Recording and Mixing vocals?

[mopper511]

Recently, with my band we have begun to record some of our songs. Currently we don't have a drummer (we use EZDrummer) and a bassist. We don't want to create a CD but good sounding demos.

My question is: Does anyone here have experience in recording and especially mixing vocals? So far we record the unfiltered signal from a dynamic mic and of course it doesn't sound impressive without some effects.

What effects (and how) would you use to create a good sounding vocal track? Compressor? Reverb? EQ?

Any hint is most welcome!
Mopper

[Wolfboy1]

Mopper explain a bit more about your setup.
Dynamic mike into?
Since you are using EZDrummer I'm betting you are going into a computer some how. What is your signal chain?

As to recording vocals themselves, I have dabbled just a small bit in this but I find a bit of reverb and EQ as needed can really improve the track. I would also say that the best place to do this is after you have recorded a track and prior to mixing down. There are many freebies out there in the form of VST plugins for recording software. I'd be happy to post a few links.

So let us know your signal chain and your software.

[slasner]

On vocals I would EQ to my liking then use compression and perhaps dynamic enhancers. The effects would depend on the song, so many factors to consider, tempo, style, subject matter etc.

A basic effects choice would be reverb and delay, longer delay time on slower vocals and shorter delay on faster vocals. But additionally flange, chorus, phasor etc can add that special touch to vocals in the right situation.

[mopper511]

Wolfboy, you're totally right, I should have added that info.
We have an analog mixer (24 channels I think) which is the center of our setup. The different channels
are routed to a MOTU audio interface (eight in and outs, +4db). The software we are using is Cubase 5 which is way more than we need but it's nice to have.
We do have some additional hardware like an Equalizer, Compressor and Multi-Effect but since we want to have it as easy as possible we don't use these for mixing.

What I'm looking for is some basic rules to use an EQ, a compressor and reverb for vocals cause every time I use an effect in cubase with a preset it seems to be way too much...
Mopper