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TMV World Team

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  1. Singingsuccess.com paid Google for advertising that rips off The Vocalist Studio's customers and product, by paying for a high ranking advertisement of "The Pillars of Singing" (no "four") , ... a forged name of the real product, and then redirected TVS web traffic to their web site. Pretty greedy & cowardly guys... Do you actually lack that much confidence in your own product and brand, that you feel the need to trick customers, by creating a forgery, for the purpose of stealing web traffic from your competitors? Apparently so...
  2. Sharifa, please pay for the premium forum service to have your singing reviewed. Thank you.
  3. What is a vocalist's gig bag? Generally speaking, a vocalist's gig bag is a bag in which you will keep all of your tools as a serious vocalist so that you will always have everything you need for the gig, practice or your voice lessons. I have been training contemporary vocalists for over 10 years and performing live and recording since I was a teenager. The following recommendations are field tested. If you have any questions about these products, please feel free to contact me on The Modern Vocalist or send me an email at robert@thevocaliststudio.com and we can talk your specific application. Recommended Vocal Gear Microphones RODE M1 (dynamic) RODE M2 (condenser)Electro -Voice N/D 767a Electro-Voice N/D 967a Electro-Voice PL80aSENNHEISER e935 AKG D7 Lampifier 111TC-Helicon MP-75 Neumann 104 The Samson Airline 77 (Wireless Microphone Solution) Vocal Effect Pedals TC-Helicon Mic Mechanic TC-Helicon VoiceTone Create XT TC-Helicon Doubler (simulates studio doubling) TC-Helicon Correct (compression)TC-Helicon VoiceTone Singles D1 Digital Audio Work Stations (DAW) & Plug-ins LogicPro X (The DAW from Apple. Can be found on a Mac Book) Nector 2 Suite (DAW Vocal Plug-in)Waves (DAW Vocal Plug-ins) Vocal Rider Vitamin Doubler Olympus LS-12 Live Recorder (for quick plug-in play demos) Microphone Pre-Amps Universal Audio Twin-Finity 710 (Professional Level) Focusrite ISA One (Professional Level) Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (Home Recording Solution) Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 (Home Recording Solution) Headphones Extreme Isolation Headphones X-29s Other Vocal Gear Master Writer Sofware Singer's Tea & The Vocal Inhaler Olympus Hand held Digital Recorder (The WS SeriesHercules Microphone Stands Pocket Tone or purchase the PocketTones app. on iPhone. Vocal booth to go or Sterling Reflection Filter Spectrum Software Recommendations PC: " Voce Vista" Click HERE >>> Apple (iPhone & iPad only): "Spectrum Analyzer" by ONYX Settings: FFT Size - 8192 / Window - Rect / Average - Fast / Graph - Mixed / Scale Log CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE RECOMMENDED VOCAL GEAR * This product review is a courtesy of The Modern Vocalist World and is endorsed by The Vocalist Studio International.
  4. INTRODUCTING: The Electro-Voice N/D767a Dynamic Mic A vocal microphone is a very personal item. It's the key element you have for showcasing your work and talent. It can also be the difference between an outstanding performance or blowing your voice out halfway through the set. Admittedly a competent sound engineer can do a fair amount to remedy vocal issues in a live environment but the best way to to ensure a great sound is actually in your control at the head of the signal chain - YOUR mic. When I first heard about the EV N/D767a I'll admit that a vocal microphone costing $100 and marketing itself as a "premium" mic triggered my skepticism considering some of the notable competition including the industry standard Shure Beta58a and Audix OM5 (both dynamic mics) are nearly $60 more. Did I mention the EV came out nearly 10 years ago? So how good could this mic really be? Electro-Voice N/D767a Dynam ic Mic: Design And Useability In the box the Electro-Voice 767a comes with the usual compliment of padded zipper bag, clip and spec sheet. Nothing out of the ordinary here. It comes dressed for the party all-businesslike in the standard EV black with gold bumper strip around the windscreen - not exactly sexy but fit and finish is excellent. EV uses a rubber sleeve on the body of the mic that they like to call WarmGrip that not only feels better and grippier compared to more standard painted metal bodies but likely contributes to reduced handling noise. And yes for those of you with perpetually cold hands it does in fact feel warmer than a metal body. One thing that EV has done with this microphone that I appreciate is how nicely balanced it feels in-hand with the fatter than most grip on the body. Some mics have a tendency to feel a bit top-heavy at the windscreen which over the course of a set or rehearsal can start to feel fatiguing. Electro-Voice N/D767a Dynamic Mic: Specifications The EV N/D767a is classified as a supercardioid dynamic which in lamens terms means it should be excellent at rejecting input anywhere but directly in front of the mic as well as being able to be subjected to very high gain levels before feedback-something of critical importance in a live situation. While specs don't tell the entire story it's notable to point out the 767 touts a close-up frequency range of 35hz-22,000hz which, on paper, looks rather impressive compared to some of the other offerings out there. I should note however that its hard to say whether that additional frequency response is actually usable considering a pretty steep roll-off after a +12-13db bump around 12khz. I suspect some of this to be what amounts to clever marketing in the specs department. Finally unscrewing the top half of the windscreen reveals what is a HUGE diaphragm and likely what helps give the EV its big meat and potatoes sound. Electro-Voice N/D767a Dynamic Mic: Sound Characteristics I would consider my voice to fall into the tenor category with a significant amount of ring [read: overtones] but not really much to spare in the low end category. The biggest issue I run across with other vocal mics is lack of low-end cut. At best this results in a thin sound that ends up getting lost in the mix and at worst it borders on shrill. By the time I've managed to get the gain to an