Vocal Recording/Editing Help

[LEXXX RUGER]

1. Mic..u mentioned u have a usb mic .. Usher most likely used a mic that is $2000+ with really expensive preamps n converters.

2.EQ.. you have to EQ because i doubt ur gettin the results u want with that mic. Learn how to eq properly.

3.Enviorment... DO NOT RECORD IN A CLOSET IT WILL MAKE IT SOUND WORSE!!! it will just color n muffle the sound . u will not achieve big open vocals in a closet. Get ur room treated with some acoustic panels or some auralex foam.... And it was recorded in a million dollar studio..

4. And ur mix wont sound as good as his cuz he had it tracked out n mixed with the vocals and ur two trackin it.. my 2 cents..

peace

[Mayh3mDaGlaD8R]

one of those dope studios in ATL.....

[Maurice00]

wow thanks for the tips!

[Nas550]

A mic can make a WORLD of difference. The preamp used can also add alot of colour to the vocal. Eq is a HUGE tool that alot of people overuse. You've probably read this before, but there's no preset you can just pop on. You'd want to use a multiband EQ. 4 bands should be sufficient. In most cases with a cheap mic, you'd take out much of the low end. They record waaay too much lowend. The human voice doesn't even register until the 250-300hz range anyways. Anything under that is rumble. But you have to be careful, you really have to sculpt the Eq for a specific performance. Real official engineers even automate the Eq...i'm too lazy for all that. You should only do subtractive editing when messing with eq...boosting bands often end up with undesired results....Someone said you're never DONE mixing a record...you just have to abandon it

Compression helps too...it colors your performance as well...the simplest way to think of compression.....is say u have a vocal recorded....the singer starts off whispering then starts screaming...a compressor helps to keep the volume between the two some what consistent. Your threshold is the db level where the compressor starts to turn shyt down...say the whispering is dumb low...but the screaming is at an insane level...if you set your threshold to a db level that's at the loudest point during the whispering part....then your screaming part wont get much louder than the whispering part. depends on the ratio....5.1 ratio means for every 5 db that the signal passes the threshold...it only raises the volume by 1db. Its like you got a little robot turning down the volume on your performance if it gets too loud. You really gotta play with it....different compressor plugins have different sounds....i ont know im drunk....but that should help u a lilllllllllllllll bit with how to approach vocals.

[DJ_Mc7]

Wow even for you being drunk, that was a quality post. I always use compressors for my vocal tracks but I mostly just use the Fruity Compressor presets. As for EQ, I'm only using the low/mid/high on the FL Studio mixer window, but I will definitely try a 4-band or more.

As for you Lexx, I think the microphone he used to record Here I Stand was a Sony C800G. He recorded it in his home studio. And as far as Auralex foam goes, the way I record now I don't really get any ambient/enviroment volume. In silent parts of my recording you can hear slight white noise, but this is because the sound card is crappy and on-board.

Also, what did you mean by

4. And ur mix wont sound as good as his cuz he had it tracked out n mixed with the vocals and ur two trackin it.

?

I'm recording it using my remake of it, which means I can change how all the sounds are shaped, but what exactly do you mean by tracked it and mixed it with the vocals, and that I'm two tracking?

Thanks :P