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Old 08-04-2010, 03:35 PM   #1
mike2o2
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Default Does anyone know the steps to mix and master vocals in reaper

I jus got reaper yesturday im a noob and ive trying to figure out how to mix and master perfect vocals with reaper i used to use cool edit pro but decided to change to get better sound quality for vocals can some1 please help me ???
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Old 08-04-2010, 03:37 PM   #2
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what were you not able to do with cooledit that you expect to be able to do in reaper?
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Old 08-04-2010, 03:42 PM   #3
mike2o2
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well i used reaper for the first time yesturday and the sound i got was a lot fuller than when i edit with cool edit. The vocals in reaper sounded more professional and clean but i feel like im missing something im not sure what im doing wrong do u know any steps i could follow to get that professional sound??
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Old 08-04-2010, 03:47 PM   #4
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There are no rules. Just listen to what you're doing.
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Old 08-04-2010, 03:57 PM   #5
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Hi Mike and welcome to the forums.

It is hard to give advice when you are describing music with words.

Your best bet would be to use your ears and trust your judgement. Get it sounding as good as your abilities will allow, then post it in the collaboration area and ask for specific advice.

Lots of helpful suggestions will likely follow.
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Old 08-04-2010, 05:28 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EvilDragon View Post
There are no rules. Just listen to what you're doing.
And learn what to listen for.
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Old 08-04-2010, 05:36 PM   #7
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Precisely.
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Old 08-04-2010, 05:39 PM   #8
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And learn what to listen for.
And listen for what to learn.
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Old 08-04-2010, 05:04 PM   #9
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Quote:
I jus got reaper yesturday im a noob and ive trying to figure out how to mix and master perfect vocals
Perfect??? I've been "fooling around" with audio since the analog days, but I'd probably get fired if I tried to mix or master Lady Gaaa. This stuff takes years of accumulating knowledge & experience. ( Except, we all secretly think we could do a better job than the pros... especially if we could just get our hands on the right equipment. )

Quote:
Originally Posted by mike2o2 View Post
well i used reaper for the first time yesturday and the sound i got was a lot fuller than when i edit with cool edit.
When you record & playback, your choice of software does not affect "sound quality"

When you record, the software basically just sets-up the soundcard/driver (sample rate, etc.) and then it takes the digital data from the soundcard's ADC and routes it to a file on your hard drive. You get exactly the same digital data from the ADC with Reaper, Cool Edit, or even Audacity.

The same goes for playback. Unless you are processing the data, the digital data basically just gets sent to the DAC and comes out of the soundcard as an analog voltage. (There are exceptions... The playback software or soundcard driver might have optional effects and there may be some resampling & volume adjustment by Windows or the driver.)

Reaper has more "tools" and capability than CEP (and it's way more up-to-date ). So, you may be able to edit or process the sound in a way that gives you better or "fuller" sound, but this does not happen automatically or accidently.

Simple things like mixing or volume adjustment are virtually identical with any audio editor or DAW. Things like reverb & EQ are likely to use different plug-ins or different algorithms and they will sound different when done with different software.

For recording vocals, the most important things are acoustic environment, microphone choice, mic placement, proper levels, and good "talent"! (And of course, you should be using a preamp or mixer with a proper low-impedance mic input.. You shouldn't be using a standard consumer-soundcard's mic input!)

Last edited by DVDdoug; 08-04-2010 at 05:17 PM.
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Old 08-04-2010, 06:53 PM   #10
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Default Some tips

Far be it from me to consider myself any kind of expert but I read a lot and listen to a lot of "home recorded" stuff and I can tell you what most people will do to make vocals "pro" sounding.

1-Double track and pan with slight delay on one side to make them seem "Fatter".
2-Pay careful attention to the frequency in the center of the mix and make sure the vocal is not fighting anything else and sits on top of the instruments nicely.( I like to put nothing dead center in the mix except the vocal and bass drum)
3-Record the track as clean and tight as you can, use a pop filter and try and avoid moving in and out into the mic. Hard to do but you cant fix over saturation with software.
4- Get out on the web and read,read read. Opinions are like you know what....everybody's got one. With trial and error you will get your sound.

Making your vocals sit in front of the mix with a little sparkle is the holy grail of recording, I've heard some amazing stuff come out of people's basement's so it can be done.

Here is a good place to start:
http://audio.tutsplus.com/
good for anyone who's looking for some secrets.

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Old 08-04-2010, 09:12 PM   #11
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Quote:
Reaper has more "tools" and capability than CEP (and it's way more up-to-date ).
certainly more up to date... well after all, CEP has become Audition 3 now for it'e 'up to dateness'....

But still it's not OK IMHO to just knock CEP off the block... no matter if it's CEP or Audition, they both have tools that reaper does not have. Nothing against reaper, mind you... Audition is my external wav editor in reaper and if I did not have that I'd certainly use CEP. Just today, once again, I had to go there to surgically clean up some clicks and pops in some supplied files. I really don't know any app better for this... If I did, I'd use it!..Audition did a perfect job for me again today and it's a beautiful conjunction with reaper. I love them both and love them even more as 'partners'.

OK...enough of that, back to our main feature of the night
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Old 08-04-2010, 10:24 PM   #12
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To mix and master 'pro vocals' you first need a 'pro vocalist'

Garbage in, garbage out... start with the source... and all that jazz
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Old 05-27-2013, 10:18 PM   #13
5ive3re
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Default vocals in reaper

To get a "Full" solid vocal sound apply reasurround and click on 5.1 then click on the 6in6out button and on the out double up the line of active output channels works good on beats too. then go to a delay w/e you like and turn the feed back down low and put the delahy length at around 15.0 one vocal take with these applied effects will sound fuller and louder than the older dub over method done for years.
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Old 05-27-2013, 11:50 PM   #14
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Hmmmmm....well....it seems to me that the signal you've recorded is just a digital recording that should be exactly the same whether you're using Cool Edit Pro or Reaper or Pro Tools or whatever other DAW that you choose. You probably just had the volume turned up louder and thought it sounded superior.
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Old 06-01-2013, 10:18 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doughboy View Post
Hmmmmm....well....it seems to me that the signal you've recorded is just a digital recording that should be exactly the same whether you're using Cool Edit Pro or Reaper or Pro Tools or whatever other DAW that you choose. You probably just had the volume turned up louder and thought it sounded superior.
Sometimes I wish louder things didn't sound better to our ears...

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Old 07-25-2013, 09:12 PM   #16
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It starts with the recording of the vocals. Good mic, good room, good levels, and good voice are what you need. Use Reaper's take feature to get at least 8 tracks for each section of the song. Cycle thy rough your 8 takes, pick the best parts, cut, paste, and glue them. Using takes always gets me excellent vocal tracks, but there are almost always phasing and volume issues between the different segments I've pieced together. Solution? Compress the hell out of it. Sometimes I've even automated EQs to help with phasing problems. After all that, use whatever FX suit the song and sit her in the mix. Sometimes, you may want to dip your track, pan them hard L and R, then put a delay on one of them, turn the dry mix, pre-delay, and feedback all the way down and give it 10-25 ms of delay. Sometimes it's good for a song, sometimes it's not. Mind you, I'm talking lead vox here. Backups are a completely different beast. More fun and a bit more involved.
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Old 07-25-2013, 09:29 PM   #17
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Wow, this thread is from 2010....
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