ok here's just a few things to do and shit just to get ya audio quality soundin good in CoolEdit

Step One: This is prolly the easiest step, and this is done in the MultiTrack view in cooledit...over where all the tracks are, right above where it says 'Track 1' (where most people put they beat), but above the volume and pan control and everything for that you should see three boxes above the tracks controls that say "Vol", "EQ", "Bus"........CLICK ON EQ!

Now, those controls where the volume and shit were beside each individual track should change. Now, we're gonna help you make a preset for your EQ, this is just a general preset, so it may not fit perfectly for you, so you can do some tweakin and everything to it later on to better suit your personal needs......anyways, beside Track 1 (next to the volume setting and everything) you should see three boxes ("H 0", "M 0", "L 0")...double click on any one of those three boxes (doesn't matter which one)..........

Now, when you do that, a new screen (that reads "Track Equalizers" up top) should pop up, and on this new screen you should see a diagram wit three white balls.....below that diagram you should see three horizontal slide bars (high, mid, low)...and just to the right of each of those bars you should see a box wit the numbers that each one of those bars are set to.....now,......beside the LO bar, type 160 into the box....beside MID, type in 2500, and beside HI type in 7000.......once you've done this Don't close this window yet.....

...now, after that's done, look to the top right of that screen and you should see three more slidin bars but these are vertical bars (still bein Hi, Mid, and Lo)......and below those bars should be a box for each one to type in the number for the settin there, like previously.....in the HI box, type in 4.0....in the MID box type in -2.4....and the LO, put 3.3....

......now those last three settings there (4.0, -2.4, 3.3)...those generally would apply to someone wit a normal tone voice...now if you have a deep voice, you may want to put the HI and the LO at like 1.2.....and if you have a high-pitched voice, you might instead wanna just raise the LO up to like 3.3-3.8, somethin like that, just to give your voice a lil depth.....................now when that's done you can close the window.

now..back in the multitrack view, beside Track 1 where the volume controls and everything are, you should now see that the "H", "M", "L" don't have numbers next to them anymore........and to save this preset, just above and to the right of that H, M, and L...you should see a lil button that says "EQ/A", press that button and when the lil window pops up click on the "ADD NEW" button and name it and save it.....now to come back again later and use that preset you just wanna right click on that "EQ/A" button and select your titled preset from the list next to whichever track you want to assign it to.


.....now, you're done wit that multitrack stuff...the rest would take place in the Waveform edit view.....


STEP TWO: REVERB......
.......aight bein in the Waveform edit view (the view wit just a single wav in it---click View-->Waveform Edit)...now that you're there....click on the Effects up top, then click on Delay Effects-->Reverb.......and when you click on this a new window should open....now i'm just gonna run through this real quick.....
put in these settings:
Total reverb length=1000ms
Attack Time=60ms
High Frequency...=2500ms
Smooth=75

Original signal (dry)=100%
Reverb (wet)=2%

.....now when you've put all those in...to the right you should see a preset list....and at the top you should see an "Add" button...click that and save this preset as Light Reverb.....then close the reverb window, goin back to Waveform edit view.


Step Three: Hard Limiting

.....go to Effects-->Amplitude-->Hard Limiting.....and a new window should pop up.....put these settings:

Limit Max Amplitude To: -6.5 dB
Boost Input By: 1.8 dB
Look Ahead Time: 7ms
Release Time: 100ms

....now, you can't save this as a preset or nothin...BUT, no matter if you turn you computer off, or close cool edit or what...this will always remain wit these settings, unless you go back and fuck wit it...so, as long as you don't go back messin around wit it changin shit, these numbers will stay just how you put them in now.

Step Four: Dynamics Processing (Effects-->Amplitude-->Dynamics Processing)....go there, and the new window will pop up....this one is the hardest i think but just be patient and follow the steps here and it'll work out for ya....

