A few questions on editing audio and such

[dmc777]

First let me tell you what I'm doing and what I have. I'm recording a friend and I at the same time. He can't play rhthm very well so I'm playing the acoustic and he singing. I have a mxl 990 condenser and mxl993 goin to a behringer ub802 mixer into my fostex mr8 recorder. Now, I have to record us both at the same time so when I transfer to my pc after recording what kind of editing should I do? I'm using fruityloops.Since the vocal mic is picking up the guitar to

1. Do I need to cut the gaps where the there are no vocals on the vocal track or should do automation in fL?

2. Keep the vocals in the middle and pan acoustic about 75 left and right.

3. I don't have a compressor in my chain so should I use a little on the vocals on my pc? I do have an mxr dynacomp but it has no attack button.

4. Should I remove dc offset and normalize?

5. Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks for the Help.

 

[bennychico11]

Do questions 1-3 and see what you like.
Questions #4....no, unless you see a DC offset problem. And don't normalize. If you have a problem with levels, retrack with better mic preamp settings.

for question #1 though, you should have something called a Gate in your program (can't remember if FL has it though or not). This will do what you want...remove the excess guitar parts that are being picked up when the vocal isn't singing.

 

[Scrubucket7]

Another thing you can do, is instead of duplicating the guitar track, go back, and re-record it. Then, pan the two different guitar tracks opposite eachother, with the vocals in the middle. It should make it sound more full than if you just duplicate the track and pan it.

 

[dmc777]

How can I tell if there is dc and phase problems? Also a few other questions since I'm here. These concern placing effects in the mixer.

1. Would I use a compressor as insert for vocals or send.
2. Should send be the last effect in the insert?
3. Does a limiter go as the last effect in the master section?
4. What all should I be doing as far as editing goes besides cutting out what I don't want there? How can I get rid of the bigger spikes so I can raise the overall level?

Thanks for the time in reading all this. i'm still new. thanks again

 

[bennychico11]

How can I tell if there is dc and phase problems?

zoom in on the wave form where there is a section of silence (ie. the beginning of the song). If there IS a DC offset issue the waveform will not return to the zero line. The silence will be above/below the zereo crossing. DC offset problems are rare though. I've only had it happen to me once.

1. Would I use a compressor as insert for vocals or send.

an insert is for dynamic based processors (compressor, eq, etc.), an aux send is for time based processors (reverb, delay, etc.). But this is not something that is written in stone, just a general rule that is used.

2. Should send be the last effect in the insert?

sends are pretty much always after an insert. every mixer and every program i've worked with has been this way.

3. Does a limiter go as the last effect in the master section?

limiter is not a must have in any situation. if you're having to use a limiter on your master fader, it's best to find out what peaks are causing the problems and fix them on the track. Whether it be add a compressor or draw volume automation.

4. What all should I be doing as far as editing goes besides cutting out what I don't want there? How can I get rid of the bigger spikes so I can raise the overall level?

This is called compressing...what it does is tame those spikes so they aren't as abrupt and sometimes even force them to a certain maximum level that they can't go beyond (otherwise known as a limiter).

You really need to experiment with what you like. All these things you've asked can be answered to you time and time again, but you're never really going to know what to do and what sounds good unless you just sit and do it.

 

[dmc777]

Thanks alot!