Ok so i recorded a verse. Main verse, doubles etc.. Now you know when you record your bound to say some words louder than others and when you play it back it sounds kind of akward because some parts u say a little louder than others, (on the same track, or whatever) but i want to know how to make it so all my vocals are relatively on the same levels so they sound well together. U get what im tryna say? Im using pro-tools but im a novice at it so if yall could help that would be cool. What tools can i use?
QUESTION ABOUT PROTOOLS LE.
- Thread starter FDS
- Start date
are you punching in? ther are probably ways to do this like in maybe edit it may say normalize..But Im not sure if this is a good idea? are you using a pre-amp?What exactly is your problem? is it that the vocals are at different levels from verse to verse,or on lets just say each track has that problem?When you record is someone helping you,or are you stopping to press record and stop?that can make your mic placement off....need more info
im using the lil m box for the moment. I put 3 tracks for EACH VERSE. One for the main verse, the second for my doubles, and the third for my adlibz. So basically if there is 3 verses on a track there are 9 tracks for it. (not including the chorus). Im not using a pre-amp.
Let me try to paint you a picture. When im spitting 16's, sometimes i start gettin really into the verse and ill say some words louder than others, like on the punchlines, or metaphors or whatever, so there is more emphasis on those words as opposed to the rest of the flow. When im done with the verse, i play it back and those certain words came out louder than the others and it makes it sound as if tho i recorded it with a khareoke machine or something. What i want to do is find an editing tool on PROTOOLS which will make it so i find a medium level for the whole verse so all the vocals come out even as if and none peak higher than others. (or at least relatively) I want to basically have a quality sound for my vocals so it sounds like it came from a semi decent studio. If you need a better picture, Find the song "Me myself personally" by Star Studded and Rydah J Clyde, Listen to the chorus (and really the whole song), You can tell they didnt level it right and its sounds like they did it "Too Live" if you know what i mean. The song is tite as fuck no doubt about that but im tryna show you what im dealing with in my shit.
Let me try to paint you a picture. When im spitting 16's, sometimes i start gettin really into the verse and ill say some words louder than others, like on the punchlines, or metaphors or whatever, so there is more emphasis on those words as opposed to the rest of the flow. When im done with the verse, i play it back and those certain words came out louder than the others and it makes it sound as if tho i recorded it with a khareoke machine or something. What i want to do is find an editing tool on PROTOOLS which will make it so i find a medium level for the whole verse so all the vocals come out even as if and none peak higher than others. (or at least relatively) I want to basically have a quality sound for my vocals so it sounds like it came from a semi decent studio. If you need a better picture, Find the song "Me myself personally" by Star Studded and Rydah J Clyde, Listen to the chorus (and really the whole song), You can tell they didnt level it right and its sounds like they did it "Too Live" if you know what i mean. The song is tite as fuck no doubt about that but im tryna show you what im dealing with in my shit.
Good info Im sure someone with more recoding in the software realm can help,I am almost sure you can ..normalize the tracks...wich makes an annalogy of the the track and makes it all one level.....but my concern is this a good thing,will that make it sound worse cause its more mechanical,and un human....I think if maybe you used a limiter/compressor on the tracks in your plug ins you could change attack..wich engineers have to adjust for each vocalist cause everyone has a different way when they rap....Im speaking really vague and am not an expert..If you dont get a reply here,or if you do...you should be going to recording forums on special sites...like harmony central...has some forums...and home recording...
http://homerecording.com/bbs/index.php?
here there is too much novices..however ther are a few experts...but this site aint known for the tech side..
http://homerecording.com/bbs/index.php?
here there is too much novices..however ther are a few experts...but this site aint known for the tech side..
i aint read it all, but if you got words comin in louder then you need to use a compressor to level it out...
it aint complicated, just dont squeeze it so much to where it sound like you rappin out of your nose... just use the vocal levelor setting on the protools compressor if you dont know about setting up your compressor
it aint complicated, just dont squeeze it so much to where it sound like you rappin out of your nose... just use the vocal levelor setting on the protools compressor if you dont know about setting up your compressor
I use compression/limiting (moreso compression) and automation to make the tracks even in volume and clarity. The first thing I have to ask you is WHY are you using 9 tracks for three verses? If it were myself recording or engineering I would use 4-5 tracks. Track 1 would have all the main verses, track 2 would be for all the doubles and track 3 would be used for ad-libs. Tracks 4 and 5 would be used for COMPING. Take a bit here, take a bit there, cut a piece here, cut a piece there, combine to new track, crossfade. BAM! Now you have a NEW track that can also be used as the MAIN (or double) vocal take. Your use of 9 tracks is going to limit you in several ways:
1. You are loosing track count.
2. You are going to have to process each of these individually, and this will require more power from your computer.
3. If you are working in stems/submixing its going to be more work.
You also said:
Well...how are you recording ANY of this if you are not using some type of pre amp? It doesn't have to be a 48v phantom pre amp (it could be a pre amp on the vs 880ex), but in order to record you have to go through some type of pre amp stage.
