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Subject: Super Airy vocals...How do they do it?
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Original Message 1/9 27-Dec-99 @ 11:33 PM - Super Airy vocals...How do they do it?
Help.
Message 2/9 28-Dec-99 @ 09:14 AM - RE: Super Airy vocals...How do they do it?
Your most important tool is a combination of EQ and Compression. Work with those and you should be able to get close. But don't expect to duplicate it.
Message 3/9 28-Dec-99 @ 01:10 PM - RE: Super Airy vocals...How do they do it?
Record the same vocal multiple times.
Rumour has it there on Enya's last album, she record herself about 190 times!!!!
Mess about with the EQ at the same time of course.
Just a small compresion tip here: high compression ratios make the vocal sound more "studio" while low compression makes it sound more "live".
MikeC
Message 4/9 29-Dec-99 @ 10:01 AM - RE: Super Airy vocals...How do they do it?
Message 5/9 29-Dec-99 @ 10:52 AM - RE: Super Airy vocals...How do they do it?
Remember the super-airy "aaah"'s in "I'm not in love" by 10cc? That was done with multiple takes.
One thing to note though....if the singer's tone does not create any of those high frequencies in the first place then you're going to have a hell of a job "inserting" them. Multiple takes of the same thing EQ'd can multiply those high frequencies if the singer voice contains just a slight amount of high content.
There are other things you can try like splitting the signal, adding a touch of clean distortion, EQ'ing that and then mixing with the dry signal. If you get it right you can get lots of high frequencies added where there were none before.
MikeC
Message 6/9 29-Dec-99 @ 10:21 PM - RE: Super Airy vocals...How do they do it?
in the mix, you want to hear the vocal, but you dont need to hear the detail of the lower mid and upper bass frequencies, there isn't much definition to anything there, and it muddies up the mix, you need the area where the vocals are formed and the fine top end for sparkle, and bottom for intimacy/closeness
multitracking the BV's gives that rich thickness, if not the actual eq/curve/mix - when mixing blend the takes with different eq's, dont just pile on the eq to the full range on them all..., pick out & 'eq-assign' each take - and effect it correspondignly to do what you want it to do -
like reverb the sparkle/top, NOT the bottom and mid, so you get 'up-front' RnB style 'intimacy' at the bottom end for that FAT warmth with totally 'dry', reverbless bass-end, but the BV take/layer assigned to the top's can have a glistening of sparkly thin subtle reverb with a short decay and enhancer etc - hard-compressing just the boosted mid 'precence' eq'd version add's that accent to the BV's, but NOT loads of sibilance or bass bumping... eq-assigning layers to treatments helps overcome this...
also panning with stereo ch0rus - real signal L - chorus Right or the other way round etc - pan them out - also try panning out the tops, and centering the bass, small MS delays to taste, panned, also add's some superb widening and emphasis , just a slight delay but with pan, so... original L, delay right - each hard-panned - that 'shift' , it just accents when the 'punch' of the first vocal attack hits the speakers but keep the bass free of it - don't muddy... get the fat warmth and the sparkle and the punch-... each eq area doesn't suite the others' processing necessarily, and vica-versa -
oh yes... and an autotuner... :-)
Message 7/9 06-Apr-11 @ 10:56 PM - RE: Super Airy vocals...How do they do it?
Message 8/9 13-Apr-11 @ 06:58 PM - RE: Super Airy vocals...How do they do it?
and a relatively low record level will help keep THD at bay.
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SafeandSound Mastering, low cost, high end
Message 9/9 27-Mar-12 @ 09:30 PM - RE: Super Airy vocals...How do they do it?
cheers
SafeandSound [URL=http://www.masteringmastering.co.uk]Mastering[/URL]
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SafeandSound Mastering, low cost, high end
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