...now, at the top of this new screen you should see 4 tabs up top (General, Traditional, Attack/Release, and Band Limiting)...click on the Traditional one...in this new screen you should see a column of 'sections'...there's one up top that should be in white, then there's ones followin wit 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 beside them....click on the circle beside the one wit 2 beside it.......now the very first box (above the 2 one, that doesn't have a number to the left of it)..click on that drop down menu and set it to 'Compress'...then the one that you clicked wit the 2 beside it...set that drop down menu to 'Expand'...
...now, next to those two boxes, to the right you should see two more boxes wit numbers in them and at the top it says "ratios".....in the box beside 'compress' put in 1.5.....then in the box beside 'expand' put in 1.1.....now, there should be one more white box to the very right of those that has 'dB' beside it on the right....in that box type in -40.7....

.....now we're done wit the traditional tab....now go to the top and click on the "Attack/Release" tab...

...aight in this window you notice it's divided into two parts, Gain Processor up top and Level Detector at the bottom....in the Gain Processor part make these settings:
Output Gain=6
Attack Time=1
Release Time=500

...now in the Level Detector part, put these settings:
Input Gain=0
Attack Time=0.5
Release Time=300

...now once you got those, below the Level Detector section you should see two "radio buttons", one that says RMS, and one that says Peak, make sure RMS is checked, and NOT PEAK!......then below that you see a box for "Look Ahead Time"...put 3 in there....and DON'T click the boxes for Noise Gatin and Create Envelope Only (just bullshit stuff)

.....now that you got all that...go up top and click on the "Band Limiting" tab....there's only two boxes there....beside 'Low Cutoff' put in 0....then for the High Cutoff put in 24000.....and now you're done wit this...go to the right and click on "Add" to save this preset (name it whatever you like).

Step Five: Graphic Equalizer..(Effects-->Filters-->Graphic Equalizer)......this one will be simple as hell....we can kinda cheat on it haha.....anyways, go there, and when the window pops up, first make sure that you're set on the tab that says "10 BANDS (1 OCTAVE)....

...now that ya in the right spot...down to the bottom left you should see a list of presets....scroll through that list and find the one that says "Vocal Presence (Boost)....click on that one, but DON'T hit OK.....now that you've done that....up top you should see a bunch of vertical sliding bars...find the one that says 2 above it, and then left click on the sliding piece on that bar (so the computer recognizes that you just wanna adjust that bar).....now once you've done that, below those bars you should see a couple of white boxes, one that says "GAIN".. and the other says "BAND"....in the one that says GAIN...put in the number 1.99 in that box.....then in the one that says BAND, make sure it says 2000Hz in that drop down menu.......and don't touch any of the other sliding bars....when you're done wit that, ADD it as a preset and you're done!!!!

And that's all there is to it.......

....now the way i usually do it (as far as order goes)....i do the noise reduction and silencing and shit like that.....then go back and apply the Hard Limiting preset we just made, then the Dynamics Processing one, then next add the Light Reverb to it, and then add the Graphic EQ preset......then when all that's done i normalize the whole wav (effects-->Amplitude-->Normalize)...i normalize it to 80%.....and that should get you some fairly good quality....now keep in mind, this may not work perfectly for EVERYBODY, like i said in the beginnin, each person has their own 'needs' when it comes to this stuff....but this should prove to be a pretty good "foundation"....just may need some tweakin or whatever dependin on your personal needs.....

...now there are alot of different mixing techniques people use (this is just what i do)....different people got their different things they do...this way i've showed you should be a failry good startin block for ya though...but don't be afraid to go out doin ya own thing, and workin wit it how you want to....the best two pieces of advice when it comes to mixin though....1) Experiment and 2) Keep it simple...you don't wanna overdo things cuz that could really fuck it all up.

Keeping it simple is definately the golden rule. Especially with stuff like Reverb - 'less is more' is generally the best plan!

cot damn, man....i know a lot of cats say i got good quality in production, but i couldn't give all this advice on Acid Music 3.0 (which is what i use).....thumbs up to you!

