Vocal Compression with stock Logic 8 plugins / SM7B

[hatzalam]

EDIT: If a mod is reading this, is there a way to move this thread into the appropriate forum?


Hi everyone,

I have a n00b question/quandry. Without getting into the merits of paying a professional to help/master my tracks (I'm competely broke and can't afford it anyways), I have the following question/story for you.

Im recording my own vocals with this chain:

Shure SM7B-->Apogee Duet-->Logic 8 on a MacBook Pro.

I'm trying to get as much out of this as I can without buying anything else--as I can't right now, because my ass is broke. I'm trying to get my baritone-esque vocals to sound as good as possible. I'm also a complete n00b when it comes to compression/limiting. This seemed to be less of an issue when I was using a LDC, for whatever reason. When I try to get the vocals to stand out or to be very "present" in the mix, I must be over-compressing or limiting too much, because it sounds "off" somehow. I can't describe what is wrong, but my ears can tell that something is wrong.

If you go to MySpace.com - Martin M. Wasserman - MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin - Soul / Powerpop / Pop - www.myspace.com/martinwasserman

my Myspace music page and take a listen to the first track "A Little Soul", that's what I've been able to fenagle out of my setup. Keep in mind that this is just a demo, so I don't have any additional instrumentation on the track that's on myspace.

I guess, in short, I'm looking to see if anyone could give me assistance on what settings/numbers/etc to use in Logic's built in limiters or compressors, to improve what my vocals sound like.

Thanks for the help, in advance!

[DCtoDaylight]

First, you'll probably get more responses if you post this in the Work In Progress/Advice Requested area - it's more of a mixing question than a Logic question.

As far as your actual question....I think it's a very decent vocal performance, but yeah, it's lacking in dynamics. What prompted you to compress the vox in the first place?

You may find that the SM-7 needs less compression than an LDC, since (depending on the LDC) the SM-7 will probably smooth things out more on its own and catch fewer transients. You might not need any comp at all, depending on your technique and the sound you're going for.

So you might try just backing the threshold way off until the comp isn't being triggered at all, and see what you think - and if it does need some squashing because of big peaks or whatever, set the comp to just barely kick in on the loudest parts with a very gentle (slow) attack, and then experiment from there. Less is more. Use the Compare and Bypass functions a lot, so that you can tell if you're making improvements or not. There's really no standard setting that you can just dial in and have it sound good.

Other possible ideas might be getting a little more distance from the mic to reduce the proximity effect, using a crispier-sounding microphone, or adding a small touch of EQ - subtracting in the lows and/or giving a little boost in the intelligibility range. But letting more of the original performance dynamics through would be a good place to start!

[hatzalam]

Thank you for the reply. I definitely am going to try what you suggested. One of the issues I have in singing performance is my dynamics. I think it's a fairly common problem... my lower range is a lower volume than my upper range is. I can usually take advantage of this flaw in my performances. But the downside to that is, as you guessed, I have a very wide dynamic range when singing a song like this, that spans a decent amount of notes.

I would like to take voice lessons to work on this problem. Basically, I believe that I have to learn how to properly use a compressor/limiter in the first place. But trial and error works as well (up until a point).

[gregohb]

Originally Posted by xaipemw

I guess, in short, I'm looking to see if anyone could give me assistance on what settings/numbers/etc to use in Logic's built in limiters or compressors, to improve what my vocals sound like.

There's nothing special about Logic that helps vocals that you can't do on other platforms. Logic is nice because it comes with so many plugs though. Among the tricks you can try are : copying the vocal to another track, and putting pitch correction on the second track, or put the exciter, or more compression, or different EQ. You can also put Logic's tape echo on it very subtley.

[Flying_Dutchman]

Originally Posted by gregohb

There's nothing special about Logic that helps vocals that you can't do on other platforms. Logic is nice because it comes with so many plugs though. Among the tricks you can try are : copying the vocal to another track, and putting pitch correction on the second track, or put the exciter, or more compression, or different EQ. You can also put Logic's tape echo on it very subtley.

+1

Before you copy, you could draw the vocals by hand and than do the other steps.
If you need your vocals to cut through a wall of guitars, or a dense mix, you could make a 2nd copy, distort it an bring it in.
If you want, you could route this 3 tracks into a group an use a limiter, just getting 1-2 db somestimes.

[Rasmus Faber]

Try use some of logics default channel strip settings for voice. Experiment with bypassing different plugs and see i you can pinpoint what you like.