How Do I Get My Vocals The Same Volume From End To End?

[Domlun]

I have SUCH a problem with getting my vocal levels to match between verses and choruses and bridge, etc.

I've tried normalize in several DAWS, but all that does is raise everything.
The loud stuff, the quiet stuff, it all just gets raised and the quieter clips are still quieter than the louder clips, when I just wanted the quieter clips brought up to match the louder clips.
I read about something called "independent" normalize, but none of the DAWS that I own seem to offer any parameters of types of normalization, it's just "normalize" by db or lufs (whatever a luf) is.

I've tried two different gain rider plugins, watched at least 40 hours of tutorial videos about them and those things just confound me. They only seem to sound like they're doing absolutely nothing, OR they proactively make the sound differences more exaggerated. I've never been able to understand how to set them to actually work for me. I also never know if I'm supposed to put them on a vox bus or the individual tracks or both.

Is there such a feature in any DAW or plugin, where I can select say... all clips for the lead line and pick one clip as the guide clip, or even a predetermined loudness, and when i hit the button, all clips below that desired loudness ARE BROUGHT UP and all clips above ARE BROUGHT DOWN, so that they all end up at the same level to the ears?

I guess what I'm looking for is a normalizer that acts like an up down compressor, like the Waves MV2, but a normalizer, not a compressor.

Does this exist?

Trying to achieve a consistent volume level on things takes up 45% of my mixing time.
De-essing takes up another 45% of my mixing time.
Everything else is done in the last 10%

[Michael L]

See the ReaperMania video, "Matching Item/Track Loudness Levels (LUFS) in REAPER." From 7:14 he says, double click the track to select all the items, then right click, go to Media Item Properties, and go to Normalize Media Items, but instead of using true peak or peak use LUFS, and use LUFS-I integrated. Set the value at -14 or whatever your loudest clip is, and select "Normalize each item separately" not Normalize together to a common gain. Then hit OK. Now they're all adjusted to be the same LUFS value, frequency weighted to sound the same.

[Touch The Universe]

Thanks, sounds interesting to try but wouldn't that require atleast a few things, gain rider, a clipper to do away with the peaks, and maybe some type of compression to smooth out the peaks and troughs (is it that what a gain rider does)? So, is behind the scenes in reaper the LUFS-1 integrated is it handling multiple processes like so?

[Michael L]

It’s only setting the same integrated LUFS value for each clip, while keeping the dynamics within the clip. That’s what the OP wants. It’s the final step.
BTW, Melodyne is good for de-essing.

[crimsonwarlock]

... not a compressor.

Why not use compression?

The classic setup for this is to put two compressors in series, one slow and one fast, both doing just a little bit. This will give you very clean leveling.

[seafire]

Volume fader

[Tiles]

Ozone comes with a vocal rider. I am no friend of it though. It tends to make exactly the parts louder that you want to remain quiet.

[andymcbain]

The levelling algorithm in Melodyne does a fairly decent job, and the auto input gain in Sonnox Voca (which is dirt cheap right now) ... both are worth a try. Though I always find myself having to correct some of the work manually afterwards. Honestly I don't think there's any substitute for good old clip gain/automation when levelling a vocal.

[rollasoc]

First get a decent vocal take, by a vocalist that knows how to work the mic for the dynamics of the song.

Then Automate the volume fader (or a VCA). It is the only way to do it to your taste.

Vocal Riders will get you some of the way, but will bring up the noise, Compression / Expanders similarly.

But if you want professional results, you'll need to get in there and do what the professionals do and actually manually ride the fader (i.e. automate it).

[BertKoor]

> De-essing takes up another 45% of my mixing time.

What mic do you use, and how? I mean, at what distance?

[Touch The Universe]

I think images would be very helpful in this case, videos?

[thecontrolcentre]

you'll need to get in there and do what the professionals do and actually manually ride the fader (i.e. automate it).

This is how i've always levelled up vocals. Sometimes I manually edit vocals one line at a time.

[Touch The Universe]

What if it’s around two hours of spoken text? The main thing I’m dealing with is just the peaks — that’s easy enough to manage. What I’ve noticed, though, is that some speech tracks look quite tidy, so to speak, with the volume appearing level across the board. I’m wondering how they achieved that.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so if I come across something that looks particularly good, I’ll share it here. Of course, sound quality is the most important factor, but I’m still curious about how that “tidy” appearance is achieved.

[cryophonik]

But if you want professional results, you'll need to get in there and do what the professionals do and actually manually ride the fader (i.e. automate it).

This is usually the very first thing I do before applying any processors/plugins - automate the level to balance everything and to reduce/remove background noise between phrases, reduce sibilant parts, reduce breaths (or increase them to taste), etc. This will make your compression more transparent, makes de-essing easier, etc.

[thecontrolcentre]

What if it’s around two hours of spoken text?

Then it'll be a long editing session.