acceptable level to hear myself we're already deep into the feed back zone. This is where the EV really shines. Using what they refer to as VOB i.e. Vocal Optimized Bass which is likely a combination of the aforementioned big diaphragm plus some clever electronics the EV provides an excellent amount of low end grunt. I find this to be especially useful in more sensitive passages where I'm using lower parts of my range while singing right up on the windscreen. This is typically where in a live situation my vocals would dissapear for lack of gain before feedback with other vocal mics. For those of us who like to use the proximity effect to get the most out of a scream here or there in our work the EV accomodates this nicely as well. I found the 767 to be excellent at rejecting feedback when half-covering the windscreen during a screaming passage. Occasionally I have found the 767 to borderline on bein g a bit boomy in the mids depending on the PA and vocal effects but this can usually be corrected via EQ. Another excellent trait of this mic is clarity. I went through a phase of about a year where I was sick of dealing with cables so I had put away my 767 and was instead using my wireless Shure Beta87A condenser. As luck would have it at a recent rehearsal my battery ran down and I didn't have a replacement so I pulled out the EV. We ran through a song with the EV and immediately afterwards my bandmates commented on how much better they could hear every word I was singing. As we finished out the set I was reminded to just how sensitive this mic is at capturing the little vocal nuances that tend to otherwise get lost in the mix. I was actually able to adjust the gain on the PA down slightly and still have the vocals sit comfortably in the live mix. WRAP-UP The Electro-Voice N/D767 is an all-around good if not excellent live performer. It's smooth character, excellent dynamics and and high gain before feedback make it a winner in my book and at $100 you would be hard-pressed to find a better value. Generally speaking this mic would be a great fit for most female performers as well as baritone and tenor range male singers. For very husky sounding female and bass male voices I highly recommend trying before you buy due to its tendency to slightly exaggerate the lower range. EV N/D767a Product Page What's your take on the EV N/D767a? Feel free to send any comments and or suggestions to me directly at travis@travisnorth.net. Review by Travis North *This product review is a courtesy of The Modern Vocalist World and is endorsed by The Vocalist Studio International.
  5. The Aussies Gave Us The Rode M1: Was It Worth While? Somebody told me once that Australia is like the United States minus about 10 years of progress. I didn't exactly get the point but I would have to disagree. The Aussies have given us things such as the Electric Drill as well as the modern WiFi standard ( Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11 ) used in just about every connected device out there from Laptops to e-Readers. They are also home to Rode Microphones.{C} A Brief History Of How The Rode M1 Came About Rode got its start in the late 1960's when two Swedes, Henry and Astrid Freedman, emigrated to Australia and opened a small pro audio shop according to the RODE website. They spent the next 20 years honing their craft and finally, in 1990, Rode Microphones was born with the release of the RODE NT1 studio mic. The NT1 was unique in that it was one of the first studio quality mic's introduced that was actually within reach of the project studio budget - a completely new market that was just coming into its own in the early 90's with the introduction of the DAW. Over the next 20 years they would continue to build on the original concept of the most microphone for the dollar in the studio. More recently however Rode has expanded into the live audio market with the RODE M1. Rode M1: Look And Feel Order from The Vocal Gear Store Click HERE I had to snicker a bit at the rather innovative packaging [ read: a CAN! ] the Rode M1 comes in. In typical Seattle fashion I initially thought to myself, "Well, this can be recycled right!?" Rode deserves points for originality and its nice to have another potential safe option for transport besides the standard soft case. Outside of said can-in-lieu-of-box the usual suspects of mic, clip, spec sheet, soft case can be found inside. The mic clip actually looks extra beefy compared to most. Extra bonus: If you register your mic on www.rodemic.com the 1 year warranty magically extends to a LIFETIME warranty! The M1 itself won't actually stop traffic with its looks but certainly won't send everyone packing. Just don't expect anyone to say "Hey dude! What kind of mic is that!?" Elegantly Understated is the operative phrase here. The dark satin gray finish looks classy and aside from the small Rode M1 lettering near the gold-plated XLR connection there are no other graphics. The gold dot near the pop screen is a nice throwback to Rode's start in capacitor mics but considering the M1 is a cardiod dynamic this is clearly decorative here. Rode M1: Useability In hand the Rode M1 feels solid and substantial at 360 grams. Comparatively speaking, the Shure Beta 58a weights in at 278g and the recently reviewed EV N/D767a is a relative flyweight at 260g. Despite the aforementioned porkiness, the Rode is fairly short at 171mm which combined with a relatively fat tapered body feels nicely balanced and comfortable. While the integral grill/pop filter feels pretty stout I would be a bit leary to see what happens the first time this mic gets dropped on its head. Rode M1: Specs As stated earlier, the Rode M1 is a dynamic mic and sports a cardiod pickup pattern. Rode advertises the frequency range as 75Hz - 18,000Hz which looking at the frequency graph seems about right. After a slight rise around 150-200Hz to probably add a touch of warmth theres a gradual rolloff from 150Hz down. Response upward from there is fairly flat with the exception of a broad bump of approximately +6db around 7-8000Hz which could lend itself towards a little air or sparkle to the vocals. Rode states it's sensitivity as -56dB ±2dB re 1V/Pa (1.6mV @ 94 dB SPL) @ 1kHz which is more or less inline with the Shure SM58 (1.85mV @ 94 dB SPL) and the Audix OM5 (1.8mV @ 