Using the on board Mic for vocals

[jkkramer]

1St off, Im trying to figure out how to post a question on this forum. Hopefully I've done it right. If not, PLease leave some instructions for me.
   MY QUESTION IS:when using the on board mic in the Micro BR, how far away do you hold the mic from your face? Do you sing right int to it like a vocal mic or do you hold it awaya foot or two?

[AlchemyMN]

1St off, Im trying to figure out how to post a question on this forum. Hopefully I've done it right. If not, PLease leave some instructions for me.
   MY QUESTION IS:when using the on board mic in the Micro BR, how far away do you hold the mic from your face? Do you sing right int to it like a vocal mic or do you hold it awaya foot or two?

About a foot away seems OK, but you can also move it around like Celine Dion to creat your own vocal swells... 

I am working on a mic-stand mount device that allow it to be postioned like a normal mic on a stand.  There is one posted here, but it requires velcro on the back of the BR.

Michael.
\o/

[jkkramer]

Thanks Alchemy MN,What kind of SENS and Input Levels do you use at about a foot away? I am intersested in seeing your mic stand.It's kinda hard to "feel it" when your sing from a chair down into a table top! Could you Post a Pic or description of your contraption when you get it done? 
         Thanks , jkkramer

[BossMicroBRew]

My two cents...If you use the 'Far Away' vocal effect(or whatever its called), hold it about a foot away, and angle it about 25 degrees it sounds pretty good.

Anyhow, good luck!

[jkkramer]

Thanks Micro BRew. Im trying to do the trial and error bit  without thr trial! This forum has saved me plenty of that,being a Newby and all... This forum is more helpful than the damn manual!!!!
         Thanks again for the info...

[possibly]

Following on from this.

Would you Micro stalwarts generally advise that an actual mic would be preferable to the onboard mic? I assume so

I was going to pick up a cheap one, would a low end mic still be better than recording via mic on micro BR?

If so, any particular good buys out there?

[Oldrottenhead]

i have lots of expensive mics but always use the onboard mic.
reasons being,
1. less wires  to knock over my beer
2. i get my better results from the onboard mic.

regarding effects i tend to stick to the fornylon effect but i edit it a bit (thanks for the tips hoop) turning on noise reduction et al.

regarding how far to hold the mic.
well it varies, obviously you dont want peaking. you can change the sns etc to get levels right, but when i am recording a vocal i often turn down the volume of the music i am singing over, so i can hear if there are any clicks or the missus laffing in the next room etc, then when finished remix the levels. so it can be up close and personal or about a foot away, also try not to sing straight into the mic cos p's and s's (the letters) can coz distortion, so i always hold the mbr at an angle. also at shouty bits i draw the mbr away.

as you may realise i hold my mbr in my hand, at emotional parts of the song try not to hold your mbr too tight, this can cause clicking as you crush its plastic casing in your hand.

the one mic i do suggest you get is the sony stereo one (cant recall is proper name) you can get off ebay for £5.00. the reason being the onboard mic is mono the sony mic is ..................u got it.
but thats another learning curve for another day.

all said the mbr is a fantastic piece of kit that if you work at it becomes a very intuitive tool, and like the best of tools has lots of tricks up its sleeve for you to discover.........so let the adventure begin..........................i'm gonna investigate this a/b thing to see if i can do some looping ahoy a learning curve ahead...

[SteveG]

Onboard mike works fine for me. I do have a stereo Sony one. (At least is SAYS Sony, I strongly suspect that it is a fake), and that works well too for if I need stereo, but 99% the built in mike does fine.

[Ferryman]

ORH, I love the description of your working practices! It's encouraged me to try the onboard mike as well.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Glenn Mitchell]

Try it overhead too. I have found far fewer pops and esses.
Again about a foot away at 45 deg and facing down.
A mic stand sounds like a good idea. I agree holding it makes noise as the case creaks a bit.