Contact mic *on* the vocalist?

[claz]

Has anyone tried recording vocals using contact mics directly on the vocalist?

I'm curious as to what this would sound like; not looking for naturalness or fidelity, but intelligibility would be nice.

I searched YouTube, and found only this, which was run through some fx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_curTsXDjc

For those out there with experience, how would you suggest attaching the mic, and where (chest, neck)?

If you're aware of any recordings with this technique, I'd be interested in looking them up!

[Drew Stephenson]

Never tried it, but if I was going to, I'd be tempted to try and attach it to the side of the throat.

[Bob Bickerton]

Best place is the vocal cords, but the singers tend to get really pissed off (as they choke).

Haven’t tried it but unlikely to be successful as contact mics rely on being attached to a resonant surface, so I doubt you’d get much from skin…….. only way to find out is to try.

Also I’d imagine intelligibility would be a huge issue if you got much at all.

Bob

[Bob Bickerton]

OK I got curious!

Have a listen to this https://soundcloud.com/user-51090484/vo ... al_sharing

AKG C411 various positions levels all relative to each other, only processing a removal of LF hum.

Better than I thought.

Bob

[ManFromGlass]

I knew an experimental music composer who put a mic inside his girlfriend. I never got to hear the final results.

[Bob Bickerton]

I'm wondering if he did too......

Bob

[Tomás Mulcahy]

AKG 411 is a condenser so I'm not surprised it's somewhat useable.

[ef37a]

https://cpc.farnell.com/sennheiser/pc3- ... 5AQAvD_BwE

I use a pair of those ^ for Skype and I have also heard myself on recordings and they are very crisp. The mic has remarkably good sensitivity for one so small but I use mine with a TEKNET USB A/D which also outputs headphone and works very well indeed.

Dave.

[Bob Bickerton]

Talking to a friend last night, apparently dual contact microphones, one each side of the larynx, were commonplace for aircraft crew in World War Two. I assume they were used to attenuate ambient noise and EQ’d to deliver intelligence.

Bob

[Wonks]

I knew an experimental music composer who put a mic inside his girlfriend. I never got to hear the final results.

Cue the age-old joke "I really don't want to hear some xxxx* singing".

*insert applicable crude orifice term here

[Hugh Robjohns]

Talking to a friend last night, apparently dual contact microphones, one each side of the larynx, were commonplace for aircraft crew in World War Two. I assume they were used to attenuate ambient noise and EQ’d to deliver intelligence.

Absolutely. Known generically as 'throat mics' and still used in some noisy and hands-free comms applications.

[claz]

@Bob, thanks for posting the audio example! It sounded like perhaps you tried different locations/attachment-methods, of which the first was the most successful. Would you mind sharing what worked/didn't?

@Hugh Would there be an audio reason for the dual mics, or is it simply for redundancy?

Would the recently reviewed cortado (plus, say, an elastic collar) be suitable for this task? https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ze ... tado-mkiii Or would it make more sense to look into a purpose build throat mic?

I'm guessing, maybe incorrectly, that tactical models emphasize the speech frequencies.

Fascinating! (To me...)

[ef37a]

@Bob, thanks for posting the audio example! It sounded like perhaps you tried different locations/attachment-methods, of which the first was the most successful. Would you mind sharing what worked/didn't?

@Hugh Would there be an audio reason for the dual mics, or is it simply for redundancy?

Would the recently reviewed cortado (plus, say, an elastic collar) be suitable for this task? https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ze ... tado-mkiii Or would it make more sense to look into a purpose build throat mic?

I'm guessing, maybe incorrectly, that tactical models emphasize the speech frequencies.

Fascinating! (To me...)

Just a guess but I would bet the capsules are wired out of phase?

Dave.

[Bob Bickerton]

@Bob, thanks for posting the audio example! It sounded like perhaps you tried different locations/attachment-methods, of which the first was the most successful. Would you mind sharing what worked/didn't?

@Hugh Would there be an audio reason for the dual mics, or is it simply for redundancy?

Would the recently reviewed cortado (plus, say, an elastic collar) be suitable for this task? https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ze ... tado-mkiii Or would it make more sense to look into a purpose build throat mic?

I'm guessing, maybe incorrectly, that tactical models emphasize the speech frequencies.

Fascinating! (To me...)

I announce the placement at the beginning of each clip. The first one is at the side of the larynx, which is apparently where they are placed for the aircraft application. Front of the larynx less clear, chest almost inaudible, side of cheek and jaw similar to each other. Interestingly back of the neck was usable but not as clear as side of the larynx.

Bob

[Hugh Robjohns]

Some history of the laryngophone or throat mic here:

https://iasus-concepts.com/about-us/his ... hroat-mic/

[Wonks]

Probably two mics to a) increase signal level as the output probably wasn’t that great given the small size of the mics but b) I’d suspect that it was mainly so that contact was maintained between the mic and the throat when the head was turned. Saved having to have a single mic that had to be held a lot more tightly against the throat.

The (RAF version) mics appear to consist of 2 x squarish magnets each with a coil of wire wrapped round them, and a thin steel strip placed over the top and it was this strip that was pressed against the throat. The coils picked up the strip’s vibration just like a guitar pickup picks up the string’s vibration.

With two coils per contact mic, they could have been configured as reverse wound reverse polarity to cancel hum, but I don’t know if that concept had been exploited at that time. It would certainly have predated the first humbucking guitar pickup patents in the later half of the 50s.

[Patrick McCulley]

I don't know of any vocalists that do this, but Colin Stetson, a saxophonist, has been releasing recordings of music where he sings into his saxophone since 2010.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMkYF2vJjzI