This month I just want to briefly touch on a subject I get asked night after night. How do you get your bass singer to sound that way? Of course then the questions like, what kind of microphone do you use or recommend is quick to follow. Well, I'm going to briefly talk about microphones for bass singers.
Just like in my article about microphones in general, let me first say that there is no secret microphone or no one microphone that is great for every bass singer. I know a lot of bass singers use instrument mics because of the low frequency response. I have never been fond of the sound from these types of microphones. Though the low end is huge on these types of microphone controlling them and getting a smooth response out of them on a vocal is near impossible. A lot of the midrange has to be cut a long with some of the highs to keep the feedback to a minimum which leads to poor inteligability when the bass singer goes into his upper range or attempts to speak.
Now, picking a microphone could be a tricky thing. The microphone should at least go down to 43.7 Hz. This frequency is the lowest note I've ever mixed and is actually lower than what most bass singers can sing anyway. I would recommend getting a mic that will go to at least 40 Hz.
Okay, now the big debate, condenser or not. If your bass singer has a lot of clarity or what we call "cut" to his voice, I would stay away from a condenser microphone. This will smooth out the vocal and make it sound very full and not harsh or boomy. If you have a bass singer that doesn't have much power go with the sensitive condenser, but get a good sized pop filter to put on it.
In any situation, find a microphone with a very tight pick up pattern. In other words you should have to get right in front of the thing to hear the vocal. The characteristic will give you more gain before feedback and will keep you from hearing him clear his throat when he's not singing!
Finally, demo, demo, demo. Go listen to them. Get a hold of your local reps for different mics and ask to take them out for a date. There's nothing better than field testing.
Author: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Written: 09/01/2003
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Category: Monthly ArticlesSound Advice
Comments: 3
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Josh,
Josh, while I agree with you to some extent, the lowest note on a 4 string bass guitar is about 42 Hz. On a 5 string bass it is even lower. A kick drum, cello, etc can have substantial energy well down to 20 Hz. Now to bass singers, when they hand "cup" the business end of a microphone, they block off the ports which makes the microphone omni-directional. It does provide additional gain, but not acoustic gain. acoustic gain is the available gain before feedback. Turning a cardiod mic into omni reduces the available acoustic gain, emphasis the mid range, and generally plays havoc with what the microphone was designed to do. A high quality condensor microphone, if used correctily, in my opinion will beat a dynamic every time.
Please note I meant the lowest frequncy produced by the human voice. This is also backed up by Klark Teknik on their frequency musicality chart
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