Rounding the Edges : Vocals

D

David Katauskas

New member
For 2 part harmonies (6 tracks for fullness), I'm noticing that the edges (beginning and ends of phrases) are too harsh. IOW, they were tracked spot on. But, these edges really need to be softened a bit with some transition.

I tried a quick attack on the compression, but it only helped a little. Using a gate sounds too weird. Are there any other methods I can try?
 
Yeah, I'm trying to avoid that if possible. There are about 20 phrases (40 starts and ends) on 9 different vocal tracks which is 360 beginnings and endings. I'm not afraid of hard work, but that will take me hours.
 
There is a quick and easy way to semi-automate what funky recommends; many editors have a "fade in/fade out" function available. In your case probably the fastest way would be to highlight the first few ms of each phrase and then perform a group fade in on all of the highlights. Then do the same at the ends of the phrases with the fade out. Yes, there is still manual labor involved, but it's hard - of the top of my head, anyway - to think of a sure-fire blanket method for doing such smoothing.

One long-shot option *might* be to take a look at the Neodynium graphic compressor plug by Elemental Audio. With that tool you could possibly soften the attacks by applying compression and reduction just to impulses below a given threshold. No promises as to how this may affect the timbre of the rest of the vocals, though.

G.
 
This kind of thing I always handle in the editor. Very easy in Samplitude, just grab the fade in and out handles at the beginning and ends of the objects and drag them. If it needs to be a non-linear fade, the object editor allows you to bend it however you want. You can also set fade in/out times to be automatically applied.
 
One trick is to work on how you track the backing vocals. I generally keep the mic off-axis and really minimize enunciation of hard consonants (k, ch) and sibilant sounds (s, t, f), as those tend to build up with more tracks.
 
another trick

I was thinking the one way to save time would be group or buss the tracks then ride the faders of apply a dynamics effect. I have had the same problem before and this worked. I'd suggest the fader approach b/c compression might kill the feel. :o
 
I'd use a file, or some sandpaper if you have it...... :eek: :D

Actually, I have done pretty much what Glenn stated. Leave one track alone at the beginning, and take the rest, and fade in-fade out, and see what happens. I know with me, sibilance builds up pretty quick if I use more than one take....IE harmony vox. I generally use some harsh de-essing on the tracks also. Spitfish is what I use. Masy not work for you, but worth a try.
 
Thanks for the info Dogman.

It ended up with a combination of things; faders, reverb and a different compressor. Now it sounds great...at least to me.

Thanks again everyone!
 
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