R/E/P Community
R/E/P => R/E/P Archives => Reason In Audio => Topic started by: Tha Sun God on September 10, 2004, 01:10:10 PM
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Hello, i'm new here. I'm currently work'n on my hip hop album, but i haven't recorded it yet. I used to have an M-audio usb duo 24/96 soundcard/mic pre. But i realized that i wasn't going to get satisfying results with it. So i decided to sell it. Here is my new equipment set up:
Octava Mk-319 mic - Joe Meek VC3 compressor/mic pre - Firewire audiophile.
i haven't gotten enough money to get my audiophile yet, but since i'm recording rap/hip hop vocals, i would like some compression setting statistics if you know anything about the joe meek VC3 compressor or not. I don't want it to sound extremely compressed, nor pumpy. I just want it to sound like me. I haven't had luck compressing my vocals within software compressors, because sometimes i rap loud and silent. whenever i rap, I use either the waves RCL, or the rennaisance vox within cubase sx 2.0. sometimes both. They fail to make my compression smooth cause words still hurt my ears. So i reverted to a hardware compressor in my budget "A Joe Meek VC3".I heard it was very good, thus the signal is being compressed as it goes in. but i just want some good settings for rap vocals...please reply
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3-6db of compression. attack and release times depending on how your rapping/singing. I usually use an 1176 (not the plugin) on most vocals. With rap I like to tweak it so that it has a fast attack time to semi fast attack time. And a medium release, it really depends on the vocals. I like to keep the compression constant at 3-6 db. Thats the conservative side of compression. Most hip hop, rap is compressed to hell, but yet tasteful. Ears are the best. Some of the biggest engineer's ive worked with just turn the knobs and dont look at the meter. Its all about the ear, something that looks good on the meter might sound like shit. Dont really be concerned with the numbers or what position the knobs are in, there is no wrong way. Other than that a little high end and a little off the low end will make the vocals sound good.
-Joe-
Refraze Studios
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i tend to compress quite heavily, with gain reduction somewhere between 6-12dB. soft knee, fast attack and release, ratio at somewhere like 4,5:1. of course you have to test to find out the right settings. it's also good to have the "doublings" (i don't know the right word in english, but it's another track with only some words/lines to give the vocals more power, you know what i mean, dont you?) quieter than the main vox. start with something like 6dB less than the main vox, so that it doesn't sound much louder, only fatter. it's also possible to double the whole verse, but it sometimes gets quite mushy/muddy. experiment. you can also try bussing all the vocals into one compressor. experimenting is key!
the best of luck
Jukka Lariola
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Meek's compressors sound fat and round to me.So try the fast attack setting along with short release cause hip hop vocals tend to be very "fast" also so you have to compress with fast attack and release times in order to copensate for the compressor's "round" sound and the fast singing techniques of hip hop.Watch out though that very fast release along with too much ratio,may result in audible distortion.
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thanks, it's been a helper. appreciate it.
-Tha Sun God-
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IMNSHO, the Joe Meek VC3, like the Joe Meek line, is characterized first and foremost by being really cheap.
Over your career - and especially if you're somewhat successful and have the opportunity to choose based on criteria other than price - you'll grow to really listen to various pieces of equipment before you buy them, and while you're listening "blindfold" yourself as to the price.
The two hardest jobs we do are 1> paying close - you might even say, objective - attention to what we hear and 2> changing our minds - really changing ourselves - from one point of view to another.
George
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So are you basically saying that the VC3 is crap?
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At least George placed the "Not So Humble" in front of his extremely opinionated opinion.
In between "Joe Meek is Cheap" and "Nothing is Crap" lies that great unknown. Part of what working for years to gain experience is for, is to be able to discern by listening, just what is and is not crap . However, about the time you figure that out, someone comes along with vocal through a high impedance mic and a Fender Champ and what do you know? Hit record. Go figure.
It is still important to know what sounds good (the hardest thing in audio IMHO) so that when you run a high impedence mic through a Fender Champ, you are doing it because you know which song that sound will sound good in.
Best Regards,
Bill
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thanks fellas. soon i'll be standing upright on the peak of a mountain while the wind forcefully brushes through my hair, and against my cape.