Previous Thread
Index
Next Thread
Print Thread
Go To
Page 2 of 2 1 2
Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 1,986
Expert
Offline
Expert
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 1,986
Compressing vocals going in depends on your set up. Trouble is you can't undo it. using input controls to stop meters going into the red allows you to maximise the volume without clipping. I was always taught that the closer to the origin the highest possible setting makes for best signal to noise ratio, that is if you are using a usb interface or preamp (the first stage after the mic)you turn up as loud as possible without clipping and then in the DAW turn up the input volume to maximum without clipping so you maximise signal to noise. its logical if you think about it.

if you have a low signal going in and then boost it at the DAW stage you're turning up any noise as well as the signal.

as far as standing further away from the mic, some mics actually have a presence effect - for example close to a Shure SM58 boosts bass and many vocalists actually use the effect to enhance their vocals - simply swaying away for the loud bits (watch Tony Christie live doing Is this the way to Amarilllo!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69xk1aBEL_E

compressing a recorded track gives you greater flexibility although I do know with outboard effects some professionals do put a little compression on the input

Last edited by Bob Calver; 01/06/18 02:16 AM.
Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 8,056
C
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
C
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 8,056
Originally Posted By: Bob Calver
Compressing vocals going in depends on your set up. Trouble is you can't undo it. using input controls to stop meters going into the red allows you to maximise the volume without clipping. I was always taught that the closer to the origin the highest possible setting makes for best signal to noise ratio, that is if you are using a usb interface or preamp (the first stage after the mic)you turn up as loud as possible without clipping and then in the DAW turn up the input volume to maximum without clipping so you maximise signal to noise. its logical if you think about it.

if you have a low signal going in and then boost it at the DAW stage you're turning up any noise as well as the signal.

as far as standing further away from the mic, some mics actually have a presence effect - for example close to a Shure SM58 boosts bass and many vocalists actually use the effect to enhance their vocals - simply swaying away for the loud bits (watch Tony Christie live doing Is this the way to Amarilllo!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69xk1aBEL_E

compressing a recorded track gives you greater flexibility although I do know with outboard effects some professionals do put a little compression on the input


Hi Bob, I don't understand what you mean by "Compressing vocals going in depends on your set up." or "trouble is you can't undo it." Maybe you can expand on your set up and the effect on the compressor in your setup. I normally think of vocal compression as an effect and independent of the signal chain. For instance, a signal chain is still complete and carries the audio signal regardless if a compressor resides in the signal chain or not.

You control clipping either analog or digital clipping through proper gain staging (see 90db's comment above). Analog and digital clipping are different and the proper gain staging is different between the two. Gain staging is different between recording and live broadcasting. A separate mix is set up to properly record a live show that has different settings for gain, eq and dynamics for the recording feed from the FOH or stage monitor feeds. The highest volume without clipping is not the proper gain stage for a digital recording. The noise floor for digital is much lower than the noise floor for an analog signal. Thus there is much more available headroom in a digital recording and the signal is normally 6-12db lower and more care must be taken to not have digital clipping. Because of the signal/noise ratio of the digital path, there is a lot of flexibility to work with lower input signals.

What you are calling a presence effect is actually called a proximity effect, an increase in the low frequency response when speaking closely into a microphone. Again, there is a difference in the desirability and benefits between live broadcasting and studio recording. Many singers employ the effect live but it is rarely desirable and more often avoided in studio recording. It is actually a poor recording technique for studio recordings because normally the changes in tone between close mic and the singer turning away or moving back from the microphone has to be 'fixed' in post processing. It is better to have less of these tonal and dynamic changes because it will take a lot more processing and time to correct. Live broadcasting is a lot more forgiving environment.

Note that your example of Tony Christie is a live recording visually but the liner notes to the YouTube posting indicate the audio has been overdubbed with a studio recording from a CD and synced to the video and is not a true representation of how that audio actually sounded nor did it reflect what the sound engineer may have been required to do on the mixing board to compensate for Mr. Christie's mic techniques.

