Pop Vox Yrix

[jeffmaher]

Finally got a really good vocal track.

I found an old CD in the bottom of a drawer...me and some friends singing and playing...professionally recorded and mastered. I was there when it was made ...so I had a good reference. I thought I heard some things the engineers did...and tried to replicate them.

Recorded w/ a Shure KSM27 with the low cut on. Sang about 16" away.

-12db average. preamp to soundcard to Sonar.

Paragraphic EQ: straight line diagonal from low to high...-6db to 0db.

Brickwall compression Ozone mastering software... Flattened the crap outta it.

Added supplemental wet-mix trax for:
reverb... Cakewalk "Bright Cathedral";

delay..Stereo 300ms/760ms

and flange.... Cakewalk plugin "Classic" preset.

Just ever so slight smidges of flangey comb filtering and delay...and a reasonable dose of verb.

Sounds like the real deal!
So what else might I try to improve upon what I got?

[It was a good day.]

I'd been a dedicated user of the Lexicon verb plugin...thinking it was the best I had. Wrong. It is dull and boring. The Cakewalk unit...which I just discovered......is da bomb. Is Lex poorly regarded by you pro guys as it has become by me? It kinda sounds trashy. I missed the memo. Never heard a bad thing about it...until I actually heard it. Yccchhhh!

 

[IronFlippy]

I've only gotten gold from the Lexy's I've used. Hell, even the presets sound better than most. Flanging or phasing the vocal can do wonders to a flat vocal track. Congrats on finding something that works for you!

 

[jeffmaher]

Hmmm...mebbe I have a defect in the software download or something?

I've used every one of the presets. None of them can replicate what I'm hearing on pro masters. It always tends to be muddy.

I tried slicing off the Lex return's high side, as I read was suggested....then high, cuz that didn't work...still not good. The slap backs and plates are OK...but what I'm trying to get is that special clarity and space. I have an old synth that has that kind of verb in its program...so I can make a comparison...recording a dry output, and applying Lex to it..then comparing to the wet output from the synth. "Large Hall" approaches what that antique Kurzweil can do...but no cigar...no contest, actually.

The Cakewalk plugin is called 'Studioverb'.....and sounds much , much better.

Which confuses me...because all I ever heard about Lex is that it was among the best.


Anyway...what I'm trolling for are other generalities of replicating commercial pop vox that I'm missing in the bag o' trix. With all the reading I've done, I never came across the mix of delay and verb and flange, fer instance. That's what I was hearing on that old CD of mine. There might be applications I can't detect in-use. Took a long time to work out the settings and mix. Just being able to identify them was a big deal for me.

I have a "C" average voice; but mega-compressed and tweaked, as above, even bad intonation seems to go away...and upgrades the product to "B". Amazing. I can hear all the words and syllabants...even back in the mix. The faux-stereo effect happens with the flange, delay and good verb. I can't really hear any of it unless I solo the FX tracks...but if I mute fx during playback, the difference is startling.

ps...I did order one of Katz' books, as was suggested in another thread. I appreciate the heads-up on resources!

Of all the sounds in recording, vox is absolutely the most challenging to get sounding right...