Recording vocals and guitar louder without peaking?

P

psongman

New member
Hi, thought I would ask the informed in here first for some assistance. Here is what happened on my last CD which I finished up last week. It came out quite good, but upon last listen it just didn't have those dynamic peaks that you get with passionate guitar or voice excitement.

See, I have learned to keep the major peaks down because at the end I clean up the final track then limit that for the premaster so to speak. I know a lot of readers in here will say don't do this or don't do that, (haha, Supertramp), but I have tried every possible scenario and this is the only one that makes a decent recording and is loud enough and even enough to be listened to on most systems, that is the key, a variety of playback devices.

So, what can I do on my next CD to keep that zeal in the studio? Do I sing through more preamps or compressors or use more guitar preamps, or Sansamps etc., have learned some tricks? I guess what I am desiring is some method that has worked for some in here with small studios that I can fiddle with and tweak for my styling. By the way, getting a good bass sound is the most difficult in the digital realm...in the old analog one, not as hard with tape.

So, will await some of your ideas and eureka moments. I record mostly harder acoustic stuff with some keyboards and use EZ drummer with some decent mics, but not much on the preamp input. OK< thanks for listening, appreciate it, psongman
 
Seems like you need a sonic maximizer... :D

(That was a joke...)

Maybe you could tell us a little bit more about your exact chain of mics and pres... And what you meant by "not much on the preamp input"...
 
psongman said:
... I know a lot of readers in here will say don't do this or don't do that, (haha, Supertramp), but I have tried every possible scenario and this is the only one that makes a decent recording and is loud enough and even enough to be listened to on most systems, that is the key, a variety of playback devices.
Click to expand...
And you can thank the extreme volume craze for boxing all of us into the position of fewer sonic options...

- Give up a little on the 'loud' thing for the sake of dynamics.
- Play on every available opportunity for contrast; Everything from what to leave in, what to leave out, what can play 'back seat to open up space for the focus and what's driving.
- Where you can, use level control (automation?) in place of fast compression to save some of the larger (wider in time) dynamic movement, as well as control and placement of the quieter parts that will need to be brought up.
-Limit less. And pick and your transient fights well. :)
 
I just told you in my post that I do all the things the repliers said. Thanx for nothing, will figure it out myself. p
 
psongman said:
I just told you in my post that I do all the things the repliers said. Thanx for nothing, will figure it out myself. p
Click to expand...

???

What did he say that wasn't helpful? Unfortunately, for all the nuances that come with using limiters and compressors, they are a simple concept on the surface - if you hard limit things, you lose dynamic range to improve your perceived volume.

If you back off the perceived volume a few dB, you will have more ceiling room to put dynamics. There isn't much else to suggest - working with dynamics has much less to do with what mics, preamps, instruments, etc. you are using than it does with how you are using what you've got.

Play with dynamic passion and you must sacrifice a bit of the top end to hear the lighter parts of a performance, sorry :(
 
psongman said:
I just told you in my post that I do all the things the repliers said. Thanx for nothing, will figure it out myself. p
Click to expand...
Attitude.

Hey, have you tried banging on the keyboard.

If this was easy everyone would be doing in right?
Oops never mind.
Get specific. If you want specific.
 
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