Question About Vocal Equipment?!
Question: I want to get serious, or at least more serious, with how I view my vocal usage for the sake of bands. If I wanted to be taken more seriously as a professional vocalist (Which I'm not, but for the sake of questioning), what equipment would I have to purchase?
(I plan on singing with a rock/alternative kind of band, if that helps any)
All help would be most appreciated. Thank you.
Answers: I want to get serious, or at least more serious, with how I view my vocal usage for the sake of bands. If I wanted to be taken more seriously as a professional vocalist (Which I'm not, but for the sake of questioning), what equipment would I have to purchase?
(I plan on singing with a rock/alternative kind of band, if that helps any)
All help would be most appreciated. Thank you.
Well, the standard issue for playing live is actually pretty inexpensive. Just you standard SM-58 (run you about $70-90 bucks if memory serves me correctly), obviously, you will need a mic stand (you'll want one with a boom stand) to support it. If you're talking about recording then it gets much, much more expensive. Honestly, unless you're making a serious record you don't need to run out and buy a condenscer mic that for a good one you'll need to spend between a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars.
To come off as serious, I suppose you could be self sustaining. This will be useful for practicing. To do this you could go full out and get a P.A. system, but I wouldn't do that until you're in a band and you will have a real use for it. Our band, and we take the whole thing (at least being fully fuctional) fairly seriously, just has a mixer and a pretty good JBL speaker (not an instrument amp). This will make it so you will have amplification at the ready which for a singer makes you look better.
This is nothing a trip to Guitar Center and a conversation with one of their reps won't tell you. The real advice I have is don't buy a bunch of stuff you won't end up needing. When you join a band you may find that someone already has this stuff, or the place you end up practicing may support a vocalist. If you just want to have stuff to be ready I would get a SM58 with stand and XLR cable, a mixer (not too cheap, but not too nice either. something decent will probably run you around $100-$150), and a speaker. That way you can bring a vocal rig with you in case you play somewhere that doesn't have a PA, and so you're ready to go with your own stuff when you practice with a band, but just know that you may not need to.
Recording (at least making a serious recording) is a whole other beast. I would just talk about your needs once you get there or hire someone to do your recording that has the necessary equipment.
A Mic/Mic Stand, an effects pedal, and a case of beer for the band...if you by chance have a sound board, you're in! lol
definitely some vocal coaching from a reputable trainer (not that CD/Book crap); absolutely no one can become a good performer without said training. Also, perhaps a karaoke machine. a keyboard or piano is also great to have as it allows you to train your voice to be able to sing certain keys.
If your talking about 'performing live' - then the best thing for you to invest in would be a 'Shure SM58'. It's THEE industry standard dynamic microphone.
Just do a search for 'Shure SM58' and get all the specs. You can get them for ￡50 - ￡100 nowadays - well worth the cash!
Learn an instrument besides your voice, learn proper mic technique, get some vocal training, know your range and know what keys you can sing in.
As far as equipment, the most crucial piece of equipment you'll need is a microphone that is well-suited to your voice and well-suited to playing live. The two main microphone types to consider will be dynamic and condensor. Condensor mics are more fragile, require a preamp, and will pick up far more than a dynamic mic. Dynamic mics are very robust, but will color your voice more.
All mics will color your voice - you want to find the mic that colors your voice in the most complimentary fashion, preferably with the lowest noise possible.
The Shure SM58 is the industry standard dynamic mic, but don't be afraid to try others. I would suggest against a condensor mic until you've gotten a grip on things.
Beyond the mic, you'll probably want a backline... that will mean a PA system. So, mic cables, a basic mixer (even a cheap 4 channel will do it), a power amp (or you could go with a powered mixer), and some speakers. Realistically speaking, when playing live the house will usually provide the PA, so you can start relatively small (100w-ish), but be prepared to upgrade if necessary.
Getting a rackmount system will be your best bet. Mic preamps will not necessarily provide you with any benefits unless you're spending a couple hundred dollars on them. I would strongly suggest an equalizer with feedback elimination. You probably won't need a compressor, but it's possible. If you're any decent, you wont' need a harmonizer, but some go that route. Oh yeah, and you'll want the best reverb your money can buy... you can start with a cheapie (Behringer virutalizer, for instance) but you'll want to upgrade as soon as you can.
Good luck!
Saul