at what frequency should vocal be roll off inorder to sound normal?

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warlock110

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i've been recording myself (haha, this is kindda embarassing but i think it's pretty fun). and i've notices that some parts of a song would sound too loud and getting up to very high frequency (sounds really bad). I normally would do what any newb would and used cool edit to lower the high (it's one of the default setting). then i think to myself, wouldn't a limiter work better and i would be able to roll off the whole song? so i guess my question is that where in cool edit would i be able to find such limiter? and what frequency should be the cutting point in order to sound "smooth" because the high sounds really harsh in my ears, and why is it that when i roll of the high frequency it also lowers the dynamic automaticly, is that a side effect on it? thanks.
 
warlock110 said:
i've been recording myself (haha, this is kindda embarassing but i think it's pretty fun). and i've notices that some parts of a song would sound too loud and getting up to very high frequency (sounds really bad). I normally would do what any newb would and used cool edit to lower the high (it's one of the default setting). then i think to myself, wouldn't a limiter work better and i would be able to roll off the whole song? so i guess my question is that where in cool edit would i be able to find such limiter? and what frequency should be the cutting point in order to sound "smooth" because the high sounds really harsh in my ears, and why is it that when i roll of the high frequency it also lowers the dynamic automaticly, is that a side effect on it? thanks.
Click to expand...


I think the reason you haven't got any responses yet is because it is slightly unclear in your post if you are talking about dynamic amplitude or freq content. If it is the former, than you need to do some reading up on compression. Try here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20030204023656/www.studiocovers.com/articles3.htm
 
i guess i should make it clearer, i want to use the limiter in cool edit to roll off the high frequency. where can i find this in cool edit? And also i guess i wanted to ask why is it that when i roll off the high using a default setting in cool edit, it also lower the "loudness" of the song. I hope that's a bit clearer.
 
Ok...well, a limiter won't reduce high end. What feature of Cool Edit are you using the preset in ? The graphic eq ?

If you reduce the gain in a frequency range of a track, it will affect the overall amplitude of your mix.

Why are you only unhappy with the tonal balance of your mix when it gets louder though ? Can you describe the high end unpleasantness you are experiencing ? What instrument does it seem to be coming from, and how are you recording that instrument ?


Nathan
 
i'm using the graphic equalizer, if a limiter isn't able control the "capping" off of the frequency, do you know what does?. I just feel that the high came from the vocal and it's just too harsh (you know when you have that extremely high pitch that it really hurts the ears). thanks for helping me with this :)
 
insert the track into edit view. Then go to Effects -> Amplitude -> Dynamics Processing. Try some simple compression settings. Make sure you are under the "TRADITIONAL" tab of this window. Then, set the top drop down menu to Compress. Under ratios, set this to 4. Under thresholds, set the top box to something like -18 dB. These are just some sample settings you may want to try. Of course you will have to experiment with this a little but i think with a little trial and error, you should find the solution to your problem with compression
 
The limiter deals with loudness, not frequency. The limiter doesn't care what frequency a sound is. High frequency, low frequency - it doesn't care - if it's too loud, the limiter simply limits it according to the threshold you've set. That's it.
 
then does the compressor controls the frequency? as thajeremy stated above? or do i have to go with equalizer? the problem with equalizer is that it does it to the entire track, and i just want to cap off parts of the track, it's rather hard to work with. That's why i'm trying to find something that can cap off frequency.
 
I still think you are confusing frequency and amplitude.

You say there is an unpleasant harshness to your vocals when you hit high notes ? Is this 'high' in voume or high in pitch ? Or both ?

Is your vocal track clipping (going over digital zero and distorting) when you hit these notes ?

Anyway, here's something to try. Double click on you vocal track to bring you into edit view. Look at the values on the far right, right-click on them, and make sure their set to decibels.

A compressor needs you to adjust the following parameters.

Threshhold
Ratio
Attack
Release

Then, make a note of where the main body of the vocals stop, and the excessive part starts (in decibels-should be a negative number).

This number is the starting point for the threshold of your compressor. Choose a largish ratio, 8:1 or so to start. Adjust the two of these to taste. Choose an attack time of .5ms and a release time of 300ms. These can be adjusted to taste also, once you understand what they do...see the link in my original post.

You are not hearing a dramatic change in frequency content when you sing louder, unless you are turning you head from the mic when you do so, and/or you have a shit recording space in which the reflections into the mic increase when you sing louder.

You sure you're not clipping ?
 
warlock. a very usefull chart you should get hold of....
this chart shows all frequency ranges of every thing you might record.
its currently posted at the pgmusic.com powertracks forum.
look for the current thread going on "frequency best tweaks"
by charlie McG. GET HOLD OF THIS CHART in the thread . its very usefull.
and will explain a lot.
peace.
 
manning1 said:
warlock. a very usefull chart you should get hold of....
this chart shows all frequency ranges of every thing you might record.
its currently posted at the pgmusic.com powertracks forum.
look for the current thread going on "frequency best tweaks"
by charlie McG. GET HOLD OF THIS CHART in the thread . its very usefull.
and will explain a lot.
peace.
Click to expand...

I think some reading up on amplitude AND frequency, and how they differ might serve him better in this case.
 
warlock110 said:
at what frequency should a vocal be roll off to sound normal?
Click to expand...

There is no answer to this. Different mics have different frequency responses, as do different voices, preamps, speakers, headphones etc.

What mic/preamp/soundcard are you using ?
What is your recording space like ?

I have never rolled off the high end from a vocal. I have tamed some over-brightness from some of the newer cheap condenders that are out, and notched out sibliance etc., but it sounds like you are hearing something a little more extreme.
 
ok...lets try this route....

does your track go along at a nice suitable volume...everything sounding good and all of a sudden you hit one note and its just tooooooo LOUD, and it puts your meters in the red?

if that is the case...you do not need to be using EQ. Try the compression settings i mentioned earlier. Just for kicks, try them and let us know what happens. You can always undo it if its not what you are looking for.

OR....

would you be willing to post the track in question and let us take a look at it and maybe fix it and tell you what we did???




LOOK PEOPLE....ONE MORE POST AND ILL BE A DEDICATED MEMBER!!!! :)
 
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