What effect would I use to level the volume of a vocal track

  • Thread starter Thread starter D. Lundy
  • Start date Start date
D

D. Lundy

New member
A lot of the vocal tracks that I have been recording have several "peaks and valleys" in volume. What should I use to remedy that? I'm using Cubase 5, by the way.
 
People here are very willing to help, but it also helps if you do some research yourself first. Try googling "Dynamics processing" or "Audio Dynamics Processing" (or processors) and see what you get. Honest, we love to help people, but you have to want to help yourself some too.

cheers.
 
D. Lundy said:
A lot of the vocal tracks that I have been recording have several "peaks and valleys" in volume. What should I use to remedy that? I'm using Cubase 5, by the way.
Click to expand...

If the peaks and troughs are too severe, try using a compressor.

However, for me, peaks and and valleys = good. I'd rather thave a bit of variation rather than something flat and uninteresting
 
Play with a compressor and dynamics processor plugin. If you like the results then go with it. Sometimes it can also be useful to automate the volume manually though.
 
gecko zzed said:
However, for me, peaks and and valleys = good. I'd rather have a bit of variation rather than something flat and uninteresting
Click to expand...
Sometimes one almost gets scared to have peaks and valleys because so much is said about 'dynamics processing'. It almost feels like a criminal action to leave them in ! But sound in life is crammed to the gills with peaks and valleys. Of course, that's not a get out clause to justify sloppiness.
 
A few different approaches (generally a combination of all 3 will yield the best / most transparent results)...

1. Rerecord the part, concentrating on technique (both vocal and recording) to get a more consistent recording.

2. Use compression or other dynamics processing to modify the dynamics of the recording.

3. Automate the level of the track.
 
Massive Master said:
Almost universally, the starting point (once tracked). 90% of your issues should be fixed in there.
Click to expand...

Just to add a little more to this... if you are automating and compressing, you can achieve different things by automating before and after compression.

For example, if you mostly like a passage compressed in a particular way but there's one loud word that drives in a bit hard and you don't like how it sounds, don't hesitate to use pre-compressor level automation to duck it a bit for that word so you don't get so much gain reduction. Equally, if there's a word/phrase that's too quiet or one you want to accentuate slightly, automate it so it pushes into the compressor more than the rest. Basically, automation before compression can be used to fix a lot level of issues and also adjust the vocal to fine-tune how the compressor reacts to it.

Automation post-compression is generally used to fit the vocal into the rest of the mix, as would be the case with most other volume automation.

Alternatively, you can always use automation without compression, as I suppose Massive was hinting at. A good engineer riding a fader is probably one of the best forms of "dynamics processing" you can get...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top