[ddots-l] Re: Questions about vocal mixing--help!

  • From: Winy Kwany <winy_kwany@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2011 01:29:59 +0800 (SGT)

Chris,
I use Sonar 8.5 with Cake Talking 8.5. Please suggest me parts of documentation 
that I should read.
I found that Sonar 8.5 comes with D'Esser. It's in V Strip Vocal in the Audio 
Effects. Can I use this to clean the sibulance?
One more question. Would you tell me how to add a new bus? Help!
Thanks a lot.
Winy.

--- On Mon, 9/12/11, Chris Smart <csmart8@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: Chris Smart <csmart8@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Questions about vocal mixing--help!
> To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Monday, September 12, 2011, 4:05 AM
> Hi Winy.
> 
> First, let us know whether you are using CakeTalking or
> JSonar. If you're using CakeTalking, we can direct you to
> reading specific sections of the CakeTalking tutorial which
> can help.
> 
> I'll take your questions one at a time below.
> 
> At 02:28 PM 9/11/2011, Winy wrote:
> 
> > 1. I want to EQ the vocal back up tracks. My teacher
> said that he can EQ all of them at once, by creating FX
> channel and EQ-ing them from there. Can we do that in
> Sonar?
> 
> Absolutely you can do that.
> 1. Add a bus to your project called Vocal EQ, VOX EQ or any
> name that makes sense.
> 
> 2. Go to the output column for your backing vocal tracks
> and change their outputs from master bus to your new vocal
> EQ bus.
> 
> 3. Last, go to your new vocal EQ bus and either use the
> four bands of EQ available in the inspector, or insert the
> Sonitus EQ plug-in in the bus's effects bin and adjust its
> parameters.
> 
> Note: The four bands available in the inspector are very
> handy, already set up for some vocal adjusting. The first
> band rolls off unwanted low frequencies. The second band
> boosts or cuts the low midrange. The third band boosts or
> cuts the presence, and the fourth band rolls off or adds
> higher treble or brilliance.
> 
> Usually, you want to carve out some tonal space in the
> backup vocals for your lead vocal to sit comfortably.
> Usually this involves reducing some midrange in the backing
> vocals. Think of it as tonally rapping the backing vocals
> around your lead vocal.
> 
> > 2. My teacher uses D'Asser to clean the sibulance.
> What pluck in that we can use to clean sibulance in Sonar?
> You are meaning de-esser here, which is the name of a
> process, not really a specific plug-in, although some
> companies sell specific de-essing plug-ins for this purpose
> as well.
> 
> 
> Phil Muir was going to work on some hot spots for the VX64
> vocal strip plug-in that comes with Sonar. It has a de-esser
> included in it. Phil, what's the status on that?
> 
> If that isn't an option, you'll need to build your own
> de-esser. Doing this by hand will help you understand what's
> going on. Be sure to save it as a template for future
> projects!
> 
> Briefly, de-essing involves equalization and side-chain
> compression used together. The equalization step targets the
> problem frequencies where the S sounds are. The side-chain
> compression compresses your vocal and is triggered by the
> equalized S sounds discovered during the equalization step.
> 
> This gets a little involved. I'll be brief here, and then
> add more once you ask questions. Brian Howerton just did
> this in a mixing course, so hopefully he will speak up here
> as well. Actually, I hope lots of people join in here, since
> it looks like you need to learn a heck of a lot for this
> project.
> 
> Building a de-esser:
> 1. Add a new bus to your project called De-Esser and make
> sure it's output is set to the Master Bus.
> 
> 2. For EQ, we'll just use the four bands available through
> the inspector.
> 
> 3. For compression, insert the Sonitus Compressor plug-in
> on your De-esser bus's effects bin.
> 
> Setting Up The Routing:
> 4. Add an AUX Send to your vocal track. You want to send a
> copy of the vocal track to the new DE-esser bus you created
> in step 1.
> 
> 5. Go to the Output column of your vocal track. We want to
> set this to the side-chain input of the Sonitus Compressor.
> IN the list of available outputs, you'll see an item called