94 dB SPL) with the outlier being the considerably more sensitive EV N/D767a at 3.1mV @ 94 dB SPL. Rode M1: Test For the sound test, I was fortunate enough to have a number of mic's at my disposal including the Audix OM5, Shure SM58, Shure Beta 87a, and of course, my trusty EV N/D767a - all dynamics with the exception of the Beta 87a. I came prepared with the instrumentals for a new track I'm working on and proceeded to work through the song with each of the mics starting with the Rode M1. Upon powering up the Rode M1 I noted that handling noise is quite low. Short of swinging the mic around wildly by its cable in raucous fashion, it definitely does just as good as its competition. Likewise, feedback with the cardiod pickup patte rn is also very well controlled. With the mains up at significantly high levels I had to get dangerously close to the PA speakers before feedback started rearing its ugly head. Plosives were also well controlled with thanks to fairly thick foam contained within the grill. Rode M1: Comparison If I had to make a comparison sound-wise I would call the Rode M1 the illegitimate love child of a SM58 and Beta87A.The Rode exhibits some of the warmness of the SM58 minus the muddiness but seems to share more of the natural flat frequency response sound of the Beta87A. As a result it almost sounds more akin to a condenser mic than a dynamic. The Rode M1 exhibits a nice but not overly pronounced airiness to vocals on the upper end and generally gives the vocals a clarity that is very studio-like in nature. When using both the OM5 and N/D767a I noticed just how much more presence both microphones had over the Rode. My voice sounded not only more full but while singing through some more challenging passages with some sustained belts hovering around high A/B I was actually able to use about 15-20% less effort vocally. Again with both the EV and OM5 the harmonics naturally present in my voice seemed to be better showcased than with the Rode. WRAP UP With the Rode M1, Rode has brought what amounts to a very solid addition into the already somewhat crowded live microphone arena. Their years of experience building top-notch yet within reach studio microphones has led them to create a live vocal mic that not only approaches condenser studio-like quality in sound but is built to withstand ridiculous amounts of abuse. I have a feeling a lot of these will be going strong well after the grill has crusted over with nasty green growth and the 10-year warranty expires. Your mileage may vary but at the end of the day my only gripe is that its natural sounding dynamics may not give your vocals as much cut through a live mix as you might want. On the flip side if you naturally have a bigger sounding voice and an Audix or EV borderlines on honky then th is may very well be an excellent option. Regardless, at $99 USD the Rode M1 is a hellava lot of microphone for the money and if you happen to be in the market for a new premium live mic then this one is certainly worth a look. Rode Microphones - www.rodemic.com Review by Travis North *This product review is a courtesy of The Modern Vocalist World and is endorsed by The Vocalist Studio International.
  6. Is The Allen & Heath ZED-22FX Mixing Desk For You? Hello, everyone! My name is Sebastian Zuendorf (yes, even hard to pronounce in English for myself) and I'm both a sound engineer and singer. In the future, I will review some vocal-related products like microphones, mixers, effects processors and other equipment like that and show you what it can do for you. For now, I will tell you something about the Allen&Heath ZED-22FX small format mixing desk. And as this unit is fully dedicated to audio, it will be an audio review. Allen & Heath ZED-22FX Mixing Desk: Test Ok, let's get started with the overview in which I will tell you about the main features: Part 1: ZED-22FX Overview I hope you enjoy listening to these little samples from a very fine small format mixing desk. Made in China but engineered in the UK, it sounds quite good to my ears, is easy to operate and will last for years due to it's sturdy construction. You will find more information at the Allen&Heath Homepage. As always, I have to say I'm not a native speaker so please bear with me :-) Corrections and comments are very welcome! http://www.allen-heath.com/ahproducts/zed-22fx/ Review by Sebastian Zuendorf *This product review is a courtesy of The Modern Vocalist World and is endorsed by The Vocalist Studio International.
  7. Electro-Harmonix Vocoder: Dedicated To Voice At Last? "Don't they make guitar pedals?!," I thought to myself when I first got word of a new Electro-Harmonix Vocoder box coming home to roost in the The Modern Vocalist Journal test barn. While over the years a lot of EH pedals have likely been used for vocal effects in the name of experimentation it has only been within the last couple years that Electro-Harmonix have begun to develop a dedicated line of vocal effects processors including the v256 Vocoder, the Iron Lung, and Voice Box vocal synth processor. I say dedicated in that all 3 of these processors come with a built in mic pre-amp with XLR connections meaning you can actually plug a mic directly in without the necessity of an external mixer or separate pre-amp. Electro-Harmonix: Company History Electro-Harmonix got its start in the late 1960's when an R&B keyboard player named Mike Matthews had fi nally had enough of his salesman job at IBM and decided to focus on his music. Unfortunately the income stream as a musician wasn't going to cut the proverbial mustard to support both him and his wife so he set about working with an audio repair friend of his to manufacture and market a guitar fuzz pedal. At about the same time the demand for effects pedals was starting to pick up due to some cutting edge sounds featured on the latest albums by a few notable artists including Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones. After some success distributing the pedal through a deal with the Guild Guitar Company, Matthews officially began developing and marketing new effects pedals including the Linear Power Booster and Big Muff under the name Electro-Harmonix. Over the next 20 years he would continue to primarily focus on the stomp box effects model until the mid 1980's when Electro-Harmonix