Help With An Off Vocal Track (sample mp3 included)

[ltse1]

Hi all,

I've recorded a cover version of "Heaven" by Los Lonely Boys, but the vocal track seems a bit off. I've lurked on this forums for a while and learned quite a few helpful tips, but I don't know what effect might improve the vocal track. I know there's clipping (but it doesn't seem like much) and I've added a bass boost of 5 dB, but I'm all out of ideas. I've tried Equalization using the acoustic curve, and compression with default settings but the high/low pitches don't seem to be out of wack anyway.

Here's the mp3: http://rapidshare.com/files/254638666/Heaven_2.mp3.html

[kozikowski]

<<<I know there's clipping (but it doesn't seem like much)>>>

There is no good clipping. If you have clipping or channel overload, you have a damaged performance and even the desperation method clip fixers will never restore the musical quality to the voice. So that's step one.

There was a thread a while back where we improved the microphone capture quality of a poster, over the course of several days, from answering machine quality to commercial product announcing.

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 07&start=0

There's a lot of good advice in there. He was using a plain rock-band Shure SM-58 microphone for announcing and all we did was apply good recording rules and techniques to his work. Same rules for good recording of anything.

Koz

[steve]

I know there's clipping (but it doesn't seem like much)

screenshot.png (13.26 KiB) Viewed 901 times

That is quite a lot of clipping and is very audible.
The clipping is by far the number 1 place for improvement.

In order to get a sufficient level in the vocal without clipping you will probably need to use a compression effect. I would recommend the "SC4" compressor (available from the main Audacity web-site). Your vocal recording needs to be distortion free, then use the dynamic compressor to even out the peaks a bit. You will then be able to push the level of the vocals in the mix without clipping.