Vocal recording/editing software

Fall0ut

#1

17 years ago

What is some good software for either a PC or a Mac Preferably PC for vocal recording/editing?
give me some names

November 21, 2006 @01:26am

howie15

#2

17 years ago

Sonar, Cubase, Pro Tools, Digital Performer, Logic, Home Studio, Tracktion, Audacity, Nuendo, Audition, Samplitude, Garage Band, Kristal, etc.etc.
Howie J

November 21, 2006 @07:25am

TimOBrien

#3

17 years ago

Tons of links to software (free and commercial and PC/Mac) here:
www.hitsquad.com/smm
Start downloading demos and try them out.

November 21, 2006 @02:50pm

Fall0ut

#4

17 years ago

now could you also say which one you prefer though because I have like no idea were to even start

November 21, 2006 @06:10pm

AndyH

#5

17 years ago

recording & editing
The only difference for recording is bit depth and sample rate supported. Otherwise the results are identical no matter which program you use. Some programs will only record at 16 bit, some will record 24 bit into floating point format files. A few will record 24 bit but only as 24 bit integer.
16 bits is CD quality. The recording will not sound different if at a greater bit depth. However, if you are going to do much in the way of post recording processing, floating point (most often referred to as 32 bit) is best for your working files, 24 bit integer is better than 16 bit.
44.1kHz sample rate is CD quality. Again, that is generally as good as it gets as far as the sound you can get from playback. There may be minor considerations to record at a higher sample rate but the major one is that your final product is for that market, e.g. the recording is to produce DVD-A or SACD rather than CD
Editing software is quite varied. What you intend, or need, to do is important to establish unless you have a lot of money to spend. Some professionals consider "editing" to be fairly simple manipulations such as cut, paste, and amplify. More extensive transform applications fall under the heading of mixing and mastering. So, do you have any idea what you intend to do with you recordings?
Audition is probably the best you can buy, at least without getting into a lot more money. It does all editing as well as complete mixing and mastering. It can be expanded quite a bit with plug-ins from many sources. It will also let you record in just about any format you might consider.

November 21, 2006 @07:34pm

Fall0ut

#6

17 years ago

recording & editing
The only difference for recording is bit depth and sample rate supported. Otherwise the results are identical no matter which program you use. Some programs will only record at 16 bit, some will record 24 bit into floating point format files. A few will record 24 bit but only as 24 bit integer.
16 bits is CD quality. The recording will not sound different if at a greater bit depth. However, if you are going to do much in the way of post recording processing, floating point (most often referred to as 32 bit) is best for your working files, 24 bit integer is better than 16 bit.
44.1kHz sample rate is CD quality. Again, that is generally as good as it gets as far as the sound you can get from playback. There may be minor considerations to record at a higher sample rate but the major one is that your final product is for that market, e.g. the recording is to produce DVD-A or SACD rather than CD
Editing software is quite varied. What you intend, or need, to do is important to establish unless you have a lot of money to spend. Some professionals consider "editing" to be fairly simple manipulations such as cut, paste, and amplify. More extensive transform applications fall under the heading of mixing and mastering. So, do you have any idea what you intend to do with you recordings?
Audition is probably the best you can buy, at least without getting into a lot more money. It does all editing as well as complete mixing and mastering. It can be expanded quite a bit with plug-ins from many sources. It will also let you record in just about any format you might consider.

Well I pretty much want a program were I can record, then it should have a good system of cutting and pasting, then preferably to have like a pitch nob, so I can screw it or whatever. Then after that to import it into fruity loops.
money doesnt matter right now, just need to know which programs are great for this

November 21, 2006 @10:57pm

curtizb

#7

17 years ago

Well I pretty much want a program were I can record, then it should have a good system of cutting and pasting, then preferably to have like a pitch nob, so I can screw it or whatever. Then after that to import it into fruity loops.
money doesnt matter right now, just need to know which programs are great for this

