Old 08-11-2016, 01:35 PM   #1
kirk1701
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Default Why use SM7b and U47 together?

I was watching this video from Eric Clapton's new album and I noticed he's using an SM7b and a U47 for his vocals.

https://youtu.be/IP_YxRKN6zQ

I've seen this technique a good deal lately. What are the advantages?
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Old 08-11-2016, 02:34 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by kirk1701 View Post
I was watching this video from Eric Clapton's new album and I noticed he's using an SM7b and a U47 for his vocals.

https://youtu.be/IP_YxRKN6zQ

I've seen this technique a good deal lately. What are the advantages?
now THAT's interesting. I would love to see how this works for mixing...
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Old 08-11-2016, 02:51 PM   #3
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Speaking of which, Slate Digital is about to release a new model for their VMS mic system that is a combo of the SM7 and U47 that they're calling the FG-M7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr6THdWKhAM

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Old 08-11-2016, 03:57 PM   #4
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I haven't seen the video, but it could be in place to offer two different vocal flavours for choice at mixdown.

It is also used as a way to capture most of the vocal through one mic and part of the vocal (a particularly loud or aggressive passage that may cause the other mic/chain to distort) from the other mic.
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Old 08-11-2016, 09:00 PM   #5
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I haven't seen the video, but it could be in place to offer two different vocal flavours for choice at mixdown.

It is also used as a way to capture most of the vocal through one mic and part of the vocal (a particularly loud or aggressive passage that may cause the other mic/chain to distort) from the other mic.
now that's a wonderful idea. Two separate chains right off the bat.
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Old 08-12-2016, 03:33 AM   #6
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Maybe the Neumann just happened to be there?

He's eating that Shure, so I can't imagine you'd get a great capture from the Neumann, and it looks like he only has a Shure when he's sitting down.

Boring, I know, but that was my first thought.

EDIT: Oh, and it's just a video, so who knows what they actually used for the capture?

Last edited by Judders; 08-12-2016 at 03:53 AM.
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Old 08-12-2016, 05:14 AM   #7
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I think it's pretty common to use two different mics to record vocals.

Sometimes the two mics combined will sound great and uniquey, sometimes they'll be just louder and not worthy, sometimes they'll cancelling out badly and you need to choose one wisely, and some other times, they will phasing out each other nicely.

Ah, i guess i need to give a bit more respect to "b" headphones.
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Old 08-12-2016, 07:36 AM   #8
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Maybe the Neumann just happened to be there?

He's eating that Shure, so I can't imagine you'd get a great capture from the Neumann, and it looks like he only has a Shure when he's sitting down.

Boring, I know, but that was my first thought.

EDIT: Oh, and it's just a video, so who knows what they actually used for the capture?
I doubt any Neumann would just be hanging about. The studio is British Grove in London. The producer is Glyn Johns too. He doesn't do anything by accident.

Obviously the film footage was shot throughout the tracking process, then synced to the mastered audio. But I agree that it's tough to know precisely what was used for Eric's actual vocals.

I think when he's sitting, he's just singing a guide vocal. The entire record was tracked live to 16 track tape, then mixed down from that. Really old-school, that's what Eric wanted.
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Old 08-12-2016, 08:02 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kirk1701 View Post
I was watching this video from Eric Clapton's new album and I noticed he's using an SM7b and a U47 for his vocals.

https://youtu.be/IP_YxRKN6zQ

I've seen this technique a good deal lately. What are the advantages?
Ummph (technical term) from the dynamic.
Clarity from the Neumann.

Dial in what you're looking for between them.
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Old 08-12-2016, 09:05 AM   #10
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would there be phase issues?
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Old 08-12-2016, 09:51 AM   #11
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would there be phase issues?
Well, that's what nudging multiple tracks into perfect phase in a DAW is for!
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Old 08-12-2016, 10:04 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kirk1701 View Post
I doubt any Neumann would just be hanging about.
Yea, that's intentional.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Brian Merrill View Post
would there be phase issues?
Quote:
Originally Posted by serr View Post
Well, that's what nudging multiple tracks into perfect phase in a DAW is for!
Everything we ever hear is phase and EQ - Moving a mic is phase which is ubiquitous to EQ being it's result, how close you are to the mic or how hard you drive an amp is EQ, where your body is in relation to everything else in the room is phase and EQ, everything is EQ in some sense and that's a good thing, it allows us to shape the sound in thousands of ways before it ever hits a plugin. From an OT perspective... an 'equalizer' is only to modify that after the fact.

That being said, LDCs often sound great a little off axis and not right up on the mic, the dynamic SM7B is fine for yelling into for the most part - the engineers know what they are doing so I would not find it odd at all to see this done. Any phase interactions behind the console may be good, bad, just right or irrelevant.
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Old 08-12-2016, 10:38 AM   #13
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I would bet only the SM7B is being used there. The Neumann is too off axis to be of use.
It's probably for preference. He can pick either mic. In this case he's using the SM7b.
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Old 08-12-2016, 11:20 AM   #14
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I would bet only the SM7B is being used there. The Neumann is too off axis to be of use.
It's probably for preference. He can pick either mic. In this case he's using the SM7b.
Could be that too. Some of my best vocal tracks are LDC off axis though keeps the sibilance among other things out of the track, smooth's things out but I prefer being a couple feet back over that. Don't forget things like omni either but it could just as easily have been set up two and use the one that passed the sound check.
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Old 08-12-2016, 12:04 PM   #15
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Well, that's what nudging multiple tracks into perfect phase in a DAW is for!
this is true
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Old 08-15-2016, 07:30 AM   #16
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this is true
Except they weren't mixing in a DAW
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