Advise on Mastering Vocals

[proactive]

We are a not for profit spiritual organization and cannot offered to go for professional mastering. We record strictly male vocals in a semi-studio setup (sound proof & acoustic treated). We have only one speaker and we don't even add music. We are able to record fairly well.

NOW - please advise how to do the mastering, to the release quality. We do not sell the disks/audio material but do play it to groups of audience and want to give them the best experience. So, any detailed explanation as well as relevant links are greatly appreciated.
BTW - how does normalization improve audio quality; or does it create any problems.

We need to ensure that the audio does NOT change in anyway from the original recording, even if it sounds better. Thanks.

[zildjohn01]

Originally Posted by proactive

We need to ensure that the audio does NOT change in anyway from the original recording, even if it sounds better.

Huh? You don't want to change it to make it sound better? Then you don't have to master..... What are you talking about?

[Vulconizer]

If you do not want to change the sound at all, then the aspect of mastering that you will be concerned with will be deciding what order the songs go in on the final released product.

If you do not want to change the sound at all, I would not be concerned with normalization.

You might want to read any articles, interviews, etc from folks like Bob Ludwig and other high profile mastering engineers. It may give you a fairly decent insight into what mastering is, what it isn't, and what it can do for you in the right hands. I can tell you from personal knowledge that in the wrong, inexperienced hands ( mine ) it can be disastrous for your mixes.

In my opinion, mastering is not the silver bullet to sonic excellence. Getting a series of excellent recordings and excellent mixes is the first step. Getting those polished as a set by a great mastering engineer helps to enhance them as a whole. It allows them to flow together with some cohesion and unity.

Just my opinion. I'm sure there will be those who disagree.

[richiebee]

Originally Posted by proactive

BTW - how does normalization improve audio quality; or does it create any problems.

Normalizing does not change the sound, but allows the player to playback at a lower volume. That will help with playback on lower quality equipment.

There is no real downside to it. It theoretically raises the noisefloor, but its all relative. A user will listen at whatever volume they listen at. If they have to crank the volume knob, they'll hear noise. If you have it normalized and they use a lower volume, they'll hear noise. The only variant is the playback equipment. I don't see any reason not to normalize.

You'd do well to use a compressor to keep a somewhat consistent volume level making everything more intelligible without the player needing to ride the volume knob. But that WILL change the original sound.

[brandondrury]

If you don't want the sound changed in any way, what exactly do you want to do? Make it louder?

Brandon

[ediblecastle]

if you don't know what normalization is, it's probably safe to suggest you aren't all that aware of some basic techniques you can use to have your vocals sounding as good as possible.

but like the others said... any sort of adjustment to the audio, be it adding compression to level out the audio volume or adding some reverb will technically 'change' the original recording.

you could always post a recording you've made in the "Bash This Recording" forum and see what people suggest

[profjack]

It is really impossible to drive a car without adding weight to its original. Or you want to sneak through the smoke? Recorded sound without effects is said to be dry. From the way your recording room is set up, you seem to be recording mono sound. But if you mix it well, you can come out with a juicy stereo sound- by panning some of the backing voices to the left and right and leaving the leading voices torwards the centre.

You may need to apply a little reverb to the vocals to enhance them. You will already be mastering then.

Normalisation gives a 'roof' to the db output of the track it is applied to to avoid 'clipping' sound.

[scribe]

Originally Posted by profjack

It is really impossible to drive a car without adding weight to its original. Or you want to sneak through the smoke?

Uh, i don't know if i am missing something in the translation because I am an aussie, but what are you talking about?

[Vulconizer]

I don't think it has anything to do with your being an Aussie. You just aren't doing the right drugs, I think.

[rjaggers]

Hi, this is my first post here and I'm happy to be here. I have a Zoom HD8 DAW and although I've been in the music business for over 30 years I am having trouble getting my mix right, and also bouncing tracks to clear up channels for other instruments etc. anybody out there have a Zoom or can offer any help? I would appreciate it. Reg