Home » Audio » Pro Sound » Editing Vocal Sound
Editing Vocal Sound [message #65545] Tue, 04 January 2011 01:18 Go to next message
Lancelot is currently offline  Lancelot
Messages: 99
Registered: February 2010
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I heard some people say that some recordings are done with vocal editing. Is this true? How can we determine an artist singing in his own voice or if the recording was edited already?
Re: Editing Vocal Sound [message #65570 is a reply to message #65545] Wed, 05 January 2011 09:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
audioaudio90 is currently offline  audioaudio90
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Registered: October 2010
Illuminati (1st Degree)
Vocals are almost always altered or enhanced. Equalization and reverb are often used. Sometimes people use Auto-Tune to help correct pitch or to create an effect.
Re: Editing Vocal Sound [message #65577 is a reply to message #65545] Wed, 05 January 2011 14:13 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Adveser is currently offline  Adveser
Messages: 434
Registered: July 2009
Location: USA
Illuminati (1st Degree)
There are several ways to record vocals:

All live, multiple takes spliced together. This was used in the analogue age.

Line by line until perfection. Became standard once analog tape was ditched.

Sung once and autotune and pro-tools is used to fix all the mistakes and problems. This is how pop singers do everything, except Norah Jones apparently, who refuses to use technology in such a manner.


There is virtually no way to determine who's doing what. You would have to know a singer's voice intimately to know it doesn't sound a certain way at a certain pitch.

This is primarily why I love Metal. Not only are the singer's generally more technical and much better singers, but you'd be hard pressed to find a vocalist that would need to resort to a lot of tricks.

I have no problem using the third method to get something to sound the right way, but I would most definitely use it as a rehearsal reel and get it to sound that way naturally and then I would go line by line or section by section or whatever. There is absolutely no reason to record the whole performance 20 times and splice it together.

On a lot of Live albums the vocals are hardly ever "live" during certain eras.

I don't like autotune. There are natural dynamics in even the most clear and on pitch notes that would be lost. Remember back when they had duets and multiple singers on a record and no one's pitch was dead perfect 100% of the time and how natural and good that sounded?


Re: Editing Vocal Sound [message #65584 is a reply to message #65577] Thu, 06 January 2011 02:48 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Lancelot is currently offline  Lancelot
Messages: 99
Registered: February 2010
Viscount
Adveser wrote on Wed, 05 January 2011 14:13
Remember back when they had duets and multiple singers on a record and no one's pitch was dead perfect 100% of the time and how natural and good that sounded?


Yes, I remember them and that is why I have asked this question because I think most artists today use technology to enhance their music and not so much with vocal talent. I even wonder if Justin Bieber will be as famous as he is now without the use of these gadgets that enhances the voice.
Re: Editing Vocal Sound [message #65636 is a reply to message #65545] Sun, 09 January 2011 09:49 Go to previous message
audioaudio90 is currently offline  audioaudio90
Messages: 623
Registered: October 2010
Illuminati (1st Degree)
Yes, I prefer natural talent too, but even natural voices are altered during or after recording.

Now it's much more extreme (use of Auto-Tune, eg) to cover lack of talent, which is irritating.
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