changed directions to primary produce vacuum tubes. This would continue until the mid 90's when demand and prices for the vintage EH effect boxes started to increase on the secondary market at which time a decision was made to start manufacturing reissue versions of the original effects pedals. They were so well received that in 2002 Electro-Harmonix decided to expand on the original lineup which in 2009 included the creation of the v256 Vocoder. The Electro-Harmonix v256 Design And Durability: ANALOGUE? NO! OLD-SCHOOL? YES! The v256 Vocoder comes out of the box looking very much like the vintage 70's EH line complete with naked die-cast case and retro orange decals. This is by design as EH specs their new gear to look like the old-school versions right down to the switchgear. It's actually a refreshing departure from the typically menu-driven feature packed vocal effects boxes currently on the market. You won't find any LCD screens here. In it's place is a clean well-marked layout with simple LED mode lights, sturdy foot switches, micro-toggle switches and smooth rotary knobs. Don't be fooled into thinking this puppy is all analogue however. Removing the 4 screws holding the back plate on reveals a modern micro-processor controlled device. That being said on the input side of things you will find balanced XLR mic input with a high/low mic gain mode as well as phantom power for condenser mics as well as instrument control input and midi control in. Output includes a dry instrument out and balanced wet effects XLR out. Overall I have only two relatively small issues with the design. First is a +9v mini-power connector located in the rear which is affixed directly to the circuit board without any chassis reinforcement. While this is perfectly acceptable and not uncommon, it does raise some concern about long term durability. Considering most of the other connections and controls are chassis mounted it would have been nice to see one of the most used connection points also have more robust mounting. Secondly it would have been nice to see the 5 control knobs at the top of the device actually line up to their respective 12 0'clock positions in relation to the centered detents. Electro-Harmonix v256: Features And Modes Order Electro-Harmonix V256 Vocoder with Reflex-Tune from The Vocal Gear Store Click HERE The Electro-Harmonix v256 comes out o f the box with a total of 7 different modes: Robo-vocoder mode, single, major, and minor drone modes as well as transposition, instrument control and reflex-tune. Each mode can then be custom tailored via the blend, bands, tones, gender bender, and pitch controls. As you dial these into your liking you can set each custom setting to one of the respective 9 available presets. As a rock guy I don't tend to venture too deep into the vocal effects category aside from the usual delay/reverb. Instead I prefer to focus on delivering a solid vocal performance and don't necessarily want to concern myself with switching effects. So when I first fired up the v256 the only thing going through my head was how to potentially find a way to incorporate this into my material. My test of the v256 used a Rode NTK tube condenser mic to the vocoder and then routed through a TC Helicon Voice Live for a bit of delay/reverb to an otherwise dry mix. Starting at the top with the Robo-Vox mode after about 30 seconds of tweaking I was instantly reminded of the song Mr. Roboto off the 1983 Styx album Kilroy was Here. The next few modes consist of drone single note modes. With tweaks you can pretty much get as crazy and cartoonish as you want but in keeping with the theme of fitting these into my own material I focused primarily on the drone modes. With a little experimentation by primarily dialing down the blend and the gender bender controls in single drone mode, I was able to get some nice subtle undertone notes that gave the vocals a little extra kick on some simpler melody lines. Then bringing the gender bender back up to the 12 o'clock position the vocals took on a slick "doubled" effect. The other mode I found myself focusing more on was the minor drone mode. I took a song of mine with minor tonality feel and by adjusting the pitch and bands controls I was able to emulate a fairly convincing minor harmony tonality for a particular vocal line. Overall the real beauty of the v256 lies in it's simplicity of actually providing direct controls instead of menu's. This leads to worrying less about whether the mix is set at 38.5% or whatever and instead more on what it sounds like. That's not to say that you wouldn't necessarily want that type of finite control but sometimes the details and menu's can get in the way of creativity. I didn't spend as much time with the last 3 modes however they could certainly prove useful. Transposition does pretty much as you would think. The pitch control knob will directly transpose the note sung up to +/-1 octave. Here's your Barry White or Alvin and the Chipmunks sound. Instrument control enables an instrument to control the pitch with the amount of control being tweakable via the Pitch knob. Finally, Reflex-tune has the capability of giving you that T-Pain sound but should you turn the Pitch knob fully counter-clockwise will also act as plain pitch correction. After a few quick adjustments, I managed to g et some very natural smooth sounding basic pitch correction that in my opinion sounded every bit as good as some of the more fully-featured vocal boxes. WRAP UP: ORANGE BOX OF WONDERS Don't get me wrong. The v256 is not going to take the place of the primary effects box in your signal chain. It's something that must be used tastefully. However for something just calling itself a vocoder the EH v256 packs a lot in there. From wild Robo sounds to fairly realistic harmonies to simple pitch correction this device will find a use in just about any genre. The lack of menu driven architecture that is commonplace on the vast majority of vocal effects boxes today makes it easy to start dialing in your sounds and getting good results right away. It inspires you to be creative and makes it easy to step outside the box however sane or crazy that may be. Review by Travis North *This product review is a courtesy of The Modern Vocalist World and is endorsed by The Vocalist Studio International.
