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Pultec and Fairchild on vocals?

acabass

New Member
I'm working on an a cappella project and would like input as to using the Pultec and Fairchild.

All vocals, including backing vocals, were individually miked, then each singer doubled his/her track for natural depth --yes, that's a lot of tracks to deal with for a 12 person group plus seperate tracks for individual vocal percussion samples.

My question is whether using the Fairchild on the mix bus is a good idea and if anyone has an idea of specific settings for vocals. I'm not that experienced with this compressor and I'm not sure I trust the presets entirely.

Also, I've tried using the Pultec on the mix bus, but I'm getting a strong midrange boost and suspecting this EQ might be to blame. Any ideas on using Pultec, or is it even a good idea for a project like this?
 

svs95

Shareholder
acabass said:
I'm working on an a cappella project and would like input as to using the Pultec and Fairchild.

All vocals, including backing vocals, were individually miked, then each singer doubled his/her track for natural depth --yes, that's a lot of tracks to deal with for a 12 person group plus seperate tracks for individual vocal percussion samples.
Personally, I'd also have had a stereo pair on the whole group. Was that possible in your case? For acoustic music, I always like to run a stereo main pair (I use M/S or ORTF, depending on the configuration of the group), and let that be the basis for the mix (unless the room is awful), then I carefully pan the spot mics to match the main pairs, and cheat the spots in as needed to provide detail and presence. You may or may not need to delay the spots.

As for mixing, I'd use subgroups, and put sopranos and their doubles on one stereo submix, altos and their doubles on another one, and so forth. The stereo main pair (if you have it) will act like glue to hold the voices together as an ensemble. You should then be able to just use compression (and delay if you need it) on the sub mixes, and use level automation on the individual tracks to deal with problematic hot spots.

Also, this combination of methods will allow the voices to vary enough to sound natural, yet give you good control over dynamics. If you don't have the main pair, use a little less compression on the submixes (if the talent level of the singers will allow it. :)

My question is whether using the Fairchild on the mix bus is a good idea and if anyone has an idea of specific settings for vocals.
It might be a great idea. It would probably be better to use it on the submixes than the final mix bus. But you might rather use the LA2A. Depending on the recording, one or the other should sound just right. On the Fairchild, I'd probably use the acoustic music preset, and adjust the input gain and threshold to get the boost you want with only a little deflection of the gain reduction meters (between zero and a third of the way down most of the time). That should put you in the ballpark. Season to taste!

Also, I've tried using the Pultec on the mix bus, but I'm getting a strong midrange boost and suspecting this EQ might be to blame. Any ideas on using Pultec, or is it even a good idea for a project like this?
Is it the Pultec Pro? If so, there can be substantial resonances from the MEQ-5. If you don't need any mid EQ, try just using the EQP-1A. Otherwise, you may need to dial out some mids with the dip knob. It would be an odd recording of a capella voices that would not sound good with some setting of the Pultec!

svs95
 

acabass

New Member
Actually, it was not possible in this case to do a stereo pair on the whole group. Because of my connections with the studio, I was able to get free time to record, but since this is a collegiate group and the studio is about 250mi away from campus, only half the group could come at any given time. We recorded cue tracks live with a piano and metronome to keep things just right while at the school, then those were put into the computer and everyone sang their part to it. The cue tracks were useless because of the extra noise and non-vocal parts, so now we're left with the individual tracks.

I have been using subgroups... this would be very difficult and time-consuming otherwise, but I do think compression would be better on the subgroups instead of dealing with level automation as much as I've been doing.

Thanks for all the input! In a few weeks I should have a few samples to share.
 

svs95

Shareholder
acabass said:
I have been using subgroups... this would be very difficult and time-consuming otherwise, but I do think compression would be better on the subgroups instead of dealing with level automation as much as I've been doing.
Yes, you should only have to duck a few really wild individual dynamics that way. You'll probably have sufficiently different compression settings on each group so that there'll still be a lively interplay even while you gain control over dynamics. You're smart enough not to overcompress. Should be fine!

Thanks for all the input! In a few weeks I should have a few samples to share.
Great! Look forward to hearing them. I'll watch this topic.

svs95
 

sniper

Established Member
yep, svs95 has always been a sweet source of inspitration/advice/ideas.
:D
go with whatever yer ears tell you but for the love of god! start with
LA2A or 1176LN!!
 

Sparky2

Active Member
Now that I have the Rode Classic mic going through the RNP, with good mic placement, some volume automation on spikes, LA2A and some minor pultec for zest, I have to do very little...I love that damn LA2A, man...
 

brandy

Member
Using the Pultec (pro) on the individual Vocal Tracks can give good results because you can very nicely bring up some presence without sounding too sharp.

I never used the Fairchild on vox, but you asked for \"Mixbus\" use:

I use the Fairchild and the Pultec as well very often in a Mixbus situation, but you have to be very carefull with the fairchild to not turn the whoe thing in a muddy mess. Often i have the best results when used only with *sometimes* a few db gainreduction - only during the louder parts... the fairchild adds a nice color.

brandy
 

acabass

New Member
Thanks everyone for your advice! Sorry it's taken so long to post these samples... ran into problems with mastering that required a lot of snail mail back and forth. Anyway, here are a few songs from the final master. Let me know what you think.

Everything is vocal on these tracks.

If You Could Only See:
http://www.arcticvisionentertainment.com/gi/music/cd05/01.mp3

Wild Horses:
http://www.arcticvisionentertainment.com/gi/music/cd05/04.mp3

Brandy
http://www.arcticvisionentertainment.com/gi/music/cd05/06.mp3

You Gotta Be:
http://www.arcticvisionentertainment.com/gi/music/cd05/09.mp3
 
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