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Post by oswlek on Nov 14, 2012 17:10:21 GMT -5
Blaspheme? Perhaps. But it's true. 6 months ago I would have kicked my own ass for even thinking about doing something as patently phony as tuning my vocals. I thought that was for losers and wannabes (not that I should necessarily excluded from that group, mind you  ) Fast forward to "Autumn Sky", and I was really struggling to nail the vocals in the chorus. Leek convinced me to fix the pitches, and it sounded perfectly natural, better than anything I was legitimately doing. I have to admit that it is very liberating to know that card is up my sleeve in the case of an emergency. But the real benefit came afterward. I'm not a good singer. After years of trying to ignore this fact, I've fully come to terms with it. Because of this, I've always had to really focus on the melody to ensure I stay on track (or even close to it!  ) Sure, like every artist, I knew that I had to feel it to deliver it, but there was always that small slice of attention that had to go into intonation. The last two projects, "Ordinary Life" and "Haunted", that voice has been damn near silenced. I can recall one rough session in particular that would have had my mic packed away in seconds just a few months ago. Instead of giving up, I just kept at it, and I got some strong, salvageable parts from it. I should also give a nod towards Mr. Scaper as well. He was the one who compelled me to dig into automation (which I had patently refused to do). That is another factor that has given me a great deal of confidence. Now I know that, no matter how bad a take is, anything is worthwhile, I can snag it. Prior to automation, things had to line up perfectly or else I risked things sounding funny or worse, loud pops at the junction points. I just find it fascinating that "studio tricks" haven't just made me sound better, they've improved my fundamental skills. |
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Post by oldgitplayer on Nov 14, 2012 18:15:59 GMT -5
Interesting - thanks for that.
I see that I have an automation function in Garageband that I use for fade-outs, but I hadn't realised that there were other functions that can be selected. I've only used it for volume.
However, from what you are saying, it sounds like I can get a silent splicing of parts anywhere in the track by using the same function. Have I understood that correctly?
And how else are you using automation?
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Post by oswlek on Nov 14, 2012 18:32:01 GMT -5
Interesting - thanks for that. I see that I have an automation function in Garageband that I use for fade-outs, but I hadn't realised that there were other functions that can be selected. I've only used it for volume. However, from what you are saying, it sounds like I can get a silent splicing of parts anywhere in the track by using the same function. Have I understood that correctly? And how else are you using automation? You can automate anything. Effects, EQ, volume, panning (I do this a lot, I'll give a few examples below), you name it. With regard to vocal takes, I am mostly referring to volume. I used to cut part of one track and slide it onto another if I was trying to merge a few takes. Now I leave them as separate and automate the volumes of each so one gives way to the other at the appropriate times. It isn't hard to get tracks to sound OK if there is dead space when cutting, but in the middle of a phrase? Forget about it. With automation, though, it is clean as can be. For instance, at the end of "Haunted", I sing "everywhere you are" with the "are" dropping a full step midway. That was actually two different takes. The first half was a good take of "everywhere you are" that didn't drop and one that hit the lower note at the end. As for panning, you can see that automated in a few recent ones. In "Haunted", I panned the strummed acoustics hard left at the end to give space to all the new instruments that come in. At the end of "Ordinary Life", the echoes of the final line move from right to left as they fade away. |
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Post by oldgitplayer on Nov 14, 2012 18:52:05 GMT -5
^^^
It helps having concrete examples as you have described them.
Garageband may not have all the options that you mention, but I'll jump in and do some experimenting. Especially cleaning up something in the middle of a phrase. I didn't know that was possible.
Shifting the panning would be useful as well.
At the moment my investment in recording is fairly low :
Garageband comes with Mac OSX - $0
Zoom H1 portable recorder $99
Mic stand $45
The idea is to learn how to write songs and understand the basics of mic positioning, recording, mixing etc. before entering into the world of recording GAS. It might take a while (or never).
Thanks for your help - it is appreciated.
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Post by bee3 on Nov 14, 2012 19:17:26 GMT -5
Interesting - thanks for that. I see that I have an automation function in Garageband that I use for fade-outs, but I hadn't realised that there were other functions that can be selected. I've only used it for volume. However, from what you are saying, it sounds like I can get a silent splicing of parts anywhere in the track by using the same function. Have I understood that correctly? And how else are you using automation? You can automate anything. Effects, EQ, volume, panning (I do this a lot, I'll give a few examples below), you name it. With regard to vocal takes, I am mostly referring to volume. I used to cut part of one track and slide it onto another if I was trying to merge a few takes. Now I leave them as separate and automate the volumes of each so one gives way to the other at the appropriate times. It isn't hard to get tracks to sound OK if there is dead space when cutting, but in the middle of a phrase? Forget about it. With automation, though, it is clean as can be. For instance, at the end of "Haunted", I sing "everywhere you are" with the "are" dropping a full step midway. That was actually two different takes. The first half was a good take of "everywhere you are" that didn't drop and one that hit the lower note at the end. As for panning, you can see that automated in a few recent ones. In "Haunted", I panned the strummed acoustics hard left at the end to give space to all the new instruments that come in. At the end of "Ordinary Life", the echoes of the final line move from right to left as they fade away. Interesting. I always comp my vocal takes onto one master take. I may draw from 5 different takes and cut and paste onto one. Sometimes I may replace one word within a phrase then use cross fading to smooth the transition and make it seamless. |
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Post by unclenny on Nov 14, 2012 20:58:17 GMT -5
I have never pitch corrected my vocals....do not own any such software. But automation....ah......put that volume line up there and listen to your track. Where there is a spot where you are not totally pleased with your intonation or your pitch.......drop the volume down a bit there. You'll be amazed at how the other instruments will mask your...ah...natural inadequacies. |
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Post by rsadasiv on Nov 15, 2012 10:11:08 GMT -5
With regard to vocal takes, I am mostly referring to volume. I used to cut part of one track and slide it onto another if I was trying to merge a few takes. Now I leave them as separate and automate the volumes of each so one gives way to the other at the appropriate times. Yeah, crossfades FTMFW! |
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Post by oswlek on Nov 15, 2012 12:57:51 GMT -5
Interesting. I always comp my vocal takes onto one master take. I may draw from 5 different takes and cut and paste onto one. Sometimes I may replace one word within a phrase then use cross fading to smooth the transition and make it seamless. I do the same, but I do it in a few step process. I'll comp solely through automation, then export and reimport the vocal WAV. Afterward, I save the project with a title like "Haunted 2 at vocal delete", so I know I can get back to those comp tracks whenever I want. Once I have that moment locked in time, I'll then delete all tracks used in the comp and just keep the single mixdown. I find that if I try to cut and slide things onto a master, I run the risk of audio residue, even if I cut at 0db and use a cross fade. And that speaks nothing of really strange flows if I try crossfading in the middle of a phrase. |
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