  8. Double Review Of The VoiceTone Singles Series: R1 And C1 Yes, this is an article about the TC Helicon Voicetone Single s series. Before you even open your mouth I'll admit it: There have been moments where I may or may not have showed a bit of a partial bias towards TC Helicon. It was purely unintentional, I promise. Now before you go brushing this article off as another one written by a stark raving mad lunatic who does nothing but praise TC Helicon in all their brilliance hear me out: I find it difficult to not like things that just work. Without further adeau, I present you the TC Helicon VoiceTone R1 and its stablemate the VoiceTone C1. But wait you say! [Gasp!] He's...he's doing two products in a single review. Yeah, that's right in a bit of a departure from the norm this is a special double header TCH product review. Introducing The TC Helicon Voicetone Vocal Effects Pedal Line Those of you arriving late to the party [slackers] may not be familiar with the TC Helicon VoiceTone pedal line the Voicetone R1 (Red) and Voicetone C1 (Blue) represent 2 of the 7 stomp box Singles line that are chain-able effects pedals for vocals. Each pedal represents a single effect such as reverb, pitch correction, compression etc. and feature sturdy little stomp boxes with onboard mic preamps and intuitive analogue controls. The beauty of the lineup is the simplicity. It's a refreshing departure from some of the other more complex menu driven offerings from TC Helicon and others which is not to say sometimes you may not want that. You do. However think of it more as everything you want and none of what you don't. Do you just need reverb? Get the Voicetone R1. Pitch correction, Megaphone, Reverb and Doubling? You get the idea. Go to Voicetone Singles Series for the full lineup.So the task at hand was a full test of the TC Helicon Voicetone R1 and C1: Testing The TC HELICON Voicetone R1 The R1 like the rest of the Singles lineup features the typical I/O setup of Mic in/signal out with USB port for firmware upgrades. Standard here too is wall-wart power supply which once I had 4 pedals chained together due to the standard plug orientation as opposed to the sideways style effectively blocked over half the plugs on my power supply. Fortunately, TC Helicon does offer a special "singles connect kit" that links up to 4 pedals together you can check out here. I would probably recommend it if nothing else but to save your sanity. As with the others the Voicetone R1 comes equipped with a signal/clip led, effect in/out foot switch with status light, mic gain control and a micro switch to remotely enable/disable mic control from the TC Helicon MP-75 microphone. From an effect control standpoint the R1 has but two dials: Reverb type and Dry/Wet mix. Of the former the R1 comes with 8 different types: Hall, Plate, Theater, Club, Room, Studio, Ambience and Arena. With the Voicetone R1 plugged into my signal chain with the others I initially dialed up the Room effect with dry/wet mix centered. For my rehearsal space which is relatively live this initially proved to be a bit but I was struck at how naturally non mechanical the reverb sounded. Once I dialed the mix back to about 1/3 to find the sweet spot I was actually impressed. It's clear that TC has clearly done their homework in regards to reverb algorithms and come a long ways since the earlier days of the original TC VoiceLive which I have been adamant about not putting in the closet - yet. That may well change with the Voicetone R1. Of the other reverbs I found theater to lend itself especially well to big slower tempo tunes and gave the vocals the ability to breath and shimmer. In fact there's really nothing here you won't be able to find a use for. Testing The TC HELICON Voicetone C1 Order directly from The Vocal Gear Store - Click HERE The Voicetone C1 is an interesting little bugger and represents TC's take on hard tune and pitch correction and will give you anything from mild pitch correction to some pretty crazy T-Pain style vocals. In addition to all the I/O of the Voicetone R1 the Voicetone C1 also features a 1/4" instrument input in support of pitch correction through guitar input. On board the Voicetone C1 are 3 rotary controls: Pitch Correction Mode, correction hardness, and gender. Pitch correction can be selected by specific key or chromatically. Inserting a guitar input thereby overrides the selected mode. Pitch correction hardness controls how severely the unit reacts to approximate the vocals at the correct pitch. The softer the correction the more natural the sound. Dial it harder if you want to be Cher - "Do you Believe". I promise I won't tell. Finally, a gender control allows for a neutral "normal voice" setting with lower and higher voices on opposing sides. Admittedly this is where things can get pretty weird. So go wild. Now let me be honest I'm more of a straight up singer kinda chap and I'm not huge into live vocal pitch correction. I worry about anything that could pose the potential to take away from what makes a live performance, flaws and all. I may have even not so many years ago been an elitist classically trained choir boy with a private university music scholarship who thought pitch correction was for amateurs. But I digress I may as of late become more accepting. The question for me with the Voicetone C1 was can it take already good vocals and give them a bit of extra polish? In a word yes. But it really depends on what you are trying to do vocally. It goes without saying you can't polish a turd. However feed the Voicetone C1 something reasonably good and I can say with confidence with the scale set to chromatic I saw some fairly transparent correction with the harness control around 1/4. I was concerned that even a low setting the Voicetone C1 might be too grabby at the pitch but it turned out the C1 could play nice. This came to light during my last 3 hour intensive rehearsal session. While battling a cold my voice was beginning to tire towards the end of the intensive giving me some minor spotty pitch issues but I was surprised to find switching the Voicetone C1 in significantly cleaned things up. It was perfect mind you nor should it be expected to be but I was nonetheless pleasantly pleased. Order TC Helicon 996008005 Singles Connect Kit Vocal Effects P rocessor from The Vocal Gear Store NOW! Click HERE WRAP UP PRO: Bottom line another two easy to use vocal stomp boxes from TC that give you excellent results out of the box, R1 reverb is rather excellent, C1 can actually play nice CON: Chunky power supplies consume strip space and singers sanity, the connector kit is moderately expensive at $50, a mounting board or case that turns into a pedal board would be nice Contacting TC-Helicon www.tc-helicon.com TC-Helicon Vocal Technologies 1075 Pendergast Street, Suite 204 Victoria BC V8V 0A1 Canada (800) 565-2523 Review by Travis North *This product review is a courtesy of The Modern Vocalist World and is endorsed by The Vocalist Studio International.
