I was faced with the task of recording a classical opera voice. Since I had already realized some rock / pop jazz productions with this singer, I proceeded as usual. My recording booth was perfect for vocal recordings and recordings of individual instruments like acoustic guitars or horns. The very low-reflection acoustics are good for a sound-neutral recording.
Especially with quiet sound sources such as a spoken voice, otherwise a coloration is added to the original sound, which is ugly and irreversible.
There is nothing to do against reflections from the walls, floor and ceiling. The audible coloring can not be clarified with any equalizer. Using a compressor in the mixdown,
reinforces the problem. Especially with quiet sound sources such as a spoken words coloration is added to the original sound, which is ugly and irreversible.
reinforces the problem. Especially with quiet sound sources such as a spoken words coloration is added to the original sound, which is ugly and irreversible.
As usual I used my setup with a Neumann TLM 49 microphone and a Focusrite ISA One preamp, but the high strong soprano voice didn´t sound that way we´re looking for. So we tried to raise up the distance to the mic up to one meter. The sound was a bit nicer, but has not really convinced. Our Internet research has shown that opera voices are often recorded with a stereo microphone at a distance of about 1.5 meters. Of course we tried that ... and we enjoyed the result.
The recording was placed in the 30 square meters control room. There is a reduced acoustics. with a RT60 of 0.3 sec. With an A / B stereophony of 20 cm distance between the microphones (Rode NT55) and a distance of one meters to the singer, we had the desired result. The sound was different than usual. The voice sounds more open, bigger and more airy.
Interesting are the slight fluctuations of the voice in the panorama, which are only audible through headphones.
Although I mixed a digitally generated reverb to the original signal later in the mixdown, the sound was different than in our vocal booth..... You never learn ...
audio/video example (x-mas video the "Händel-Blues")
Stefan Noltemeyer
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