Learned more about my problem here then a at least 100 other videos I watched.

I’ve been a sound engineer in Hollywood for 16 years and everything in this video should be absolutely studied by people that are just starting out. Great video!

This guy is using a lot of older/budget equipment. he doesn't have a massive console, he doesn't have racks and racks of gear, but.... he really knows what he's doing!! His tips are far more valuable then half the crap coming out on youtube these days. Especially his tips on mic placement and usage, I can't tell you how many people abuse mics because of a video or two that they saw where the singers right up on top of the mic.

He somehow is able to break it down for total beginners without talking down to anyone. Really a master w no ego and an obvious love for his craft.

This guy is so clear and lucid in his explanations. He explains everything so well. He would make a brilliant teacher. He doesn't waffle on and really gets to the point. I also like the way he conducts himself. Excellent video!

When we talk about style over substance this guy is exactly the reverse. not flashy , not showy not full of himself but what he is saying is absolute gold dust. sensible advice and making 100% sense. I like the cut of his jib !

I would like to add for some people that may not know is the mic you use will have a big effect on issues. For those that always use a condenser mic that mic will pick up a huge amount of the room. Try using a dynamic mic which will keep room noise very low especially if you have untreated room. In fact there are times that the vocal quality and tone of a singer can benefit more from a dynamic mic than a condenser or ribbon. Expensive mics don't mean the right match to the singer. Many hit songs on vocals were recorded on a less expensive dynamic mic. I hope this helps

This is literally the most in depth and least intimidating educational video on mic placement and vocal takes. Thank you. Home studio gal here!

I heard someone explain the antiplosive trick as "aim the mic at the mouth instead of the mouth at the mic" and found it a PERFECT explanation to memorize and understand 👏. Great video!!!

9:20 Singing across or slightly off axis into the mic to prevent plosives and pops; I've been doing this for years and it works great. Brilliant idea! Thanks for demonstrating this.

The interviewer would be me. Lol He looks like he loves listening and learning about this stuff.

Wooow... I have never learnt so much in 1 video than from Mike. This guy is so knowledgeable, experienced and most of all, humble. He hasn't the slightest bit of ego and talks of getting home audio, although he's got a professional recording studio. Hats off!!

The more videos I watch on recording and production, the more my growing passion for the art form burns. 8 years ago at the age of 14 I pirated my first copy of FL Studio and started making god awful EDM. I had no idea that now at the age of 22 I would be making plans to build a proper home studio with a view to becoming a producer and mixing engineer. I feel like I have found my calling in life and my knowledge and experience is growing daily. I feel like I’ve learned and practiced enough now to start working on a professional level, and I haven’t felt so passionate about something in years. Thanks for this fantastic video, there’s absolutely no limit to what you can learn.

This is the most clear and detailed explanation how to improve my room recordings. Thanks. Two thumbs up 👍👍

Every minute of this video was worth to watch. Many thanks.

i've never learned so much about recording in half an hour in my entire life. Thank you.

I absolutely loved Mike's knowledge he so graciously shared. I'm a Indie Gospel Artist. I'm about to purchase a mic and this knowledge was right on time. Bless you for your giving out of what probably took you years of schooling to learn.

This was incredible. I have had a horrible time with low end on my vocals. This was a God-send. Thanks to both of you!!

Extremely helpful, although I’ve been a vocalist for many years both live and studio work I’m a total technophobe. I’m not totally happy with home recording results I’ve had so far. This video however is a game changer. Huge thank you to you both.

Well put and very clarifying comments. And David, your kind, and I would say, humble attitude, was very nice and appropriate. Than you both!

Love this guy's attitude. On De-Essing: Learning how to make a side-chain setup/effect with a compressor and EQ will do amazing things for those Esses, it really has helped me tremendously and has perfected conquering this to make great vocals whenever this comes on as a problem with one of my own recordings, which all depends on what I need to bring out of the vocal I recorded when mixing...causing me to need to de-ess before hand, but can also depend on the mic I choose to use for a project, and/or micing techniques during recording. Either way, learning to de-ess affords you more freedom in all of these areas.

Laughed out loud on the 'Lispy' part of the conversation. Brought back memories of me trying to fine-tune the DBS 286 'de-esser' years ago!!! :-) I would add one other issue to your list. Vocalists moving back and forth while they sing - completely changes the volume and tone of the recording. Volume can be fixed but tone is a whole other ball game. Superglue all 'dancing' vocalists feet to the floor! :-)

Dude this is one of the best videos I have ever watched regarding this. I just scrolled down and found out that a lot of the people here agree with that. All this information is worth so much money, this knowledge is so densely packed and you can tell it's real by the way he explains everything because of his experience.

One of the best audio videos of all times

Thanks for sharing your experience! I'm grateful to have had an opportunity to stand on your shoulders.