  9. Keeping Your Voice In Shape With Superior Vocal Health Products While there is certainly no miracle solution for inflamed vocal chords or exhausted muscles I had the opportunity to spend a few weeks using a series of herbal vocal health products from Superior Vocal Health with interesting results. Here the saying you can't polish a turd holds true- that is there is only so much you can do with a vocal performance that is pitchy, raspy, or otherwise just plain tired and overworked. With all the cool new toys coming out for vocalists lately it's easy to sometimes get lulled into the mindset of my "XXXX" vocal processor can make me sound like a god. Admittedly they can help but there are limitations, those being your physical health, technique and overall vocal health. A tired body, lousy te chnique or tired voice won't make for a good performance. The former two are completely in your control but what about a sick or otherwise overworked voice? Superior Vocal Health Products: A Full Vocal Care Solution As vocalists we have all experimented around with different concoctions in hopes of finding one that works the best. Personally I have tried all varieties of throats sprays, gargles, teas, as well as various types of alcohol with varying effectiveness. Whiskey is my pick in case you were curious. Others try more non conventional things: Chris Cornell likes to chain smoke before hand so it gives him his signature vocal rasp. Vanessa Williams eats potato chips prior to a performance because it imparts an extra vocal sizzle. It all can be summed up into one part science, one part voodoo and one part placebo which I might add is a real effect that has been proved in clinical studies. David Katz of Superior Vocal Health offers a twist in that his products are meant to be used as a full vocal health care solution used together instead of a single stand-alone product. Meet Superior Vocal Health Founder: David Katz Boys and girls meet David Katz, founder of Superior V ocal Health. Mr. Katz is a veteran of the voice profession with more than 22 years performing internationality in Opera, Broadway and popular music. During that time he has also worked as a voice coach, nutritional consultant and herbalist with his primary focus on vocal health. Superior Vocal Health is the culmination of over 10 years of research towards finding a solution to keeping vocal chords in optimal health-even during the most demanding of times. From his own personal experience David has created Superior Vocal Health as a way to share his findings and help other vocalists maintain optimal vocal health. Superior Vocal Health: The Product Range Lineup Superior Vocal Health: Throat Saver Spray The Superior Vocal Health Throat Saver spray according to the documentation is a product designed to keep the throat and vocal chords moist as well as break up nasal secretions at the back of the throat. Out of the 3 products I had at my disposal this ended up being my go-to bottle due to the convenience of the spray which was easy to pack around to rehearsals. I found the throat spray when used in conjunction with regular sips of mildly warm tap water throughout a rehearsal to be quite effective in keeping my vocal chords well lubricated for the duration of even the most intensive session. While I was a bit vocally tired after the session my voice still sounded strong and I didn't have to work as hard to overcome the dryness that usually comes after a long set. I also liked that after using it the spray seemed to actually coat the throat for sometime afterwards before dissipating which reduced the need t o overuse the product. In addition the taste is actually quite palatable. The best I can describe it is peppermint-like with a hint of ginger. Overall the Uperior Health Throat Saver spray is a well thought out product that works well to maintain an already healthy voice when used in conjunction with proper technique and normal hydration. Superior Vocal Health: Vocal Rescue Gargle On to the second product in the lineup - Vocal Rescue gargle. Let's say you've been sick or have managed to already overwork your voice but you've still got to perform. That's where the gargle comes into play. Initially, I was a bit skeptical of a product promising to bring back to life an already dead voice. In fact the first few times I used the product on an already healthy voice it actually seemed to have the opposite effect by causing my vocal folds to become slightly irritated and feel more constricted. As a result, the Vocal Rescue gargle sat unused on the counter for a week or two until one evening where I was working on a particularly challenging track that essentially stays pegged up in the G4-C5 range the entire 3 1/2 minutes. As as a leggerio tenor with my break sitting right at A4/B4 the entire song weaves in an out of belt/head voice so it's a bit of a workout. Nothing I can't handle but doing the same song over an over again can start to wear. Finally after the 4th pass through my technique started to slip thus my voice started to become rather tired-enough to have to stop. I needed to finish the track that evening so immediately I mixed up a glass of warm water and put in 2 droppers worth of Vocal Rescue. After gargling for approximately 30 seconds I decided to give the track another shot. Suprisingly I had about 95% of my voice back --enough to finish the track. The combination of licorice root, ginger and other proprietary ingredients had a rather profound effect on bringing my voice back. This is quite honestly the first product I've found to be this effective in restoring a very overworked voice to serviceable condition. Superior Vocal Health: Sinus Clear Out The final product in the Superior Vocal Health series was the Sinus Clear Out. There's nothing worse during a performance that suffering from congested sinuses. I typically find when working late into the evening that sometimes this happens to me and not only does it effect how you breath but your sound as well which is simply not acceptable. Sinus Clear Out promises to address this. So how does it work? Actually rather well. Over the course of the testing weeks I did not ever have a full blown cold with severe congestion but I did find it to work well for mild congestion issues. Similar to the Vocal Rescue it uses a dropper but instead of gargling Sinus Clear Out is intended to be dropped directly on the back of your tongue. There you let it sit for a few seconds while inhaling the vapors, then swallow. While it is fairly effective I tended to only use it when absolutely necessarily due to the taste which is a bit harsh and during the first few uses led me to feel a bit nauseous for the first few minutes after use. WRAP UP: Herbal Goodness, Naturally Overall the Superior Vocal Health product lineup brings to the table an innovative take on herbal vocal health care solutions by offering a one-stop complete suite of products for the typical vocal health issues we as vocalists deal with every day. SVH uses all natural FDA certified herbal ingredients backed by a manufacturing process that does not contain any chemicals or alcohol. As with any herbal supplement you should check the label before using to ensure you do not have any existing allergies and as always use in moderation. When used along with proper technique I would have no problem recommending you give Super Vocal Health a try if you are aiming to be on top of your vocal game 100% of the time. Getting In Touch With Superior Vocal Health Superior Vocal Health www.superiorvocalhealth.com (888) - 480-9957 Superior Vocal Health can also be found at www.JustGottaSing.com. #1 Supplier of Vocal Products in the Industry! Click HERE >>> to find Superior Vocal Health Review by Travis North *This product review is a courtesy of The Modern Vocalist World and is endorsed by The Vocalist Studio International.
