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Gary Bradley

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  1. @Bill Campbell Thanks for posting the Helix file - really fixed a problem for me! Cheers! G
  2. Hi Richard If clipping, the pre gain level is too hot so turn down the gain. Ensure your peaks are only about -9 or -12dB. Overload also comes from just being too close. Volume variations are either vocal technique or moving back / towards / sideways from mic. Assuming you're using a condenser mic, pick a spot about 8-10 inches away for your quiet notes and lean away from the mic on louder passages. If a recorded phrase is too quite or distorted, delete it immediately. Do it again. Rehearse your vocal performance until it becomes more consistent in volume and timbre throughout the song. Where there are difficulties such as breathing, pitch, intonation etc, stop there and correct them. Demo the song, listen back, take notes, decide what to alter, what you want it to sound like and how you are going to achieve it. Then put it into practice. Demo and review. Recording is rehearsal. This is why artists work with good producers and tracking engineers to help them overcome these issues, and spend time in rehearsals before capturing anything. Work on the above performance technique, mic placement and gain staging. Rehearse your song or phrases until they improve, otherwise you will go round this issue over and over again and it will keep giving you unsatisfactory results. If you're really stuck, hire a voice coach who 'gets' pop/rock and studio performance. Most vocal tracks are comped from 3-5 takes but for a well prepared artist the variation between takes is subtle. One final tip, a dynamic mic might work for you but the mic technique for recording is more difficult to master than with a condenser. A dynamic mic only suits 'blasters' or artists with great control over their whole range like Bono or Tina Turner! Reaching out is the right thing! Keep working to improve. Hope this helps Gary
  3. Recently I unregistered all of my plugins, then selected a core to suit my mixing / mastering / production techniques. After loading up what the music needed rather than what 'I', I have about 25 now. Selecting & buying PIs should really be derived from one's production values and needs. Now it's much easier to 'just say no!'. Gary
  4. Hi Richard This really is a performance issue. My best advice is to work on your vocal performance & mic technique. 'Fix in the mix' is such a tedious process! A great vocal take should only normally need a little levelling and eq plus any effects so try to work on your performance - it'll give much more satisfactory results. Yes, automation and normalisation are an option. Avoid compression at this stage! To avoid clipping: Try to stay about 8-12" back from the mic to prevent proximity effect, prevent plosives and improve tonal consistency. Also, to stop plosives, use a pop filter. If you don't have one, place your mic just higher or lower than your mouth to let your breath 'overshoot' the diaphragm. Move a little further away in higher energy passages and a little closer if lower energy to even out the gain. Turn the preamp gain down a few dB's. Digital recording doesn't need the same 'hot' signal as analogue. To improve your performance technique, practice before hand and try to gain consistency over levels, mic placement, distance from the mic etc. You should be able to see where you perform better and where consistent adjustments need to be made. The artist has the right to destroy their work and try again. I would delete the clipped / poor takes: it's quicker to re-record! Here's a summary: Try to get mic-distance down to 3 options e.g. Quiet passages: 6-8" Normal: 8-10" Loud: 12-18" Set preamp gain to only peak into the yellow, never red. Control breath and pops with technique, mic placement & popfilter. Delete what doesn't work and redo it. Be ruthless! Do a few trials and nail it down! Hope this helps! G
  5. Yes, a few times. 🙄 I just uninstalled, ran CCleaner and reinstalled. Seemed to work. Gary
  6. Hi John To change the time signature of the whole track, set your song pointer to 01:00:00 and select Project > Insert Meter/Key Change > change Beats per measure and Beat Value. It's easily undone if it doesn't work. Check it in Staff View. 6/8 & 12/8 will give different notation. Best, Gary
  7. Hi Kenrout Apologies if I'm missing something here but if this helps... If I read you right, you're using the mixer to record into the 2i2 and send the SB card and 2i2 out to the same speakers? If so, the mixer is over complicating everything and as it's likely going to degrade your recorded and playback sound from both audio devices. The 2i2 will have far superior headroom and sound quality. I have only my interface and monitors and can play all games easily with no SB card. The Focusrite ASIO/Control software allows your DAW to work audio independently of Windows (kinda!). Generally, a DAW will not permit using two sound devices at once. Only one can be the master and the other deselected or slaved to it via ADAT/optical link (that's another story!). Again, sorry if I have misunderstood, but I think your best option is to use the 2i2 in the DAW without the mixer, plugged into your mix monitors. Then get separate speakers for the SB card for games if you need that. Hope this helps! G
  8. Hi Andrew, I'm running FW hardware too so my guess is you might be trying to reset the interface while CW is still running? If so, CW is likely overriding FW Control. If so, try this: Terminate CW if it's running. Set FR Control software to desired settings e.g. 48kH/24bit 512 samples which is commonly used. Restart CW and ensure your project is set to the same in Preferences. CW and FR control shouldn't depend on Windoze sound control settings but I'm convinced they get confused. Sometimes I get locked out at 96kH and neither CW or FR will work. I have to switch all devices off, restart Windoze, set system audio Playback and Recording options to the same settings I record at and then fire up FR, check the settings and then CW. As a rule of thumb, 48kH/24 bit @ 512 will give ~10s latency whereas 128 samples might give about 5-6ms latency. ~10ms is a good compromise in a decent system for tracking but 5ms will likely glitch when the track count is high or there are two many plugins running, especially virtual instruments (which you can freeze before recording). Of course, this depends on your system config. Let us know how you are getting on! PS it helps if you can include your full system specs in the post footer! Best Gary
  9. Matthew, Thank you for the templates! I'm just starting with film. Just using Rapture and some other samples to get started before committing monies to libraries so the templates and your notes above are most helpful! Very grateful indeed! Thank you. Gary
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