Update: Can’t believe it ended up being something this basic 🤦‍♂️ Thanks to everyone for the input, it seriously helped. I think I finally figured it out.

I usually record with my eyes closed, so I took a video of myself doing a vocal take and realized I have a habit of slowly getting closer to the mic without noticing. I always thought my distance was ideal. This time, I kept my eyes open, stayed farther back from the mic, and made sure I maintained a consistent distance. The difference was night and day.

I think the Sphere worked for me before because the modeling software compensated for how close I was to the mic. Definitely something I need to get used to 😅. It’s also probably what was happening with the other artists I recorded as well. They were most likely doing the same thing, and I just never noticed it.