Standard settings

Special Interest Groups Making Music
1

Hullo fellow Audacity users.

I am using Audacity to record me singing (sometimes harmonising), playing mandolin, acoustic guitar and acoustic bass (plugged in).
I know people say there is no one-size-fits all solution but could you musicians let me know some of the setting you use for your songs for compression, equalisation, reverb, etc.

It’s just to point me in the right direction.

As an example, I am using the quick-fix rverb setting I saw written about somewhere for my voice and it seems quite effective.
I switch on bass boot in equalisation to up my bass guitar and treble boost to get rid of my acoustic guitar’s booming sound.
I have no idea what to do with the compression.

Do the settings for vocals and back-up vocals differ very much?


As I say, I realise that the settings will vary according to the circumstances but if you could offer a few pieces of advice. I would be most grateful.

Anton

2

I always start from recording with a maximum peak level close to -6 dB, no reverb other than the natural reverb of the recording space, no compression, no equalization.

Then Normalize to -2 dB,

If at this stage it sounds “bad”, delete and start over.

If it sounds reasonable, take it from there, editing and applying effects as necessary.

3

Thanks for your prompt reply and tip, Steven.However, I am rank amateur so how do you normalise to - 2 db

4

– Select the whole clip or show by clicking just above MUTE.
– Effect > Normalize: [X] Normalize to -2 > OK

Koz

5

Thanks a lot.

Anton