can we hear a sample?

I'm going to be doing a vocal session tommorow night, I will post the results.

One of the ways to make your vocal seem to sit in the mix properly, is to compress it considerably. 4: 1 to 20: 1 with from 6 to 20 DB of gain reduction. Do it going in or do it in the mix just do it.

Quite limited here
Ms. Remy Ann Da

Hey Remy!

Saw a familiar face here and figured I'd say hi. I was the house engineer at the Grog and Tankard from 93 'til '95. Did many a Next Step show during that time, plus countless others. You brought your mobile rig out to track a couple of "Other People" shows, which is how I met you. I recall you showing me around your truck and generally being very cool to work with.

Anyway, just figured I say hi and jog your memory a bit. Glad to see your still at it.

Jamie

Oh yeah, and as for the thread.......DITTO what Remy said about some compression.

So cool 62Jazzbass! Great to hear from you. I haven't been to the Grog & Tankard, since I last saw you there. It seems to have changed greatly from what I've seen?

The truck has gone through quite a change since you saw it last. It got a vintage Neve console from NBC-TV in 1996. I'm currently putting the truck through its third makeover and a second digital upgrade to strictly hard disk-based recording. No more stinkin' linear digital tape for me.

Where are you working these days? Drop me a line. Let's talk.

Older and better
Ms. Remy Ann David

hey remy what hard disk system are you going with? I was looking into the tascam X-48 to put in the addition that I'm building onto the studio. what do ya think?

RemyRAD wrote: So cool 62Jazzbass! Great to hear from you. I haven't been to the Grog & Tankard, since I last saw you there. It seems to have changed greatly from what I've seen?

The truck has gone through quite a change since you saw it last. It got a vintage Neve console from NBC-TV in 1996. I'm currently putting the truck through its third makeover and a second digital upgrade to strictly hard disk-based recording. No more stinkin' linear digital tape for me.

Where are you working these days? Drop me a line. Let's talk.

Older and better
Ms. Remy Ann David

Yes, the good ole' Grog. I stopped working there when they pulled Salamone's PA in favor of someone else's, that was New Years eve, '94. I've only returned once following that, a few months later when I was filling in on bass for one of the somewhat regular bands there.

Glad to hear you are doing well enough to keep improving your rig, no easy feat, as you know!

I went down a very different path, and I'm only involved in audio as a hobbyist now. :( I'll drop you a PM rather than bore the folks here with the details!
8)

Definitely use the compressor, espeically listen to the ratio increases after you've set the threshold and attack well.

Also try taking a cut out of the vocal somewhere between 250-500hz depending on the voice.

I hope that works for you...

What I like to do is fader ride the vocal to get the vocal in the neighborhood of where it needs to be. Then add your compressor once your automation sounds good.

What this does is eliminates having to squeeze the hell out of the vocal and IMO it sounds nicer.

Also, a vocal that is too dry can sometimes not fit no matter what you do. I'm somewhat of a reverb whore so I'll add the amount of reverb that I think sounds good and then I back off on on the mix knob by about 20%.

another thing that can help is to bring the vocal in earlier in the mix rather than making it the last thing that you add. that way you can get the mix sounding as clean and clear as possible then build the other instruments around it . I usually bring the vocals in after drums and bass then build guitars and piano etc around it eq-ing everthing so that the vocal actually sits in the mix rather than on top of it which is what usually happens when you get the instrumental sounding good and full as an instrumental then try to plug the vocal in where (alot of the time)there is no room...also compress the vocal.