ARCH ENEMY vocalist Angela Gossow has issued another round of advice to aspiring singers on vocal equipment for the rehearsal room, studio and playing live!

Q: What equipment do I use and what should you get?

Angela: "It depends on your vocal style. A clean voice needs a different kind of microphone than a screaming voice. You should test a few different ones at your music store (They will love that, haha). I got my fave vocal microphone (I use it for rehearsals and also for recording vocals in the studio!) very cheap on eBay! It's a vintage Sennheiser MD 21, I paid 100 US$ for it and it's the best I have found for my voice so far! A lot of vintage gear actually sounds excellent – just think these old Marshall guitar amps. They still put most new amps to shame. Try to buy second hand equipment online or at your local music store. Trade in your play station or whatever crap you have in your room ;-) It's good for the environment (recycling!) and good for your bank account.

This is my gear:

Vocal mic studio/rehearsal room: Sennheiser MD 21

Vocal mic live: Shure Beta 57 plus the matching wireless system (I borrowed a system for a long time until I finally got my own. It is very reliable, but quite costly.)

I will be testing the new Samson wireless system as soon as it will be launched. These guys have hooked us up with some really cool gear: I got a neat vocal PA from Samson now (Samson 2 x RS215 - PA Speakers plus Samson TXM16 - Tabletop Powered Mixer), some Samson Q8 - Dynamic Handheld Microphones for Michaels and Chris backing vocals or Jeff Walker screams + Bill Steer grunts. (None of these guys get to spit in my Sennheiser, haha).

Check it out here.

We record rehearsals with the Zoom H2 and the Zoom H4 – these little units rock and are so easy to handle. More info here or go to the Zoom homepage.

I record a lot of vocals in the rehearsal room, for demos, guest appearances and the upcoming Arch Enemy 'Best Of' album. I use a standard microphone pre-amp and record the clean signal straight into the laptop. The recording software we use is Cubase and ProTools.

I don't have any effects or other gimmicks in the rehearsal room. Just a little mixing desk, its part of the Samson PA. No effect racks, pedals, etc. I don't know how to work with that stuff at all to be honest. I prefer to rehearse my vocals dry, so I really know how its gonna sound later on the recording or live. The most important thing is, that the PA is loud enough and can cut through two full stacks of Randall amps plus 4 cabs!

A good tip for playing live: I always wipe down the microphone with antibacterial/sanitary wipes right before we hit the stage. By this point, a bunch of people have touched it and shouted in it to check the monitors etc. It carries a lot of bacteria/virus you don't want your face and mouth get too close to! I actually got this health saving tip from the lovely Ms. Doro Pesch!

If you don't get a good sound at all – maybe it's you? In the end of the day the instrument creates the tone. And if you are not up to par the best equipment in the world cant fix that. You need to exercise for pitch, endurance and control of your voice. Also, loudness and clarity have a lot to do with your direct vocal output.

Here a few websites, books and DVDs you should check out:

www.vocalist.org

www.vocalist.org/vocalist_sites.html - a link list to lots of vocal related websites.

www.getsigned.com - they have a good collection of books and DVDs for self-teaching.

Also check out www.melissacross.com and her DVDs 'The Zen Of Screaming I and II'

Lady got trouble with her screams – this will help!"