:12:29 There's a compromise to be had there.
00:12:31 Maybe you move the microphone
a little further away, a tiny bit,
maybe you move it to the right
a little bit,
maybe you just deal with it
and de-ess the vocal.
00:12:38 But you have a good source. I think
this was a great song for Chester.
00:12:41 What I'd like to do now is go back
to the Puremix Control Room,
and compare the different sounds.
00:12:46 Back in the Control Room, we're gonna
listen to what we just did, and compare.
00:12:49 I'm gonna play the music very quietly,
just as a reference,
so we can focus on what's going on
with the vocal.
00:12:54 The first example, although
it's a bit of a caricature,
is actually kind of representative
of some of the tracks I get.
00:13:00 It's not a bad example,
it's not distorting,
and the tone's pretty good.
It's just bad mic placement.
00:13:05 Let's check it out!
Listen to the ...
like on the word "Sound" for example.
00:13:10 I'm gonna play a couple of phrases,
then I'll play you
some of the B's and the T's.
00:13:14 Here's the first example.
00:13:20 That's not distortion,
that's just the capsule freaking out.
00:13:23 If you listen
towards the chorus here...
00:13:28 "Don't matter what they say..."
it's just ...
00:13:33 That's just the P's and B's just going
and hitting the capsule so hard
that it's freaking out. Now...
00:13:40 let's move the microphone back
a little bit and see what it does.
00:13:43 Here's the difference.
00:13:53 The capsule problems are gone, right?
Except for something like this,
check it out.
00:14:00 Hear the word "Words?"
I'll play it again.
Listen to the bottom of the vocal.
00:14:09 The capsule's freaking out
on the... things.
00:14:12 Check it out.
00:14:13 "Words", and then "Beautiful".
00:14:21 The vocal doubles as a bass drum!
Not what we're looking for.
00:14:24 Let's listen to the same thing
with the pop filter.
00:14:31 The problem's gone.
00:14:33 Now, we have a different problem.
00:14:34 If you noticed the difference in tone
between, say this...
00:14:42 and this...
00:14:45 So now we have something very warm,
maybe a little too warm,
but we have the problems
with the first position,
and then we have no problems on
the second position with the pop filter
but it's a little distant,
it doesn't feel so good,
hence the third position!
Let's check the pops.
00:15:23 No problem!
The third position gives us
a really nice compromise
between no pops, no artefacts, warmth.
00:15:31 If you compare again that very first take
that we liked the tone of,
but there were problems with it,
now it feels a little too thick,
check it out.
00:15:39 This is the last take.
00:15:46 First take...
00:15:53 If I were to use this first take
in a mix,
which happens from time to time,
for real,
I would have to carve it out
for it to sit in the mix,
because it is actually too thick.
00:16:03 The last take is kind of perfect.
And we like perfection.
00:16:07 Side note: the pop filter does eat
a little bit at your high end.
00:16:11 Now it's a little bit.
00:16:13 Check this out, when he says:
"When you're lost in the sound",
listen to the tone of "in", and
the presence and the forwardness of it.
00:16:20 I'm gonna play with the pop filter
first. Check it out.
00:16:25 Again...
00:16:29 No pop filter...
00:16:32 Hear that... thing?
I'll play it again. With.
00:16:37 No pop filter.
00:16:41 There's a little shine up there,
when you don't have the pop filter.
00:16:44 It's nice. You can add that
with a little bit of EQ.
00:16:47 Honestly, it's a lot easier to add
2-3dBs at 10k
with a smooth Pultec-style thing,
than try and get rid
of the pops one by one.
00:16:56 So use a pop filter
if your singer has pops.
00:16:59 As a summary,
and to keep it simple,
as a reminder, this is about
mic placement, and just the placement,
consider three things.
00:17:07 Distance between the singer
and the microphone,
which is dictated
by your taste and tone,
and also maybe the style
of the music you're recording.
00:17:15 Use of the pop filter.
00:17:18 Angle of the microphone to help yourself
with the S's, the T's and the P's.
00:17:22 For the rest, microphone preamp,
choice of microphone,
EQ, compression... Yes/No...
00:17:29 amount of red wine needed
for the singer to actually perform,
positioning in the room...
we'll have to shoot other videos.
00:17:36 Et voilà!
Once logged in, you will be able to read all the transcripts jump around in the video.
Fab Dupont is a Grammy winning NYC based record producer, mixing/mastering engineer and co-founder of pureMix.net.
Fab has been playing, writing, producing and mixing music both live and in studios all over the world. He's worked in cities like Paris, Boston, Brussels, Stockholm, London and New York just to name a few.
He has his own studio called FLUX Studios in the East Village of New York City.
