Bathroom vox?
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Posted on May 29, 2006 04:33 am
crux
Typo Szar
Member Since: Jul 04, 2002
I watched a lil home video type thing from this duo called House of Blow on myspace, and it showed the singer recoridng his vox on a pretty home type setup in his bathroom. In my experience i try to record with as little reverb as possible, so that i can add more if i need to, but i have a dry track to work with. But im not 100% happy with my vox either. How does the bathroom thing work? is that a good idea? And another hting is that he had a really good sound goin with his vox and music, but the setup they show looks no more than a keyboard a mic and a laptop, He says its pro tools, so should be an iMac or something in the apple family. Anyhow, my vocals r really off to me, and i thought i should get a compressor adn a preamp, is there anyway to get a strong full vocal sound without those things? if so, any suggestions?
I scream alot in my vocals, and i think it comes out really off through the setup i have.
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LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
May 29, 2006 05:40 am well a compressor WILL help, especially if you're screaming. I think a good compressor (or failing that just a compressor) is a must eventually. As far as the bathroom thing goes, I've used it to various levels of sucess. it all depends on the sound you want to get. I have taped a mic to the showerhead before, taken off my clothes, and stood in the shower as if I was bathing, singing my heart out. haha. Try it.
May 29, 2006 08:49 am also try overdubbing, often tracks that have both scream and sing/rap, i've used up to 10 tracks of vocals...try to keep the articulation exactly the same, and try it without hearin' the previous tracks. that'll thicken 'em...
also, you can throw a monitor into the bathroom and 'reamp' your vocal track...compressor while trackin' will increase the reverb, so ya might need to set the speaker outside of the bathroom, and the mic's null facing the speaker...wow i'm just thinking out loud, and now i'm wanting to try this.
short delays will bring a vocal track out some aswell, some ppl just use a delay and no reverb at all.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 29, 2006 04:56 pm I use a bathroom for a vocal booth frequantly. You can make simple damping work by hanging more or less towels or whatever in the bathroom to damp the reverberation a bit. You would be suprised at how well it can work. With a few towels you can damp it to a pretty tight and dry sounding room.
Oh ya, Flame. That video is pretty out there. I laughed my self silly.
May 29, 2006 05:03 pm I KNEW Noize would pop in to the bathroom thread...it's his favorite room to record in...
flame...bringing sexy backMember
Since: Jul 01, 2002
May 29, 2006 05:22 pm the bathroom is my favourite room to HIDE in...
May 29, 2006 05:22 pm Gimme a magazine, turn on the ceiling fan and I can spend ages in there...
flame...bringing sexy backMember
Since: Jul 01, 2002
May 29, 2006 05:41 pm Ceiling fan. NEVER forget the ceiling fan.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 29, 2006 06:59 pm It does indeed make a fine reading room as dB stated as well. I usually keep a small stack of music mags in their, Music Tech, Computer Music, Tape-Op to name a few.
May 29, 2006 07:18 pm Music Tech and Black Belt are the only mags I read any more...
LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
May 29, 2006 07:26 pm Why do we keep coming back to what we read in the bathroom? Didn't we have a thread about this a few months ago?
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 29, 2006 07:38 pm Yep, I'm actually thinking of piping music out of the studio into there as well. I have a nice pair of 3 way cieling mount speakers that would go well in there.
cruxTypo SzarMember
Since: Jul 04, 2002
May 29, 2006 07:51 pm I do almost all my reading in the bathroom... coz i dont have a tv in there.
LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
May 30, 2006 07:52 am I only own a tv to play video games on. Noize, I had thought about that as well, but don't know how I'd route the wires since I don't wanna go through the walls and my attic doesn't go over the music room.
I'm also thinking about putting my laptop in the bathroom to read PDFs as I do my business. If I had a usb midi device I'd put the laptop and a midi controller in there, assuming my laptop screen wasn't crap.
May 30, 2006 11:59 am lol i've jammed an acoustic while shittin' before,
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
May 30, 2006 12:27 pm hey, are you that guy that was on funniest home videos?
his buds got video of him, first singing <lyrically> " i'm singing on the toooiiilet " </lyrically> then pushed open the door, and there he was, on the crapper, with a guitar on his lap, playing away.
He wasn't happy.
But it sure was funny.
May 30, 2006 12:30 pm nah, i've never been caught, accually i think it was at a party when i did it. geez it might be on tape! but i doubt it.
LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
May 30, 2006 01:19 pm yeah I've had people catch me doing weird stuff... like if I'm cleaning up I'll put on some music so loud it shakes my walls (so I can hear it throughout the entire house) and start dancing on stuff. One day it was in between songs, and I was dancing on my couch and singing "dancin on my coooooouuuuch!" and I turned around and my girlfriend was there just laughing. Then there was the time when no one was here so I put on ome shiny lame pants, bandana, wife beater, and big sunglasses and was blasting guns and roses and playing air guitar when my door flew open and about 4 of my friends were laughing so hard.
Then theres the "Shower operas"... yeah those got caught on tape. never show your friends how to work your recording setup.
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
May 30, 2006 01:40 pm lol, ha! that's funny.
TallChapAnswer:On a good day, lipstick.Member
Since: Jun 24, 2004
May 31, 2006 05:10 pm My buddies and I actually refer to reverb as "bathroom."
"Add a little bathroom" means a certain type/amount of 'verb.
If the room is right, it's great.
C'mon...you sing in the shower, right?!
Sounds so good....
May 31, 2006 05:18 pm Do any of the old timers remember when we beta tested that plugin for the company called "Bobtail software"? They had that plugin that modelled different environments...like made your track sound like it was in a bathroom, or coming from the other side of a brick wall, or things like that...damn, too bad the hurricanes destroyed their offices and bankrupted them, cuz they had some cool ideas.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 31, 2006 05:51 pm Yep, I still have it. Though not installed at the moment. It was a cool plugin for sure. I liked theThrough the wall one they had.
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Jun 02, 2006 01:54 am yeah, I still have it too, but haven't used it in quite a while...
I tried recording in the bathroom, but I didn't really like it, probably won't go that route again. Double (or multiple) tracking is practically a must for me when I'm singing. Multitap delay can be cool on vocals too to give it some fullness.
Though I don't record, I will at times write or conceptualize songs while in the bathroom (the shower or the throne). Actually I used to sing a lot in the shower, nowadays, I do a fair amount of beat boxing in the shower.
LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
Jun 02, 2006 07:08 am I remember that, but I don't have it any longer.
Jun 02, 2006 07:11 am Quote:
I do a fair amount of beat boxing in the shower.
Ah, so that's what the kids are calling it these days...
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Jun 02, 2006 12:08 pm db, you funny man you
Jun 02, 2006 12:39 pm HA! i just got that....i was all "wasn't it always called beat boxing?"
oh i get it, french class!
deepsMember
Since: Jan 26, 2004
Jun 09, 2006 11:48 pm I know LIL JON and THE OUTKAST also record SOME of their vocals in the bathroom that were released on their albums. The rest of their bathroom recordings for vocals were done as "references" - common practise in the industry...
Funny thing, for their damn references, they use Neuman 87's...just give me 1.
Jun 10, 2006 02:28 am i dig outkast alot, they experament with mixes more, and it just gives a unique sense of character. i really look for that in artists.
black eyed peas fits this 'sound' too. quest love is way into what he does (check out his modern drummer interview....or was it mix? anyway, that's a really cool idea to do reference reverbs.....man, i wanna get one of those portable digital recorders now.
