Originally Posted By: gibson
Noel,
I thought I had commented on this masterpiece, blush
All has already been said about the song, beautiful.

I read in another post how you adjusted the vocal track using volume nodes, flipping heck how long does that take you if the example you used is done on the whole vocal track? It is well worth it tho' because the vocal track is perfect.
I do the same but to a considerably lesser extent so will have a go Noel-style on my next song.

Well done again!!

Alyn


Hey Alyn,

It's great to see you.

Ahh... you read that post...

I'm really slow when I mix a song. It usually takes between 1 and 2 weeks. Most of that time is spent tweaking my vocals. I see myself as being on the minus side of average when it comes to singing and so I do a few things to try and rectify that. In order of processing, the below list outlines what I do.

  1. record multiple takes back to back by using looped recording in Reaper (usually eight takes)
  2. assemble a comp'd vocal track by selecting the best phrases and parts of phrases from those takes
  3. using Reaper's plugin 'ReaTune', I manually adjust any note that's noticeably out of tune
  4. use a suitable preset in iZotope's Nectar to add any or all of the following: eq, compression, reverb, delay, de-ess, saturation (what I use is determined by the flavour of the song's backing and I manually tweak this preset as needed)
  5. in Reaper, I slice the vocal track into short phrases and, using 'take volume' envelopes, I adjust the volume of syllables so that they align with spoken syllable strength wherever required
  6. once I get the comp'd vocal to sound as good as possible, I then use a volume envelope on the whole vocal track to adjust the volume of sections so that they balance against the mix

Because my ears tire after about the first 30 minutes of mixing, even though I might spend two hours on the track, I always come back to the track the following day and fine tune what I did the previous day.

Thank you for taking the time to listen. I really appreciate your comments.

All the best,
Noel

MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2025