I really like Sonar. Sonar 5 and 6 both support 64bit systems as well.
I use Sonar 6 producer and I am running in 64bit mode on a dual core AMD 64.
If you are looking for a nice editor that will work with the latest technology then you want Sonar. There are hundreds of plug-ins that can be used in Sonar: both Direct X and VST. Most of them will even work in 64bit mode, but I am having trouble with the WAVES bundle. You could setup a dual boot to have a 32bit version and a 64bit version running on the same machine.
If you have a killer PC (with 2GB or more of RAM) then you will want to try out the 64bit stuff.
For the money Sonar is a cut above the rest IMHO.
Here is a link to my post about the 64bit stuff:
http://www.audioforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=79104#post79104
BTW I track vocals here and I love the Antares AVOX stuff. Use it sparingly, and you will get some KILLER vox tracks. The most important part of vocal tracking is not the editor you use, as you know; it's the mics and the singer.
Try out different mics on different parts. (Don't use the same mic for backing tracks as you would for the lead vox; that will help you out during the mix)
Nothing is set in stone however; just experiment. I also like to swap out the tubes in my tube pre and my NTK. Some good tubes for the RODE NTK are the Ei Elites made in Yugoslavia. They went out of business I think, but the tubes are still affordable and they sound great. They were made in the same factory as the Siemens stuff from WW2. I have tried "vintage" tubes and most are just too noisey for my tatse. Eletro Harmonix makes some very nice tubes and they are cheap. Buy a couple of cheap pre amps (SP VTB1) and swap out the crap tube with a Electro Harmonix 12AX7 or some other 12AX7. Try out a few of them; it's a very cost effective way to get different tones. Good Luck!

February 2, 2007 @07:22pm

TimOBrien

#8

17 years ago

now could you also say which one you prefer though because I have like no idea were to even start

My obligatory standard reply that I keep in Wordpad for newbies:
First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764516345/102-9059220-3248917?v=glance&n=283155&amp%3Bn=507846&amp%3Bs=books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs
21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm
Also Good Info:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm
Other recording books:
http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html
Plenty of software around to record for free to start out on:
Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net
Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com

February 2, 2007 @09:08pm

87PRS

#9

17 years ago

very good advice and awesome links...being an Adobe user I can say the vocal recordings sound nice, and AA2 allows for some very good plugs on its own, of course there are way more expensive softwrae packages and more complicted issues involved, but Adobe is very forgiving and has a great workflow, like curtizb sez if you don't have talent to work with in the first place its like making a leather wallet outta sows ear....I got Antares s/w last week, and works very well with moderation, ie auto-tune funxs, and also came with a microphone modeler, which seems to add more color and effects of sort to the vocal mix, lotsa of choices...good luck & have fun!

February 3, 2007 @11:15am

jshaw42

#10

17 years ago

I agree about AA2. Been using it for voiceover since it was Cool Edit 98. However, it has become a memory hog.

February 4, 2007 @01:59pm

MrHope

#11

17 years ago

I use CoolEdit 2000 which is one of the early precursors to Adobe Audition.
CoolEdit 2000 does not have multitrack recording or mixing, but it is still a good editor.
It can open a lot of 32 bit formats and 24 bit formats, sampling rates up to 96kHz. There is compression, reverb, pitch shift, time stretch, tone/noise generators, parametric EQ, graphic EQ, spectral display, editable envelope curves, gain, invert, reverse, cue markers, echo, flange, noise reduction and batch scripting for applying the same edits to many files. It uses 32 bit precision internally. It can apply dither when downsampling.
I agree that Adobe Audition is a good program.
Adobe Audition has many features:
http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/overview2.html

February 4, 2007 @04:43pm

87PRS

#12

17 years ago

I agree about AA2. Been using it for voiceover since it was Cool Edit 98. However, it has become a memory hog.

the only time AA 2.0 gets too hoggy on the CPU (in my studio) is when i start adding real verbs/plugs that are cpu intensive, I can usually set the verb how I want it set then use "freeze" track to conserve the cpu and it works.

February 6, 2007 @12:39pm

jshaw42

#13

17 years ago

the only time AA 2.0 gets too hoggy on the CPU (in my studio) is when i start adding real verbs/plugs that are cpu intensive, I can usually set the verb how I want it set then use "freeze" track to conserve the cpu and it works.

Thanks for the tip. I did notice more CPU usage after adding a couple of plugins. Now I just need to unplug.

February 6, 2007 @02:07pm

GZsound

#14

17 years ago

I use Cool Edit 2000 for quick and simple voice recording. I use Audition when I need music beds, etc.
About any audio recording program can do good voice recordings. N Tracks, Power Tracks Pro, Audacity, etc. are all really inexpensive programs that can do good vocal or any other audio recording.
Getting good voice recordings requires more than just software. Good mic, mic pre, a very quiet room and good vocal talent are also critical.

February 6, 2007 @06:36pm

sabianq

#15

17 years ago

I advocate for using Adobe Audition. The Editing tools are phenomenal, you can use selection tools like the ones there are in Photoshop to manipulate the Audio Data.
in spectrum view, you can select only tiny amounts of data from anywhere on the spectrum map and add your effects to the selected area.
It makes it sooo easy to erase bumps and thumps and clicks and pops without effecting the rest of the audio.

February 6, 2007 @08:46pm