9/01/2013

4 Basic Audio Tweaks To Improve Home Studio Vocal Recordings

By Frank Lubsey


You might invest a lot of money buying the perfect beat for your next hip hop track, but if the vocals don't match the beat quality, you might just end up creating a track critics will enjoy tearing apart. Hip hop is as much about great vocals as it is about beats and instrumentals. You can never find the perfect excuse for buying great beats only to mix them with horrible vocals. It can be difficult producing high quality hip hop tracks using the cheap equipment found in a home studio but it is not entirely unachievable. Here are 4 audio changes that will set you on the way to creating great hits.

Make use of noise gates. When recording tracks in your home studio, you need to keep in mind the fact that background noise will always be present no matter what measures you take to reduce it. You will therefore have to find ways to deal with this noise during recording. Today, you can use software to eliminate background noise from the recording. Noise gates are example programs that help you eliminate this noise. Majority of the recording programs such as the open source software, Audacity come with this tool. Noise gates are used to eliminate background noises during silent periods. However, such noises are still present when the noise gate is switched off and vocal recording continues. This tool is great for elimination of small background noises such as an overhead fan. You should be careful when using noise gates as they can result in the production of unnatural sounding recordings. If the background noise is very loud, intervals might sound too quiet after recording is complete.

Use noise reduction tools. These tools are also featured in majority of the music recording software. Its advisable to use this tool sparingly and only when it's a must. This feature reduces any background noise. It's just like the recording is being recorded under water. For the best results, indicate what noise sounds like. However, this tool works best if the noise is barely audible. Loud noise elimination using this tool can result in poor recording.

Learn to use compression. This feature is designed to regulate loudness within the track without constantly adjusting volume. As with the nose reduction tool, avoid using the compressor too much. This tool gives you freedom to select maximum loudness of the vocal recording. You can afterwards use volume controls to increase volume above the selected maximum loudness. This gives you better control of the voice recording volume while at the same time regulating track pitch. This tool displays the track in the form of waves. Your aim is to ensure that the waves occupy as much space as is possible within the display without touching the edges. If this is allowed to happen, distortion of the recording will occur.

Understand normalization. The normalization feature can be used to increase sound to its highest point without any distortion. This feature is useful in instances where the track volume is low and, volume faders or gain can't be effectively used to increase track volume. In such instances, track recovery is the only option to get the right volume. This tool is also useful when you want to set the peak level of your recording.

It's best to first decide which tool to use and why it's necessary before using it in your recording. The choice of tools to use depends largely on your recording. Use these tools wisely to ensure that the vocals and beats blend in perfectly.




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