So for a track I'm working on there's a point where I'd like to create the effect of someone basically whispering in your ear. I'm at a difficult stage in my development as a producer/mixer where I know enough to have some decent ideas but not enough to know which of my conflicting ideas is the better choice.

Bumping the volume a bit is an obvious choice. But then there's everything else.

Reverb. Do I do away with it to give the impression that the vocal is so close that there's no room in it? Or do I add a bit of reverb and delay the early reflections to create the illusion that the listener is close to the source?

Compression. A lot of compression is known to bring a vocal/instrument to the front of the mix. But - air between the source and the listener is said to be a natural compressor. So it stands to reason that a volume bump with little to no compression could give the impression of natural sounding proximity.

I have no idea if any EQ tweaks need to be made to create this effect. I know distance dampens highs and lows. Not sure what extreme proximity does. I guess it stands to reason that the opposite of distance would be true of proximity, and a shelf bump at maybe 500 and 5000 could augment the effect.


Anyway, I'm sure there are plenty of you who have been doing this much longer than me. I've only been seriously learning mixing for maybe 6-7 months. So any input would be appreciated.

 

Large diaphragm condenser mics are usually used for this (a tube is even better), sometimes a nice ribbon, or the mic I want- a Shure SM-7B dynamic. A good pre amp to be able to dial in the impedance and gain helps. Changing the impedance not only changes the tone, it also changes the psycho-acoustics of where the mic seems to be(narrow, spread out, front, back). Best help is a singer/vocalist experienced at this sort of thing. Pros know how to back off sibilance and splosives, how much air to put in their voice, moving closer and farther away to help smooth things, etc. (that's why some work as voice-over artists or broadcasters) I prefer not to compress going into a track if I can help it, but in this case, your vocalist needs to be able to hear and work the effects, the best real compressor you can afford or a good model of a vintage tube compressor. Maybe a nice multi-channel dialed in just so at different frequencies. You have to listen hard and tinker to get right combination of settings. The two hardest things to get the right mic set up and record are voice and grand piano. I prefer tubes or tube imitations for the kind of sound you are describing anywhere in the chain they can be inserted. Love my ART tube/digital pre. Great tool for the money. (Makes my Rode and Blue sound like they cost a lot more). one more edit-as an experienced vocalist, I can tell you there are lots of subtle nuances I use when I want my "pillow talk" voice, you know, to try to make the ladies wet. lol

 

I know that this sounds kind of simplistic, but why don't you just whisper into the microphone the line that you need? It will sound just like you whispered into an ear. No reverb as there is not a space to reverberate between the whisperer and the ear, but by all means compress to taste. If you haven't a mic ask a friend or someone here to whisper for you. I hope that was helpful.

 

Funny coincidence, I also have an ART pre/Rode mic. Voice Channel and NT1 (the new 2014 model). And yeah, the ART pre is a beast for the money. So is the NT1, to be honest. I've been recording on and off for ten years or so, but only seriously for less than a year, which is the same time I started paying attention to how shitty my music actually was sonically and decided I need to learn how to mix.


Haha and its not a pillow talk voice I'm going for. The line in question is actually about breaking into someone's house and waking them up. The reason the effect is so important to me is because I want the "pssst" to be kind of alarming. The guy I did the track with is infuriatingly clever and I'm trying to do it justice.

 

Oh I did that. I was just fussing over how to mix it. Thing is, it's hard to get as close as I'd like to. My mic is a Rode NT1. The new model has a really surprising quality for the price but its one shortcoming is that it gets a little harsh in the high end sometimes. Like I said to Algae, the thing I want to sound close is a 'psst'. The other guy in our two man is much less sibilant than I am but that's a pretty hard S. Even so I got some good takes of it. It's really not as big a deal as I'm making it. I just thought he had a really clever execution of a concept so I wanted to accentuate it however I could (tastefully).

I gotta say, the people here are much, much cooler than on GS. Seems like everyone over there is always swinging dicks at each other instead of talking music.

Thanks for the response.

 

Shure SM58 + Tube EQ. I would work out a stereo track from the mono take using appropriate delay and reverb (creating an echo from left to right or right to left). You have to record the "whisper" because IMHO it's impossible to recreate only by using tools.

 

try to play with this great freebie:
TDR-VoS Proximity

I can't add much to the above advices, its not an easy task for sure, but apart from the tool I linked, EQ is the main tool here.

 

I'm not sure if "whispering in your ear" was meant exaggerated, but if you want it literally to sound like someone is whispering in your ear (on condition of the listener wearing headphones) this might help:
Just whisper into the microphone (as superliquid23 already mentioned), add some compression, pan it completely to the right or left, don't add reverb and maybe push frequencies around 5kHz (depending on the voice).
Leaving the sound of the vocalist breathing in right before the whispering can add a nice touch.

 

Use an eq to simulate Fletcher's curve. Boost a wide high shelf and low shelf

 

This... is really cool. I def want to take a crack at learning to do everything myself, but in the meantime this is a neat tool. And by the same people that made Limiter 6 if I'm not mistaken.

Btw, if you are the copylefter, I appreciate your good work.

 

as said before tube is the right option, but if you prefer a plugin for wispering/close voice the 2 tubes plugin from Audiothing does the best job

 

This, in size 7 green Comic Sans.

Also hard-panning.

 

Haha that's a phenomenal idea.

Thanks to everyone who offered some help.