Glenn Stanton

yeah, they tend to over-articulate and as i'm learning - i have to create word separations to better mimic how i want them pronounced (when the syllabic controls don't do it) and even tweaking in Melodyne (mainly for the de-essing) doesn't quick get the feel right. but agreed - getting close and in the right type of music or as backing vocals, they can be pretty hard to distinguish.

EDIT: i found that in the phoneme edits you can set the "s" and other sounds levels to effectively "de-ess" right in the performance, then add a very light de-esser to capture anything which may jump out.

On 7/7/2023 at 1:45 AM, Lord Tim said:

PRO-TIP: Turn the damn thing off immediately after or you're going to Have A Bad Time.

yeah, nothing like forgetting to turn it off and spending 30 minutes editing tracks to find it's skewed beyond repair... heard it from, erm, a friend ? one reason i separate record and mix projects. hypothetically, uh, if i, erm, did something like that, i could simply re-start a new mix project with all the original recording tracks intact and not have to try and sort 500 "edit" files...

so, my friend who wrote this song back in H.S. (1978?) liked my updated electronic version, and thought about doing it as a ballad. being instructional, i decided to show the various steps to go from composition to finished via a number of emails and mp3 files (and was resounding mocked by some ? )...  on the rock part you can practically smell the lasers ? lol

basically - all synthetic vocals. using SynthV and the Natalie, Kevin, Asterian, and Solaria voices. i created the basic forms - a simple acoustic version followed by a progressive rock-like thingie using HookPad. export MIDI. import each into a separate project  and set up instruments, export to WAV. about 12 tracks (mainly drums) in the acoustic, and 18 tracks in the rock version (11 are drums). two vocals each. 

then create the vocals in Synth V - since they all going to sing all of it, i create the first track and get the vocals close. probably about 3 hours. export all four vocalists... import into their respective mix projects along with the instrument tracks. mix and export as 2-track WAV.

import the two WAV into a new project and do the overlap, a touch of reverb, some Ozone 10, and, voila! export as 2-track WAV and MP3 (using the export manager, again).

so all in all - about 12 hours between the two projects. acoustic tracks are jazz brush kit, upright bass, grand piano, cello, and hammered dulcimer (solo). the rock track is fairfax 1 rock drums, upright bass, b3 organ (pad), mono super saw-wave synth, electric guitar w/ tremolo, les paul with effects for lead.

and reload the CW redistributables as there are many times the ordering of the API seem to get screwed up - esp (seemingly) after an Edge update...

agreed - the export function really says a lot of time - if i'm using a bunch of VI tracks in my recording project, i don't have to render them first, just export in preparation for the mix template.

thanks all for the comments. did some more work with the drumming as it was a "happy accident" at first as the choir vocals caused the tom toms so i tweaked the MIDI to clean it up and tone it down a bit.

the sax part is actually a real tracks solo from BIAB where i wrote out the song and added a pop sax soloist. then exported as a single track for the mix. ? 

i think i put the drums up front more since there is really only a few instruments: drums, bass (upright), double bass string pad, acoustic guitar, piano (in a few spots), reggae organ, and really the choir parts as pads.  4 vocals - two duet then +2 more for the pre and chorus and bridge. however in the recent mix, i took a lot of cymbals out to clean up the drums.

17 hours ago, PhonoBrainer said:

the time signature is in nine? Maybe not all the time? What a cool trip. Vocals were great as they hold down different ranges of eq.

I honestly could do without the organ, it's the circus coming to town  and goes against the grain of the lyrics, so to speak. YMMV.

Those vocals and that melody are something worthy of a scene in a Bway musical. Really great.

thanks! i re-instrumented it - i had originally used the hookpad sounds, re-did them using my proper instruments including the B3... ? 

i wrote it many years ago for a wedding song... it's in 6/4 time. the vocals are 100% synthetic using the Synth V voices as i wanted to try them out with a "singing" song .  so no bway here! just disney lol ? 

something nice for a change ? 

ok, after a bit, i've updated. whilst i liked the quirky version, it wasn't really my goal on this. it was originally written as a wedding song long ago (1982?) and was supposed to be a waltz-like number. so after a bunch of tweaks, i think i like this version in its simplicity...

