Let's find the new Alizée! | The Eastern European Alizée Project 2013

[Marka]

Scruffy has a very good point... very very good point.

[Rocket]

Last year I saw a tribute band for Pink Floyd and it was brilliant. They sounded exactly like Floyd and did all of their greatest hits. So I don't see any problem with what lapinschous wants to do. My only problem is, as it's been pointed out, is Alizée's music from her Lolita days still popular enough to draw a good audience? Pink Floyd was known all over the world, won multiple awards and had a large following whereas Alizée is only known in Europe, Japan and Mexico. Even with that, her popularity is dwindling.

If I were you lapinschous, when you find the right girl, make a video of her doing anything in a relaxed atmosphere and then look at that video very closely. I have seen people who are gorgeous in person but who are not photogenic. It was while Mylène Farmer was watching Alizée on television that she knew this was the perfect girl for her Lolita project.

After you find the right girl, she will have to be able to sing. I will be the first to admit that Alizée does NOT have that great of a voice but when she sings À Contre-Courant and hits that high note, you can tell she's had voice training.

All in all, I wish you the best of luck lapinschous. As the song says: Dream always and all ways!

Bonne chance mon ami!

[lapinschous]

Thanks for your support Rocket ! : D I wish I could share with you guys some of the pictures we took because some of the girls are very, very cute... Anyway stand by for the Fée-Nix project till the end of the school holidays.... juicy stuff coming soon.


If someone's into recording devices (lefty?) , we'd like to get some advice , we are looking for a good affordable mic for professional studio voice recording.

[lapinschous]

Just found a good microphone at a renowned music shop here in switzerland , I asked specifically for a mic suited for lossless performance with high pitched voices ( i.e. parler tout bas) , but it's way too expensive for us at this point , the good thing is I found it online for about half the price but we're still gonna compare it with the one Steffen found two weeks ago that was about 500€ .

https://www.google.com/shopping/prod...d=0CI8CEPMCMAg




Fun fact: It kinda looks like the one Alizée used for her first tv appearance while singing Waiting For Tonight at Graines de Star

Edit:

[lefty12357]

Neumann makes great stuff. They also have a less expensive TLM-102, I believe. I use an AKG C 414.

Edit: Remember that these are condenser microphones, so make sure that the device you are going to plug them into has phantom power. Condensers are a good choice for vocals, but they need phantom power to operate.

[lapinschous]

Yeah they do, according to the salesman this model is ideal for low budget professional recording as it can be used for pretty much all instruments , works ideally with high pitched voices, is shock resistant and can even be used in non-ideal soundproof/echoproof environments which is perfect for us since we probably won't afford a professionally insulated recording studio ...and it's got a 4 years warranty !!

As to the phantom power system, I believe most if not all Neumann devices require it (I just looked it up and it seems that the brand its very inventor .. ^^ )

How are you using your AKG ? Did you use a sound booth to record your songs ?

[lefty12357]

I use the AKG for voice and acoustic instruments. I have a personal project studio, so the recording room and the control room share the same space. I used a combination of acoustic treatments consisting of absorbers, diffusers and bass traps. Of course they are tuned to my specific room size and shape.

For recordings on the fly in a room where you don't have control of the acoustics, it is best to set the microphone to a cardioid pattern. Many microphones have switchable polar patterns. A cardioid pattern provides the most sensitivity facing the vocalist, and much less sensitivity in other directions. This helps to eliminate unwanted and bad sounding reflections off of the walls of an untreated room, thus eliminating the room itself from the equation. Make sure the wall behind the vocalist is not too close, and hang a blanket on that wall to avoid reflections from behind. Also, if the floor isn't carpeted, throw down a rug. What you want to avoid is two hard surfaces facing each other. Avoid positioning the vocalist in the center of the room, but avoid being too close to walls, as well. If in doubt, put blankets on all the walls and over things such as desks. Adding some reverb to the voice in the mix will help to compensate for the lack of a good sounding space. If you follow this method, you can probably avoid using a vocal booth or other homemade remedies. Don't overdo the reverb.

I would also suggest that the vocalist use closed-back headphones to help prevent headphone sound from bleeding into the microphone. Also be aware of the proximity effect of the microphone. The vocalist should maintain a consistent distance from the microphone, such as 30cm (check your microphone's instructions). An experienced studio vocalist knows how to use the proximity effect to their advantage (like Alizée). An experienced vocalist who has never recorded in a studio before can have trouble with this. I think if you follow these suggestions you will get a satisfactory demo recording.

The only other consideration is blocking outside noise. A condenser microphone can pick up a lot of noises that may not sound very loud to the ear, but will end up on your recording. Obviously, you want to avoid windows, doors, people walking on squeaky floors, heating and air conditioning equipment going on and off, etc.

Edit: One other thing, use a pop filter on the microphone to avoid plosives. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...QEwBQ&dur=7094

[lapinschous]

Hey thank you so much for all your advice! I never heard of that cardioid pattern you mentionned, we'll make sure to everything as you said

btw, a friend of mine recommended covering the booth walls with egg cartons to avoid any unwanted reverb, would that be necessary even if we follow all the steps you mentionned ?

[lefty12357]

Originally Posted by lapinschous

Hey thank you so much for all your advice! I never heard of that cardioid pattern you mentionned, we'll make sure to everything as you said

btw, a friend of mine recommended covering the booth walls with egg cartons to avoid any unwanted reverb, would that be necessary even if we follow all the steps you mentionned ?

The egg cartons and the blankets are interchangeable for the most part. Actually, I think a heavy blanket would work better than the egg cartons. In a perfect world, you would want a combination of absorption, diffusion and bass trapping. Blankets, egg cartons, foam, etc. mostly attenuate mid to higher frequencies. They do little to eliminate bass problems. Egg cartons may offer a bit of diffusion, but probably not enough to make a difference. Diffusion is more of a concern if you are trying to make a "sweet" sounding room in order to capture that element in the recording. In your case, you'll want to eliminate the room completely from contributing to the sound, since it is not a studio room designed as such. If you follow the practices I outlined in my previous post, I think you will get a good result.

You could also build some gobos, if you want. Here's a cheap example that would probably work well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCpwGgxmCaU

[george007]

Is there anything new going on about this project lapinschous? I hope you haven't abandoned it.