From: jdobbs@assistant.beckman.uiuc.edu (Jim Dobbs)
Subject: Re: Noise in recording vocals
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 02:03:17 GMT

chrisc@gold.gvg.tek.com (Chris Christensen) writes:

>In article <ADA.92Apr13161915@zip.larc.nasa.gov> ada@zip.larc.nasa.gov 
>(Anthony Arviola) writes:
>>I'm having trouble recording my vocals without a lot of noise.  The reverb
>>that I use is really noisy.  So is my digital delay.  My voice is kind
>>of dull (dogs howl) by itself and I am forced to overdub it at least once
>>to get it sounding all right.  Is there any good, cheap, and quiet effects
>>that I can use to mellow out my vocals.  I've got several songs waiting
>>for me to find a solution.

I read an article by Craig Anderton in Electronic Musician a few years
ago which helped me with a similar problem.  He said that the main
reason people get so much noise out of their dig. reverbs & delays is
because they run them way too hot.  This type of effect uses 'feedback'
to recycle the output back into the input, which means that you
multiply noise in the signal as well.  Try running the inputs to these
units lower than you are now & see if that helps.  Some units actually
fail to show the increased level in the signal due to regeneration or
feedback, in which case you might get far superir results running the
inputs at say, -10 on the meter than you will at 0.  I have a couple of
ADA delays (known the world over as noisy) which I get very nice
results from by running the inputs so that I NEVER light the -10 light
on the LED input vu.  Try this & see what happens.

>I would suggest that (and you didn't say if you had) you heavily
>compress your vocal.  When you are doing that patch a graphic, or
>parametric in BEFORE the conpressor.  Use the EQ to "stress" the
>important part of your voice (this is where the term _vocal.stressing_
>comes from and describes this technique).

>Feed the reverb with the compressed/stressed signal.  After you have
>this printed to tape, double it down to another track through a delay
>and the EQ/compressor set-up if you think it needs it.....

>The Alesis Verbs are good buys.

>-- 
>Chris Christensen                  The opinions I express are my own,
>chrisc@gold.gvg.tek.com            and sometimes they are wrong!
>916-478-3419 FAX 916-478-3887      After all, I AM only human.

Well, I agree with part of this & disagree with part of it.  I guess I
mostly agree - here goes...
I guess it depends in part on your tape format & amount of outboard
gear.  In the studio, the general rule is to almost never print effects
of any kind - always adding them during mixdown, the reason being that
if you print a sound with an effect you are permanently stuck with it.
However, if you have only 4 tracks or know you will have to bounce
them before you are done, OR if you have a limited number of effects to
use during mixdown, then you will sometimes HAVE to print an effected
sound.  
Compression (especially on vocals) is an exception to these rules, as
is EQ in most cases - many times the only sound you will want is the
compressed, EQ'ed sound (again, especially on vocals.)  If you are not
compressing your vocal at all yet, then you are in for a VERY pleasant
surprise.  This will make a great deal of difference, as it will bring
the softest part of the sound up to a high level for better
signal/noise ratio, while keeping the hottest parts of the program from
clipping.
I guess the only thing that worries me about Chris' response is
something Chris is probably assuming you already know (you probably DO,
too.)  That is that when you are using an EQ, it is ALWAYS better to
REDUCE levels than to BOOST levels, as you add noise along with the
desired content when you boost using an EQ.  On a related subject, I
think people use EQ way too much - they tend to use it like vitamins
when they should be using it like medicine.  End of sermonette.

Thank you for your attention.

-Jim
--
    ^ -   James C. "Jim" Dobbs - jdobbs@assistant.beckman.uiuc.edu
  ( O-O   Individualism - it isn't for everyone.
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