Best half an hour I've spent regarding vocal recording. Thank you!

this is SO GOOD these tips are going to make a difference on NICU's upcoming debut album (self-produced) love how you keep it simple and on the key points, that really helps me. So many videos give me information overload and no takeaways. My takeaways from this video are mainly about avoiding unfixable mistakes that can ruin my otherwise "perfect" vocal take: - don't record too hot anywhere and clip - don't catch plosives - don't catch sibilance - don't catch ambient noise or reverb (this is the easy part, I built myself an incredible DIY vocal booth at home for under $500 :) If the performance is good and those errors aren't present, it's gonna be something favorable that we can work with further in the DAW or external hardware. appreciate this info, really feel lucky that you're sharing it for free. I promise it's making a difference out here EDIT: also HELL YEAH that Rode NT-1A is the same main vocal mic I have in my booth already!!! I feel so validated XD

I like the cadence in your approach when you speak about music production. Your delivery is very philosophical. I like that shit

The sibilance thing is a great refresher, loved that example where the “see” is getting ducked. It’s unknowingly something I hear in most songs but have never picked up on.

"you can tell when someone's just bought a desser, everything is lisping and there are no S's" hahah mikeZ the man, great of david to let the master extol his knowledge, i hate interviewers that feel the urge to add their two cents every second... dave asked the right amount of questions and all i can say is thanks to both of you for making and sharing this awesome video

This was a fantastic interview! Mike looks like a fun guy to talk to!

I was told to practice speaking as though you’ve had an exorbitant amount of garlic, and you’re on an interview. It takes practice but it helps your popping. (In addition to off axis) This was great… and the interviewer did a masterful job. Really enjoyed this one! Thx for sharing.

I agree with most of the things suggested in this video, except for a few things: 1) Using a reflective shield might cause more issues than it solves. Comb filtering in particular, where some less than perfect shields reflects certain frequencies from the direct signal (your voice) which the mic picks up. 2) All for the mattressing in the corner in a V- or U-shape. Standard, and excellent, practice. But don't sing towards the mattresses/corners - sing outwards in the room. The mic pattern is most likely cardioid anyway so having the back and sides covered is where money/mattresses/duvets should be spent.

This might be a long comment because I am excited. Some of this I knew, or had an idea of before I watched. However the way you described it and demonstrated it helped greatly. You don't always need to know why and how something works, as long as it works but its sure nice to know sometimes. And it can help you when implementing it. I don't sing, do vocals or mix music. My situation is more just recording or broadcasting my voice. Like tutorial videos, screen capture or voice in gaming. For instance I use Second Life quite a bit and we use voice on that to communicate often. It is amazing how horrible some people voice and microphone set ups are in that game. Clipping, distortion, background noise or to low and muffled and you can't understand them. I like my voice to sound as good as it can so it doesn't annoy others. I also record things and upload it to youtube so I want my voice to be clear and sound good. And this video actually helped with that. The same techniques used for singing can easily be used for doing voice vocals like streaming or voice over stuff. I used to use a usb mic (blue yeti) and I wanted something better so I got an e835 dynamic mic and a focusrite 2i2 interface. Popping was in issue. I tried a pop filter just like the one you showed in the video. You are right, it was annnoying and far too large. I need to see the screen and my keyboard while I am recording my voice. Because of the work I do I am normally using my keyboard and mouse while recording myself. Which also brings up a background noise issue. The mic will pick up the keyboard and mouse clicks. Being I got a dynamic mic made for stage vocals I assumed I needed to be fairly close to it but not right on top of it, 3 to 4 inches away maybe? And I thought I had to speack directly into it. As in the shaft for the mic needed to be inline with my face or mouth. So pointed straight away from me and directly infront of me. After watching this I know that is not the case. I can pull the mic a few inches farther back, lower it a bit and angle the base of the mic down and out a bit so it isn't directly infront of my face. Not only did this help with popping it also helped with noise rejection! Freaking genious. Now the back of the mic points more towards my keyboard and computer that is about 6 feet away and slightly to the side. and I have a fan in the room behind me and to the side. By angling the mic just right I can use its built in rejection to help lower the ambient sound of my computer fans, the keyboard and the fan in the room. I still need to use a noise gate some some supression to get rid of the background noise but I don't need to turn it up nearly as high or make it as aggressive. As for the tone of my voice and how close I am to the mic, eh that is something I can fix with EQ. If I want more base in my voice I can just add it with an eq plug in I don't need to choke on the mic lol. I also discovered that for clipping and background noise I can just turn down the gain on my pre amp a little and then raise the level again in software like one of the plug ins I use to shape the sound or what I am running the mic input through. Sort of like the fader on a mixer after you set the gain for that input.

