Compressor on pop vocals

  • Thread starter Thread starter NotSoBlah
  • Start date Start date
N

NotSoBlah

New member
I am lost. I didnt have access to a compressor to run the mic into before the signal was sent to the computer via recording console. So now i am stuck with having to use the compressors in sound forge and Waves Plugins to do the compressing. I opened the vocal track in Sound forge and ,wow, the volume and dynamics were all over the place because the singer is very emotional.
Does anyone have any suggested settings on attack, release, threshold? or should i compress at certain frequencies like Waves C4 can do? Im lost.

thanks,
Matt
 
here's an idea...

Do you have automation during mixdown? If so, why not skip compression (for the most part) and do some detailed fader-riding on the vocal track? You could raise and lower volume for each word, if need be :cool:

If the music is instrumentally intense, and there is a lot of competition with the voice -- you could turn on compression in those areas alone...

If the vocal track has any clipping, you'd probably have to do more takes anyway... (compression won't fix that) so why not keep this take and do the automated fader rides?

Hope this gives you a different perspective, or an idea.


Chad
 
I would take a look at the wave for the vocal track and make envelope adjustments to the most egregrious vocal phrases so that they are closer in volume to the rest of the vocals.

trying to do this for every peak will take so much time, so just concentrate on the worst offenders.

then, i would apply the Waves C1 compressor to reduce the dynamics of the vocals that are in this more limited (um... that may have been a bad choice of words) vocal range.

I use a delay calculator by AnalogX to help figure out my attack and release settings. the delay calculator will give you the milliseconds that correlate to your songs BPM for 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 notes etc....

I usually use a very fast attack for vocals, and a medium release. the attack doesn't change too much from song to song but the release is more program dependent. for instance, in a fast song where the vocalist isn't going to be holding sustained notes and emoting all over the place I'll use a 1/8 or 1/4 notes release time. for a slower song, i'll use a 1/2 or whole note release time.
 
crosstudio,

I thought of your post about using attack/release settings corresponding to the tempo -- but didn't want to mess it up :) Figured you'd probably see this thread, and add your great idea :cool:

I think you should patent a design on a multi-tap compressor :cool:


Chad
 
You can still use a hardware compressor. Run one channel out of your soundcard and into the comp. Run the output back into an input and record that onto a new track. If you only have a 2 track card you can still use the other output for monitoring.

You may need to shift it forward a few ms due to latency but this is the case with software compression also.
 
sorry c.r.,

though I'm not surprised it was you :) Maybe littledog can go visit Mr. Fletcher himself there in Boston and mumble something under his breath between coughs :D


Chad
 
High!

If you compress vocals, you may as well try another approach than the 'fast attack' thing... Use a medium to slow attack. This way the beginning of your syllables won't be squashed so hard and you voice may be more powerful... The drawback of this method is that you may need an additional limiter to get the plosives under control... So I'd try comp->limiter with the limiter doing the makeup gain... (as it is the one knowing about the level of the plosives...) You should nevertheless try the fast attack settings first, as it definitely is a matter of taste...

The idea of adapting your release to the song tempo is great - alas I have a vs880ex and the fabulous engineers from hell/roland did not give their users real time settings but rather cryptic values between 0 and 100... But there is another thing to care about: if you want the difference in volume between singing and breathing to be lowered a lot, you prolly have to use short release...

Ciao

Axel
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top