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 > > PLEASE READ THIS FOOTER AT LEAST ONCE! > To leave the list, click on the immediately following > link: > ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe > If this link doesn't work then send a message to: > ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > and in the Subject line type > unsubscribe > For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the > immediately following link: > ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq > or > send a message, to ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > and in the Subject line type > faq > > PLEASE READ THIS FOOTER AT LEAST ONCE! To leave the list, click on the immediately following link: ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and in the Subject line type unsubscribe For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the immediately following link: ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subjectúq or send a message, to ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and in the Subject line type faq