Precious info :). So glad I didn't hear "you need a U87" to get the best vocal sound :)

Great video. I’m older and just starting out recording as I want to leave some music around for my kids to pass on after I’m not around anymore. Your tips were a great place to start. Thanks again. I’m now a subscriber….

this video is absolutely amazing! SO MUCH GOOD INFO! Especially since making music is hobby for me rather than a job, I don't have a lot of time to put into studying the technical aspects (even though i would love to dedicate more time), so this video is all gold!! And facinating!

Really the best 30 minutes you can spend on studio production techniques. Must watch and save.

As others have said. This video covers the topic better then most on YT. The whole time I'm watching this im thinking of an episode I just watched of Gunsmoke western. Throughout the whole episode there is terrible sibilance or something. It sounded like the echoing Jason noises. I noticed it right away. I had to convince my dad and cousin it was there. Once they finally noticed it they couldn't ignore it, like me. It was so distracting eventually we had to turn it. This is the episode in question if you ever feel the need to revisit the topic again.

Excellent video-learned a lot as a novice.

Years of practical experience on this, thank you for sharing.

This was super helpful, thanks! My mic stand doesn’t allow for tilting so I’m going to try turning it ever so slightly to reduce pops missed by my pop filter.

A whole lot of helpful content in under half hour. Fantastic vid.

Absolute gold dust! All very clearly explained. Subscribed

Gained so much information from this video. I appreciate his focus on the simpler ideas, and wealth of experience.

"Here's looking at you, SM58!" Me: Looks angrily at my SM58...

People dont have enough patience anymore for a video this long and theyre missing out on this gold advice simplified.

Thanks so much guys. Your guest is a wealth of audio wisdom. This was very helpful.

humble knowledgeable guy I love it

Thanks for keeping the video online despite all the negative comments about the quality of the audio. It's really useful and I really enjoyed the suggestions especially for mic position. 🙏

lots of great stuff here. Lovely little trick as the singer get s closer is to gently turn up the vocal in the Artists' headfones. Keeps them happier and lets them deliver rather than sing harder. Also, tilting the mic is great. Tilting down captures that lovely warmer tone , and tilting up is less so , but nice and light.

Great advice...for those who will actually take heed.

I think for a home studio he should also talk about mic choice. I have been a self-taught engineer for 30 years and I have a whole array of expensive vocal mics but on occasions, I have even recorded someone with an SM58 using a nearfield monitor as the sound just worked. It is all very well trying for a super accurate vocal sound but if it doesn't suit the voice and sit in the mix, you may as well try anything. I was amazed it worked and it taught me not to be so snobby about the way we record.

Wow! Mike. I think i did some recordings with you in Walmer, Port Elizabeth years ago. I was in a band. Good memories. You new your stuff then. Imagine the knowledge you have now.

Probably the cleanest, most down to earth and informative video and explanation of technique that I've ever seen. Learned a lot from this, thank you very much :)

Thank you for confirming my bedroom theory, always get the best results - carpets, curtains, clothes = CCC -Recording 😉

This is the best video I’ve watched on improving a home recording studio. I am still searching, after enjoying a conversation as detailed as this one, for a similar discussion about reverb. I am a crooner in the metro Detroit area, and all I can find is reverb for modern music where the reverb is used for special effects as opposed to a realistic room sounding, dialed in reflection. I would greatly appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction. Thank you again for this excellent interview!

I was able to reduce sibilance with a tip I found on the web. Basically I worked my way through the recorded audio file, finding every S, and reducing its amplitude by 50%. I probably could have removed some of the high end using EQ on it as well, but it wasn't necessary. It's time-consuming, but it works. You definitely don't want some global EQ to mess up the vowels, which is where the real meat of a vocal lives.

Great recommendations. For the first time My recordings sounds good. Thank you!

Starting to engineer my own tracks now…this is very helpful

Open your closet and you have a bunch of clothes hanging in there. Get your mic right up next to that clothes and sing into the closet. Also make your own DIY Kaotica eyeball and place over the top of the mic or just buy an Electron PF8 for $25 on eBay.

Brilliant advice, as I'm new to recording on PC using studio one Artiste I'm having trouble getting a decent vocal so Thank you

Love this. Simple, clear, and extremely useful. Thanks guys!

I just got my 414 XLS and am getting ready to work on technique! Good primer for me here. I'm considering the angle of mic placement for the plosives and wondering if the downward or upward angle may be selected according to the preference of voice type. For instance, the chest resonance of a tenor will show up more with the cardoid pointing toward the lower half of their body as opposed to the ceiling. And a breathy voice can sound even more so, I would imagine, if the mic favored the opposite direction where the nasal and lip smacking sounds may be louder.

Excellent tutorial. Hats off.

This is the most informative video I have watched in the last year on here about music 💪🏽💪🏽😎

Yeah I tracked in a church hall but for the main tracks I setup towards a corner and used reflection filters to control those takes.

