Guitar + vocal tracked at one time

mjbphotos

mjbphotos

Moderator
Recently had a friend in my studio to record his originals. He's the type who HAS to play and sing at the same time, and because of a bad back (at the time), he had to sit down while tracking.
I had one condensor mic aimed slightly down towards the floor that worked well picking up the guitar only, and another condensor mic up high, aimed upwards a bit to get more vocal than guitar.

Unfortunately, he's a loud strummer, and most songs the guitar was in the top mic track too, although lower enough in volume it wasn't an issue to balance everything out (I and others are adding other instrument tracks).

However, on one song he sang at a lower volume, so the guitar dominated the top mic track. I took the bottom mic track, reversed polarity, and summed it with the top mic track and that did reduce the volume of the guitar a little on that track, but its still marginal. Any other ideas? Re-tracking with a close-up dynamic on vocals is not an option (hindsight is great!)
 
Maybe try that new Waves plugin... Clarity? It might still be on sale for $29.99. It's supposed to do exactly what you're looking for... there is a more expensive ($99?) Clarity Pro with more bells and whistles, but the cheaper option should work for just Vocal/Guitar, check the videos online about it first. Otherwise you're probably looking at something like iZotope RX type plugins...
 
Ujn Hunter said:
Maybe try that new Waves plugin... Clarity? It might still be on sale for $29.99. It's supposed to do exactly what you're looking for...
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Warren at Produce like a pro was frothing at the mouth over this, recently.
It seemed pretty effective. I was thinking while I was watching his review though, that I never get into a recording situation where the noise is so bad I'd need it.
 
And I really am not paying for software I would otherwise never use again, this project is done at minimal cost for a friend with no money.
 
I too like to play and sing at the same time. That way you get the timing spot on.
I'm not a loud strummer though.
A shield of some kind may be a solution. Perhaps a see-through perspex sheet to separate voice from guitar, while still allowing the player to see the guitar.
I have pondered doing this.
 
I have done some crazy stuff with duping tracks, creating a "big stereo" and using mid/side processing then phase flipping to push stuff back while leaving the lead alone but I don't know if it will work for what you have to tackle. It might be something to experiment with a little if you have the time. Also try to duck the guitar track as much as possible with a comp sidechained to the vocal (dupe the vocal, cut out anything that's not vocal from that track, mute it and send it to a bus to drive the sidechain)

I do suggest if you have to do this kind of recording to use figure 8 mics to null as much as possible when you have that kind of performer to deal with.
 
mjbphotos said:
And I really am not paying for software I would otherwise never use again, this project is done at minimal cost for a friend with no money.
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Mike, you can download the full Samplitude Pro X 6 suite and use it for 30days for free. In addition to Samplitude it has some good 'spectral' processing in it.

PC only tho'but.

Dave.
 
Can this person re-sing the song while listening to the recording?

My wife video recorded a performance of one of my songs with her iPad. It is acoustic guitar and a vocal. The acoustic guitar over powered the vocal in places. I simply imported the audio into Reaper and re-recorded the vocal. I also re-recorded the guitar, mixed them and put the new audio track with the original video. I recorded the new tracks while listening to the original recording so the playing and singing syncs with the original video.
 
^^ If the guy was able to sing without playing at the same time, I would have tracked guitar and vocal separately! The tracking sessions are done - a couple of marathons, total of 23 songs, just him singing and playing at the same time.

Thanks Dave on Samplitude idea. Besides mixing, I have been adding other instruments, and also have dobro, upright bass and vocal harmonies from others, so it's all a matter of not smothering the vocal. At this point, I've got 15 (of 28 - he recorded 5 at someone else's place) song all mixed, so if any of the subsequent songs need that I will try it
 
mjbphotos said:
^^ If the guy was able to sing without playing at the same time, I would have tracked guitar and vocal separately! The tracking sessions are done - a couple of marathons, total of 23 songs, just him singing and playing at the same time.

Thanks Dave on Samplitude idea. Besides mixing, I have been adding other instruments, and also have dobro, upright bass and vocal harmonies from others, so it's all a matter of not smothering the vocal. At this point, I've got 15 (of 28 - he recorded 5 at someone else's place) song all mixed, so if any of the subsequent songs need that I will try it
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Glad to help, it is by the way a pretty heavy download so give yourself a good hour (odd permissions to click) and have plenty of tea and biccies in. Very well behaved though and won't tie up the PC.

Dave.
 
Totally useless for this particular recording since it's already done, but lips-on-grille with a "ball" style mic would be a good way to record that performer. I might have used an SM58 or my AKG C535EB condenser.

Another method, if the room is dead enough, is to use two figure-8 mics, exploiting the lobes and nulls to optimize isolation.
 
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