Help choose my mic setting!

I have had a Lauten Atlantis for a couple of years now. Although I can discern the best voicing for other people’s vocals, I get stunned with indecision when it comes to my own :cry:

I’m about to start recording some new tracks so I’d love some input from others to help me commit to setting!

My chain: Atlantis → ISA Two preamp → Apollo Twin Mkii
No EQ / Reverb just a little L2 to bring the levels up

This is me singing a verse and chorus of Born & Raised by John Mayer on all three mic voice settings.

Forward:

Neutral:

Gentle:

I think I prefer the forward setting but I’m worried that I’m being misled by the ‘high-end hype’

I’d appreciate any input!

I prefer the forward sample as well
though I would just like it to be a little smoother sounding. Sounds extremely clean but lacks a little bit of creaminess/ smoothness if you get what I mean, especially if you’re comparing it to John Mayer. It pairs well with the acoustic because the acoustic is really clean, but I’d like to hear a little bit more density and the mids and low mids. Try inserting a la-2a. You can also try singing the vowels more from your chest instead of throat.

Your voice sounds good, no complaints other than wanting to optimize the overall sound.

Try processing all samples to where you want your voice to be. Sometimes something sounds better than another before processing, but after processing you realize that the one that sounded less good can get the qualities of the one you initially liked more, but not the other way around.

So it isn’t always clear.

It really depends on what sound you’re trying to achieve? But in this setting I’d personally go for the ‘forward’ sound. For me this really sounds the most ‘honest’ and authentic.

Thanks for the responses all. Good to know my instincts were probably correct. Great to get an outside opinion sometimes.

Just to be clear, I’m not trying to emulate John Mayer’s sound at all. It just happened to be a song that I’ve been playing a lot lately :smiley: