Members jealouscreature Posted December 10, 2012 Members Share Posted December 10, 2012 Hello all! I need some help figuring out how to best amplify my vocals. When we play live, we play a range of songs, some where I sing quite loudly and forcefully and some where I sing rather softly. We have been having a lot of trouble getting a consistent live sound (unless we're using our own PA and running the sound ourselves), and it has been very frustrating to deal with. Last week, it struck me that running my vocals through some sort of compressor might help even out the volume I'm singing at and get us a better live mix. Have any of you tried this with your own vocals? What do you think? Any other tips on getting consistent mixes when playing live? THANKS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted December 10, 2012 Members Share Posted December 10, 2012 Possibly, if you don't overcompress and only worry about leveling out the louder stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nchangin Posted December 10, 2012 Members Share Posted December 10, 2012 http://www.dbxpro.com/product_downlo...s%20Manual.pdf Page 5. This is the guide I go by for vocals, however the one in the chart (smoothing out vocal performance) I only use about 2:1 on the RATIO, the chart goes 4:1 RATIO and that's too much compression I've found (see post # 2 don't over compress). You are going to have to play with attack and release, and thresh hold and I only suggest this is a guide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jealouscreature Posted December 10, 2012 Author Members Share Posted December 10, 2012 Sweet! Thanks for the link. I'm reading it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gruven65 Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 I use a separate compressor on each vocal mic, set at about 3:1 and start with the threshold at about -8 then watch the meters when each person sings. You'll still have to work the mic, but this helps even things out (well, it seems to work well for me). It's important to use your ears. When you're singing at lower volumes, eat the mic. Back away a few inches for louder passages--but listen carefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crownman Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 Am I reading it correctly that you're looking for something to run your vocal through before sending it to FOH on the gigs where you're not using your pa and have house guy running the system? If so, showing up with something like a compressor that the house guy has no control of isn't going to win you any friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gruven65 Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 Originally Posted by Crownman Am I reading it correctly that you're looking for something to run your vocal through before sending it to FOH on the gigs where you're not using your pa and have house guy running the system? If so, showing up with something like a compressor that the house guy has no control of isn't going to win you any friends. Good point. I guess I didn't read the entire post. If you have a sound man, you need to rely on him to get your vocal where it needs to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Miko Man Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 While a house PA operator may be able/willing to add compression to your vocals, you might consider whether you could work on your technique so that you didn't have to rely on technology. If you know (based upon experience) what compression settings to suggest to the house tech, you can do that. Whether your suggestions will carry any weight is an open question, however. (Hence the initial suggestion.). YMMV. Mark C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 Frankly, I would work on mic technique first. It's effective, cheap and may end up allowing you to deliver a BETTER performance than messing with a compressor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChiroVette Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 Originally Posted by agedhorse Frankly, I would work on mic technique first. It's effective, cheap and may end up allowing you to deliver a BETTER performance than messing with a compressor. Aged, am I wrong in assuming that compression on vocals, for the most part, is only necessary for singers who do a lot of screaming or harsh and loud singing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 Originally Posted by ChiroVette Aged, am I wrong in assuming that compression on vocals, for the most part, is only necessary for singers who do a lot of screaming or harsh and loud singing? Or who have poor mic technique, or for fine tuning some thickness and peak to average ratios (in the hands of a knowledgable, experienced FOH engineer). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rbts Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 In theory - compression can make a lot of things better - in practice - it can also make a lot of things worse. I never use a compressor any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Telecruiser Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 Originally Posted by agedhorse Frankly, I would work on mic technique first. It's effective, cheap and may end up allowing you to deliver a BETTER performance than messing with a compressor. ^^^THIS^^^A mic is no different than the instrument you play. You have to learn how to select one and then learn how to "play" it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 I watched some video and your microphone selection, coupled with the style being sung could make it very hard to "work the mic". I could tell it was an Audix, mic but couldn't make out the model. If it was an OM7 or OM5 you'll have a hard time working the mic for soft and loud passages to make them stand out the same because an inch makes a big difference. They are microphones you keep your lips on the grill with, which you pretty much did. In the video I watched the verse was almost mumbled, by design it seemed. That's tough to reproduce live without either extreme dynamics from everyone in the group (the band plays softly) or compression. If that was as OM7 or OM5 then you could likely get away with compression with less chance of feedback or unwanted "backline gak" than other microphones may give you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members IsildursBane Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 Originally Posted by ChiroVette Aged, am I wrong in assuming that compression on vocals, for the most part, is only necessary for singers who do a lot of screaming or harsh and loud singing? Yes, you are incorrect. Compression is also part of the sound of modern music. The sounds we associate with these genres are often not possible without heavy processing, no matter how good the singer or instrumentalist.That said, as others have pointed out, it's quite easy to make things worse rather than better if you don't know what you're doing.-Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vinny D Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 After watching some of the OP's videos a compressor will be of no help... The biggest problem I see is no dynamics.....meaning, the band is playing at a constant 10+ level even when the vocals are trying to do something softer. Either change to screamo style vocals through out, or have the band learn to change intensity level with your vocals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members VanHalen Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 I was forced to use a compressor on live vocals after a certain singer would scream "Yeehaw!" at random into his mic and blew a set of my horn drivers once. The compression keeps his vocal from clipping my power amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vangkm Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 We use some compression on vocals and I like my mic level a bit higher than everything else in the mix. Screams just don't sound as good without it (this weekend's gig is a good example) and a lot of the songs we do go from whispers to talking to screaming to singing. I have to play guitar too and it definitely helps so I can move around a lot more. With the mic low and zero compression I have to worry more about volume and projection so everything else suffers a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted December 12, 2012 Members Share Posted December 12, 2012 Originally Posted by VanHalen I was forced to use a compressor on live vocals after a certain singer would scream "Yeehaw!" at random into his mic and blew a set of my horn drivers once. The compression keeps his vocal from clipping my power amps. ... or use properly sized power amps with limiters, and set your gain structure appropriately to accomodate such screaming. System processing, properly set, is another similar approach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted December 12, 2012 Members Share Posted December 12, 2012 "Just because" I have dynamics on all channels with one of my digital mixers I set up ~8:1 limiters on all the vocal channels to tame the occasional blast and/or surprise "guest" screamer or harp player. I strive for only seeing gain reduction on these unusual SPL excursions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted December 12, 2012 Members Share Posted December 12, 2012 Originally Posted by RoadRanger "Just because" I have dynamics on all channels with one of my digital mixers I set up ~8:1 limiters on all the vocal channels to tame the occasional blast and/or surprise "guest" screamer or harp player. I strive for only seeing gain reduction on these unusual SPL excursions. Hopefully you have adequate input headroom from which to subtract this gain reduction from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted December 12, 2012 Members Share Posted December 12, 2012 Originally Posted by agedhorse Hopefully you have adequate input headroom from which to subtract this gain reduction from. Yep - I run the thresholds on the DL1608 at -17db, signals are usually peaking just below that. I haven't checked out what happens when you overdrive the pre's on that yet - on my Phonic digital mixer the pre's soft clip before the A/D converters run out of range which is kind of cool. I think most digital mixers just over-range the A/D's = yuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.