Recording tricks to making a singer sound good, Eq, Reverb, tracks on tracks, etc
- Thread starter kay_e
- Start date
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
Sure...a good mic and preamp is certainly going to make a difference, but my main point is...if you have the vocalist, mic and preamp...it's not necessary to resort to tricks.
If however you are expecting to work with lousy vocalists and cheap/crappy gear...then you will need to spend a LOT of time making them sound good.
There's all kinds of processing that can be used to *enhance* a solid vocal --- doubling, EQ, reverb, etc...etc...but each vocal will need something specific. Sure, you can apply the same list of "tricks" to every vocal...but that becomes a cookie-cutter approach.
If you have a specific vocal that you can put up, and then ask how it can be enhanced for more body or depth or sheen...there could be more specific responses, rather than just asking for a bag of tricks.
If however you are expecting to work with lousy vocalists and cheap/crappy gear...then you will need to spend a LOT of time making them sound good.
There's all kinds of processing that can be used to *enhance* a solid vocal --- doubling, EQ, reverb, etc...etc...but each vocal will need something specific. Sure, you can apply the same list of "tricks" to every vocal...but that becomes a cookie-cutter approach.
If you have a specific vocal that you can put up, and then ask how it can be enhanced for more body or depth or sheen...there could be more specific responses, rather than just asking for a bag of tricks.
rictitious
New member
Working with constraints, I've been able to enhance my voice as follows:
- de-esser and compressor effects
- drastically curving the EQ (dropping the upper mids) to compensate for a crappy microphone
- doubling with a wider (more stereo) track at 2/3 gain of center track
hope that helps...
- de-esser and compressor effects
- drastically curving the EQ (dropping the upper mids) to compensate for a crappy microphone
- doubling with a wider (more stereo) track at 2/3 gain of center track
hope that helps...
sjjohnston
New member
One observation, FWIW: if the singer's not very good, a particularly fine microphone and preamp aren't going to fix that, and could actually make him or her sound worse, rather than better.
As already mentioned, what you need to do depends on what's wrong with the singer's performance. In some cases, the tool is kind of obvious: too sibilant -> de-esser; level all over the place -> compression, etc.
A few other random thoughts:
- Notwithstanding the above, reverb tends to make pretty much anyone (who's not quite good to start with) sound better.
- General pitch and timbre issues: fully double-track the vocal, i.e. have the singer sing it twice and use both in the mix. This tends to "smooth" problems. Of course, there's a cost, as it also smooths away expressive nuance that you might like ... but if the singer's not good, there's probably more badness than euphonious expressiveness.
- Inarticulate: might try recording a "whisper" track. I've never done that, but I've heard of it.
- Pitch: obviously there's autotune and similar software.
- Timbre: Autotune-like software can also be used to fool around with formants and the like. You may wind up making it worse, unless you're trying for something that doesn't sound like a real human being.
- Timing, phrasing: You can edit in your DAW, either by cutting up words and phrases, or with a tool that's specifically designed for the purpose. This can quickly turn into a lot of work that turns out to be counterproductive when you sit back and listen to it, though.
As already mentioned, what you need to do depends on what's wrong with the singer's performance. In some cases, the tool is kind of obvious: too sibilant -> de-esser; level all over the place -> compression, etc.
A few other random thoughts:
- Notwithstanding the above, reverb tends to make pretty much anyone (who's not quite good to start with) sound better.
- General pitch and timbre issues: fully double-track the vocal, i.e. have the singer sing it twice and use both in the mix. This tends to "smooth" problems. Of course, there's a cost, as it also smooths away expressive nuance that you might like ... but if the singer's not good, there's probably more badness than euphonious expressiveness.
- Inarticulate: might try recording a "whisper" track. I've never done that, but I've heard of it.
- Pitch: obviously there's autotune and similar software.
- Timbre: Autotune-like software can also be used to fool around with formants and the like. You may wind up making it worse, unless you're trying for something that doesn't sound like a real human being.
- Timing, phrasing: You can edit in your DAW, either by cutting up words and phrases, or with a tool that's specifically designed for the purpose. This can quickly turn into a lot of work that turns out to be counterproductive when you sit back and listen to it, though.