Re: Audacity-users Digest, Vol 10, Issue 91/Kathi/how i did it step by step

My original question was how to get the vocals not to sound so detached from
the instruments, get a better blending. The reverb seems to help, but when I
first started out I was adding too much and it sounded like Joe was in an
echo chamber. I'm learning not to overdo things now, but still was asking
the group how to blend vocals/instrumentals without drowning out the vocals,
etc. I seem to keep asking the same question over and over and hope I'm not
being tiresome. Jimi was kind enough to go ahead and master the song, but I
can't learn anything when someone else does the work.so I'm still fishing
for step-by-step vocal effect advice that's not too technical for me to
understand.



Kathy       

i will email you exactly what i did if you;d like, settings and all.....

BTW, since i was mastering it, i DIDN'T do the make a copy and effect the living hell out of it and remix trick...thos were effects i generally use with my usual settings, applied directly to the audio file.

the only real change i made other than that was to splice a longer track of silence onto the end so the echo/verb woeuld fade naturally.

did ya download them plugs i hipped ya to?

this is what i did, for the whole list.

 i copied the file, highlighted it, clicked edit silence...thrn dragged it a minute or so past the end of the song, and quickmixed it.

then i split it into two tracks, normalized each to -.05, then re-mixed to stereo.

next thru the kjaerhaus classic series master limiter.

next thru a freeware vst 32 band eq to kill the hum on the vocals.

eq'd again to get it to sound good to me.

next up, kjaerhaus classic delay, set to old tape, about 340ms with 4 or 5 slaps.

mixed to where i could only tell it wasn;t there if i pulled it out.

put thru the kjaerhaus classic reverb on the vocal ambient setting.

same trick as the delay.

put the entire mix thru the master limiter agisn, then thru eq to make it sound as clear and sweet as possible.

out it thru sweetboys' sh-1 reverb,,,,,barely wet, just enough to notice,

finally, thru the kjaerhaus classic chours on vocal spread preset, effect depth wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy barely on.

one more pass thru the master limiter, then use the amplify tool to amplify the entire track to max -.03 (where i prefer to master to, just habit)...

after that, highlight from beginning to end of selection, go about 2 seconds after fade is completely inaudible, then click edit/trim.

highlight the first 5 seconds or so, click effect/fade in, do the opposite on the end of the track with the fade out.

that's it!!!

;))

jimi

 

BTW....you can't polish a turd;

Kathy's work was, like i said, an A+ for a first time at bat!!!