A common way studios, both home, semi pro and pro increase the quality of their recording chain is to use a Channel Strip. A channel strip will have a high quality or boutique preamp, a compressor and an EQ. Using a channel strip along with a quality mic can make recording into consumer grade interfaces and digital recorders like the Zoom models, Tascam DP series recorders and similar models record high quality, professional grade audio.


BIAB Ultra Pak+ 2024:RB 2024, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.
Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 1,986
Expert
Offline
Expert
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 1,986
I learnt a lot of my mixing from my days as a TV producer recording music for jingles or backing tracks for films.

With a professional desk you can compress the vocal signal before it hits the tape (as it was in my day) or the digital recording.

But once you've recorded a compressed signal that's what you've got. You can't uncompress it.

Whether you can compress an incoming signal before it hits the DAW I'm not sure and it will vary from set up to set up.

Some valve/tube preamps automatically compress the signal anyway and I occasionally use one before inputting an analogue signal for recording as opposed to a digital signal vis USB.

As to mic technique and the proximity effect I've found the booklet that came with my SM58 stage mic and it definitely says closeness boosts bass frequencies - and that would be lost if you reduce gain by standing further from the mic.

Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 8,056
C
Veteran
Offline
Veteran
C
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 8,056
Originally Posted By: Bob Calver
I learnt a lot of my mixing from my days as a TV producer recording music for jingles or backing tracks for films.

With a professional desk you can compress the vocal signal before it hits the tape (as it was in my day) or the digital recording. Charlie : I agree. I have a Presonus Eureka Channel Strip that I can send the line out to my Audio Interface when I input my signal or I can use an Aux Send and use it as a post effect.

But once you've recorded a compressed signal that's what you've got. You can't uncompress it.

Charlie : I agree. But the same can be said for the lead guitarist that mic's his amp and records all of his pedal effects and tone. There's nothing wrong with recording the input with effects or dynamic processing as long as the tone and effects are what is desired.

Whether you can compress an incoming signal before it hits the DAW I'm not sure and it will vary from set up to set up. Charlie : You can record across input signal as a channel insert. It can be hardware or software.

Some valve/tube preamps automatically compress the signal anyway and I occasionally use one before inputting an analogue signal for recording as opposed to a digital signal vis USB.

As to mic technique and the proximity effect I've found the booklet that came with my SM58 stage mic and it definitely says closeness boosts bass frequencies - and that would be lost if you reduce gain by standing further from the mic. Charlie : I agree. We are talking about the same thing and it may just be a colloquial difference.



BIAB Ultra Pak+ 2024:RB 2024, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.
Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 1
E
Newbie
Offline
Newbie
E
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 1
From all post under your question list, I guess you already know the answer of your issue. So here, let's me to share my experience of recording audio tracks from videos. As for recording audio from video and any vocal audio, the one I use is TunesKit Audio Capture, which can support multi-track audio grabbing. And it’s can keep or edit all original ID3 tags. Also it can save and record the recorded audios as MP3, AAC and other popular audio formats. If you would like to cut the unwanted segment and get a fascinating audio track, this audio recording software can do this well.
Hope this post can help you to solve you question freely.

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Go To
Page 2 of 2 1 2

Link Copied to Clipboard
ChatPG

Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.

ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.

PG Music News
Convenient Ways to Listen to Band-in-a-Box® Songs Created by Program Users!

The User Showcase Forum is an excellent place to share your Band-in-a-Box® songs and listen to songs other program users are creating!

There are other places you can listen to these songs too! Visit our User Showcase page to sort by genre, artist (forum name), song title, and date - each listing will direct you to the forum post for that song.

If you'd rather listen to these songs in one place, head to our Band-in-a-Box® Radio, where you'll have the option to select the genre playlist for your listening pleasure. This page has SoundCloud built in, so it won't redirect you. We've also added the link to the Artists SoundCloud page here, and a link to their forum post.