^lol....is not as much as it really seems though....the big part there is goin through and settin all those presets...after all that it's pretty simple, it's just doin a handful of things to the waves...just looks like alot cuz of all the explanation of gettin the presets down....then it's simple---which like said before is the best way to keep it....of course this is just a basic kinda 'tutorial'...there's plenty other things that can be done, and different ways to go about it all....prolly better ways to do it all too...this is just some lil tips and shit i've learned from here and there....and experimentin and shit....proves pretty useful......

...just curious too---what kinda equipment you use and what kinda steps you go through to get your quality as good as it is Fundamental?!

wow this was definitely informative J nice post!

damn i didnt peep this one......nice shit jay.....real niiiiice...

This was tight dog helped me out but what about the adlibs?

i didnt even read this but props

QUOTE (Outlawfromabove @ Oct 15 2003, 09:17 PM)

This was tight dog helped me out but what about the adlibs?

^yea, i need to know that, & other voice freatures. Things, no ones is willing tell me anything about it. Which is so fucking annoying, since im like talking to everyone, and one is fucking helping me at all..................

i notice a couple people in this thread are askin bout different things, wantin advice/tips/tutorials on shit (for instance, adlibs--which by the way, i do have a lil tutorial up for that if ya look)...but aight, here's the deal....whatever ya'll wanna know about, just make a new thread askin whatever it is ya wanna know (try and be as specific as possible for the most effective assistance)...but yea, just post a new thread askin whatever it is ya wanna know about or learn about, and if nobody else answers your question sufficiently then the next time i get around-I will...i make sure every thread gets a real answer around here....so just post a thread and ask the question--then you'll get an answer!

j i dont mean to bitch cuz this post has hlped me alot but could you explain what things like hard limiting do to add to the vocals?

to answer your question Duck....(well this is gonna be the bare minimum answer, just cuz i'm too tired and sick to go into a long ass explanation right now)...but basically--limiting is simply extreme compression (compression set at a ratio of 10:1 or higher)...and basically all it does is: takes the track, and reads the dB level of each piece of the track...and for every bit that it finds above a certain threshold (set by user) it will quieten that sound by adjustin the gain til it falls below the threshold (how fast it does this is determined by attack time)....and basically this kinda helps to 'smooth' things out and put all sound at the same dB level so the volume doesn't fluctuate...(do keep in mind though, limiting doesn't make quiet sounds louder, only loud sounds quieter)...so there it is in a nutshell...ya want further/deeper explanation--get at me somehow, when i don't feel like shit!

thanks that cleared it up for me i had assumed that but i wanted to make sure before i really started fucking things up. im sure i'll have more questions later

QUOTE (JL @ Dec 18 2003, 02:44 AM)

to answer your question Duck....(well this is gonna be the bare minimum answer, just cuz i'm too tired and sick to go into a long ass explanation right now)...but basically--limiting is simply extreme compression (compression set at a ratio of 10:1 or higher)...and basically all it does is: takes the track, and reads the dB level of each piece of the track...and for every bit that it finds above a certain threshold (set by user) it will quieten that sound by adjustin the gain til it falls below the threshold (how fast it does this is determined by attack time)....and basically this kinda helps to 'smooth' things out and put all sound at the same dB level so the volume doesn't fluctuate...(do keep in mind though, limiting doesn't make quiet sounds louder, only loud sounds quieter)...so there it is in a nutshell...ya want further/deeper explanation--get at me somehow, when i don't feel like shit!

you are a fucking genius

what do you no about Magix home studio?

^never messed with Magix before (only programs i've played with really is Cool Edit, and messed around with ProTools a lil bit)....but i've taught myself the aspect of production (not just how to play with cool edit)...so, the same rules apply to Magix, just a different interface (and different plugins prolly)...but i should be able to answer whatever question you got concerning your working with Magix (unless it's a software based question, specific to Magix)..in which case, if i can't answer it...i'm sure i can find the answer for you somehow.....so feel free to ask whatever it is ya need.

