Home made puff screens and ghetto sound booths. Vocal mics

[Ostinato Rubato]

Yo help a hommie out. I'm starting to record vocals. I gotta a MXL 990 (I've had it for like 10 years and last night was the first time I ever tried it) and I have a Samson CL8. At the moment, based on my experience of recording vocals last night and having now idea what I'm doing, the CL8 badly needs a puff screen. The MXL held up better in that regard so I had an easier time using it, but I don't know if I would like it better after fixing that issue with the Samson. Please share opinions about the mics I'm using and give me some pointers on broke level budget ideas for screen and sound deadening.

[Markdude]

Panty hose. Fo realz. Btw if you're searching around for advice on making/buying them, they're called pop filters, so you might find more info using that term. You can buy cheap ones that clip onto mic stands for like $10 though so it might not even be worth making a homemade one.

[Ostinato Rubato]

puff screen sounds so much hommier though.

[nightflameauto]

Dude, let me look when I get home, but I should have a spare pop filter from the second MXL mic I bought after the first one got dog-destroyed. I'll do some diggin' and get back to ya.

[Dickarms]

le sigh.

but yeah, dem nylons yo

[Dickarms]

i actually have a legit pop filter you can have, hommie.

[Ostinato Rubato]

Dicknightflameautoarms,

that would be dope.

[Ostinato Rubato]

So now lets talk mics. What's a good one that won't hurt my pocket?

[nightflameauto]

Anything worth having will hurt your pocket.

I've been using an SM58 for tons of vocal duties lately. That little X1R I got is good if you want some depth, but it's way more delicate being a ribbon. A 58 can be used to pry open cans of tomato sauce, tossed in the back of a pickup and driven in the rain for six weeks and still work fine the next time you plug it in, a ribbon needs to be coddled and masturbated nightly to be usable long term.

[Ostinato Rubato]

Anything worth having will hurt your pocket.

I've been using an SM58 for tons of vocal duties lately. That little X1R I got is good if you want some depth, but it's way more delicate being a ribbon. A 58 can be used to pry open cans of tomato sauce, tossed in the back of a pickup and driven in the rain for six weeks and still work fine the next time you plug it in, a ribbon needs to be coddled and masturbated nightly to be usable long term.

I have a 58.

I will give it a legit try with the 58 tonight. See how it compares.

This is all uncharted territory for me so the learning curve it steep at this point. Hell.... when recording guitars I never had real time monitoring through my headphones. When layering guitars I used just have the drum track in one ear and take the headphone off the other in order to hear the guitar part I was recording over it.

But that's an even stupider idea with vocals... so I figured it out.

[Dickarms]

that mxl would be fine actually.

some tips:

keep your head position as uniform as possible
pronounce the shit out of things, more than you would normally.

[Tortuga]

Pop Filter from Monoprice: $8.72. Has a nice clamp & gooseneck, which is way better than the homemade path I already tried.

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=115&cp_id=11508&cs_id=1150807&p_id=602600&seq=1&format=2

[Dickarms]

thats what i have. wouldnt even be worth shipping it to you for that price. hit it

[nightflameauto]

The bummer with the MXL (and I think mine's a 990 too) is any noise in the house will get picked up by it. And our house is NOISY AS FECK. So I switched to the 58 for the most part, unless everyone else is gone and the damn dogs are taking a nap. 9 times out of 10 even if that's the case they'll start barking mid take. Or a cat will come in and add some backup vocals. Or a truck will drive by blasting rap music so loud it feels like roof is gonna cave in.

[Ostinato Rubato]

that mxl would be fine actually.

some tips:

keep your head position as uniform as possible
pronounce the shit out of things, more than you would normally.

Yeah I learned this last night. I was actually able to get a decent take after a couple tries.

And I just looked into my CL8 more and Im surprised. I got it for $60 used and they go for $250 new. I don't know if the price is an indication of it being good or not, but anyway. Seems like I have enough to get started.


Just need a puff screen yo.

[Tortuga]

Check out Graham Cochran's recording / mixing site (see below) for excellent how-to's on recording vocals and everything else. He's way into low-budget stuff, and really talks up getting a $100 condenser mic for vocal duties (among other needs).

http://therecordingrevolution.com/blog/

[nightflameauto]

Recording Revolution is awesome for getting a decent understanding of all sorts of recording and mixing situations. I used to watch his youtube channel regularly. Probably should go back to that at some point and get some brush-up tips.

[Ostinato Rubato]

So cool guys, this has been an informative thread and you guys are good hommies to a brother. I learned:

1) I have decent mics and should just go forward without worrying about that part
2) I've intuitively started to keep my head steady and enunciate when recording
3) Puff screen sounds so much cooler than pop filter, but tomato tomato either way they're cheap

It would be SUPERDUPER awesome if you guys had a suggestion for ghetto desk top vocal booth thing I can do for isolation and dampening.

[Markdude]

Some people swear by these things:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ReflexionX

I guess you could try to ghetto rig some type of contraption but it probably wouldn't work as good as that, and the price isn't too terrible.

[nightflameauto]

It would be SUPERDUPER awesome if you guys had a suggestion for ghetto desk top vocal booth thing I can do for isolation and dampening.

Blanket over frame of your choice. 2x4s or PVC work. More blankets = moar isolation.

[Dickarms]

So cool guys, this has been an informative thread and you guys are good hommies to a brother. I learned:

1) I have decent mics and should just go forward without worrying about that part
2) I've intuitively started to keep my head steady and enunciate when recording
3) Puff screen sounds so much cooler than pop filter, but tomato tomato either way they're cheap

It would be SUPERDUPER awesome if you guys had a suggestion for ghetto desk top vocal booth thing I can do for isolation and dampening.

it makes you sound like you arent hurtin for chromosomes, if you know what i mean.

[Ostinato Rubato]

So cool guys, this has been an informative thread and you guys are good hommies to a brother. I learned:

1) I have decent mics and should just go forward without worrying about that part
2) I've intuitively started to keep my head steady and enunciate when recording
3) Puff screen sounds so much cooler than pop filter, but tomato tomato either way they're cheap

It would be SUPERDUPER awesome if you guys had a suggestion for ghetto desk top vocal booth thing I can do for isolation and dampening.

it makes you sound like you arent hurtin for chromosomes, if you know what i mean.

46 and 2.


Whatever man I'm still gonna get downs with my bad self.

[Markdude]

Why would one need a puff screen to record bass anyhow?

[Ostinato Rubato]

Why would one need a puff screen to record bass anyhow?

E tu Brute?

[Dickarms]

so fun to pick on.
all in fun though. we love ya