Proper Recording Of Vocal Dynamics

[Broken_Hal0]

Hey hey , Im working some vocal tracks right now that are giving me some grief.Right now Im using the pres on my soundcraft spirit fx and running out to an outboard compressor and adat in 48 000khz to my sonic creamware project dsp.Im having a tough time getting the vocals to sit well within my mixes .On my compressor chain BEFORE analogue / digital conversion i usually set my threshold around -10 - -20 , my ratio at around 2.5 - 3 my attack at around 50 - 70 ms and my release at around 250 - 300 ms.This is mainly to attenuate quick bursts and sybilance.The problem is when Im trying to mix ,my vocals compete with the other tracks .I try to resolve this with using plug in compressors such as my waves c1 or psp matercomp but then it doesnt sound strong enough.Some good eq could solve this problem , as well as a better pre amp.But I know with maybe some better handle on the dynamics I could do this as well.If anyone has good ideas or even a great one , it would be appreciated.

Broken

 

[SuicideNote]

Since this is in the recording tech forum, I assume that you can redo the vocals. If not then this should be in the mixing forum.

I would try to record the vocals without going through the compressor. Your setup should be such that you have plenty of headroom and don't need to compress the dynamics to avoid clipping. Since there are several inexpensive, good compression plugs and only very expensive, good outboard compressors, I would get that stuff tracked dry and try to get it perfect with plugs.

When tracking vocals, I'll setup a virtual rack of effects and monitor the performance through the rack setup to see how it fits with the rest of the song. If you can get it close before you hit record, the road will be much shorter once it's on your hard disk.

 

[Robert D]

Getting vocals to sit in the mix is a combination of evening out the dynamics of the vocal, and making a space for it to sit in the mix. If there's no room for it to sit, no amount of compressing it will make it sit.