Old 10-17-2007, 03:26 AM   #1
jussi
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Default Capturing Vox

I was just reading about recording vocals and suddenly I had this idea that I havent even tried yet but that might work if you're like me and dont use/have a hardware compressor when recording vocals or any other very dynamica source.

So..they say that when you reach 0db at your audio interface you're clipping, that means that if you are recording vox and then get too excited or near the microphone at some point those parts will be digitally crapped.

What if I set my mic gain to a good level but also use a send to another channel with less level? This way I would have a track with the full power (db-wise) performance going to my audio card and I would have another track that would be like 6 or 10 db lower going into another track input on my audio card. This way I could replace clipped parts on the hot take with the lower input take.

What do you guys think about this?

Iam I dumb?
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Old 10-17-2007, 04:35 AM   #2
Till
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sure, that works.

but headroom is about convenience. it's about not having to worry and working speed.

you were a lot faster if you just recorded the -6/-10dB channel and compressed it. that is if you don't have to fight with EXTREME noises.
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Old 10-17-2007, 06:52 AM   #3
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Thats exactly what I thought

Iam thinking about using this configuration because it would be really helpful when you're just singing something "to try things out" while you're at the computer and eventually the take has unique performance spots that you cant reproduce but it is spoiled in a few places because you got too excited (it appears to happen a lot at least for me).

I think its really easy to attach a cable in the mixer and record that kind of "sessions" in two tracks being one lower.
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Old 10-17-2007, 09:45 AM   #4
Measuring Man
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I've done similar. I've recorded an absolutely SMASHED vocal for a Grindcore record, and just in case I wanted to re-smash it later. I recorded a split that was unprocessed altogether.

Ironically, the smashed one was used in the mix with almost no additional processing, but it was nice to have a safety net. What I also did, in another program before Reaper, was link the tracks so that any edits done to the SMASHED track were simultaneously done to the clean version, which was always muted.

I know of people who've done what you say, but it you set it so that the absolute loudest you can get peaks at -5 or so, any descent 24bit converter these days will give you a nice clean signal even if the quiet bits are quite quiet since they aren't being compressed.

On the other hand, some people claim turning up analog noise is better than digital to avoid quantization distortions and other problems inherent to quiet digital signals.
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Old 10-17-2007, 04:17 PM   #5
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Your last sentence is a good point Measuring Man and it is true.

Thats why I think this two channel thing is the way to go, especially if you have a "invisi-pale-hissy preamp" from a behringer mixer lol
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