Ahoy! I went to make a new topic and the Lines Forum Robot suggested it was very similar to this existing one - So here’s a revised idea: I’ll start describing more process specific parts of each episode, and per @ElectricaNada’s excellent suggestion, welcome any other vocal project to post here, too. It doesn’t look like I can edit the title for the first post at this point, regrettably.
Episode 55 is posted. Opening track is a vocal piece on re-entering the world, really. I got vaccinated last month and am now free to do mundane things like go eat eggs at a diner. It’s odd to me how unwelcome that felt psychologically, but there’s some good egg jokes:
The raw audio for this week is the first of a series of mail-order psychiatry records from the 1960s. I speak with a therapist regularly and he found the content very entertaining! But perhaps he’s a target market. But awesome discussion with four doctors here, around 1963 or so:
I loved many of the phrases and manually spliced and grouped them into this reblending for the Side A track, “All of Us Develop Patterns”
And for the Side B track this week, I was able to get some time with some good compressors this month. Finally, a benefit to getting vaccinated! Had access to an AML 54F50, which if you’re unfamiliar is a spec-exact remake of the original Neve 2254 Diode Bridge Compressors from 1969. So, I flattened the mix for the introduction to Mono and sent it through the AML. Ran it about 3:1 and about 12 o’clock on both compression and limiter, just to see how it went. Just guessing that setting sounded just lovely to my ears, so I barely tweaked it but mostly left it alone. These Diode Bridge Compressors are amazing! Clarity, Glue AND Punch. (normally it’s pick two, but here you get all three) It would be tough to always play the instrumental through something like this for voiceover every time, as the signal gain on the music bed would compete with the vocal itself. But man I’m in love with this compressor. Here’s how it sounds:
Finally, just posted the fifth collection of episodes, or an ongoing playlist for Episode 55, forward. Here’s that:
If you’re working on a vocal project right now, feel welcome to post here in this thread! I’ll be very welcome to discussing any other project, too.
In terms of issues I’m working on with these tracks, instrumental/bed volume is a constant consideration. Currently mixing everything to about 70% of my voice with a 3db drop afterward. I’ll post next time about sibolence solutions, too. I’m presently still looking at best de-essers, am using a DBX 520 for live take with FabFilter DS for final processing, but have a plan for a better signal path on that. Cheers, Ethan
