Editing /cleaning vocal tracks?

Krissie

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Hi there,

since I'm not an experienced audio engineer: I would like to know how you do the editing for vocals and other instruments that are recorded with microphones. Do you "clean up" every single vocal track to make it free from breath and other random noises (while not singing)? I love the "analogue" mixing process with the DP32 but I don't know what is the best and most practical /quick way to have a clear sound in the vocals. Any help is appreciated, thanks!
 
Hi @Krissie. Great topic. The answer depends upon what you need for the end result, and how proficient the performer and the engineer are. Using 2" analog tape, a vintage condenser mic with vintage EQ and dynamics, I never really had much to clean up. I like the sound of the singer breathing and I've even goosed the level up a bit in certain places to enhance that sound. It can put more emotion into the song because you're listening to a real person expressing themselves. If there are background or other undesirable noises, then yes the track must be edited somehow. Also, if the recording is not clean, it will need to be edited to try to remove or at least reduce the clipping distortion.

Normally I would cut on the dead spaced between the audio sections in the DAW (I use Reaper), and that saves me having to program mutes for the mixdown. Alternatives to that would to use a gate. Dynamics and especially on vocals, parallel compression can make a vocal track cut through the mix.

There are volumes written about EQing vocals so I won't go into that here. But, using EQ to enhance the vocal sound can work wonders, if done properly. Use your ears.

For things like hum, hiss or even clipping, I use RX8 Advanced, by Izotope. Occasionally I get a guitar or a vocal track with clicks and RX8 takes care of that.
 
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