konalavadome

Sticky lips and mouth clicks!

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Yodasdad

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« on: December 01, 2017, 01:05:54 AM »
Hi,

I bought a couple of new compressors yesterday and I've been playing with them on my vocals.

I love the sound I'm getting but my mouth clicks are now so damn loud. Didn't even realise I made them until I went mad with the compressors.

My question is, is their any way to get rid of them or mask them without having to rerecord the vocals (I think I'll still get them anyway, I'm not much of a singer)

I've tried cutting them out of the audio file manually but some of them are during the sung note.

Also thought about trying a de-esser but I've already got two of them riding the vocal track to tame my wild sibilance. I'll end up sounding like Daffy Duck, or was it Sylvester that had the lisp?

There's got to be some old engineers trick out there...hasn't there....surely?

Yodasdad

Boydie

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« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2017, 08:07:03 AM »
Quote
I've tried cutting them out of the audio file manually but some of them are during the sung note.

Unfortunately I think you are stuck with them if you want to maintain the integrity of the recording

There may be "something" you could do with a package like Izotope RX (big money for the full features)  then I am not sure it would be worth it

Your best option is to re-record (with a glass of water nearby  ;))

If you absolutely want to avoid this then you could use volume automation to tame the "lip smacks" (which I think you have already tried) or can you copy the same word/phrase from somewhere else in the song where the lip smacking is not so bad?

Finally - don't get sucked in to the rabbit hole of trying to make everything perfect "just because you can"

Often it is the little mouth noises and breaths that give a vocal performance some personality and emotional impact

ALWAYS listen in the context of a mix - if you try to fix these things with the vocal soloed you will drive yourself mad!!

It is like string noise on a guitar recording - it is usually better to keep it in as long as it doesn't get too distracting
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Ramshackles

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« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2017, 08:30:27 AM »
You are using a pop filter when recording right? :D
And stand ~6 inches back from the mic.

Things I do to every vocal track:

- Volume automation. Some people use vocal rider or whatever, I do this manually. If it is a particularly tricky track, I run it out to a mixer so I can actually 'ride' the fader along with the music. If you have some kind of DAW controller with faders, you can do the same I guess .

- Multiple compressors. None of them taking more than about 3db off the mix. Sometimes I use parallel compression and absolutely slam the vocal, mixing it in with the original. This is particularly useful to tame a wild track while not sucking the life out of it.

Sometimes you can use a very narrow EQ to lessen problem frequencies. I use Cubase' stock EQ for this.
Turn on a mid-band, boost it to the top (like 24db) or whatever and turn the Q to maximum (12 for me). Then move it through the frequency band until your click is particularly prominent. Once youve found it, change your boost to a cut. 3-6db is usually enough to make a noticeable difference within the context of the mix without really affecting the overall vocal sound. You might want to loosen out the Q a little.
This is a slightly more drastic approach.

For even more drastic approaches, you can try multiband compression or dynamic EQ. It is easy to really mess things up with multiband compression...I rarely use it.
Take a read of https://www.waves.com/how-and-when-to-use-dynamic-eq

Yodasdad

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« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2017, 09:42:39 AM »
Boydie/Ramshackles,

Thanks for your advice.

Yes, I'm using a pop shield, 2 actually!

I'll have a bit more of a play today, I don't mind a little bit of realism in the vocal but they are really noticeable now.

There's a lot of compression going on: vocal rider - cla-2a or 76 (not sure which one I'm preferring at the moment) - Rvox - SSL E channel - 2 de-essers.

I think it's the Rvox that's bringing out the clicks the most, but damn, I like the sound.

Hey ho, off to play I go.

Thanks guys

Yodasdad

Yodasdad

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« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2017, 11:31:35 AM »
Re-record it's going to have to be.

Turned all the compression off and bought the volume up to a comparable level just to see, and the clicks are still really intrusive.

I just got dem noisy lips!! ::)

Yodasdad

Cawproductions

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« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2017, 11:50:12 AM »
Hi Yodasdad.

I have solved this in the past by going into the wave file and zooming in very close, You can sometimes see the spike and reduce its amplitude. That way the compressor doesn't notice it as much.

I have saved a whole vocal doing this, Not perfect but if the take is mega or your singer has gone. Its a fix.

Also you could try a transient plugin and reduce the attack, as long as it doesnt affect the vocal as a whole.

Hope this helped.
Andy

Boydie

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« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2017, 12:15:47 PM »
That is a shame

I was going to suggest swapping out the SSL E-Series for the G-Series

The "E" can have a harshness in the EQ - so it is great for more "aggressive" use such as drums, dirty guitar or aggressive vocals

The G-Series gives a smoother sound and for me is better for "general use" where you do not specifically want an aggressive sound
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Yodasdad

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« Reply #7 on: December 01, 2017, 01:22:02 PM »
I think I've got my method:

Sing like I'm gormless!!

Try not to close my mouth at the end and in between phrases, lick the the lips in the quiet parts instead where it can be easily edited out. If I have to close to swallow, do it here too, open again well before the next phrase.

Advanced method:

Don't sing any songs that demand a phrase start with a closed mouth, basically no songs with B's or P's in it, at all, ever!

I think I'm going to need a thesaurus off santa.

Well, a litre and a half of water and I'm still as clicky as ever, but here goes.

Yodasdad

shadowfax

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« Reply #8 on: December 09, 2017, 03:17:33 PM »
maybe use a bit of mic technique..if you know when your gonna pop or click turn away from the mic, I do this and it reduces the amount by quite a bit and makes it easier to control later.. :)
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