Effects on a track? So new to this I can't see what they are..

[charliedurrant]

Hi All,

I'm 100% new to Reaper and 100% new to any music software and mixing etc. My daughter wants to record some songs (covers) and it seemed wise to choose a song and try to replicate it in Reaper as a kind of tutorial. There's a lot to learn (more than I expect I'll ever know) but I'm ticking along at a rate all-be-it slowly!

To that end I wondered if someone might be able to guide me on an effect on the track we are "home brew" replicating.

Track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCjNJDNzw8Y

1) 0-10 seconds - this is the one I just can't see what it is. It sounds like some sort of reverb thingy (you can see I'm new) but not quite...? It appears to continue over the piano throughout..

2) 8-9 seconds - this is a 'ha' rising in volume. I've taken my daughter's 'ha' from 'Havana'. slowed it down and ramped up the volume over time. It doesn't sound right so I expect there's a better way?

Thanks in advance...

Charlie

[The Byre]

The piano is an out-of-tune honkytonk, maybe a bit of reverb added, but what you are hearing is the sound of the strings being out of phase and out of tune with one another. We have an old upright honkytonk and once a year, the tuner comes past and gets exactly that sound, by making the strings just a few cents out with each other.

Ha! is just someone going Ha! and that sound has been copied and pasted in the various places where it was wanted.

Enjoy the learning curve!

[charliedurrant]

Byre,

Thanks for the reply...

Originally Posted by The Byre

The piano is an out-of-tune honkytonk

Umm, thiat's ironic that it's an out of tune piano! My Piano VST has one which I skipped without trying - will give it a go.

Originally Posted by The Byre

Ha! is just someone going Ha! and that sound has been copied and pasted in the various places where it was wanted.

I have the 'ha' copied around, it's the bit before the defined 'ha' that I don't have right. It's between seconds 8 - 9.5.

Originally Posted by The Byre

Enjoy the learning curve!

It's certainly a steep hill to climb!

Charlie

[The Byre]

The bit before is either a recorded or sampled vocal "Ahhh" that builds and then cuts off.

As for the piano and other sounds - remember that most successful records are not made with samples, but using real instruments, so whatever you do with samples, will never quite reach 'that' sound. That is why places like ours have to have grand pianos, Hammond organs, analogue synths and Fender and/or Wurlitzer/Rhodes E-pianos, as well as the usual conventional drums and guitars.

[L_Grizzle]

The vocal swell before the singing starts sounds to me like a reverse reverb swell ... here's a basic tutorial (for pro-tools, but you can see how it works):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8zAh8hK0Gc

This is how I would do it:

- Cut off the first word of the vocal onto a new track.
- Reverse (right-click item, "reverse item as new take")
- (I usually will then right-click again and glue track, because seeing multiple takes annoys me, but this is not necessary)
- Add a big fat reverb with a long tail
- Render to new track (right click on track, "render item as stereo stem track and mute original" - you can delete unused track now)
- Reverse item again
- Chop item so you only hear the reversed reverb tail
- Fade in reverb, and place right before vocal track

[charliedurrant]

Originally Posted by The Byre

As for the piano and other sounds - remember that most successful records are not made with samples....

I very much agree, trying to replicate a real piano "without" the actual piano samples is almost a waste of time.

[charliedurrant]

Originally Posted by L_Grizzle

The vocal swell before the singing starts sounds to me like a reverse reverb swell

I gave this a try, it seems to produce the desired effect. Thanks a lot - I can safely say I would never have figured it out!

Is it purely experience or are there "listenable to" samples available of techniques applied to samples so I can hear the result of effect?