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Being a rookie with my ghetto home studio, got a question. Can you record (is it beneficial) your vocals with a compressor fx already on your vocal track? I'm thinking it would help to eliminate the clipping and/or distortion at the beginning.

#606 Posted Fri 14 Aug, 2015 9:40 am

I think most DAW's would allow you to do that. Not sure it would be beneficial though - I think working with a dry uncompressed vocal would be better when it's time to do the mix. I've worked with many engineers, and they always request my dry untouched vocals.

If your vocals are clipping or distorting, it might be a mic issue. What type of mic do you have?

#607 Posted Fri 14 Aug, 2015 10:01 am

Hey Tony. In my view, definitely no to any effects; and pretty much a no for compression - unless you have some wonderful gear and it really makes a difference somehow. Once the effects/compression is on, it can't be taken off, so just leave it to the engineer as things change once the vocals get put into a mix.

As far as distortion and clipping, you want to make sure that there is none in the recording. That normally means dropping the input signal so as not to clip/distort at any point. Digital recording is different from analogue recording and if you're recording at 24 bit then you really don't have to worry about the volume being too low. It feels kinda odd if you remember recording with tape, but it's key! Just set it up so that your loudest parts are hitting the 70 - 80% mark on the meter max - nowhere near the red, and leaving plenty of headroom, as digital clipping is pure evil.

#608 Posted Fri 14 Aug, 2015 10:02 am

I think most DAW's would allow you to do that. Not sure it would be beneficial though - I think working with a dry uncompressed vocal would be better when it's time to do the mix. I've worked with many engineers, and they always request my dry untouched vocals. If your vocals are clipping or distorting, it might be a mic issue. What type of mic do you have?

Originally posted by RAVEN on Fri 14 Aug, 2015

I'm not necessarily having issues with clipping or distorting. I was just wondering what is the best/normal way of doing it. I just got an MXL V250 Condenser Microphone. I used it in my last recording of Little Boy Blue (featured track). I love the mic!

#609 Posted Fri 14 Aug, 2015 5:31 pm

Hey Tony. In my view, definitely [b]no[/b] to any effects; and pretty much a [b]no[/b] for compression - unless you have some wonderful gear and it really makes a difference somehow. Once the effects/compression is on, it can't be taken off, so just leave it to the engineer as things change once the vocals get put into a mix. As far as distortion and clipping, you want to make sure that there is none in the recording. That normally means dropping the input signal so as not to clip/distort at any point. Digital recording is different from analogue recording and if you're recording at 24 bit then you really don't have to worry about the volume being too low. It feels kinda odd if you remember recording with tape, but it's key! Just set it up so that your loudest parts are hitting the 70 - 80% mark on the meter max - nowhere near the red, and leaving plenty of headroom, as digital clipping is pure evil.

Originally posted by MonkeyC on Fri 14 Aug, 2015

Haha...you know, I didn't think about the analog tape recording.....that's probably why I was worried about not recording too low - I remember when I used to bring up the volume later, it would also bring up all the noise. thanks for the info. I am learning how all this works little by little and it's nice to be able to bounce my thoughts off of those who know what they are doing.

#610 Posted Fri 14 Aug, 2015 5:35 pm

I think recording is the main part of mixing, that is how I look at it, the capture is the most important part. If you're having to adjust things to a large degree in the mix then you have done something wrong in the capture. It's all subjective this stuff, you will see people swear that this is the only way, only to see someone do what they say can't be done. At the end of the day don't be afraid to try all the methods you can learn from others and see what works for you and the gear you have.

To my mind there is nothing wrong with filtering the low end off when recording vocals (say 60 or 40 Hz) and maybe a slight compression. The problem of course here is your gear and experience, the more you add to the chain, the more you need to understand so it may be best to just capture your vocal as purely as possible to eliminate all the added trouble FX might lead you to.

I like to think of it this way, apply the reverb test, reverb is an obvious effect unlike compression. If you're the kind of guy who mixes reverb and it is very obvious to all listeners both experienced and not. Then you probably want to leave EQ and compression to an engineer :)

#611 Posted Fri 14 Aug, 2015 7:47 pm