We hope you find some inspiration from this amazing collection of User Showcase Songs!

Congratulations to the 2023 User Showcase Award Winners!

We've just announced the 2023 User Showcase Award Winners!

There are 45 winners, each receiving a Band-in-a-Box 2024 UltraPAK! Read the official announcement to see if you've won.

Our User Showcase Forum receives more than 50 posts per day, with people sharing their Band-in-a-Box songs and providing feedback for other songs posted.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed!

Video: Volume Automation in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®

We've created a video to help you learn more about the Volume Automation options in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows.

Band-in-a-Box® 2024: Volume Automation

www.pgmusic.com/manuals/bbw2024full/chapter11.htm#volume-automation

Video: Audio Input Monitoring with Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®

We've created this short video to explain Audio Input Monitoring within Band-in-a-Box® 2024, and included some tips & troubleshooting details too!

Band-in-a-Box® 2024: Audio Input Monitoring

3:17: Tips
5:10: Troubleshooting

www.pgmusic.com/manuals/bbw2024full/chapter11.htm#audio-input-monitoring

Video: Enhanced Melodists in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®!

We've enhanced the Melodists feature included in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows!

Access the Melodist feature by pressing F7 in the program to open the new MultiPicker Library and locate the [Melodist] tab.

You can now generate a melody on any track in the program - very handy! Plus, you select how much of the melody you want generated - specify a range, or apply it to the whole track.

See the Melodist in action with our video, Band-in-a-Box® 2024: The Melodist Window.

Learn even more about the enhancements to the Melodist feature in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows at www.pgmusic.com/manuals/bbw2024upgrade/chapter3.htm#enhanced-melodist

Band-in-a-Box® 2024 DAW Plugin Version 6: New Features Specifically for Reaper®

New with the DAW Plugin Version 6.0, released with Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows: the Reaper® Panel!

This new panel offers built-in specific support for the Reaper® DAW API allowing direct transfer of Band-in-a-Box® files to/from Reaper® tracks!

When you run the Plugin from Reaper®, there is a panel to set the following options:
-BB Track(s) to send: This allows you to select the Plugin tracks that will be sent Reaper.
-Destination Reaper Track: This lets you select the destination Reaper track to receive media content from the Plugin.
-At Bar: You can select a bar in Reaper where the Plugin tracks should be placed.
-Start Below Selected Track: This allows you to place the Plugin tracks below the destination Reaper track.
-Overwrite Reaper Track: You can overwrite previous content on the destination Reaper track.
-Move to Project Folder: With this option, you can move the Plugin tracks to the Reaper project folder.
-Send Reaper Instructions Enable this option to send the Reaper Instructions instead of rendering audio tracks, which is faster.
-Render Audio & Instructions: Enable this option to generate audio files and the Reaper instructions.
-Send Tracks After Generating: This allows the Plugin to automatically send tracks to Reaper after generating.
-Send Audio for MIDI Track: Enable this option to send rendered audio for MIDI tracks.
-Send RealCharts with Audio: If this option is enabled, Enable this option to send RealCharts with audio.

Check out this video highlighting the new Reaper®-specific features: Band-in-a-Box® DAW Plugin Version 6: New Features Specifically for Reaper®

Band-in-a-Box® 2024 DAW Plugin Version 6: New Features Video

The new Band-in-a-Box VST DAW Plugin Verion 6 adds over 20 new features!

Watch the new features video to learn more: Video: Band-in-a-Box® 2024 - DAW Plugin Version 6 New Features

We also list these new features at www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.plugin.htm.

Forum Statistics
Forums66
Topics81,395
Posts732,497
Members38,441
Most Online2,537
Jan 19th, 2020
Newest Members
zagrajbarke, Ernest J, Izzy, BenChaz, Csofi
38,440 Registered Users
Top Posters(30 Days)
MarioD 195
Al-David 124
DC Ron 114
dcuny 87
rsdean 82
Today's Birthdays
CeeDee, SethMould
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5