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Professional Vocal Effects???!!

TLK	Date: October 26, 2005 @ 2:31 PM I've been trying soooo many different things with raw vocals that it is sickening. I can't figure out which effects or what specs to use in order to make them sound professional. Can someone help! I have came to the conclusion that using the 'chorus' with 2-4 voices makes it sound inda good, but I don't exactly know...I am dumb when it comes to reverb, and I don't know anything else that should go on it either...
TLK	Date: October 26, 2005 @ 2:31 PM Proffessional* @ title of thread
onewhodreams	Date: October 26, 2005 @ 2:37 PM MHO - just try a little reverb, no chorus, and some compression. You can always turn the reverb up and add a chorus effect later, but I would start with reverb by itself. Good luck.
HalloweenBat...	Date: October 26, 2005 @ 6:52 PM ye i have this problem too.. whats a little reverb it doesnt work like that on my cool edit i dont think.. and whenever i put it on it sounds way gay lol
LegoBreaks	Date: October 27, 2005 @ 6:04 PM You want the vox real up front if you got vox in the mix, I still havnt worked out whats good myself. Try eq'ing them to sound good, hp round 150 upwards, you dont want vocals inteferring with the bass, verb is good, but not too much depends what your going for but i recomend keeping them dry as possible Duck them into the mix, that is use a compressor you can sidechain to duck the track via the vox, this helps keep the vocals at the top of the track. Make sure the vocals are part of tbe mix, you dont want them intefering with stuff already in the mix, when your making the track make sure you leave a little pocket for the vocals to fit into like say 200 to 700 hz. If you used a dynamic mike you can get away with compressing vocals, that way you get them out front even more, but keep compression away from condenser mikes (it will just increase the static). Add layers to the vocals manualy and try doing different things to the vocals, one cool trick is to put a left layer, a right layer, then a centre layer, on the centre layer put a phaser this is real effective. I guess use nice plugins, you want vocals to be real clear so use vocal plugins that are good, i recomend the waves gold bundle for vocal work.
imemine	Date: October 27, 2005 @ 6:32 PM This might help you---it's a fourm I started a while back and people around here gave me some awesome ideas. I still can't sing though. http://www.dmusic.com/forum/vocals/16992#41 Good Luck man!
johnyjordan	Date: November 19, 2005 @ 4:00 PM Double tracking your vocals can be essential.
MillZ	Date: January 9, 2006 @ 12:38 AM Ya?
GeneHilbert	Date: January 9, 2006 @ 11:41 AM Don't Duck vocals except when doing commercials, narration or as a special effect. Double tracking is good with slight stereo spread - 10 to 20% - but experiment. Vocals up front in the mix - rule of thumb - vocals should be a foot or two in front of the speakers - sounds strange but you'll get the idea. Of course the standard as of late 90 to present is to slightly bury the vocals - a lot of rock and alternative groups are doing this - I don't adhere to this simply because if you don't want the lyrics to be understood, why bother to write them. Record vocals as hot as you can get them without clipping (Seeing Red). And even then +1 to +2 might be OK depending on your system, but as a general rule try to stay under 0db. Digital recording works as data i.e. sample rate and bit depth - meaning the hotter the signal the more data is recorded, the more detailed the sound. If you don't record a hot signal you simply have less data present. (Simple enough) This is why higher sample rates and bit depths work. Too heavy of a compression will squash all of the character out of your performance, and too light might not do much at all – Untrained vocals Ratio 3:1 to 5:1 Threshold -10 to -20 Attack fast to medium. Trained vocalist Ratio 2:1, these are general settings – experiment. Record as dry a signal as you can, you can always add effects – but once it’s printed to the trac it’s there permanently. Reverb – as natural and dry as you can make it, here again personal choice and effect will be the defining factor. For a professional sound you want clarity and as natural as you can make it. Note; reverb will add depth – the more reverb you have the further back your voice will seem to be in the mix. Moderation is key. So, experience counts the more you do it the better you will get – so get to work. For the experienced and the hard headed - it is true rules are meant to be broken however if you can’t do it correctly you will constantly be chasing your tail. Also – never, and I mean never ever believe you can fix it in the mix. If you record a shitty trac – trash it and do it again. Garbage in – garbage out, it’s as simple as that.
MindSculpture	Date: January 9, 2006 @ 12:29 PM In Adobe Audition 1.5 (Cool Edit), there are stacks of presets. I suggest that you play around with these and find your "favourites", you can then refine these to suit and save them as your own presets to be used frequently.