Great interview. Very helpful. And reinforced some of what I've learned the hard way.

20 mins in and I only just realised we met today at Gig HQ! Thanks for this valuable vid 🙏

This reminded me of something I heard in a Paul Mc Cartney interview. He mentioned that there was a particular place in his home where he wrote certain songs, he just loved the way things sounded there. Ultimately, a little knowledge, some experimentation, and practice seem to be the way to go ...

Thank you so much for this. I make online video courses and the sound quality is really important to me, I've not been fully satisfied with my audio, but with these tips I am sure it will help a ton, so again thank you!

Dear David Shanhun, I suggest you make a video series of conversations with this audio master. If you and the owner of Manuka studio deal with other topics related to recording and processing audio, I am convinced that the traffic on your channel will increase significantly just like the number of subscribers. I am a complete beginner in this field but I have learned a lot by listening to fantastic tips just like recording and processing audio tips and tricks. Greetings from Split, Dalmatia, Croatia, EU

WOW....A LOT of wise advice! My new technique is recording without a pop filter, I like how he explained how to do that!!!

One of the best videos on the subject I've found.

This was fantastic. Big-time thanks for being so generous with your knowledge!

It's funny, cause at the beginning of my recording years ago, I was one of those "I love the high end" boosters, and now with all I know: in reality, a nice, well balanced darker, smooth and cozy vocal is much better to record. I want something that goes in smooth and has plenty of strength to mix.

Brilliant video. Thank. You soooo much. Re those problematic consonants, if a singer "implodes" their consonants, I think the problem with mics could be reduced. Yours in Gratitude

This is a great video from a highly experienced man. Thank you.

Absolute ""dynamite useful info"" thanks Dave Shanhun and Mike McCarthy - much love! Thanks for the production time and share Dave.

years of solid experience, amazing teaching skills, and still uses the humble old NT1. Speaks volumes of the guy, and also about the so-called YT influencers who try to push expensive gear for nothing.

Nice and clear explainations, thanks. I will try this soon in my little home studio, probably also with a sound shield.

Fab video guys very educational, will make sure i angle the mic when recording from now on.. thanks guys

i watched a lot of tutorials and this one explains well thanks for the video.

Damn, i have used my Pop Filter wrong all the time... And my vocal recordings also allways Turn Out Low End heavy and dull. Its wierd i allways thought i was far away enough. Thank you for this Video

Very helpful video. Clear and simple explanations. Thank you very much.

I bought a pop shield and a curved mini vocal booth thing. Best money ever spent on studio gear. You can put an insert on the vocal as you record so the vocalist feels happy but it’s not stamped on the recording so you can change it later. I’d also recommend putting a compressor on to avoid big level changes with inexperienced singers who can’t stay a consistent distance from the mic.

Very nice advice for a beginner like myself! Thank you for that! Really nice of you to give such professional advice for free

Best video ever about this topic. Answered so many of my burning questions as a guy with a deeper voice with proximity issues. Thanks a million. I am grateful!

very clear and easy to understand. thank you so much for this detailed explanation

This is really great stuff as I'm starting out with a cheap, beginner home studio. Thanks for the free advise.

Awesome! There speaks true experience. I like the passion and the no-nonsense, too. Going to try out the mike adjustments first. Would like to see more in the future , learned a lot.

I have found that recording my vocals in my closet is the best place. I have an isolation shield for the microphone; however, I get better results using that in my closet. The clothes help absorb even more ambient noise.

I'm just starting out and this was so, so, so, so, SO helpful :') THANK YOU!

What an excellent informative video! Thank you!

very useful and easy fix solutions that have improved my recordings, Big Thanx from your mate down under

Was recording a buddy a while back doing some Chris Cornell Soundgarden style stuff. His mug was right up on the grill of a U-47 with no pop filter! I giggled and took a picture while he was doing it! Friggin bad ass Cause he was so #*@kin loud! Neighbor's a block down the road probably heard him! lol He is Very Pro doing those angle tricks and pushing into the mic / neve preamp as needed naturally. No pop filter needed! Yet another artist later, a very soft singer needed all the pop filters etc. As an engineer makes yeah smile when you get a bad ass in the studio that does not need that stuff!:)

Thank you very much for this information....It was a great help

I really enjoyed this interview - and learned a few things too. Thank you.

Thanks Mick you went down to the very detail, I am recording at home so will try your rules. Cheers!

This is gold. Seriously been watching so many shorter KZfaq friendly videos from people who I now realise aren't all that experienced. Some Qs too: 1. Any tips for mouth noise? Besides being hydrated etc is there anything one can do with mic placement etc that can help? 2. Thoughts on the Shure SM7b? 3. Is Manuka Studio still running in Orewa and is the $50 mastering offer still on?