Fab has been nominated for Grammys 6 times, including two Latin Grammys and has received many other accolades around the world, including Victoires de la Musique, South African Music awards, Pan African Music Awards and US independent music awards.
Parts of this site and some files are only accessible to pureMix Pro Members or available to purchase. Please see below our membership plans or add this video to your shopping cart.
Thank you! Incredible demonstration of the "varying" degrees of mic placement. Just what the doctor ordered. I appreciate this, very well done!
LeChuck
2019 May 23
PS 2 : oh and also Fab describes really bad the proximity effect and other onomatopoeias like "krkrkrr" but neither do I ! xD
LeChuck
2019 May 23
PS : "usually up, and rarely down" this one made me believe in the experience of the guy ^^ nice video :)
LeChuck
2019 May 23
Really useful, Fab is a super great teacher, Always keeping the viewer's attention with humour and explaining things clearly. With bonus tips that are welcome. Thanks a lot, et voilà ! ^^
StudioSaturn
2018 Mar 14
Awesome Just awesome! Headphone bleed even disappeared.
K_Pompy
2017 May 16
cheers Fab for (briefly) pointing out the cue is THE most important thing. Creating an amazing HP mix is always time well spent.... happy, confident artist= convincing, powerful takes
the_overgoat
2017 Apr 18
I saw that this video was 17min long and thought "Oh boy, here we go" but it actually flew away very quickly...
The video is engaging, well-presented and easy to follow!
rawcorex
2016 Jul 28
exelent!!
Mike1234
2016 Feb 06
That's great thank's a lot !
reddirt
2015 Nov 28
I'm a teacher as well as a pro engineer; your teaching skills are top class and I know the things you've imparted yet it's great to be reminded in such a correct , engaging and humourous way. 5 stars
Spudmuffin
2015 Aug 17
Nice! Some very good tips. While he's singing, I'd love to be seeing what the meters were doing in the control room. ;)
LucaBasso
2014 Nov 30
Cool
bgrichting
2014 Sep 25
Bloody great! I would like to know if there are audible differences between different brands of pop-filters, heard some great things about this Håkan P110 pop filter. Maybe a shoot-out would be interesting?
heman
2014 Jul 04
Excellent !
JohnnyZana
2014 Mar 08
Awesome tips in this video. I use a pop filter and an acoustic frame around the mic, but i never thought about using a separate mic stand for easier positioning of the mic. Hearing your example i can see how that works well to get good volume without the noise artifacts. I will definitely try this in my next vocal session. Thank you Fab!
speakerfood
2014 Mar 07
Thanks for another great tutorial, never thought of positioning the mic in an angle. And maybe in the future we can use a Google Glass instead of a music stand? I always have trouble positioning the pop filter and the stand, so the singer can still read the lines and not make something up.
soini
2014 Feb 16
Hey. Many Russian-speaking, watching your lessons and listen to your conference. It would be very good if you are in their video lessons organized titles, transfer your videos to the world's languages. I am sure that the activity of real subscriptions to your website will increase.
Always yours Soini.
soini
2014 Feb 16
Привет. Многие, русскоязычные, смотрят ваши уроки и слушают ваши конференции. Было бы очень хорошо если бы вы в в своих видео уроках организовали титры, перевод ваших видео на языки мира. Я уверен что активность реальных подписок, на ваш сайт, повысится.
Всегда твой Soini.
mathiassaaf
2014 Feb 04
Amazing! Learn something new again, I always had a problem with my vocals being to sharp. Tried that last method and voila!
Sounds beautiful. You`re a great teacher Fab :-)
Becky Jo Benson
2014 Jan 29
Hahahaha!! Fab! You are so FUNNY! I truly love to watch your videos because I always learn so much from you, and I am
thoroughly entertained at the same time! Excellent video. I am getting ready to record the group again and I needed that!
From your teaching me to 'listen' in the mixing part, I know that I can really improve the recording part to make the mixing part easier. Thanks for being there for all of us, Fab! Keep up the good work! Becky Jo Benson
jimmyk
2014 Jan 22
Well done Fab! I like the angle trick, gonna have to try that.
paulwallsSCL
2014 Jan 20
I learnt something new. THNKU again.
msloan
2014 Jan 19
fantastic video FAB…thanks so much for sharing!
Riko
2014 Jan 19
Hello, great video.
When available is it recommended to use the low cut filter on the microphone?
kirk-leo
2014 Jan 18
I love your work fab, great video!
hi from France!
firegardenmusic
2014 Jan 18
Great video
frank van dee
2014 Jan 17
Again a great video, thx Fab & team! I wonder whether putting the mic from a lower/higher position, still aiming at Chester's mouth (instead of left position) would give the same effect. Ok, yes, I'm gonna try...
juancopro-flow
2014 Jan 16
Nice. Been waiting for a vid like this one. Perfection !