As far as what you can do you can start by recording WITH compression or recording without compression, but applying it to your tracks later. My suggestion to you is to experiment with both to see which one works best for what you are doing. In pro tools you have to set up an AUX track to record WITH compression (because it operates at POST FADER.). Simply putting a compressor on the track you want it on, and pressing record will simply allow you to MONITOR with the effect. It will NOT record it that way.
READ THESE:
http://homerecording.about.com/od/techniques/a/basic_comp.htm
http://www.tweakheadz.com/how_to_record_vocals.htm
http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/Articles/Compression/
http://www.digidesign.com/digizine/archive/digizine_february04/groundwork/
THE LAST LINK WILL SHOW YOU ***EXACTLY*** HOW TO SET YOUR TRACKS UP TO RECORD WITH PLUGIN COMPRESSION. MAKE SURE YOU READ IT
1. You are loosing track count.
2. You are going to have to process each of these individually, and this will require more power from your computer.
3. If you are working in stems/submixing its going to be more work.
You also said:
Well...how are you recording ANY of this if you are not using some type of pre amp? It doesn't have to be a 48v phantom pre amp (it could be a pre amp on the vs 880ex), but in order to record you have to go through some type of pre amp stage.
As far as what you can do you can start by recording WITH compression or recording without compression, but applying it to your tracks later. My suggestion to you is to experiment with both to see which one works best for what you are doing. In pro tools you have to set up an AUX track to record WITH compression (because it operates at POST FADER.). Simply putting a compressor on the track you want it on, and pressing record will simply allow you to MONITOR with the effect. It will NOT record it that way.
READ THESE:
http://homerecording.about.com/od/techniques/a/basic_comp.htm
http://www.tweakheadz.com/how_to_record_vocals.htm
http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/Articles/Compression/
http://www.digidesign.com/digizine/archive/digizine_february04/groundwork/
THE LAST LINK WILL SHOW YOU ***EXACTLY*** HOW TO SET YOUR TRACKS UP TO RECORD WITH PLUGIN COMPRESSION. MAKE SURE YOU READ IT
heresy good shit. About the preamp i think the mbox has a built in one. As far as using 9 tracks for 3 verses, i was a little sceptical about doing that myself. I guess i could put ALL 3 of my verses on 1 track, all my doubles on the other track, and all my adlibs on the third track right? Would u comp/limit the verses (each track) at the same time, or would u do each verse individually?
correct.
If I am understanding your question correctly this would depend on the material, and what I were doing with the song. If the person is in the same pitch/tone/key on ALL of the tracks, and I wanted the takes to sound very similar I might buss all three tracks to an AUX that has a compressor on it. On the flipside I could compress each of them inidivually (meaning place a compressor on each track) have seperate settings for each one, and then buss them to an aux that has a compressor on it.
If you do a good job at TRACKING you can apply the compressor to the entire track and not have to worry about it. However, if you do this and you still find that some parts are uneven, you have the choice of automating the compressor controls OR automating the track volume, and if it were me, I would prefer automating the track volume instead.
as far as the links go, no problem.
If I am understanding your question correctly this would depend on the material, and what I were doing with the song. If the person is in the same pitch/tone/key on ALL of the tracks, and I wanted the takes to sound very similar I might buss all three tracks to an AUX that has a compressor on it. On the flipside I could compress each of them inidivually (meaning place a compressor on each track) have seperate settings for each one, and then buss them to an aux that has a compressor on it.
If you do a good job at TRACKING you can apply the compressor to the entire track and not have to worry about it. However, if you do this and you still find that some parts are uneven, you have the choice of automating the compressor controls OR automating the track volume, and if it were me, I would prefer automating the track volume instead.
as far as the links go, no problem.
And jayda mentioned something important as well. The de-esser. He already explained what it is used to "cure", but if you don't understand what he is saying he is referring to sibilence.
Say the following or record the following:
Sally Sucks Soup Seven saturdays several sundowns
Do you hear that? That is siblence and you can get rid of it with a a stand alone de-esser (software or hardware) OR by creating your own de-esser by using a eq/compressor side chain combo (hardware or software.) For now go ahead and use the stand alone software de-esser.
Also, you need to pay attention to the order of the plugins in PT. If you place the fx in this order:
EQ
COMPRESSOR
the signal is going to go in THAT order.
If you place the fx in this order:
COMPRESSOR
EQ
the signal is going to go in THAT order.
In the first example the signal is being equalized FIRST and after that the equalized signal is being compressed. In example 2 the signal is compressed FIRST then it is equalized.
So which way is the right way? The correct way is whatever way gives you the best sound.
Say the following or record the following:
Sally Sucks Soup Seven saturdays several sundowns
Do you hear that? That is siblence and you can get rid of it with a a stand alone de-esser (software or hardware) OR by creating your own de-esser by using a eq/compressor side chain combo (hardware or software.) For now go ahead and use the stand alone software de-esser.
Also, you need to pay attention to the order of the plugins in PT. If you place the fx in this order:
EQ
COMPRESSOR
the signal is going to go in THAT order.
If you place the fx in this order:
COMPRESSOR
EQ
the signal is going to go in THAT order.
In the first example the signal is being equalized FIRST and after that the equalized signal is being compressed. In example 2 the signal is compressed FIRST then it is equalized.
So which way is the right way? The correct way is whatever way gives you the best sound.