hiding ugliness

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tc4b

tc4b

Yeah I been drinkin, SO!?
I recorded a bunch of kids, in batches of four at a time. While mixing them, I found that three groups were consistently on pitch, while two were waaaaay off. In the interest of keeping all kinds audibly in the recording (they're 8 and 9, no hurt feelings over this!) but maintaining the tune, I kept one 'good' group center, panned the other two hard left and right, then panned the two 'not as good' groups about 40% left and right. This made a nice stereo image (however artificially) of the class, and seems to have allowed the on-key groups to maintain dominance without doing anything so cruel as lowering levels on the ugliness. It's a weird case of needing to hide the ugliness, but not too blatantly. I don't want any parents asking 'Hey, is my kid really in there?' Any other suggestions?
 
are the kids consistently way off pitch? You could try pitch shifting them a few cents to try and correct them...at least get them closer to where the other groups are at
 
Are you using reverb?

If so, try not sending reverb from the offending channels, it'll thicken out the good parts, and leave the bad ones a bit more hidden.
 
You tell those kids that your serious about your job and they better rehearse before entering the studio or your never working with them again. ever.
 
bennychico11 said:
are the kids consistently way off pitch? You could try pitch shifting them a few cents to try and correct them...at least get them closer to where the other groups are at
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I suppose singing the same exact note no matter what the melody calls for is a form of consistency.
 
pezking said:
Are you using reverb?

If so, try not sending reverb from the offending channels, it'll thicken out the good parts, and leave the bad ones a bit more hidden.
Click to expand...

Great idea. I originally decided not to use verb precisely because, well, if something's shitty, you don't want it to reverberate, just dissipate as fast as possible. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
tc4b said:
I suppose singing the same exact note no matter what the melody calls for is a form of consistency.
Click to expand...

hahah, i guess if they're singing all in one note then you're kind of screwed.


bring the kids back in who sung well, and tell them to sing the other part :p
 
Slap them around a little bit and straighten them out, this isn't a game they're playing, it's recording... They need to know to bring their A-game when going to the studio.
 
tc4b said:
I recorded a bunch of kids, in batches of four at a time...
Click to expand...
Curious as to why you recorded them 4 at a time rather than as a group?

Asking because I taught elem and middle school vocal music for 10 yrs and saw over and over the mind-meld group thing that happens re pitch accuracy with childrens' chorus performance.:D IME, the few kids with really good pitch control tended to lead the others much more effectively than an accomanying instrument or adult "leader" vocalist.

Re production, I'm guessing that this is one of the things you just can't fix after the fact. Like most of audio production it's got to be right at the source.
 
Open up an EQ plug and do a -30 db cut across all frequencies for the offending tracks.

/wipes hands on pants/
 
XLR said:
Curious as to why you recorded them 4 at a time rather than as a group?
source.
Click to expand...

Only four sets of headphones, and it had to be sung to a backing track, as the piano available in the classroom sounds as if it were dredged up from the Titanic last week. I agree the whole group sounds better. Funny, after messing around with only panning and eq, I found that the mumbly, monotone, kind of 'lazy beehive' tracks give an overall effect of fullness and warmth to the track. I think it's now cute enough to make parents weep. At least the moms.
 
Boy, in this situation I would almost think you'd 'feature' the ugliness. Unless they're trying to be competitive they'll probably find the awful performance kind of cute.

I would think it would be perfectly fine for a parent to laugh at his kid being way out of tune.

Maybe these people take themselves seriously though. I dunno. If they do then I guess Melodyne or Autotune is tool to use.
 
shoot the kids in front of their mothers, with the tape a'rollin'. That's how to get the best results.
 
you should have had them take a few shots of whiskey before the performance. that really loosens them up. any chance for re-tracking?
 
The idea of not using reverb on the out of tune kids is not bad, but it would have the effect of pulling the out of tune kids to the forefront of the mix. i.e. if you want something to appear closer you use less reverb. More importantly, the out of tune kids should be lower in volume than the in-tune children--mix them down far enough to control the damage but so they can still be (barely) audible.

I doubt melodyne will work because the out of tune groups are probably out of tune with themselves as well as the others.

I'm not sure how many parents would notice the out of tune singing, or would care. They are kids after all and nobody expects perfection. Also, most parents would probably think that it's other kids, not their own, that are singing out of tune. So to a certain extent I think you are stressing over nothing.
 
I agree with some of what sonicalbert is saying, a lot depends on the purpose of this recording. If you want it to sound as good as possible, then cut the bad kids, if it is just for the parents and their families that are hearing it, i doubt it will matter too much if their pitch is good, especially if they are very young kids.
 
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