NWB - Community Blog

We usually have two mics on stage, I use my crappy pro sound one for the singer because he does the same thing, it's either that or bringing a pop shield before he breaks into the set!

Band leaves singer.

hit him a few times. Then hit him a few more!

If you're mixing, YOU have the control. As soon as he starts, take the fader on his channel down. Simples innit!!

If he starts complaining after, tell him his screaming is disturbing the audience or disturbing the mix. If he persists, stick your finger up your arse and wipe it across his microphone. Guaranteed to make him back off it a bit!!

Record him at full tilt and play it back to him?

Exactly what is the issue precisely? You're not really saying in real terms what it is. I used to sing a lot of Small Faces and Free number, and so on. They were quite shouty numbers but I never had any issues at all. I used a SM58 mic with a cover on in. It was my way of keeping the metal off my lip as I used to like to sing with my top lip just touching on and off the mic at times. Never had any comments or complaints.

Turn down the gain ! It won't clip then .

if its his gear leave him too it , he will soon get tired of buying new drivers , if its your gear put a limiter on his vox , or tell him to learn some mic technique

@grooverman.....Yeah get your technique sorted.

Singing and then balling without moving away from the mic is not the way to go.

Use a compressor/limiter it will at least stop the channel peaking .

wire his mic directly to the mains , he will shout loudly then go very quiet, end of problem

Wipe the ball of the mic on your ar-e, thet should keep him slightly away from it solving your problem, ps dont tell him though.

Give him a P45 and get another frontman, a crap singer makes the whole band look bad. If he won't listen or alter his technique I don't think you have much choice.

Put a bit of compression on to even it out a little maybea? or just turn the gain down when he does so lol

Can you wind his monitor up till its so loud he backs off ?

in the end this is bad mic technique and as a fellow engineer i would say that your options are a little limited but here are some thoughts:
A decent level in the monitors or even in ear monitors will help give him a better feel for his level. i find singers who work with in ear monitors often become more controlled. if he is effectively shouting in his ears and hearing how bad it is then he is likely to learn better mic control or at least become more aware of mic control.
with even the highest quality vocals you can get a singer that will be fine half the night but blow the box on one or two numbers - if you use outboard reverb, check the levels when he starts to go for it - it may be that his voice is pushing too much gain thro the reverb and distorting that way - i get it with a female vocalist i work with but leave it in because it is only softly distrting and it suits the song in question.
try and get the band to sound check with one of the more offending songs and set his channel gain to unity while he is going for it. on a small desk when you are juggling different line and mic levels it isnt always as easy to do this as it sounds or at least it isn't always easy to keep the headroom you will need when you have to lift his vocal for quieter numbers. .
I have a keyboard player and a guitarist that do this with their instruments so i solo and reset the gain on the desk for their instruments while i am mixing thro the night, sometimes it's a case of guessing when it is coming, hitting the solo button and turning the gain down and the fader up at the same time. in fact i regularly solo channels through a gig just to see what is happening with the gain of a certain channel - i rarely put the cans on but i at least watch the desk level lights.
I use a behringer vocal processor with a few female vocalists to bring up their quieter sections with compression, gate to avoid drum spill and feedback and enrich the EQ. while the other tools may be useless here the compression will help a little - too much compression won't go well though, it doesn't sound quite right when you are listening, but a little can help a little.
playing with compression live isn't fun so i try to work with a vocalist or a recording of their voice when i am setting up compression
In the end though the vocalist HAS to learn some mic control, it's part of his trade. - maybe in ears will give him enough of an incentive.

Take a leaf out of Quincey Jones' book.
Apparently he used to stand next to michael jackson in the studio. Every time Jacko did his he-he bit quincy used to punch him in the face. U should do the same.

@Genehunt - And looking at his face...it showed!


Record the session and turn up the input gain making it sound as bad as possible. Then give each band member a copy and suggest that they release it as a cd to sell at gigs. ie - let the other musicians tell him so that you don't have to.

Post your singer the link to this Blog!......