Old 01-18-2020, 03:49 PM   #1
metallicaguy1
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Default recording flat vocals

Can I make my vocals sound flat (no echo/reverb) without having to sound treat my room? I didn't know if I could just throw something up (roxul or something) so that my vocals, in singing, dubbing, audiobook, doesn't record the extra noise
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Old 01-18-2020, 06:56 PM   #2
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Under a blanket if you are In a pinch
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Old 01-18-2020, 07:18 PM   #3
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You don't even need a blanket. I record vocals in the middle of a room over the garage with the singer up close and you don't even hear early reflections. Then I add reverb to taste if needed.
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Old 01-18-2020, 07:43 PM   #4
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Make yourself a tent of blankets, or better yet theater-style curtains, which are less muffly than typical blankets. Get a handful of $1 two inch "spring clamps" to hang them. If you don't have anything good to clip them on just get some cheap pvc piping and fittings to make a frame you can attach them to. You don't even need to make a whole frame, just clip the pipes to whatever will hold them up enough to clip blankets to. I actually keep a stack of curtain fabric and pvc pipes in my car trunk so that I can throw one up to record audiobooks at readers' places. Not the greatest for singing, but with some experimentation it can be a decent and helpful kludge when room treatment isn't an option.
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Old 01-19-2020, 03:56 PM   #5
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Something to absorb sound behind you and behind the mic will do it. I have a few foam panels on facing walls and record between then and it's fine. I've tested moving 2 feet to the right where the walls are untreated and I know it works as I can hear the difference with the cans on.

There are those filter things you mount on the mic stand but they are expensive and you can get away with a few quilts if necessary.

Last edited by Twangothan; 01-19-2020 at 04:47 PM.
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Old 01-19-2020, 06:06 PM   #6
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singing in a walk-in closet loaded with clothes works really well. Just put a comforter in the door and close it. What's important is that you're surrounded by fabric.
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Old 01-19-2020, 07:29 PM   #7
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All excellent advice. But if your material (and performance!) is strong enough it seems great sound can be achieved with close miking alone. See here for a good example:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=665768223827200

And the finished product here:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=665768223827200

OK so the genre lends itself to a "live" sort of sound but maybe others would too. Food for thought?
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Old 01-20-2020, 03:37 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by martifingers View Post
All excellent advice. But if your material (and performance!) is strong enough it seems great sound can be achieved with close miking alone. See here for a good example:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=665768223827200

And the finished product here:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=665768223827200

OK so the genre lends itself to a "live" sort of sound but maybe others would too. Food for thought?
Yew, thats right. Like I said above, I'm in an untreated room and we have no room sound in our vocals because we record up on the mic and I'm talking a sensitive cad audio trion 8000 ldc.
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Old 02-04-2020, 11:56 AM   #9
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I imagin you really gotta turn down the gain if you're recording very close??
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Old 02-05-2020, 12:55 PM   #10
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Check out Acon Deverberate. I use it and it does a pretty good job at removing “small room” type reflections and ambience.
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Old 02-05-2020, 04:23 PM   #11
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Quote:
I imagin you really gotta turn down the gain if you're recording very close??
As long as you are not clipping the ADC ("trying" to go over 0dB) you are fine.


A strong acoustic signal is almost always a good thing because a strong signal improves your acoustic and electronic signal-to-noise ratio.


You need to be careful of "plosives". And, be aware of the proximity effect* (bass boost) which you can simply EQ out (if you wish).


You can overload the head amp in a condenser mic (if there is no pad switch) but that's virtually impossible to do with an acoustic vocal. It usually only happens with the mic in front of a 100W guitar amp or kick drum. And if that happens, turning down the preamp gain won't help because it's the head amp that's clipping. (A pad switch on the mic is connected in front of the head amp so it will help.)



* The proximity effect is a characteristic of cardioid (directional mics). It doesn't happen with non-directional mics. In most cases you should be using a cardioid because your signal comes from one direction and the acoustic noise comes from all around. Again, it helps your signal-to-noise ratio if you can reduce the noise from all other directions, and you'll also pick-up fewer room reflections.
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Old 06-16-2020, 04:08 PM   #12
MissChrissy
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Default echo in the vocals

It sounds like you're having the same issue I am. I used to be able to record flat vocals no problem. I had no troubles until this past winter. I did an upgrade thinking that would solve the problem, but it didn't help. I've gone through my settings trying different changes. I ended up taking one headphone off and doing the best I could.
I'm seeing others having this issue as well...
So, if this gets resolved, I'll be a happy girl.
ps. Even though while recording I get a slapback echo, the playback is clean.
I'm perplexed.
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Old 06-16-2020, 04:33 PM   #13
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https://www.audimute.com/sound-absorption-sheets
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Old 06-16-2020, 10:37 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MissChrissy View Post
ps. Even though while recording I get a slapback echo, the playback is clean.
I'm perplexed.
Easy answer to this one. You are almost certainly experiencing latency between your original singing and what you hear through your cans. Two ways round it.

The easy way is to quit monitoring your voice while recording.

The somewhat harder way would be to carefully go through all the things available in the reaper user guide & the tutorial videos about setting up your computer for minimal latency.

I can get the latency down in my system to so little that I don`t even notice it, but I have a very good audio/MIDI interface with excellent ASIO drivers and I have also spent a fair amount of time setting my system up for low latency.
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