Hi
A vocalist has a Blue Yeti Pro mic and a Focusrite iTrack Studio interface. Her recording room is small and may introduce some bad resonances while recording vocals.

Is recording vocals outdoors a good alternative for an untreated room?
If yes, can you tell me how such a outdoor recording session should be carried out? What factors should be considered?
How about the wind and the mic? Should there be no wind? (she has the Blue Yeti Pro mic)

All tips are welcome

Thank you!
Cheers!

 

I guess recording outdoors can result more difficult and less optimal than recording in a small room. Since the Yeti Pro has multiple capsule patterns, I'd say stick to cardioid, move as far away from the front wall and cover the back of the singer with drapes or thick blankets to minimize reflections. Actually, moving around the room to find the sweet spot for recording is the best thing to do. The use of a mic screen like this one has proven to be problematic for me, but admittedly I bought a cheap one, and in really small rooms this might be your life saver, maybe the only option. Roll off the lows to diminish low end pickup which you won't be able to control, and you could get good takes. By the way, how small is that room you talk about?

 

There is a quite nice private vocal booth a lot of us have but we are not aware of it. If you want to record your own vocals, try your/a car. A modern car is quiet well treated. In a car you probably get better results than outside. It's more quiet in it.

 

Outside would pick up bad wind noise and wouldn't really produce good recordings. Neither would any small untreated room like a closet or bathroom.

An extremely cheap method for better recordings is to just drape a blanket behind you when you record. This will cut down on a lot of the reflections bouncing back to the microphone.

For about twenty or so dollars you can create a portable isolation booth much like those $100+ ones you see companies selling. Just buy one of those 15" folding storage boxes and a square of acoustic treatment. Cut the square into four pieces and stuff it in the box and you have a pretty good isolation booth for recording vocals or any close mic'd instrument.


Not my image but one I found with a quick Google search...

 

Great idea, except you cannot expect good results from a singer in a car seat. At least compared to standing up.
Have you ever done this? I find it hard to imagine getting to work the distances/position to the mic right during the performance...

 

I did it. And yes it works very well. The acustic in my car is better then in a lot of so called studios i saw in my musician life . And yes sure you cant put a client in a car and say sing ! Thats hillarious.
Thats why i said if you want to record your own vocals. If you do record yourself or maybe a good friend you have time, you can try etc...


...
Another thing that could help you is this fame mobile booth. I was first really sceptical about it but after i tested it and used it i have to say it works really well. I dont know if you can get it in your area. It is a resonable priced clone of the kaotica eyeball.
It is actually doing a really good job for the money. Put a blanket behind the singer + the eyball clone and you will get surprisingly good results.
- Not as good as a car but it has other advantages ;). Oh i have one of theese and use it regularly. So i speak from really using it first hand.

No noticable combfilter effect, boxiness or other big disadvantages. I am positive surpriesed from this kind of product.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 12, 2017

So how and where would you 'install' the Blue Yeti Pro mic, a pop filter and the Focusrite iTrack Studio audio interface (with a laptop) in a car?

Btw. The Focusrite iTrack Studio and a laptop is all the vocalist needs to power the mic and to record the vocals, right?

 

I was still tripping pretty heavily on mushrooms one late night in Topanga a whole bunch of years ago when I wanted to play some guitar and sing. The issue was that the property that I was living on had a bunch of sleeping people and so was not the time or the place to express myself even though The Muse was pulling me incessantly to do so, and in a very big way. She (The Muse) had me grab my ESP Telecaster, a pencil and a pad and directed me to my old beater Honda Civic. I sat down in the driver's seat and plopped the pad and pencil in the passenger seat. I was then directed to place the headstock to where the window meets the door frame on my left and just above my ear. Holy Moly! The vibration of the guitar was transfered to the frame of the roof of the car and the unplugged electric was amplified by at least a factor of five, enough to really hear what I was playing above my singing voice. I started playing a new and novel song on the spot, even writing down in entirety the complete lyrics in one flowing go, one of those in the moment magical spaces. It is called " Kevlar Slippers" and is one of my favorite songs and as well one that people always ask me to play. I never recorded it, but when we return from vacation might just do so and post it here in this recording in your car thread, though I won't actually be recording it in my car.

This also works beautufully in any door frame of your home.

 

Except when your outside is near a crowded place, airport or highway, I'd definitely vote for outside instead of an untreated small room.
Best would be to record at night in no or low wind (Pop filters for Yeti sized mics are available for a few bucks), you can use closed headphones to playback other tracks.