  10. TC Helicon VoiceTone D1 Stomp Box: Better Sound Effects For Vocalists? No matter where you look every market has two kinds of companies: those that innovate and those that imitate. Consider the old Apple OS vs. Microsoft Windows comparison [pretty much a direct rip-off] or German vs. Japanese auto manufacturers [a la Lexus LS400 being pretty much a copy of a Mercedes S-Class ]. Sometimes the imitation ends up being better than the original but sometimes the original turns out to be pretty difficult to improve upon. Enter TC Helicon with their brand new line of vocal effects pedals - VoiceTone Singles including the VoiceTone D1 reviewed here. TC Helicon VoiceTone D1: Philosophy Order from The Vocal Gear Store - Click Here Whether or not you are familiar with the name, TC Helicon is one of the leading pioneers of cutting edge vocal effects and processing. They were one of the first to realize working singers and vocalist's as well as professionals want affordable full control over their sound the same way a guitar player wants control over their axe. Since the introduction of the or iginal VoiceLive 1 of which your author owns and still uses one daily, many industry players have followed suit with similar vocal effects offerings but I digress. The original [TC Helicon] still sets a very high standard. The only beef I sometimes have with Helicon gear in general is their over-complexity. It's the old story of everything you want times 1000. Due to the menu-driven approach of some of their other offerings I have sometimes found it less than simple to find the sound I'm looking for which can be a drag in a live situation. This time around TC has a solution with a new line of vocal stomp pedals which are a bit of a departure from their brethren. With the new TC singles: gone are the menu driven LCD/LED displays and the multitudes of effects. In their place come devices that focus on one type of effect each and lie within a compact footprint with robust build quality and a beautifully simplistic layout. TC Helicon VoiceTone D1: A Closer Look Over the past few weeks I've had a chance to play around in depth with the VoiceTone D1 Doubling and Detune pedal with currently lists at Guitar Center for $149.00 + tax. If you're familiar with TC it should come as no surprise that this little pedal on first glance looks and feels more expensive than it is. With chassis mounted gold-plated XLR connections, rubberized well-labeled knobs with smooth detents and an all-metal housing with anti-slide rubberized base the build quality is first class. TC Helicon VoiceTone D1: Controls Starting topside on the Voice Tone D1, you'll find only 3 simple controls: A knob for the type of doubling selected, a Dry/Wet control and an engaged/bypass footswitch. The only indicators you'll find are a red LED to signify if the doubler is engaged and a green signal indicator light. On left and right sides of the unit are a built-in input gain control and Mic control respectively for when an TC Helicon MP-75 mic is used. For those of you unfamiliar with the MP-75 it features a built-in button to control the engaged/bypass function on the pedal itself via standard XLR cable. O n the backside are your in/out XLR connections, power in and mini-USB for future firmware upgrades. TC Helicon VoiceTone D1: Useability Aesthetics and build quality aside the real clincher is obviously how useful the VoiceTone D1 is in the wild. The short answer: pretty dang good. With the VoiceTone D1, at your disposal are a total of 8 types of doubling and detuning: Tight, Loose, Group, Detune, Thick, Octave Up, Octave Down, and Shout. The only configuration limitation is that changing an effect type mid-song requires bending down to manually change the active setting as opposed to some of the bigger TC boxes (VoiceLive2, CreateXT) which with allow you select and scroll through effects via the foot switches. It's a minor annoyance and quite honestly well worth the trade-off of ditching the menu's. TC Helicon VoiceTone D1: Test While on the VoiceTone D1 there is no dud to be found in the 8 available presets in practice I found myself more often than not gravitating towards 3 of the 8 settings: Loose, Thick, an Octave Up. With Loose activated and the Dry/Wet knob around the 9 0'clock position I found the VoiceTone D1 to add a subtle yet realistic doubling effect to my vocals. Sure every effects box has a doubling setting but generally I find them to be less than realistic sounding. To this day I have yet to find the right magical combination of settings on my VoiceLive that gives a convincing doubler. Bam! With the D1 I had a setting ready to go that sounded great in about 10 seconds. Activating the Thick setting this time with the dry/wet mix at about 11 0'clock resulted in a pretty cool effect that lent itself well to more whispery type vocals a la Chino of the Deftones. To up the ante I added in a VoiceTone T1 Adaptive Tone pedal to the signal chain. With the combination of the Thickening and slick compression of the T1 my whisper-like vocal lines became larger than life and easily soared over the rest of the band. I now had an amazing new sound with less than 2 minutes of work. I nearly wet myself. The final effect I spent time experimenting with was Octave Up. If any of you read my review of the Electro-Harmonix v256 you know I had managed after a bit of tweaking to achieve a similar effect. Personally I like the vocal layering effect it can give when used under the right conditions. I found it most useful when I was utilizing the lower half of my range below middle C. Here the VoiceTone D1 sounds about on par with the v256 but it took me 10 seconds to dial in my sounds rather than 5 minutes. WRAP UP: Plug, Select, Twirl, Repeat Overall the beauty of the TC Helicon D1 is in its simplicity and top-notch construction. There is no need to spend hours tweaking and retweaking to find the exact setting you want. Simply plug it in, select your effect, twirl the mix to suit your liking and go. It's compact design adds minimally to what you already pack around in your signal chain and t he quality of the effects themselves are without question up to TC's high level of standards. VoiceTone D1 aside the introduction of the VoiceTone Singles proves that TC is still on top of their game and continues to lead the industry as innovators not imitators. Stay tuned as we have more TC Singles in the pipe for review including the Adaptive Tone T1, Vocal Tuned Reverb R1, and Hard Tune and Correction C1. Video: TC Helicon Voicetone Singles Series (Including Voicetone D1) Getting In Touch With TC Helicon TC Helicon - www.TC-Helicon.com Review by Travis North *This product review is a courtesy of The Modern Vocalist World and is endorsed by The Vocalist Studio International.
