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Vocal Wave Editing

mawcs	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 1:31 PM I'm looking for some good tips on editing a vocal sound (wave or other) file. I would like to know what kinds of tricks people are using during computer voice recording to get good vocal sound. What kinds of effects or EQ techniques to you use. What software do you use?
kredd	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 3:03 PM well, it all kinda depends on your style and the feel you are going for. when i used to record my own personal music before AOTU i would sing the entire song 2x's on 2 different track and mix the 2 panning each of them a quarter pan l/r. but like i said - its all about your style - i would never do this for the vocals in my band now. i guess it isn't really an effect per-se but it did fill the vocals out and give it a unique sound. just an idea
mawcs	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 3:17 PM That's kinda cool. I've tried something similar. I copied a single recording to two tracks and then did a "high frequency stimulator" on one track that panned l/r. I wasn't entirely pleased with the result. Anybody else have interesting ideas?
GeneHilbert	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 3:57 PM ....... and that's how you learn ........ use of panning, effects, vocoder, compression, normalization, mic placement, preamps.... but the biggest factor is first being able to sing in key and on pitch - Simple Huh? Then getting a quality signal on tape or recorded .wav, .au or whatever. Try to get as hot a signal without clipping as you can get .... digital recording works with the amount of data received (bits used) .... so the hotter the signal the more data received & recorded and the better it will sound (hopefully) ..... Again pretty simple ..... but the basic idea's of recording are the same. And Remember... "Garbage In = Garbage Out" "Fix in the Mix" won't work ........
alienhead	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 4:37 PM experimentation!
mawcs	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 5:01 PM Good stuff. But share your secrets What works good for you? Found a trick you really like? I'm just looking for ideas. Need to brew some new stuff. I'm not liking the plain ol stuff I've always done. BTW: I'm using HD recording with an Audigy 2zs Platinum Pro. Most of the time, the quality is outstanding (providing I can avoid clipping). I listen to a lot of other peoples stuff and there are some really nice recordings out there. Just trying to learn something new. Keep it coming. And, in case I forget, thanks for the input.
sinai	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 5:07 PM a wee bit of flanger gives ya voice a nice edge...but only a tiny bit, otherwise you sound like you're screaming from a block away
mawcs	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 5:18 PM LOL
mawcs	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 5:20 PM I did that last night with a pitch shift. My dog was cocking her head to one side looking at me and my wife was laughing uncontrollably. I'll try it toned down to see what it's like.
Veracohr	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 5:22 PM Wait, are asking for tips on editing a track, or getting a good sound? Good suggestions on getting good sound have already been made. The best-soubding and easiest way to get a good sound is to start with a good sound. In the case of vocals, this means having a good singer. Also, you should pay attention to your recording space (ie. where your vocalist is while singing). If the space sounds bad acoustically, it will be very hard to get a good-sounding vocal. Home studios usually do with a deadened room for vocals, so the engineer can control vocal ambience via reverb. Larger studios may have rooms that have nice-sounding natural reverb, so this can be put to good use instead of adding it artificially. What Gene Hilbert said about garbage in=garbage out is also sometimes stated as "You can't polish a turd." Make it sound as good as you can before turning to hardware and software to get what you want.
GeneHilbert	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 5:29 PM My tricks are well ... my tricks ... I'm sure you'll do fine ... although imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ... nothing says I'm an individual quite like being one ......
mawcs	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 5:59 PM Ok. Great tips on getting good sound. But what I'm looking for is after I get good sound, what kinds of things can I do (that I haven't already tried) that somebody else thought of that works well. Yes, I am a newbie to this site and even to computer-based music recording/composing. But I think I've got a handle on the recording. I'm wondering what kinds of things people do post-recording.
Veracohr	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 7:26 PM Post recording: If you don't know them well, learn compressors. Learn how they work, and the specifics of the one you have. Compression should actually be in the signal chain before getting to the A/D, but if it's not, you can compress afterward. Learn how to use compression well, not just set it to "stun" and leave it. EQ: cut, don't boost, if at all possible. However, this may not be such an issue with DSP as it is with hardware. And try to be subtle with EQing. You should work on the source sound so that you only have to do a little EQ in the mix. Reverb: pre-delay is your friend, especially for vocals. Other effects: unless you're going for a deliberately effected sound, effects like flange and chorus are often best when you can't hear them. Added in just barely, they augment the sound rather than alter it, too much and you get all wishy-washy. When using echo, use a high- and/or low-pass filter on the echo, it helps differentiate it from the original and sounds cleaner. In fact, most effects should be filtered; how, depending on the effect and the track. With vocals, high-pass filtering is usually good on effects, or at least a low shelving cut. Like kredd said, singing multiple lines of the same vocal is good. Unless you can't sing exactly the same. If you try to double the vocal and keep drifting in pitch and time, don't do it.
woodhead	Date: December 12, 2003 @ 9:56 PM Vocals so much and so many tricks well here are some tricks that we do . I like to layer our vocal tracks, but not always it becomes one of those things, that is cool but not to much. It is a cool way to thicken the vocals. you can layer once or as many times as you like but the trick is it has to be the same every time for it to work. the cool thing about layering is you dont need as many effects on the vocals, you still need the compression to get it under control and I like to add "air" to give vocals life adding air is on the higher end of your eq. another thing that we do and this depends on the tune, but to have a bridge carry over on the vocals and then have the chorus start on seperate tracks while the carry over is happening, for an ex check out out tune shame for the carry overs it is cool but depends on how many tracks you have. And as Verachor said, when adding effects add a little you should be able to hear it when you single out the vocals, but the effects should pretty much be lost in the mix, unless you want that delayto happen in the mix.
mawcs	Date: December 15, 2003 @ 3:01 PM Veracohr and woodhead Thanks so much for your input. This is the kind of info I was looking for. I'm going to give your ideas a shot with some of my stuff before uploading it. Thanks everyone. Keep it coming if you have any more ideas.
mawcs	Date: December 22, 2003 @ 2:26 PM Ok, so I was remixing some older stuff. Trying some of the tactics you all suggested. No re-recording of vocals just editing 'post-cord' (if I can coin the phrase). Here it is: subovertone - Excellent Man subovertone - Excellent Man Any pointers?

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