Need Help with Vocals

[Abraham Cooper]

Hello

I'm a new PT7
I'm beginning to sing. i record my vocals self and wanna do simple mix to get my demo.
I want somebody give some advice about mixing.
for singing and rap vocals it does need much mix , i think.

what should i do after i recorded my vocal.

pls tell me in simple way
what plugins ect..
1. ???
2.???
3.???
????

regards

[albee1952]

Wow.....usually when someone comes to protools, they have a little basic audio understanding so where do we start? Some basic stuff for you. Listen to your vocal tracks first to decide IF and WHAT they need. Start with mild compression, say 4:1 with the threshold set so you see no more than 4-5db of reduction. Now add a 3 or 4 band EQ, set the low band to highpass around 120Hz(adjust according to the vocal range). then take the low-mid band and set to fairly narrow and boost to +9, set a section of vocal to loop play and sweep the frequency control until you find a frequency that just jumps out really nasty sounding. Once you find the nasty frequency, set the boost/cut control to cut(maybe 3db to start). Now repeat with the high-mid band. The idea is to remove any ugliness(you will hear what I mean when you do it). If you hear lots of sibilance on "s" and "t" words, you may want to add a de-ess plugin(basically its a compressor that only works on sibilant sounds). Once the vocal is sounding good, maybe add a pair of aux sends to busses, create 2 mono aux tracks> set their input to the same 2 busses and insert a reverb(mono-stereo) on one and a delay(mono-stereo) on the other. Verb can be anything from 1.5s up to 3+seconds of decay(the music style and tempo matters here) and mix the aux track to taste(turn it up so you can hear the effect and then back it down until you can just barely hear it). The idea is to enhance but not overdo it. The delay setting also has a broad range of what may or may not work for you. 100ms with 0-5% feedback will be a slap-back. 125-160ms gets more like rockabilly or Elvis slap. 350-450(match the song tempo) with more feedback creates distinct echo's and you really need to just play with the levels to find what(if any of this) works for you. Don't forget that other instruments can mask your vocal so you sometimes need to make EQ cuts on instruments that are competing for the same frequency range as the vocal so the vocal doesn't get lost or buried. Compare your progress with some of your favorite commercial recordings to see how you are doing.

[French links]

Yeah...very good beginning, very wise.
I would like to add few more things.Before making any settings, try to tidy up a bit you tracks, checking if there are no weird sounds like stands, doors, cracks, headphone leakage...
There are two solutions.You can edit manually by removing the wrong parts or you can apply a processor called GATE, which basicaly remove all the sound under a manually set threshold, this threshold depends on tne level of the track.Solo your vox track and try to reach the point when you can still hear breathing (if you want them) and during the "silent" vocal part (for ex during the instrument intro or part), the gate enter active.
It helps to avoid addition of artifacts and useless noises which on the general mix become noticeable.

To reach the good settings for compression and EQ, the post above is a very good start but you'll surely have to twiddle your knobs to reach your desired sound.
....for that you need a good monitoring system you've got used to (listenning some commercial stuff on it as often as possible), training your ears to your monitors signature, in your working room where acoustic can change radically your sound.
Very good monitors are very expensives and you need a designed room for that, so you can get a very good headphone.

Once your mix is done, don't hesitate to burn it onto a CD and have a listen to different audio system, you can even compress it in MP3 and have a listen in an Ipod or equivalent.That kind of players are criticals.

Don't push too much your audio processors settings, you're always one mouse click from a sound
disaster.

Louder is not the best sound.A nice mix without pumping overcompressed effect is so appreciable.There must be a real difference between a quiet part and when a big beat kicks in.
With overcompression, the loudness will be pretty much the same between the parts so psycho acousticcally it will sound very squashed.Which is proper wrong.
If people want more volume, they just have to turn the volume knob up on their player or Hifi system...that's all.Of course you mix mustn't be too low either.

Anyway...
Have fun.