Whats the frequency

[CerealKiller]

Do you know what frequencys the average human vocals range is in?
I was told by someone but I forgot, I'm sure Lonnie knows.

[George]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocal_range

[CerealKiller]

yeah george that really doesn't help in this situation

[CerealKiller]

ok i guess it does but thats more than i needed to know

[marklwood]

Most are between 100hz to 1000 hz. Barry White on the 100hz side, and Mariah Carey on the 100hz side.

[CerealKiller]

well an sm58 peaks around the 3 to 6 khz and doesn't reach noramal levels till past 100hz.. the reason I'm asking is for EQ purposes I like to run alot of high end on vocals unless the singer needs less high end I know their is no way to set an EQ for every singer. Just wondering what kinds of settings everyone else is using. although I know every system should be run diffrently

[marklwood]

This is not what I prefer, but what I am FORCED to do. I set my out front EQ by feedback to obtain the maximum volume before the mics feed back running very flat. This not for optimum sound, but for those people who can't seem to sing above a whisper or don't know that the mic has to be in the VICINITY of your mouth to work properly. Then if I actually get a good singer with some heft to their voice, I give the guys a little bit of boost in the highs and the girls a boost in the lows. But some girls sound like they have a mouth full of marbles if you boost the lows, so every singer ultimately has to be by ear.

[Lonman]

Originally Posted by CerealKiller

Do you know what frequencys the average human vocals range is in?
I was told by someone but I forgot, I'm sure Lonnie knows.

Voice range covers 300 Hz to 3500 Hz. Males will be on the lower end while females will be on the upper end. 1khz is usually affected by all then adjust on either side accordingly. Usually the girls you want to cut the highs a tad, while males you want to cut the lows a tad.
This is not definitive as everyone will have their own sweet spot frequency wise, but a good starting point!

[George]

Originally Posted by CerealKiller

yeah george that really doesn't help in this situation

All you had to do was scroll to the VOCAL RANGE IN TERMS OF FREQUENCY section.

[CerealKiller]

george I saw that after I took another look, sorry. As we all know running sound for 100's of non-professional singers can be a challange and the normal rules may not apply. Screamers, Coners, Whisperers, and just plain bad singers make getting a good sound a constant battle, but my reward comes from avreage singers that I can make sound good and great singers that I let their true voice come thru

[Lonman]

As we all know running sound for 100's of non-professional singers can be a challange and the normal rules may not apply.
Screamers - Use a good compressor/limiter
Coners - ??Assuming you mean mic cuppers? If you have a sweepable mid on your mixer, do a hard mid cut at approx. 1K & turn the bass/treble up a smidge. If you don't have a sweepable mid, then a hard cut on the midrange, but some boards have their mid settings set at different frequencies & may not always work very well.
Whisperers - Not a whole lot you can do here. I will usually sweep their mid up in the 250-350hz range, cut the high/mid & low mid a bit on the music & back the music volume down a bit.
just plain bad singers - Eq adjustments aren't as critical as compression settings & some effects for the plain bad ones.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by
[B

Coners - ??Assuming you mean mic cuppers? If you have a sweepable mid on your mixer, do a hard mid cut at approx. 1K & turn the bass/treble up a smidge.[/b]

OR; just tell them to use the mic properly. That is a lot easier than resetting and setting the eq's back and forth.

[Lonman]

Originally Posted by bryant

OR; just tell them to use the mic properly. That is a lot easier than resetting and setting the eq's back and forth.

As much as you tell them, they will often still hold it the way they are comfortable or 'thinks' looks cool. Sometimes it's just easier to try to deal with it & adjust accordingly. Adjusting the mic channel eq is done for every singer anyway, no big deal overall.

[George]

Can't put everybody in the same bucket.

We have a gal in out private Karaoke club who is not comfortable raising her voice. Even when she speaks it is in a soft spoken manner. To compound the problem, she does not like to hold the mike too close to her lips. It was very difficult for her to be heard when singing duets or group songs, and required a lot of mixing and volume when doing solos. She was becoming reluctant to perform, and the heck of it is she has the best female voice in our group.

We taught her to "cup" the mike, and it solved the problem for all concerned.
She's happy and willing to perform, the rest of us get to enjoy hearing her, and my job is easier.

[muzicman144]

Reverb is the bad singers best friend.
muzicman