Compensating for "Weak" or "Shaky" vocals

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amra

amra

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If you are recording a vocalist whose voice comes across a little shaky or weak sounding, are there any kinds of effects or techniques you can use to minimize or at least somewhat mask this?

Thanks in advance.
 
mute.



heh heh.

maybe you could double it; or add some distortion, or re-amp it. most AEs drown it in reverb but I think this could actually be worse because the shakiness lasts even longer. you could add some phase on the doubled track...

modest mouse has some pretty shaky vocals and he double-tracks all of the vocals and they come out nice.
 
I agree. Your best hope for improvement is probably in double-tracking.
 
tho it gives a weird feel to it it fixes the problem
 
I dunno - I would look to find a way to solve the problem at tracking time - more gain, come compression, different mic.
 
i often use doubling to smooth out a weak take. distortion and compression works well on the right kind of music. you could use somthing like a bulet mic which at times if the thin tone of it and some compression can impart a nice feel to an already shaky singer (makes the weak sound into its on distinct part as oppose to the part just sounding weak that doesnt fit.).
 
A whisper track or background vocals could also help. I've also found that doubling the melody with an instument like guitar can add an interesting element. It also helps to keep the singer in tune if the guitar track is recorded first and followed by the vocalist.
 
Thanks for the info.
Has anyone ever heard of using a slight chorus effect for this purpose?
 
You could try using an effect, such as chorus, delay, or reverb, or you could see if you could pinpoint the offending spots, and apply some negative eq in to them, and reduce just those spots. Might make them blend in a bit more in the mix. If it's too many instances, this may not work, so just remember to save a copy of the original somewhere before starting. On my own vocals, i have used delay, or chorus to hide imperfections, but my music is usually very simple, and doesn't require vocals that are spot on. I hide them as much as possible... :D
Ed
 
I'm a newbie at recording so I probably shouldn't even respond. However, I also have a weak voice so many of my early efforts are being spent trying to find ways to make it sound better. Here is what I have observed so far:

(1) Double tracking seems to give me the fullest sound and it is my first choice. The down side is that I often find myself singing the part very "non-dynamically" because I know that I have to be able to reproduce it on another track. So, it works best if the part is not too dynamic. Or if I'm recording a song I have sung hundreds of times before.

(2) If double tracking doesn't work, I try a chorus plug-in effect. This usually sounds less full to me than double tracking but better than (for my voice) no effect at all. Sometimes the vocals sound lousy even with the chorus effect. In that case, I try to get someone else to sing it.

(3) In my limited experience, double tracking and chorus work well with a weak voice but not a shaky voice. There, they just seem to emphasize the shakiness.

As I said, I'm a newbie. Keep that in mind...

Scott
 
scott59 said:
I'm a newbie at recording so I probably shouldn't even respond. However...
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Newbie, schnewbie. That was the most solid post in this thread with some very astute and accurate obesrvations. I concur with it all.

G.
 
chessrock said:
Learn how to sing.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately that's the answer right there. That doesn't mean just pitch or changing the tone completely... it's about working a mic and singing within their range. Most singers I know write songs that are out of their range (or they're just bad singers, meaning they haven't developed their unique vocal style yet).

The only other way to approach it is with engineer patience. Keep tracking until it's perfect. Punch in if need be and take breaks up to a week at a time with a slop mix in hand so they can hear what needs improvement.

Personally I hate using mix tricks to make up for sub-par performances. If you and the singer can take the time to get it right initially then you'll get more business as an engineer/producer. On the other foot if you let it slide, add some effects to bury flaws (good luck), then it'll be a bitter product... probably something you'd like to bury from existence.

I'm known to take days, weeks, and sometimes months (spread over time, not in succession) in order to finely nitpick vocals. The times I've let things go it's always been disappointing that we didn't take the extra time to do it right.

The extra hours it takes is much appreciated by the band and satisfying on both ends. You have to be the teacher and confidant.

-- Adam Lazlo
 
Is this a constant for the vocalist, or is this a symptom of red light fever? It may be that the problem is less of a technical one, and more a matter of getting the vibe in the room right before tracking the vocal. Is the vocalist warming up before the take? Is he or she nervous? Sometimes singing in the dark can help, sometimes inspirational items in the room can help. Try to approach the problem from the tracking side before moving to the fix it in the mix side. If it's the best they're gonna be able to do, then compression and double tracking are good smoothers. Start with three takes of the lead vox, and comp the best sections to a fourth track. Then have them listen to the comp'd track a dozen times, singing along with it after the first half dozen listens, then have them sing the dub track in sync with the comp'd lead vox.
Mix the dub vox way down, and edit any parts that stick out where you can pick them out as a dub.

Good luck,
RD
 
The singer I'm working with at the moment has no idea I'm doing this but...

He has REALLY bad Redlightfever. As soon as it goes on he starts trying too hard. I set him up in the pitch black studio (and he still has his shades on! :cool: Singers!! :rolleyes: ) I get him to sing through a few times to "check the levels". I record, then let him do a few shite redlight takes so he doesn't cotton on. Then comp the original takes and move on. :p


hehehehe.. I'll tell him one day... when he gets too up himself! :D
 
chessrock said:
Learn how to sing.
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Well, ya, didn't know that was an option here... :) but yes, that would be step one...
 
Are we mixing the same song right now? I'm mixing a guy right now who's voice shakes like crazy, nevermind actually hitting the notes. This may explain why he prefers fourteen tons of reverb on his vocals.

Yeah, Auto tune won't help. This falls in the polishing a turd catagory. Im not sure I personally believe in doing backflips to try to make it sound good, when the source is that bad. I dunno, maybe a vocoder would do the trick.
 
If you get paid by the hour, do everything you can think of. If not, make it sound as good as you can with what you have. Humiliation is sometimes the only way to get people to work on stuff.
 
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