> something like Sonitus FX Compressor Side Input, De-esser.
> That's the output you want to select.
> 
> Equlizing for the Problem Sounds:
> 6. Now we're goign to very heavily equalize the
> vocal.  We want to find the sibilance, the nasty S
> sounds we want to reduce with the compressor. These sounds
> are usually somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000Hz.  You
> want to add a high-pass filter just below the problem
> frequencies, and a low-pass filter just above them. 
> Adjust band 1's frequency to something around 2KHZ with gain
> set to -18dB. Set band 4 to roll off a lot above 10KHZ or
> so.
> What you should end up with is a nasty sounding vocal that
> contains no melody really, just the sibilant sounds.
> 
> 
> 7. With the two filters in place, bands 1 and 4, set a peak
> filter between them, with band 3, say around 7,000 HZ, with
> a high Q and with the gain boosted by a large amount, at
> least 12dB. Sweep the frequency up and down. You want to
> find where the sibilance jumps out at you the most!
> 
> Adjusting the Compressor:
> 8.  In the Sonitus Compressor, try these rather
> extreme settings for a start.
> Threshold: -18dB
> Ratio: INF or something very high, at least 10:1.
> Knee: hard
> Makeup Gain: 0dB
> Attack time: minimum (you want a fast attack)
> Release: slower than attack, at least 100 or 150 MS (MS
> means milliseconds).
> 
> Again, the EQ targets the problem frequencies. The
> compressor squashes them, makes them quieter.
> 
> > 3. Can we add reverb for some tracks simultaneously?
> How to do it?
> Yes.
> 1. Create a new bus called reverb,
> 2. add the Sonitus reverb plug-in on its effects bin,
> 3. Select a preset that is entirely wet, meaning you hear
> all reverb, and no dry original signal. Or pick a preset you
> like, and then turn down the dry volume, and make sure the
> reverb volume is high. You want to hear only echoes, no
> original sound.
> 
> 4. Add AUX sends to whichever tracks you want to add reverb
> to.
> 
> 5. Use the volume control for each Send you added to adjust
> the amount of reverb added to your tracks.
> 
> > 4. Do you have frequency range for EQ-ing male and
> female voices, from soprano, alto, tenor and bass?
> You need to play with an equalizer and figure out where the
> bass, midrange, and high frequency sounds are. This only
> comes from experimentation and listening!
> 
> Since you play piano and are probably more comfortable
> thinking in terms of octaves and notes, rather than
> frequencies in Hurtz or KiloHurtz, here's a handy chart that
> shows the frequency values for notes.
> http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html
> 
> Let's start at the bottom of a standard 88-key piano. the
> lowest white key, note A, has a frequency of 27.5HZ. HZ
> pronounced Hurtz means vibrations per second. A string
> vibrating 27.5 times a second produces that very low pitch.
> 
> Doubling the frequency value gives you the same note an
> octave up. So we get:
> 1st octave A: 55 Hz
> 2nd octave A: 110 hz
> 3rd octave A: 220 HZ
> 4th octave A: 440 HZ (this one should sound familiar, it's
> the A note the obo sounds for the orchestra to tune to.)
> 5th octave A: 880HZ
> 6th octave A: 1760 HZ
> 
> This continues on up. To give you another reference point,
> middle C on the piano, C4, is the frequency around 261 HZ.
> Double that a few times and you get the highest C on the
> piano. 8th octave C is the frequency 4186.01 Hz.
> 
> Vocal sibilance, the sizzle of cymbals and other high
> frequency sounds are 7,000 and above, very generally
> speaking.
> 
> > 5. What do we use to tune vocal tracks in Sonar? My
> teacher uses Melodyne, and I found it is not accessible for
> the blind. Suggestion?
> You can use either V Vocal or Autotune 5. V Vocal is
> supported in CakeTalking, and Autotune 5 has had some hot
> spots developed for it.
> 
> Woe. This is a heck of a lot to learn before next friday!
> 
> One more thing: When you get your de-esser set up, or any
> settings that you might use on other projects in the future,
> save it as a Cakewalk template or track template to recall
> later. You definitely don't want to have to rebuild things
> again, if you can help it.
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> Chris
> 
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