software compressors for recoring vocals

[amit235]

i was just wondering how to use software compressors for recording vocals before they are written to a file. Can they be used or are hardwares compressors the only solution ?

If yes how can use this with daws like cubase,sonar or flstudio

[jupiter8]

I believe you can do that in Cubase but why would you want to ? I can see no benefits from it so i have never used it. Hence i never bothered to find out how.

[Watto]

I use a hardware compressor - an RNC, which is fantastic value for money

It works really well, because you don't have to back off the mic so much when singing hard, which would make you sound, er, further away

[M'Snah]

One way to do it is to use a pre-amp of course ... not sure if the Line6 UX2 counts as hardware or software. In some hosts you can connect a Compressor/channel plugin *before* the sound is recorded (e.g. in eXT you can put GAC or VoxFormer in the main window before the sequencer...).

[aucoton]

In Cubase SX just put your compressor as an insert on the input strip.
I sometimes do this but check that you're not clipping the naked signal before switching on the compressor.

[amit235]

I believe you can do that in Cubase but why would you want to ? I can see no benefits from it so i have never used it. Hence i never bothered to find out how.

I read that to get most of vocal and less noise one should record it as loud as possible. but due to the limitation of digital audio
clipping occurs where compressor comes into play. though the recorded vocal may seem lifeless but it can be made better again with effects.

[P.T.]

I'd forget the compressor and record with peaks <10-15db or less.

With 24 bit recording there is a lot of S/N so it's not a problem. Recording hot is for the analog realm, not digital.

You can't un-compress a recording, at least not without messing up the sound.
Don't use things that will permanently effect your signal unless you need them. They needed to record hot with analog, so they needed the compressor.

[amit235]

well i make 16bit recordings. I dont have all the proper hardware so was trying to use other techniques to get some nice vocals.

I realy appreciate your suggestions. THanx for all the replies.

i still believe my english is little screwd.

[Lunch Money]

Your English is allowing you to communicate with other music enthusiasts. That's all you need.

Why 16-bit? Is it a soundcard limitation?

[amit235]

Your English is allowing you to communicate with other music enthusiasts. That's all you need.

Why 16-bit? Is it a soundcard limitation?

yes

[Lunch Money]

Bah, that sucks.

What you want to accomplish with software is, unfortunately, impossible. Your signal is either clipping or not, as it goes INTO your soundcard. A plug-in won't affect the signal until after the analog-to-digital conversion, ie. until after the signal has already passed into your DAW. Therefore, there's no possible benefit to putting the software compression before the track gets recorded.

Since 16-bit has far less headroom, your only solution is to be careful with your singing and try to keep your peaks to -3dBu or so. Of course, hardware compression will work, but for the cost of a hardware compressor, you could just get a 24-bit soundcard and get the headroom that would make external compression unecessary.

Greg

[P.T.]

With 16 bit I would probably use a compressor, but still try to use it as lightly as possible.

[Rusty Shackleford]

well, there's still something to be said for having a slightly compressed signal written to disk... sure, it won't prevent clips, but it evens out the level a little bit before you apply more serious compression. The technique of recording through a compressor isn't nearly as important now as back when everything was going to tape, and old habits die hard.

[Sascha Franck]

Listen to what Greg said: Unless your CPU would be freaking out if you'd run a plugin on the track, there's *no* advantage in printing any software compression to a file while recording. More to the opposite, there's a strong disadvantage: If you'd find out that the setting was wrong, you would then have to go all the way back and re-record your vocals.
Really, just as Greg said: It's about the level your DAWs inputs are having to deal with.
That's why you'd need a hardware compressor to see any advances of "printed to track" compression. And in that case you really need to know what you're doing, because it's a non-reversible process.

I sometimes actually print certain software effects to tracks while recording, but that's simply because they're using up too much CPU power when running in realtime on multiple tracks (example: Guitar Rig), but with a compressor CPU useage shouldn't be all too much.
Actually, that's even one of the "don'ts" in digital recording practice. Doesn't offer anything but has a strong potential to destroy an otherwise great recording.

[Waynemendozza]

Totally agreed. If it's for CPU usage you could use freeze functionality to avoid high CPU usage...