Precise Punch-ins???

[Raydio]

As we know, with rap especially, punch-ins occur do to breath controll and other factors. Heres the problem. My artist I record do punchin's at a local pro studio and they come out nice, but for some reason when I use the same punch method at home the various takes have different volumes; even if my artist take time to get their intonation right. Im using Cool Edit Pro to record and I also have Nuendo. Basically what I do is record the punch'ed in part to a new track and mixdown the whole vocal into one when Im finished. I hear frequent jumps in volume mainly and I want to know if there are any effects or something I can use to correct this. I have the Waves Native Pack by the way. Any tips you may have, just post them. Thanks!

[BrettB]

Just see that your preamp is the same as the take before and that you use the same mic with the same positioning. Still having problems, it is because of your vocalist so try to solve it with compression then.

[Raydio]

Detail?????? What kind of compression setting should I use? Also, would a limiter help? If so, what settings. If I have some pro detail then Ill be cool. Thanks for the post.

[volltreffer]

It's not possible to give you general settings...
Do a search on compression here... Invest the time to learn it - it'll be worth the effort (that you'll surely have ). IMO understanding how to use compression is one of the tasks that are absolutely necessary to get a 'proper' mix in not too much time ...

aXel

[Teacher]

if the volume is just getting higher and lower from punch-ins why don't u just record each punch in on a different track and level it out volume wise to ur desire...then go to compression and other efx

and its also a good Idea to voice over the parts u punch in too

[Raydio]

Well someone suggested that I use the L1 Limiter and set the "out of ceiling" to the median range of my vocals. Everything over that median will be limited. I also adjusted the threshold so that it increases the overall volume and power of the signal itself. Works quite nicely! At the same time, the vocalist still has to do his/her part and maintain that same intonation and volume. Try it and see if it works for you. I apply this effect after I finish recording the whole vocal part since my problem doesn't cause clipping.

[crosstudio]

rather than doing punch-ins and ruining the emotion of the track, record several takes and then create a track from the best sections. this will also give you enough material to get that doubled vocal sound in spots where you want it.

if you have to do punch-ins and you don't like the vocal level matching then use your DAW software. create a volume envelope and adjust the volume levels as necessary to make everything nice and even.

i'm assuming that your audio software does this. Sonar is what I use.

if i find that my comp'ed vocal track has breaths that are too loud, i do into the audio track and reduce the volume of the breath.

In Sonar I create a clip envelope and adjust the volume around the breath.

I use to use the 'Reduce by 3db option' but that is permanent where the envelopes can be adjusted if you don't like what you've done 2 weeks later.

[Raydio]

Well I heard a lot of about compositing vocals, but wont kind of give you the effect of punching in, due to the changings in tone and volume? I know it can be corrected with the envelope, but Im using Cool Edit Pro 2 and Nuendo, and I think that it might be very very time consuming to cut the best takes from each track. If I do 3 takes of the vocals, I find organization and lining the selections up in time to be the big problem. Maybe there is a quicker way that you guys know about, as far as compositing vocals... share some because maybe this will help my audios. In the mean time, I guess I'll be punching in.