Breathing on vocals

M

miccontrol

New member
Whats up everybody. I have a Cool Edit question that hopefully someone can answer. I do Hip-Hop music and need a way to minimize the breaths on individual vocal tracks for rhymes. I'm taking the vocals and putting the vocal limiter on it which sounds good, but it seems to magnify the breaths in between rhyming. Any help on this would be grateful.


Peace and thanks,
 
Depends on how many there are you could
1- cut each breath out manually
or 2- use a noise gate which will cut the sound after the singing which are the breaths in your case

by the way, depending on the loudness of the breaths you should keep some as they add to the performance of the song

Tukkis
 
Don't obsess over it too much. Breathing is natural and it can help give a vocal track a nice feel and add some tension before the vocals kick in. Some breaths are distracting but often taking them out can sound artificial and ruins the attack of the vocal.
 
It depends on what you're trying to do. If you're doing commercial work, and you're recording people for money, do what they said above. If you're the performer, work on breath control! You can learn to breath much more quietly and move the mouth more off-axis for breathing. It's amazing that people always look to the electronic technique to fix bad mic technique. Bad singers aren't even aware of their breathing, and how a mic picks it up. Oddly enough, the really good ones, you don't have to fix.
What I find, now doing overdubs for the first time, is that I have to remember to control my breathing when I'm playing acoustic guitar, 'cause the mics pick it up. The things you can get away with on a stage will not fly with condenser mics. That's another reason to use a dynamic mic in a studio, such as Shure SM7B (good for hiphop) because it's not quite as sensitive as most
condensers, and will be a little more forgiving to noisy breathers.-Richie
 
using the vocal limiter preset on cool edit's compression is a bad choice, IMO. it makes EVERYTHING the same volume, so that's the main reason you're hearing the breaths so much. if it's possible, you should really use a different compressor plug-in. the CEP one is serviceable, at best.
 
I agree with Texroadkill - the sound of breathing is part of the delivery of the song. And Richard, I'm trying to be less noisy when miking my acoustic too, but it just doesn't work sometimes. So I leave it in. Artistic flaws...:D
 
Ok, thanks everyone. Can anyone recommend a compressor plug-in that is better than the one in CEP? No wait.....am I wasting my time even using CEP?

Thanks,
B
 
Hey Dobro, we're all subjected to the merciless scrutiny of condensers. When I get perfect, I think I'm going into the messiah business. I suppose it's good work if you can get it. I just think it is the difference between a musician and a recording artist that we become more aware of the mics and all the bothersome sounds we make in the studio that aren't part of the music.-Richie
 
All you need to do is go in and highlight each breath and decrease the amplitude by 40-60%. Do this after you compress. You're good to go.
 
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