I am doing some demo work with a Presonus Firebox, and with a lot of luck...however sometimes it's hard for me to get a good vocal level without clipping somewhere in the song (mostly the chorus or bridge). I'm using an ADK Vienna which seems to work well for me, except for this occasional problem, so I was thinking about getting some sort of affordable compressor. Does anyone have any ideas? Ideally I'd like for it to be compact as I'm recording most of these demos as I travel. Thanks a ton!

What are you setting the peak dB levels, jbrana? I'd suggest, firstly, you turn down the input level. If you're peaking at 0dB, turn down the input until even the loudest signal is not going over -6dB.

FMR Audio makes a comp, the RNC, and a limiting amp, the RNLA. Both compact and cheap.
http://www.fmraudio.com/productspage.htm

There isn't a post preamp insert on the Firebox is there? You would need a Preamp/Compressor Combo which will be bigger and more expensive.

If your only goal is to prevent occasional clipping then as DOt said, just turn down and then you can use a compressor Plugin after recording.

I have heard people recommend having the tallent back their head away from the mic a bit if they know they're going to belt something out. In the situations I suggested it, the aritst did it with no problems and it helped manage the dynamic range of their voice.

I guess you could look at this method as the cheapest compressor you will ever lay your hands on. =]

quote:

Originally posted by mellifluent life:
I have heard people recommend having the tallent back their head away from the mic a bit if they know they're going to belt something out.

Now THAT'S analog (good advice too)

I owned the Firebox for a short while. You could possibly get an inexpensive compressor like the FMR RNC and you should be able to route the Firebox's micpre output to one of the 6 outs and then reroute to a line input after the compressor. I think this is how I did it although I usually use an external micpre.

quote:

Originally posted by mellifluent life:
I have heard people recommend having the tallent back their head away from the mic a bit if they know they're going to belt something out. In the situations I suggested it, the aritst did it with no problems and it helped manage the dynamic range of their voice.

I guess you could look at this method as the cheapest compressor you will ever lay your hands on. =]

In live applications that's the technique to use. In the studio you have to be careful with that, because you can lose the proximity effect, and wind up with a vocal track that sounds uneven - mainly in the low-mids. In the studio you really don't want the singer moving their head around too much, as it can result in drastic changes in tone. And what you'll wind up with is a vocal track where the singer sounds like they're moving back and forth in space. Which is exactly what they're doing. And that's no good. You want the singers position in the mix to remain consistent.

Another way to do this is to have the singer sing just over the top of the mic - but keep their head in the same position. Doing that can solve a lot of problems with singers who have sibilance, overly poppy consonants such as P's and B's, and also volume changes during the song.

Your best friend in all cases is to not run the levels too hot so that there's no chance of overs. A track that hovers at -12dB for most of the performance and then occasionally peaks at no more than -6dB is going to give you more than enough signal-to-noise ratio to get an excellent recording. And from there, as John mentioned, you can apply compression and limiting with plug-ins in the box as needed.

Another has to do with the distance from the mic. 9"-12" is going to be more forgiving of volume changes, plosives and sibilance than if the singer is 3"-6" away. But, depending on the singer and the song, you might want them up nice and close for a more intimate sound. Also, if you find you're peaking too much in parts such as a chorus, which may be much louder, then track the verses at one level that works for that section, and then track the choruses at a lower level. But you've got to watch out there that you don't have too much gain difference - different gain levels on mic preamps, and other gear - such as comps and limiters - will change. And then you're back to an uneven-sounding vocal track.

Better to get a track that sounds consistent - even if there are huge volume changes - because you can always tweak the dynamics after the track has been recorded.