Help tracking vocals?

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Re-tox_stl

Re-tox_stl

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Hi all, I just have a quick questions about some problems I have run into while tracking vocals. I have been recording a few songs for my friends band over the past few weeks, and it is all sounding great. We started vocals the other day though, and I am having a very hard time getting the levels just right. The singer is very dynamic and in some parts of the songs, sings at a very low level and I get a very low signal, and others he completely belts out and tons of clipping occurs. I have a -10db pad set on my mic and a compressor plug in running, but It still clips awful fierce. Anyone have any advice?

Much love, Drew
 
separate track

I would have him track the loud parts separately and get a different level for that.
Or you could have him move back when he gets loud.

at the same time think about preserving some of the dynamics if that's what the song calls for.

hope that helps
 
Like Lo-Fi says... it's on the vocalist. The singer should account for their dynamics by moving in and away from the mic... or if they insist on eating said mic, get them to move off-axis during the loud parts
 
Also a compressor plugin won't help with controlling the dynamics specifically to stop clipping since it is in place after the Analog to digital converter so any clipping will have already happened before the signal gets to the plugin.

If you want to use a compressor to control dynamics and help avoid clipping it needs to be a hardware compressor after the preamp and before the the converters so the levels are reduced before going to the converter and causing clipping

And even if you do have a hardware compressor available, good voca/mic technique as mentioned in the replies above is preferable to heavy compression on certain bits of the song, unless you are going for a particular effect with heavy handed compression of course.
 
Have two mics setup
one close up for the quieter parts and another like a foot away for the louder parts. Have them recording at the same time obviously.
That way you get the up close and personal when he is quiet, and then natural wide for the louder part.
 
vocalist monitor

I've always wanted to install a flat screen in the vocal booth and send a feed of (well in my case) Reaper to the vocalist so that he/she could move back and forth according to the input signal reading.

Maybe one day.
 
Don't let him eat the mic. Use a pop filter which will help to keep his mouth at least an inch or three away from the mic. With adequate distance, it is hard to imagine a condenser mic clipping from vocals with a -10dB pad turned on.

If your preamp has an output knob, turn it down to control signal level being sent to the converter/recorder. I usually keep the recorder meters (multi-track software meters) jumping up to about -12dB or so at best.

Your compressor plug-in may not be compressing the incoming signal. On my DAW software, the plug-ins only effect playback.
 
Not sure what program your recording with? But, Check to see if there's a Peak Limiter within the program, especially for that single track(vocal tracks). If not there should at least be a Limiter the the main Master Track....
 
Definitely make sure it isn't clipping on the way in. Because if it is, there's no way to fix it. You'll have to retrack quieter.
 
bunt said:
Like Lo-Fi says... it's on the vocalist. The singer should account for their dynamics by moving in and away from the mic... or if they insist on eating said mic, get them to move off-axis during the loud parts
Click to expand...

I'd talk to the singer and actually show him how his technique is causing the clipping on his track.More than likely he doesn't realise he has bad technique and is just doing what comes naturally to him.

Maybe by explaining nicely to him and the rest of the band what's happening you can both win.They'll get a better recording and he'll have learned something important that'll help him for years to come.

If he doesn't wanna play along then go with the two mic idea.I feel it's better to address the issue at the source though especially since your name is on the line for recording them.I'm sure his bandmates will back you up on this if they want the best recording you can offer.
 
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