ok, now before I record vocals I adjust the mic volume first to ensure a zero to minimum amount of clipping concidering my position and potential peak volume. After I'm done recording and tweaking any volumes as needed I have a vocal wav with zero clipping. .therefor I shouldn't need to apply any kind of limiter to it, yet I've found that using the T racks limiter with the "vocal presence" preset makes them sound like 10 times clearer and more alive then i have been able to make them sound by tweaking the EQ. I thought limiters hurt the quality of sound, not make it better or more pronounced?. if this is just an illusion of some kind and I am really hurting the quality or dynamics of my recording, what are some good plugging s I should be using instead to master vocals?
if anybody can help me out here I'd appriciate it.
please, thank you and much love.
Comments
.if this is just an illusion of some kind and I am really hurtin
.if this is just an illusion of some kind and I am really hurting the quality or dynamics of my recording , what are some good plugings I should be using instead to master vocals?
mmmm-kay! Kev touched on it already. What you are speaking of is dynamics managment (differences between the loudest and softest parts).
I'm assuming you are doing vocals over some kind of pre recorded / sampled / midi tracks.
The reason your vocals sound better "in the mix" when they are compressed is that all the sounds you are using (midi generated sounds / samples) were compressed when they were recorded.
This has the effect of making them appear louder, so anything that is overdubed (vocals etc.) will most likely sit in the mix better when compressed as well.
However, you are not increasing the quality of the vocal track. There is no plug / hardware device that will increase quality. All processing degrades a signal. There's no such thing as a "Good-u-lator".
Compression and limiting are essentially the same thing. Compres
Compression and limiting are essentially the same thing. Compression usually refers to ratios below 8 to 1 or 10 to 1 and higher ... while compression is usually ratios lower than 8 to 1.
Yes ... the rule of thumb is as few plugs , as little eq and compression / limiting is the "best" way to record. But keep in mind that in audio rules are made to be broken. You have already experienced this yourself when you observed that adding limiting made it "sound better".
Learn the rules .... then break them. That way you have a handle on what you are doing and why you are doing it instead of blindly poking and hoping until you make a mistake that sounds good.
ok , thnx this sounds like good advice. I appriciate it. but on
ok , thnx this sounds like good advice. I appriciate it.
but one thing I guess I did notice after limiting is that the vocals sound a bit thinner......that I don't really like , but at the same time so much more crisp or clear......
and since I have your atention if you don't mind I have just 2 little questions.....
I usually leave my mixer's mic eq flat when recording vocals , then I just adjust accordingly in t-racks....so
1 - should I be adjusting the eq on my mic preamp and avoid adjusting the eq after vocals are recorded , or does it make any difference if I record through a flat eq then tweak after?
2 - prolly verse stupid question , but should I have any "gain" on for vocals?.....I always thought it just added noise , but was starting to wonder if this is making vocals sound too thin
welcome to the world of recording dynamics control is probably
welcome to the world of recording
dynamics control is probably the hardest thing to grasp and I believe it is where the bulk of the magic lies ... way more than EQ
compressors and limiters are the stapel diet of pop recording