increasing vocals

[Dan McDonald]

Sometimes I get recordings where the vocal is in one channel only, and it's a little weak. I've found I can use a bandpass in the range of the vocalist to isolate the vocal somewhat, then add it back into the stereo mix, usually flipping the channel first so that it adds a little to the opposite channel.

This works pretty well, but is there another way to do it? (following up on the vocal attenuator post, but going in the opposite direction).

[Marc Hildebrant]

Dan,

Could you explain..."flipping the channel" ? I think I know what you mean, but...

Marc

[Dan McDonald]

Hi Marc - Sure.

Here's an example:
A song is recorded so that the vocal is in one channel only (let's say left channel). I use the band pass filter to get as close as I can to covering only the vocal range of the singer, then I run the bandpass filter.
After that, I mute the channel without any vocals (right channel), and run the file conversion filter with the "reverse channels" preset.
That puts the vocal channel on the right, and the muted channel on the left.

Then I usually mute all the portions that have just music in them (no vocal). Sometimes I fade in a little just before a vocal starts; sometimes it's very clearly just a vocal, so no fade-in is needed, just a mute.
Then I copy-paste-mix the "vocal" file to the original file, so that the resultant file has all the music where it was, and the vocal is on both left and right channels. When I do this, I usually reduce the "vocal" file somewhat, so that the original sound of a dominant vocal on the left channel is still there, but the addition of some of the vocal on the right channel just makes it a bit louder.

Does that make sense?

[Craig Maier]

Dan,

Your process makes sense. In simpler situations wherein the vocal is on one channel, but dominent, skip the bandpass step and go directly for the channel blender and that sometimes does the trick.

Craig

[Dan McDonald]

Yes, that works a lot of times, but sometimes it gets kind of tricky and you need to keep as much stereo separation as you can.

Thanks Craig
Dan

[Marc Hildebrant]

Dan,

Thanks for the info; it makes sense.

Marc