+1 -- yeah, the Synth V is very cool. i took one of my songs, imported the "choir lead" track MIDI, then added the lyrics (took some adjustments but not too bad as Jim noted some tweaks), then cloned and re-arranged a few parts for better harmonies across 4 voices. one cool thing (depending) is it constantly re-compiles as you're working, for me this is transparent, but on a slower machine would not be fun. then import as you would any other vocal tracks. as a note, before you start - setup the project with tempo, key, time signature, etc. one handy thing is the ability to import an audio track so you can position everything to the rough mix.

i think some of the voices are still a bit more synthetic than i would like but it's likely i don't have enough time in to make it better yet (only did 1 hour so far ? )

i think anyone making 100,000 posts probably should get a life ? 

if you cannot write your own DAW then you shouldn't be making music on a computer. ? 

i had to look it up in order to eschew obfuscation:

VERB paltering (present participle)
        equivocate or prevaricate in action or speech:

"if you palter or double in your answers, I will have thee hung alive in an iron chain"

34 minutes ago, Base 57 said:

It just seemed like the OP was not grasping the concept and needed a more direct answer. 

or is trolling

just as a test - if you play a note on your keyboard with the selected instrument, does the note stop when you lift off the key? or does it continue? if you play a couple of notes quickly on the keyboard, can you hear  them distinctly? if not, you need to adjust your instrument sound(s) to accommodate the short rests.

where is the voice controlled CbB on Plan9 OS?

8 minutes ago, JohnnyV said:

If you want auto tune in real time then look into a TC Voice Live processor. https://www.tc-helicon.com/series.html?category=R-TCHELICON-VOICELIVESERIES

+1 -- i know a few people who use the vocal extreme 3 w/ backing tracks and live instruments (guitar, keys) + harmonizing (which is not trivial to do even with the auto-pitch stuff) with great success and really excellent live shows.

it depends on the drive - 4K sectors are good for small files (like OSes with lots of smaller files) and 8K is also typical (and i've seen systems use 16K and 32K sectors) for larger files like audio etc. the reason for the larger sector sizes is the disk (or SSD which maps likes a disk) has more contiguous spaces for streaming-like access. so, less hopping around addresses to read or write it = generally faster.

using the built-in plugins, you could construct a reasonable "mastering chain" (even using the FX chain "mastering" ones) by using the CbB EQ, Compressors, Limiter (mode), Channel Tools (M/S etc), Tape and Console for saturation, etc and likely achieve really nice results with the right ears and skills. the only thing missing would be a CbB metering plugin -- but there are several decent free ones.

you could use automation lanes to get the track balance you want, and ducking as a modulation effect which is easily adjustable (manually or another automation lane), and possibly use automation lane patterns to define the effect(s) via: volume, EQ, compression settings, on-off switching delays / effects etc. really depends on what you're looking to do.

59 minutes ago, Craig Anderton said:

... Windows running via Bootcamp on Mac systems ...

when my adult son says things like this, i have to ask him "do you hear the words coming out of your mouth?"  LOL.

as a general rule on my part - I run Windows on PCs, and I run Mac stuff on Macs (at work the amount of screeching due to people running Windows on a Mac is just inane...) so when my son calls asking on how to get something Windows driver-like running on his Mac, i tell him to fire up his PC instead ? or spring for the $ on the Mac... (as a note i've been using Macs since 1987 and PC since 1990 -- so church and state...)

hmmmm. maybe there is a problem with your file system? or your OS configuration?

Run the System File Checker tool (SFC.exe)

To do this, follow these steps:

Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, do the following as your appropriate:

If you are running Windows 10, Windows 8.1 or Windows 8, first run the inbox Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool prior to running the System File Checker.  (If you are running Windows 7 or Windows Vista, skip to Step 3.) 

Type the following command, and then press Enter.  It may take several minutes for the command operation to be completed.

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

for mastering and mixing i generally set my io to 2048 samples or even higher to minimize load. i only ever use low # of samples for recording live instruments or live MIDI performances. for mastering a project (with multiple tracks) i only put the metering plugins on the master, and each track in the mastering project gets its own plugins (typ Ozone 10 or sometimes the Abbey Road Mastering plugin).

so you might try to increase the # of samples just to see if that helps. 

thanks! reminded me that i have the "emissary" bundle and a ton of IRs. such a wonderful combination.

yeah when i have a complex arrange that jumps around, i save it as a "temp_arrange" file and commit it (avoids the case with auto save or me instinctively press ctrl+s...) and then delete the temp file(s) later - lightweight and avoid any possibility of messing up the main file ? 

yeah, i've been a member there for several years now. no coupons and my settings are "send me coupons" ? no love there. i see other companies (once you sign up to pay for monthly coupons) will share some which knock it down by 70%. anyways...