How do I record better vocals in Audacity?

[emma1980]

Hi guys,
It's Emma again. Everything sounds great in Audacity until I play it with my vocal track - which sounds awful.
I'm using a condensor mic plugged directly into computer's line-in, and I realize that's probably the problem.
But do I need a USB Mic? Do I need a preamp (are there any cheap ones?)? Or would a Behringer audio mixer help my vocals sound better?
Any help you guys can offer would be so much appreciated!
Thanks,
Emma

[brandondrury]

Can you attach an mp3 clip? If we can hear it we can help better.

If you aren't using a actual recording gear, you are going to have a hard time.

Brandon

[Chazamatazz]

I don't see a problem with plugging a mic into your sound card. Maybe its a volume imbalance and your not getting "all of " the mic.Or getting digital distortion. Here's another thing: If you want a full sound, sing really close to the mic. If your back too far, and the mic is just a "regular mic" that is not a large diaphram it might not sound very good, or may not convey the whole sound of your voice. I have a Neumann and it may be a little more forgiving. The thing is yeah you can get MORE STUFF ie., mixers and other mics and preamps and compressors, but you 'll always have to consider the very first instrumment in the path anyway. I have the audacity program and that even has plug-ins right? You can use one of them to change the sound as well. make sure all your audio inputs and outputs are at reasonble volumes. Digital deoesn't mean you need a USB mic, but its good your trying everything..you learn from that too. Good Luck!

[emma1980]

Hi guys,

Emma again ... doing better at getting my songs down ...

I got a Tascam US-144 USB 2.0 audio interface. My Shure SM58 mic goes directly into the tascam, which goes into my PC. I'm using Cubase LE4 and Audacity as software.

My problem is still that when I'm live, my vocals sound rich, full and powerful. They fill the room and flow into the music. But why I try to record them, well, they sound ... flat, empty, lifeless,

I'm experimenting with the Effects ... does anyone have any general tips or advice on compression, reverb and delay for vocals?

Thanks for any help that you guys can think of.

Emma

[Chazamatazz]

Tons of things come up,and none are available for words. Plus I'm not an audio engineering genius, but let me take a shot.
Lets start with Compression. First of all there's the ratio. How much do you want of the natural sound thats full of dynamics, but might not be a FULL SOUNDING SOUND, becasue the dynamis can get swallowed up by the rest of the mix. So I use compression when I want to center the vocals around certain frequencies and flatten it out. Its existing in the mix,with compression, like something in the foreground against the many mountains of DYNAMIC in the background. So you flatten it out by using compression to make it stand out in the mix. and RATIO, in compression says how much you want to flatten it out (thereby increasing the fullness in some frequencies, dynamically. if its 2:1 there's hatrdly any compression, 4:1 is alot more and so on. What do you want the vocals to sound like? sensual, exciting,full, thin (like a background vocal maybe ) plus you can group 5 vocals together and with compression get a sound like Journey on the NA NA NA NA song,if you know which one I;'m reffering to.by compressing 5 group vocals they become as ONE BIG VOCAL. thats compression- use too little and all the dynamics are present but the sound doesn't stand out as much, use too much and the vocal is lfeless, thin(too thin) and "squeezed".
Reverb used to be used in the seventies like crazy.all of a sudden in the nintees, Nirvana would hardly use it, not many of the rockers did,they started fooling around with chorussy doubling and stuff.
On a ballad, a touch of reverb goes a long way. Fool with the parameters in reverb settings. Try for an elegant amount. Up the dry/effect button.take a lot of effect off then slowly put it back in.
also eq works in the reverb setting. the highs of your vocal have reverb designated to it in the Hi frequency part of the setting,of course the lows are represented too. I have a low baritone voice, or actually high baritone...my parts will be different then yours, I might wanna cut the low part of the reverb setting and boost the high, then roll off some reverb by lessening the effect and boosting the dry. delay is another issue. in time,it goes from the smallest amount of delay to a long echo. in milleseconds its displayed. words like Chorus,flanging denote low echo times,whereas slap back denotes a much longer time. then there are multiple echoes that decrease in volume., Left Right and center settings for complex digital delay, Modulation delay which colors and delays the sound.....thi sis enough for now. Sorry if I took so much room...Have fun, it truly is fun...

Charlie Lang

[emma1980]

Thank you SO MUCH! I'm going to spend the rest of the night just trial-and-error-ing with compression, delay, etc.

I havent been able to find the right sound and its so frustrating. I need to amplify the vocal track because it comes out soooooo low - but that adds a hiss that I need to remove with noise reduction - but that adds a tinny sound ... ugggh!

The echo effect sounded okay but now it just sounds wierd to me and I'm, well, double ugggh!

I'm starting to think maybe I don't have my sound card / audio interface (tascam 144 usb 2.0) properly connected, and maybe thats (?) responsible for the low, dull, flat, empty vocals I'm working with? I know the SM58 mic is good, the software is good ... my speakers are good ...

Do you know if the tascam audio interface is supposed to go into the computer BEYOND the USB connection? Should I also go line out of interface to line in on pc?

I must be missing something ...

[Chazamatazz]

I don't know the answer to your final questions my friend, just that the line out of your interface should go line into your computer.I think. see, I don't use the computer to do my music, I have a Korg D3200. The usb from youur interface hooks up to a program on your PC right? What does HELP in the program say? Just type in your question. Sorry I can't help much on this...Good Luck..I also wish I could help on the mic volume. Did you try volume control? Do you see it in your tray? in the bottom of your computer..the spkr icon? that shouold tell you everything you have plugged in, and there shouold be settings that maybe your mic is going into.shouldnt be any noise. your mic (a 58 is fine) should sound good without any effects. The question is WHERE are the controls for the mic volume. Look in start
programs
accesseries for the
volume control
so that if you can't find yuour sound card, you may still find mic.
the uSB connection is a way of Bypassing the mini jacks on your computer. I dont thinkk yuou should have to even use your mic jacks on your computer outs.

[emma1980]

Thank you chaz. I think you're right about that - if the USB goes from tascam 144 into PC, then I really shouldnt have to go line out of tascam to line/mic in to pc. But something's off, and I will keep at it. I wont bug you anymore, but I really appreciate your help, chaz!
Emma

[Chazamatazz]

no please bug me. I'm mixing a song. its all fun. maybe we can figure this out. god knows i've had so much help along the way.

[emma1980]

Okay ... thanks!!!

I just re-connected my tascam 144 interface USB to my PC, and now I'm going through the cubase LE4 set up instructions again to make sure my key connections are all right. Then I'll try a test recording and we'll see how it sounds ...

Thanks!
Emma