famous beagle
Well-known member
I'm just wondering how people approach this. By a show of hands, how many people typically compress a vocal (with outboard or plug) while recording?
I was just wondering because I was recording my wife singing a version of U2's "With or Without You" tonight, and the level varies dramatically from the verse (soft and gentle) to the "chorus" (I guess ... the "I can't livvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve ... with or without you.")
I don't remember exactly, but I think it was probably coming in around -30 or -35 so on the quiet parts and it hit -12 I think on the loud parts, but I had a compressor (Art Pro VLA II) going for those louder parts. It ended up squashing more than I wanted on those parts. So I have no idea what it would have hit without the compressor, but I think it was doing about -10dB of GR or more at times.
We really liked the verses, so we're going to retrack the loud parts and set the level independently. How commonly do y'all do that? I mean ... set levels for quiet parts and then reset the levels for louder parts?
The problem with doing that, obviously, is that you can interrupt the flow of someone who sings well (like my wife), because she's capable (unlike me) of getting a keeper in one continuous take.
So ... I know I've asked several smaller questions throughout. I guess the big question is this: how realistic is it to be able to record any vocal in one continuous take without changing the level? Do engineers ride the faders (or preamp gain) more than I realize they do while recording a vocal?
I know I've rambled a bit, but I hope you understand what I'm asking.
Thanks
I was just wondering because I was recording my wife singing a version of U2's "With or Without You" tonight, and the level varies dramatically from the verse (soft and gentle) to the "chorus" (I guess ... the "I can't livvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve ... with or without you.")
I don't remember exactly, but I think it was probably coming in around -30 or -35 so on the quiet parts and it hit -12 I think on the loud parts, but I had a compressor (Art Pro VLA II) going for those louder parts. It ended up squashing more than I wanted on those parts. So I have no idea what it would have hit without the compressor, but I think it was doing about -10dB of GR or more at times.
We really liked the verses, so we're going to retrack the loud parts and set the level independently. How commonly do y'all do that? I mean ... set levels for quiet parts and then reset the levels for louder parts?
The problem with doing that, obviously, is that you can interrupt the flow of someone who sings well (like my wife), because she's capable (unlike me) of getting a keeper in one continuous take.
So ... I know I've asked several smaller questions throughout. I guess the big question is this: how realistic is it to be able to record any vocal in one continuous take without changing the level? Do engineers ride the faders (or preamp gain) more than I realize they do while recording a vocal?
I know I've rambled a bit, but I hope you understand what I'm asking.
Thanks