Comments

stakeoutstudios wrote on 6/3/2004, 7:45 AM
I'm not sure exactly what you mean, can you give practical examples of what you're trying to do?

If for example you are talking about uneven volumes on a vocal recording (some passages or words louder than others) then you need to make use of a compressor.

There's a Sony one included in Vegas which does a pretty fine job.

What a compressor does is to reduce the dynamic range of the material it is applied to, according to an amount you specify.

If you insert the Sony compressor to a vocal track, do this test for a quick demonstration:

Set the ratio to 6:1, this means when the compressor is at maximum gain reduction, the passages it's reducing will be 6 times quieter than they were originally.

The amount the compressor actually reduces the loud passages by is determined by your threshold.

Pull down the threshold and watch the gain reduction meter to see what happens.

The attack and release controls determine how quickly the compressor will respond to the input signal, and how fast it kicks in the gain reduction. Release determines how quickly the compressor 'lets go' of the signal.

Various compressors have different controls, and certain compressors will respond differently to different types of program material - I won't go into those details for now!

One thing -

With compression, don't assume that the fastest attack is always what you want. By letting a little bit of the signal escape through before gain reduction is applied, you can end up retaining a great deal more clarity (for example, the consonants of vocals). Attack and release have a big influence on how things sound.

If you are talking about different tracks on a CD, that's a different matter.

You should subjectively listen on whatever you are monitoring on and can apply event gain reduction each whole (rendered) song with CD markers inbetween them. you should be able to get the volumes even very easily this way.

Applying compression to a whole mix / across multiple songs is a risky game, and while it can be a good thing, it can also be a bad thing!

If you can't accurately assess different volumes of different tracks on your monitoring setup without burning CDs and testing on a hifi, then there's something not quite right with your monitoring setup.

Of course, you could always hook up your hi-fi as an additional set of reference monitors!?

Jason


cosmo wrote on 6/3/2004, 8:07 AM
Jason has given you some excellent info about compression. I read your question a bit more simply though...sounds like you're maybe wondering if you have to "audition" the entire track or if there is a more automatic way to even out the levels from track to track. I know of no such easy trick to do that. In fact, this is what 'mixing' is. Listening to your track and manually adjusting all of the levels while you listen. If a track changes level throughout the track you can automate the volume fader so it remembers where you moved it during playback. You do in fact need a good set of speakers to listen/monitor with while using Vegas...that'll help a lot. You can search in here and find much advice on monitors of all prices.
tornadosm wrote on 6/3/2004, 9:00 PM
yeah..i am talking about different tracks...not the compression thing...but i am glad you told me about that...i think you are right about my monitoring setup..it is not good b/c all i am using is 2 nady 12 monitors..like P A speakers to listen..I guess I need to by some real monitors..huh? thank you
tornadosm wrote on 6/3/2004, 9:03 PM
Yes cosmo...this is also what I needed to hear. so there is no easy way. I kinda figured that and since I am new at recording...and people like my work, I want to do the best i can. I will look into getting monitors. How do you automate the volume fader? thanks
Geoff_Wood wrote on 6/3/2004, 10:30 PM
At the most basic level, you set the levels with teh volume fader. You can also use volume envelopes. It's in the manual, probably under 'basic stuff, start here'.

geoff
stakeoutstudios wrote on 6/4/2004, 2:25 AM
before you go out and buy some expensive studio monitors... try hooking up your hifi speakers.

If you're using PA speakers at the moment, this will be a big leap up. Remember that if your mixes translate well to other places it really doesn't matter what you're monitoring on.

However if you've got some $$$ lying around, specify a budget and I'm sure some people here will be able to recommend some speakers which are working for them :o)

I'm using Mackie HR824's, and occasionally Yamaha NS10ms - although the Yamahas are a strange speaker and I wouldn't recommend them as your *only* point of reference!

good luck!
Jason
stakeoutstudios wrote on 6/4/2004, 2:28 AM
you can pull up a volume envelope by highlighting the track and hitting 'v'.

You double click on the blue line that appears to create an envelope point, and can drag those points around by clicking and holding to adjust the volume.

Jason
cosmo wrote on 6/4/2004, 7:46 AM
I use the Samson Resolv65a, they were like $250-$300 I think...cheap. They're powered, have a ton of headroom and sound fantastic for the price.

Automating the volume settings is acheived by adding an "envelope" to the track you want to automate. After recording an event or take, you can select the clip on the timeline and choose Insert>audio envelopes>volume. You will see a line appear across the center of the event. That is the envelope. You can right click on that line to add points etc. Use points to anchor volume points as it moves through time.
tornadosm wrote on 6/4/2004, 1:11 PM
Yeah I have tried every way to get the sound with the 400watt 12 Nady PA speakers so....I think I will look into monitors. I understand what you r sayingbout if it sounds bad through the Pa and it burns ok...then ok...but it doesnt. thank you and this forum is great.
tornadosm wrote on 6/4/2004, 1:14 PM
great! I will definitely use this b/c sometime in the song I like the voice to be louder or to stress a note in a solo. I just have been adding tracks or using SF to edit the volume ....thanks alot
PeterVred wrote on 6/18/2004, 1:46 PM
might as well put in my 2 cents worth:
I use compression first, the use a volume envelope.
for those spikes that jump out and just can't be tamed,
split the event on either side of the spikey note and pull down the volume by grabbing at the top of the event box....works great for fine tuning.
P
tornadosm wrote on 6/19/2004, 3:13 AM
great advice cosmo, peter and geoff...thanks a whole lot...i will let you know how it goes i about a week...thanks again