makin the vocals tight as hell

[Helios]

Days I ago was listening to slowed down mix of : Headbussaz - What happened to'm
and I noticed that there was something like a lil autopan or phase shiftin in them voicetracks... I dont know what it is.

You gotta listen to some three six mafia shit... to analyze it, other artists don have those nice vocal effects and sound less stereo.

When i'm usin the cool edit's vocal presence delay... it already sounds to strange.

I need a sound engineer lol.

 

[Some Guy]

I believe the effect you're talking about is just chorus. To make it sound right you have to apply it to a stereo track. So if you record a mono vocal track, turn it into a stereo track first then apply chrous. That effect was big in the 80's but got corny after a while; thats why people stopped using it. Most tracks use dry compressed vocals nowadays. I guess chorused vocals could be making a come-back. I'm sure the 80's will be comming back in style eventually.

 

[Helios]

nah chorus sounds rather cheap and shitty... after that rappers be soundin like robots.

It's something more decent, its changing from left to right, you only hear it if you listen to it with headphones and really take care.

perhaps something like an expander used in a second voicetrack
or with a backup

 

[Some Guy]

The effect you're talking about is chorus. Tweak the settings and you'll see. Another technique is to record the vocals in a mono track, then record 2 voice-over tracks singing the same thing, and pan each hard left/right and you'll get that effect. Its called chorusing.

 

[Copenhagen]

There are many different things you can do with vocals, just as there is with everything else you use, samples, drums, etc...some things that sound good with one song doesn't on another.

Practice makes perfect...

 

[Helios]

thx man
chorusing is really a nice way to make vocals tighter and mo impressive

 

[" Killah! "]

Make vocals tight by layering them and mixing 'em together without music, so you have all the harmonies or layers tight as fuck. My ghetto homeboy does that and he comes up with mad dope shit, yo.

 

[afriquedeluxe]

how can i make my vocals sound professional without a pro mic but a regular directional mic, i got da software i need...
but how?

 

[vitaminman]

Hey,

You don't! If it were easy to make a $50 mic sound like a $5000 mic, do you think those mics would still be used?

Nick

 

[BeatTRibe]

Yeah I agree with V, I tried some mic modeling effects on my cheap Radio Shack mic and just couldn't get a decent sound. It's probably best to buy a Shure SM57 or SM58, they're good all around mics and are only around $80 US, but of course the other half of the equation is a good mic pre and that won't come cheap. It might be best to try to work out how to make lo-fi vocals fit in with the rest of the track or something like how Madlib does some of his shit.

 

[Helios]

I bought my sm58 years ago

at : www.l-townmafia.com you can download one of our tracks

listen to those vocals recorded with my sm58
but I think about buying a new mic... something expensive.
I got an Tube MP studio preamp. very cheap... about $150, but a nice sound.

Anyway listen to that track, and I will tell ya that it's all about vocal compressors... dynamic processing, if ya dont want to buy an expensive mic.

 

[Fade]

My SM-58 is broken! :bawling: I forgot where I put it, then it magically showed up in my closet and the bottom part (the connection) is ripped out! Just sucks.

 

[Some Guy]

Originally posted by Helios


Anyway listen to that track, and I will tell ya that it's all about vocal compressors... dynamic processing, if ya dont want to buy an expensive mic.

Hell yeah. Knowing how to compress and eq and de-ess vocals is the key. ESPECIALLY dynamic processing. And also Gating to remove noise. The cheaper the mic and pre-amps the more work you gotta do .

 

[BeatTRibe]

Originally posted by Fade
My SM-58 is broken! :bawling: I forgot where I put it, then it magically showed up in my closet and the bottom part (the connection) is ripped out! Just sucks.

Damn! I wonder how that happened, those things are built like tanks to the point you could use it like a hammer.

The setup I've been using is Rode NT2 with an Avalon preamp straight to "tape" then I add the compression and de-essing...so far I've been happy.

 

[Copenhagen]

I'm just using a $500 mic, nothing fancy...when I've finished a beat in Reason or Cubase I just transport each track to my ProTools LE, and then record the vocals through the ProTools MBox...perfect sound, apply some of the reverb, compression etc incl. in ProTools and I'm done.

Just out of curiosity, how come som many of you are using FruityLoops? Of course you gotta work with whatever suits you best but I think that Reason 2.0 or the Cubase edition with HAlion incl. is so much better to work with. I'm very content with not using Fruity anymore.

 

[vitaminman]

Hey,

Because Cubase and Halion are about $900 together and a pain to use, FL is about $100 and really easy.

Take care,

Nick

 

[Fade]

LOL, I'm gonna post a pic of my broken mic as soon as I get a chance...

 

[Some Guy]

Originally posted by vitaminman
Hey,

Because Cubase and Halion are about $900 together and a pain to use, FL is about $100 and really easy.

Take care,

Nick

Haha exactly. FL has some advantages over Reason too like VST/Dxi support for virtual instruments and effects. And free upgrades for life. I think Fruity Loops would get more respect if it didnt have such a gay ass name! . If you have $100 and you wanna start making tracks FL is the way to go.

My set up (Cubase SX, Kontakt, Reason, etc...) is a pain in the ass sometimes.

 

[J Cro]

fl falife

 

[Copenhagen]

Well, I got all my programs (FL too) for free...and therefore the price didn't affect my opinion. I sometimes use FL to plot in a nice drum beat and bass, and then finish the beat of in Reason or Cubase. But personally I just like Reason and all it's gadgets and options...and as far as I know you can use DXi/Vst plug-ins...the setup is just a little more demanding. Anyway, I use ProTools' 'plug-ins' so that doesn't affect me either.