I am quite new to home recording and have, so far, been recording my voice through my Boss GX700 guitar effects processor straight to my Korg D8 multitracker. Is this a bad idea? Would I be better off buying a unit especially for voice? If so, I would appreciate any recommendations on what to use.
Neil Freeman
Editor Paul White replies: You'd definitely be better off recording voice via a proper voice processor, as guitar boxes change the tonality of the sound specifically to suit guitars. Mic preamps, on the other hand, are designed to accurately represent the input signal. A box with a combined preamp and compressor is best for voice recording, in order to keep vocal levels under control, and the cheapest of these is probably the Hootersound B1 by Joemeek, which incorporates a compressor, limiter and gate.
You may also want to consider buying a decent capacitor microphone to go with it if you want professional‑quality results — these used to cost about as much as a car but now only cost about as much as a bike! Take a look at the Rode NT1, AKG C2000, Marshall MX2001 and the Joemeek Meekrophone, as all of these are pretty inexpensive and ought to last you a lifetime with careful use.
Assistant Editor Mike Senior adds: While recording your voice through a dedicated microphone processor is certainly preferable to just going through the Boss, don't completely reject using the GX700 for vocals. The GX700 benefits from Roland's COSM physical modelling technology for its realistic guitar preamp emulations, and this can often be useful for enhancing vocals.
To take advantage of this, pass the output of your mic preamp through the GX700 using just the Clean Twin preamp model (switch off any speaker simulation) as a starting point. Use a small amount of the COSM preamp's gain to add modelled valviness, adjusting the Bass, Mid and Treble controls to taste. If you can't get a result you like, then experiment with the other COSM preamps for different tube flavours. It's a case of 'suck it and see', but with care this technique can often really help vocals cut through to the front of the mix.