  11. Direct Sound EX-29 Isolation Headphones: Cancelling Out The Bleed? Kevin Martin, former vocalist of Seattle band Candlebox once said "It's called Rock and Roll - look it up." Whether or not he coined the term I haven't a clue but it does a fine job of summing up what we all do into a tidy little blanket statement. Namely rock. Loudly. This is all fine and good in a live environment but when it comes time to head to the studio finding a way to simultaneously play with the same intensity, hear yourself and avoid excessive headphone bleed this can be another matter entirely.So are the Direct Sound EX-29 Isolation Headphones a solution for this problem? Let's find out! Every vocalist has their own strategy that presents its own unique challenges. Some guys like to sing in the middle of the roo m with no headphones and the monitors blaring. More budget-minded bands may all be the same room together and still with others the singer may insist on having their headphones as loud as possible to be able to feel the music. With some effort, a competent engineer will likely be able to take the bleed coming into the mic from monitors and/or headphones and reverse phase to cancel it out. Unfortunately, this isn't always an option. With the majority of us utilizing at one time or another our own home studios instead of having our own on-call sound engineer I'm happy to say there is another solution for when a high quality isolated monitoring environment is needed. Direct Sound EX-29: Look And Feel Engineered with the pro drummer and studio musician in mind on the premise of delivering maximum isolation the Direct Sound EX-29 certainly looks serious. In fact the '29' signifies these puppies provide up to 29db of sound attenuation. Finished entirely in matte black [white is also an option] the EX-29 sports gold Direct Sound logos adorned on each rectangular shaped can. Direct Sound EX-29: Durability And Useability Extra Thick ear pads and a nicely padded headband suggest these things might do well for a long session. While not flashy the materials are of high quality a nd appear very durable. I have no doubt you could toss this one around in your gym bag with a couple bricks and they'd likely be just fine. The EX-29 comes standard with a 1/8" mini stereo plug with and optional screw on 1/4" as is the norm now. The straight cable [ Thank you - no twisty] and its connection points are also of high quality. As an added bonus the inner right headphone has been colored red to easily distinguish between right and left. As an extra, extra bonus, my demo arrived complete with handy soft carry case and bag. Yep. My inner nerd is a sucker for thoughtful details. Direct Sound EX-29: Pricing And Competition Order from The Vocal Gear Store After considering my options on test plan, I finally decided the best way for a reference point was to throw the Direct Sound EX-29 which lists on Musicians Friend for $119.95 up against an alternative or two. After some digging around at the test barn I managed to come up with a Beyer-Dynamic DT 770 at $199 and my trusty well loved pair of industry standard Sony MDR-7506's right at $85. While the 7506's aren't exactly isolation headphones they've got an excellent reputation of sounding good regardless of the application. A word of warning: The Direct Sound EX-29's fit very snugly. However I never found them to cause hot-spots around my ears like the Beyer-dynamics have had a tendency to do in the past. Order directly from The Vocal Gear Store NOW!!! Click here Direct Sound EX-29: Test And Comparison For the test I decided to use each of these headphones in the loudest possible place possible my rehearsal studio - a 13x13 box with moderate sound deadening and a high ceiling. Throw in a drummer, guitars and bass on top of vocals and you've got a seriously loud room. My plan for the test was to use the headphones in lieu of my typical inner ear monitoring setup. First up naturally were the Direct Sound EX-29 's. After my bandmates got rolling with a song it became pretty apparent that I started with my monitor mix significantly hotter than it needed to be. Between the thick ear padding and tight enclosure the sound isolation is quite impressive. T he overall mix with the EX-29's is smooth and flat. The sound as you would expect with a heavily dampened closed-ear type design sounds a bit closed in but not bass heavy nor exaggerated on the high end. I predict that these would do well in a critical listening situation for mixing. The only thing that was missing for me was a bit of that extra high crispness on the high end that for a vocalist makes the vocals really come alive in the mix. I digress what you hear on the EX-29's is what it really sounds like. Next in li ne were Sony MDR-7506's. As I said earlier not exactly and isolation headphone but more artists and professionals use these more than any other pair of cans out there myself included. Once the band started I immediately had to turn the mix up. No surprise here but these things leak like the Queen Mary with a torpedo hole. Once I got the mix up to the point of overpowering my bandmates leaking through things were great. I have always been a fan of the 7506 sound which while not being exactly a 'reference' headphone sounds great for live tracking. The slightly sloppy bass with slightly over-accentuated high's give the signal good cut and make pretty much anything sound good. Now if I just didn't have to turn things up to ear bleeding levels to hear. The final contender in the series were of course the Beyer-Dynamic DT-770's. Like the Direct Sound EX-29 they are more of an isolation type critical-listening headphone providing up to 19db of sound attenuation. With the DT-770's I was able to turn the mix down slightly over the Sony's. Again like the EX-29's they have more of a neutral flat frequency response with the exception tending to be slightly bass heavy which translates to a slightly muddier top-end. This would probably be great for a drummer but as a vocalist it ends up being less than ideal as I found myself with the DT-770's having a slight tendency to over-sing in an effort to compensate for qualities of my voice usually heard with other cans that somehow were lost in translation with the Beyer-Dynamics. WRAP UP The Direct Sound EX-29 's represent an excellent addition to the premium studio headphone market. Their flat frequency response and ultra high sound attenuation make them a solid choice for anyone looking to lower the sound level they need hear themselves as well as preventing mic bleed. While they lack the artificial high end crispness of the Sony MDR-7056's, they deliver an accurate representation of the sound that is both smooth and non-fatiguing. The construction is top notch and the design makes it easy to replace specific parts should you manage to break something. Should you be in the market for a top-quality reasonably priced set of isolation cans I recommend you look these guys up. SPECIFICATIONS Type: dynamic closed type headphones Frequency Response: 2 0 - 20,000 Hz Drivers: 40 mm Impedance: 32 ohm Sensitivity: 114dB/mW @ 1KHZ 1mW Cord: 9 feet Plug: stereo 3.5 mm with screw-on type gold plated 1/4¨ adapter Rated Input Power: 500 mW Maximum Input Power: max 1W Weight: 11.5 oz Warranty: 1-year manufacturer warranty Direct Sound : Contact Details Direct Sound Extreme Headphones - www.extremeheadphones.com Phone: 314-845-7667 Email: info@extremeheadphones.com Review by Travis North *This product review is a courtesy of The Modern Vocalist World and is endorsed by The Vocalist Studio International.
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