All my stuff sounds like it needs more bass, as far as vocals, its all ear pericing, and I got to go through and cut up the vocals and lower volumes where the vocals peek out(magix has a way more eloborate cuttingg, voluming and panning system) I just need to know how to hard limit vocals in magix, I guess

well i recieved cool edit from someone and all I need is winzip to open it i guess. this screen pops up when I go to open it that says, unzip files, winzip, about, close and something else...Does anyone have winzip,If so can you send it to me?

go to www.download.com and you can get a copy of winzip there.

yeah man, Im trying but it hasn't loaded a new screen, I mean its downloading but it has forever now, does www.download.com take a while or something

were can i download cool edit fo free

kazaa, ares etc...

First post by JL answered a lot if not all of my questions about Cool Edit...just wanted to say thanks for takin the time to type all that shit down...and props for teachin yourself all this stuff....shit ain't easy

Yo, extreme props for this... has helped shitloads on my quality...big ups JL!

Is there anyway to reduce the background hissing that occurs??... i seem to get extreme levels of background hissing for some reason...

^have you tried 'noise reduction' or 'hiss reduction'? if not, that's what you want. in cool edit they're under 'effects-->noise reduction'. depending on what kind of noise you're getting. if the noise you're getting is more of a hum, then you'll wanna use noise reduction. if it's more of a hush, then you'll just have to find out, through experimenting, whether noise or hiss reduction works best for your case. but since the hush is a type of white noise (meaning it contains all frequencies, as opposed to a hum which is a more particular frequency, usually around 50-60hz)..but since hush is a white noise, you may run into problems with noise reduction on hush that cause the noise reduction to also affect your vocals and fuck them up. in which case you'll have to lower the reduction level and adjust the settings of the noise reduction til it takes away the hush but doesn't mess with your vocals. hiss reduction can also be useful for hush removal too. and of course, if it's a hiss noise, then hiss reduction is what you'll need. you can read in the cool edit manual and help guide on how to operate noise reduction and hiss reduction, cuz i'm too lazy and tired to go into all that shit right now. something to keep in mind though: if you are in fact getting "extreme" levels of noise in your recording, then you're not gonna be able to effectively get rid of all that noise, not without sacrificing vocal quality considerably, so might as well come to terms with that now. once you've messed around with noise and hiss reduction and read up on it in cool edit help, if you have anymore questions you can get back at me and i can give more detailed help then.

oh, and let me say this: if you're gettin an ungodly amount of noise, then your main problem is probably your soundcard. so you'd definitely need to upgrade that i'd say (i imagine you have a cheap soundcard, maybe even stock, and that's probably what's causing the noise). another thing that may help is to plug your mic into the 'line in' input instead of the 'mic' input. this may help as most mic inputs have built in preamps that are shitty. so using the 'line in' instead may help you a bit. btw, the best setup calls for an actual preamp that way the mic doesn't plug directly into the soundcard.

Ya I'm actually using a samson c03 condenser mic and an art tube pre-amp... i'm gonna try the line in thingy u said first, if that don't work i might have to fiddle arund some more. thanks tons.

what kinda soundcard?

hey JL can you give me the presets you use in regards to your noise reduction and silencing??? like which effects do you use in the noise reduction category... and the ones you use... what are the presets???

Thai, if you're using Cool Edit/Adobe Audition, the tool you're looking for is "Noise Reduction". Sorry, but I'm not gonna tell you how to use it or any 'presets' for it, bout to head off to bed and don't wanna type all that. However, just go into the help guide of Cool Edit, look up "Noise Reduction" and read that, it'll tell you how to use it. It's a really simple tool, so it won't be as hard for you to grasp as, say, the intricacies of a reverb unit. But yeah, just read the help guide in the Cool Edit program, if you DO have questions still after that, then get back at me and I'll explain it tomorrow.

BTW, if you're looking to "noise reduction" as being a solution to that "echo" thing you were talking about in the other thread, it's not gonna help. (i explained the 'echo' problem in the other thread).

Quick question. I couldn't tell for sure, but this is the EQ preset for the track containing the beat right?

And yeah, I put all those presets on my vocals and they sound golden! I thought it sounded good by itself with the new mic, but damn... It's really an incredible difference.

Thanks

Thanks dawh