Vocal Recording Help..Thanks???

[TrevorS]

First off, Thanks for all the help! this forum is great.

Pro Tools 7 LE MAC
Baby Blue bottle Mic
G5 dual core 2.0
MPC

I have an MC coming over to record vocals for a beat I have mapped out in Pro tools. This is my first time recording vocals. Was just looking for a small amout of basic step to handle this process. If anyone could give me a small quick list of steps.. that would be so great.


What I am thinking:
1. Creat about 10 mono tracks and one track for compression.
2. run the mic threw the track with compression and bus that to the 10 open tracks?(compress settings??)

If someone could state how they have done simple vocal tracking in the past... I would be so greatfull... Thanks again and I did a small search and found some relevant info.

[lwilliam]

First, there are NO rules. Anything that gives you the sound you're after is the right way to do it.

You can certainly create 10 tracks and then buss them all to a single aux track. You'd put the EQ and Compressor plugins on the aux track then.

If you have an external mic pre and compressor, I'd do some basic compression ahead of the converters. For a rap artist or MC you definitely will compress heavily and possibly double-track in places. However, you usually get fewer compression artifacts if you use multiple compressors in series at lighter settings than one compressor at a heavier setting.

Make sure you set levels low enough that you get no digital "overs" when recording - that's another reason to put a compressor in-line prior to the converters.

The artist may also want a little reverb in the headphones. If you're using low latency monitoring, that's not possible unless you are using an external mixer for monitoring purposes.

I'd set the buffer to 256 at the most. 128 would be better, and most artists don't complain about the latency at 128 samples.

Hope that helps...

[RussUK]

A couple of other things to think about.

Try different mic positions for the MC. If you have a pop stopper then try him really close to the mic, like 3 inches away, but watch the gain. Then try him off mic with increased gain and just keep trying different postions and then compare them.

You can even try some real double tracking on his voice. The same take twice on two tracks, but being a rapper he is going to have to be tight otherwise it will sound really bad.

It really is a matter of taste, so go for it and enjoy yourself.

[TrevorS]

Thanks guys....

can you explain this statement a little more. I promiss, that will be the last question in this thread...

"wYou can certainly create 10 tracks and then buss them all to a single aux track. You'd put the EQ and Compressor plugins on the aux track then."

thanks

[lwilliam]

1. Create a mono aux track.
2. Assign the input of that track to be bus1
3. Create 10 mono audio tracks
4. set the output of each of those 10 tracks to be bus1
5. add eq and compressor plugin(s) to the aux track
6. (optional) create a "group" for the 10 mono tracks so you can move the volume of all of them at once.
7. Use the aux track as the main volume for all vocal tracks.

You should also set the input for each of the 10 tracks to be the input that you'll use for your mic. That way, it's a very quick switch to a new track for recording take 2, etc.


Capice?

[RussUK]

Of course don't forget that you can have as many takes of the vocal on the same track and then just comp all the best bits afterwards. There really is no need for lots of separate tracks for separate takes. That is one of the most powerful features of Pro-Tools when tracking vocals etc.

PS: You might find your mic is too 'clean' for the take, in this case it's not unknown to try and do a take with something like an SM58, the mic he may use live and he will feel real comfortable with. I know it may not be sonically as good in real terms, but it may produce a more authentic sound. Basically try as many ideas with mics as you can and use what works for you all.

[TrevorS]

Thanks to all that responded... these tips have help me in my learning curve 100%... !!

[RussUK]

No problem, just remember to have fun and experiment as much as you can , that will increase both your knowledge and your confidence.