1. Dynamic microphone or condenser microphone with pop shield ?
If you take a look at a “classical” Death Metal vocal recordings, you will most likely see a vocalist standing in front of a condenser microphone (a very sensitive studio microphone using phantom power) with a pop shield (special mesh between the mouth and the microphone, helping to decrease sibilants, explosive vocals and pop sounds) which, in this case, makes a lot of sense as this kind of vocals are relatively consistent grunting, just think Gorefest, Dismember and others.
Looking at Brutal Death Metal, Deathcore and Grindcore we can see that there are different, better concepts to record vocal tracks. In this case you have to handle far more extreme vocal outbursts – there is a lot of squeaking, shouting, inhale/exhale vocals, gurgling and sometimes, the singer is “flushing the toilet” with his voice, as we would say 
. Therefore you should rather use a dynamic microphone, even hand-held if necessary.
For starters, to do i.e. pig squeals, a singer has to be very close to the microphone capsule – that’s why a condenser microphone with pop shield and 15 cm distance between mouth and the capsule of the microphone would be an absolutely wrong choice. Just think of the vocal techniques where you have to partly cover the capsule with your hand. Furthermore, it doesn’t make much sense to change the microphone every few seconds if the vocal style is switching between guttural sounds, “wriiieeeeeh…” and pig squeals. The vocalist should rather use a similar microphone then, such as the model he is using for live performances. Following is a little selection of the most popular microphones used for brutal music (in this case – vocals).
- Shure SM58 (109,- EUR) or the more advanced Beta58 (159,-EUR) are a good choice as they are not that expensive and can be used for live performances as well as for rehearsals.
- Shure SM 57 for ca. 100,- EUR, same price range like the SM58. You can find this one in almost every studio as it is in general a good all-round mic which can be also used to record snare or guitar.
- The old SM7, or its nowadays reissued successor the SM7B, for approx. 400 EUR are very expensive. As a band you should rather think twice if you want to purchase such a microphone or not. In a latter case, you should be able to find it in more advanced studios for metal productions, for example here.
2. Dynamic microphone with stand & pop shield or just hand-held?
You should ask yourself whether you are more interested in a live-feeling or a clean recording? For starters, let the vocalist use his own mic (Sm58 or better). He should hold it in his hand and, at the same time, try to avoid producing too much noise with covering the microphone capsule completely – a tight steady grip should do the trick (as for a condenser mic, you would already have two if you touched it a little tougher )
If that ain’t workin’ and the vocalist is producing too much noise with his hands directly on the microphone, try to put the mic on a stand and also try the combination with/without a pop shield (also regulate the distance of the pop shield). If the singer can hold a steady sound pressure level – great, if not, then experiment a little more with said method.
3. If nothing else works
In case none of the aforementioned techniques allow you to capture the real live-qualities of the singer, you have no other choice but to let him handle the microphone his way – resulting in you having to cut out all the pop sounds and noise later in an elaborate editing session.
Therefore, it would be advisable to record each track at least 2 times, so it’s easier for you to replace the extremely messed up parts later. ATTENTION: don’t loose the overview – if you got every track 10 times recorded, it will take you much more time with editing than the actual recording took. This would also be a little bit embarrassing for the vocalist. 
Furthermore
If you are really close to the microphone capsule you will get the proximity-effect that makes your voice sound more “direct” and voluminous, which is perfect for inhale/exhale vocal techniques. Hard to describe, just experiment a little bit (same effect also appears with condenser mics).
Important! Even with a good microphone and singer you are just half way through – the key element is a good microphone pre-amp!
Further articles:
- What is a pre-amp and how do I use it?
- Death Metal vocals – “in the mix”
Alex is Guitarist in EXTINCTIONIST and Sound Engineer at KAME AUDIO Recording Studio. He also does Artwork & Webdesign at myspace.com/chokegrafix 
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