Last night I had the opportunity to work with a very talented metal-inspired hardcore band from right here in south Florida named Fist Fight. Engineer Ryan did the original drum and guitar tracking last week and I was super impressed with the performances. These guys can play!
So last night we got around to vocal tracking and it went really well, and of course it helps when the artists you're working with are easy going and have a sense of humor. With most of the vocals being screaming, as is mainly the case in the hardcore genre, I wanted to try a few different mics to see what would work best. Surprisingly to some, screams aren't as easy to track as classic singing vocals, as the SPL's (sound pressure levels) can get pretty high and it's important not to distort the microphone, but you still want to get plenty of growl and definition without it sounding "screechy" or "harsh".
The first mic i tried was the AKG C414, a classic go-to of mine that works on pretty much everything. It comes with a variable pad, so I knew distortion wouldn't be an issue. But upon listening back, it gave a little too much of that "harsh" sound that I was trying to avoid. So on to the Shure SM7.
Now this mic did the trick! Exactly what I was looking for: plenty of growl, no screech. So I pumped it into the Summit Audio DCL-200 compressor to tame the dynamic range and fatten it up a little bit, then on to the Motown for some final EQ tweaking, suck out a little 50hz, then a little 320 to "clean the mud", then bump a little 5k for some added definition, and it was golden. For those of you who don't know about our beloved Motown EQs, they were custom built by Motown's engineering department way back in the day when dinosaurs still roamed the earth and Tony was lucky enough to keep a couple beside him throughout his career, and now they rest quite happily between Avalon and Power Station Studios here in Florida. We send just about everything through these marvelous pieces of electrical engineering, and it always sounds better on the other side. Can't argue with results, right?
Lead vocals went rather smoothly and it was time for the classic hardcore "gang-shout" vocals. I knew I was going to need a different recipe for this, so it was back to the AKG set in omni-directional mode for the band to crowd around and shout. With multiple vocalists going at once in a large room, the AKG provided the definition and sensitivity needed to make sure the lyrics themselves didn't get lost in the wall of voices, and I knew screech and harshness wouldn't be a problem as all the vocalists would be a couple feet back from the mic. Again through the magic Motown EQ and it worked like a charm.
Overall the vocals came out solid and the guys were a lot of fun to work with. I'm excited to hear Ryan's mix on it next week. I'll post more info on the band as they kick into high gear, as they're planning a tour along with the album release this summer. Make sure to keep an eye out for them!
