mjgp3 Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Hi all, so I noticed anytime I record myself, or someone else for the matter, singing something and it sounds amateurish and otherwise not great to me, I can usually slap a silly amount of compression on it and the vocals sound instantly less amateur... It's definitely not an ideal work flow, but an interesting insight. From this, I assume that one component of bad vocals is really inconsistent volume syllable to syllable. How can work on this so I don't need the compressor to do it for me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adoney Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Everybody uses compressors in recordings. Sometimes several. There's nothing to fix. Read interviews with producers and mixers. Sometimes studio vocals are slammed with a limiter as well, it's just how you have to fit it into the mix. If you're doing something acoustic, it might be a different story, but probably not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felipe Carvalho Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Technique. (it will not sound compressed or replace the compressor, but it will not sound amateur without it.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Korzec Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 What Felipe said. Really the key technical things that need to be sorted out in order to use less compression in the mix would be: Vowel modifications Correct vibrato OR steady straight tone Reducing nasality Good breath support Finding a way to sing high notes closer to a medium volume instead of shouting loudly or flipping into a quiet falsetto. Strengthening low notes There's also mic technique but that is almost as much of a cheat as audio compression is. Even though we all know you need all three, the performance should be the one doing the work to keep the volume in control unless a special effect is desired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gno Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Yeah compressors are used all the time. Like others have said - getting your vocal technique down will help a lot. If you already have good technique you will want to work on effective mic technique. You may be singing a song that has quiet parts and really loud parts. On the quiet parts you can get a lot closer and use the proximity effect. On really loud parts you have back pretty far or you're going to overload the signal. Monitor the waveforms you are generating and make sure they are somewhat consistent and have plenty of headroom. Make sure to use a pop filter. When your done, you're going to want to throw on a compressor anyway, but if you create consistent amplitudes in your waveforms you'll be much happier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronws Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Truly beautiful acoustic singing has ups and downs, swells and denouments, i.e., "dynamics." Dynamics that are often altered by recording compressors. So, you wish to make your voice sound like the product of a machine? Of course, I can't blame you. You are probably young and all you've ever had to listen to was modern recordings that are autotuned and compressed to death. As opposed to some of AC/DC's old recordings, on tape, no digital compressor. Some of those guitars or at least one drum head were slight out of tune and to go back and "fix" that would needless crap piled on top of a gem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmike092 Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 i agree with ronws. its one thing to worry about compression in terms of support, but i think things like compressors and digitally altering recordings just take the human element out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felipe Carvalho Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 On modern recordings, you need compression exactly to be able to use dynamics to sing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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