Recorded this all on iPhone 6Plus with Garage Band..(lol!)

  • Thread starter Thread starter brettbuc
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And this is why recording studios are going out of business :P

Great job. Did you sing into the iPhone mic or use an external?
 
Schwarzenyaeger said:
And this is why recording studios are going out of business :P

Great job. Did you sing into the iPhone mic or use an external?
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Haha! Let's hope not! Still, kinda cool to lay this out while at Starbucks, sipping a coffee. Not to worry, though, I used headphones while singing so I couldn't hear anyone laughing at me ;-). I tried to use the iPhone mic because I wanted to be able to say I totally used the iPhone, but clipping was bad, and I could not get it to sit in the mix.
 
You recorded this in a Starbucks? Like just sang a four minute song from beginning to end in a Starbucks?
 
brettbuc said:
Just recorded this on my new iPhone 6 Plus! u2 "every breaking wave" cover.
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Not a song I know but I'm impressed. Very nicely done. It could perhaps do with a slightly bigger dynamic range, ie not just singing loudly all the way through. But I do like the processing on the voice. And...

Bubba po said:
Great voice. :)
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Seconded.
 
You had me fooled.

I'll join the great voice hype.
 
garryknight said:
It could perhaps do with a slightly bigger dynamic range, ie not just singing loudly all the way through.
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I think I have the compressor set wrong?? I am still confused by compressor settings and just "wing it". Any feedback would be appreciated! Here is a second version with different settings https://soundcloud.com/brettbuchananmusic/every-breaking-wave

The original compressor settings is the one with the -35.0 threshold. The second version is with -27.2 threshold.

compressor for original version.webpcompressor for "v2" second version.webp
 
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That's a scary compressor you got there. Back in my day, we only had one knob and we liked it!

How unfamiliar are you with each term? Do you know what threshold, ratio, attack/release etc. are?
 
Schwarzenyaeger said:
That's a scary compressor you got there. Back in my day, we only had one knob and we liked it!

How unfamiliar are you with each term? Do you know what threshold, ratio, attack/release etc. are?
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One knob would be great! No, I don't know much about it.
 
Well, I can't really say much than to google the terms and read up about them.
There is no way that we can tell you what to dial in. Compressing is science of it's own and deserves to be given attention.
 
Schwarzenyaeger said:
Well, I can't really say much than to google the terms and read up about them.
There is no way that we can tell you what to dial in. Compressing is science of it's own and deserves to be given attention.
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No worries. I was mainly addressing Garry's point about the dynamic range. I was thinking it was too compressed. I put up a second version for him to hear and let me know if it is better.
 
Dynamic range of a vocal is more than compression - its how it is sung, for example singing softly during an initial verse, then coming in louder during a chorus, the tone of your voice sounds different, even when the overall volumes are equaled out in the mix. Very good voice for sure.
 
brettbuc said:
I think I have the compressor set wrong?? I am still confused by compressor settings and just "wing it". Any feedback would be appreciated!
...
The original compressor settings is the one with the -35.0 threshold. The second version is with -27.2 threshold.
Click to expand...

It's not so much about the actual value of the threshold. And not even so much about the ratio, though it might seem more intuitive that it should be. There are a lot of explanations of the various settings on the compressor. This one is pretty easy to get along with. Even though it's for Ableton Live, the main settings (ratio, threshold, attack, delay, make-up gain) are the same in all compressors and do the same job.

Without the original song to compare it with, all I can say is that the new version sounds good to me. I don't get this immediate feeling that the vocal is too compressed. What I feel about it is that it sounds as if you mean what you're singing. Many singers make the mistake of just repeating the words. Great singers feel the meaning of the words and this expresses itself in their entire body language and that comes through in their voice.

One other thing that can enhance a good vocal is by having people playing the backing instruments. If you can't arrange that, use the 'make-it-sound-human' MIDI tool in your DAW. But subtly. It should be possible to get the settings for that so you can't hear that a note is playing very slightly too early or too late, or is slightly louder or softer, but it does end up sounding more like, say, a real piano. Of course, if that is a human playing that piano on your track, tell him or her to lighten up! :)
 
I just recently started using the Fish Fillets series compressors. I doubt i will look any further. It just makes it so easy.
 
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