A few mixing questions that will prolly make me look like an idiot

[Bigg Limn]

Yeah...well as we know Im not the best mixer in the world, but Im trying to get better at it so Im getting a picture of all the fx and eqs and all that bullshit in my head clearly. So I got a few questions...

Normalize: What exactly does this do? It seems to reduce the peak levels, but is that it? And does it reduce the quality, if so how bad [Im guessing that depends on the amount, but generally how bad]?

Reverb: What is this used for? I always thought echo was bad, but later found out a lil natural/fx reverb is good...and I hear a lot of it used in Lynch's older shit. Does this basically hide shitty audio quality? Cuz U dont hear it in his new shit...but in the old shit it like fills the vocals out more...so U dont really "need" to do backing vocals. But what exactly R the benefits of reverb...and how much should U use, etc.

Pitch-Shifting: Any way to do this without changing the tempo? I could do it in CakeWalk, but cant in CoolEdit...so anybody know how?

And I think thats it 4 now, thanks in advance.

 

[Bigg Limn]

Yeah...well as we know Im not the best mixer in the world, but Im trying to get better at it so Im getting a picture of all the fx and eqs and all that bullshit in my head clearly. So I got a few questions...

Normalize: What exactly does this do? It seems to reduce the peak levels, but is that it? And does it reduce the quality, if so how bad [Im guessing that depends on the amount, but generally how bad]?

Reverb: What is this used for? I always thought echo was bad, but later found out a lil natural/fx reverb is good...and I hear a lot of it used in Lynch's older shit. Does this basically hide shitty audio quality? Cuz U dont hear it in his new shit...but in the old shit it like fills the vocals out more...so U dont really "need" to do backing vocals. But what exactly R the benefits of reverb...and how much should U use, etc.

Pitch-Shifting: Any way to do this without changing the tempo? I could do it in CakeWalk, but cant in CoolEdit...so anybody know how?

And I think thats it 4 now, thanks in advance.

 

[Hymnz]

1. normalizing does reduce quality, but sometimes not to a great extent. it involves evening out the peaks/volume so certain highs dont stand out uncomfortably (generally...) and like EQ, if you take away certain frequencies, the quality (quality being the resemblance to the original sound) usually drops, obviously noticable or not, depending on the usage.
when used right however, it has a nice effect.
2. I think reverb is somewhat like echo, it just has a different algorithm. the only way it seems to hide "shitty audio quality" is by repeating the waves with degrading volume after the original sample, but not necessaryily after it has played in its entirety. i dont really get how a sample can seem more clean but it somehow does in certain cases... i use slight reverb on my dry snares etc but try to stay away from its presence on my kick samples. how much you should use depends on how much it sounds like you need. play around with the controls. although it may seem like it, replacing the process of backing up vocals with a simple reverb is very unprofessional and i doubt there is any comparative likeness between the two if you really analyze the recording. especially if you are trying to get a deal with a label/publisher- it may seem ok when you listen but the first thing they will be thinking is "lazy!".
3. i dont have cooledit. why didnt you stay with cakewalk? i just bought sonar 5 (i really liked v4 when i downloaded it) and i must say it is quite a step up from cubase sx 2/3. so much easier/fun to get around. you should definitely consider going back to cakewalk. :thumb:
somebody with cooledit needs to help you out with this one though.

 

[Hymnz]

1. normalizing does reduce quality, but sometimes not to a great extent. it involves evening out the peaks/volume so certain highs dont stand out uncomfortably (generally...) and like EQ, if you take away certain frequencies, the quality (quality being the resemblance to the original sound) usually drops, obviously noticable or not, depending on the usage.
when used right however, it has a nice effect.
2. I think reverb is somewhat like echo, it just has a different algorithm. the only way it seems to hide "shitty audio quality" is by repeating the waves with degrading volume after the original sample, but not necessaryily after it has played in its entirety. i dont really get how a sample can seem more clean but it somehow does in certain cases... i use slight reverb on my dry snares etc but try to stay away from its presence on my kick samples. how much you should use depends on how much it sounds like you need. play around with the controls. although it may seem like it, replacing the process of backing up vocals with a simple reverb is very unprofessional and i doubt there is any comparative likeness between the two if you really analyze the recording. especially if you are trying to get a deal with a label/publisher- it may seem ok when you listen but the first thing they will be thinking is "lazy!".
3. i dont have cooledit. why didnt you stay with cakewalk? i just bought sonar 5 (i really liked v4 when i downloaded it) and i must say it is quite a step up from cubase sx 2/3. so much easier/fun to get around. you should definitely consider going back to cakewalk. :thumb:
somebody with cooledit needs to help you out with this one though.

 

[Bigg Limn]

1. normalizing does reduce quality, but sometimes not to a great extent. it involves evening out the peaks/volume so certain highs dont stand out uncomfortably (generally...) and like EQ, if you take away certain frequencies, the quality (quality being the resemblance to the original sound) usually drops, obviously noticable or not, depending on the usage.
when used right however, it has a nice effect.
2. I think reverb is somewhat like echo, it just has a different algorithm. the only way it seems to hide "shitty audio quality" is by repeating the waves with degrading volume after the original sample, but not necessaryily after it has played in its entirety. i dont really get how a sample can seem more clean but it somehow does in certain cases... i use slight reverb on my dry snares etc but try to stay away from its presence on my kick samples. how much you should use depends on how much it sounds like you need. play around with the controls. although it may seem like it, replacing the process of backing up vocals with a simple reverb is very unprofessional and i doubt there is any comparative likeness between the two if you really analyze the recording. especially if you are trying to get a deal with a label/publisher- it may seem ok when you listen but the first thing they will be thinking is "lazy!".
3. i dont have cooledit. why didnt you stay with cakewalk? i just bought sonar 5 (i really liked v4 when i downloaded it) and i must say it is quite a step up from cubase sx 2/3. so much easier/fun to get around. you should definitely consider going back to cakewalk. :thumb:
somebody with cooledit needs to help you out with this one though.

Good lookin on the reply...to answer your questions though...

2) I disagree, I think it shows a greater skill when you can make your verses sound clean as fuck without having to use backing vocals [which r mainly used to make a verse sound more powerful, add emphasis, or even cover fuck ups].

3) Had to move studio shit onto a new computer, and lost the disc for CakeWalk [it was only like the basic Home Studio version but still real nice, I liked it...was easy 2 use/learn on] so Diaz hooked me up w/ Cool Edit. It looked better than CakeWalk anyways from when I was using it w/ SicC back in the day.

 

[Bigg Limn]

1. normalizing does reduce quality, but sometimes not to a great extent. it involves evening out the peaks/volume so certain highs dont stand out uncomfortably (generally...) and like EQ, if you take away certain frequencies, the quality (quality being the resemblance to the original sound) usually drops, obviously noticable or not, depending on the usage.
when used right however, it has a nice effect.
2. I think reverb is somewhat like echo, it just has a different algorithm. the only way it seems to hide "shitty audio quality" is by repeating the waves with degrading volume after the original sample, but not necessaryily after it has played in its entirety. i dont really get how a sample can seem more clean but it somehow does in certain cases... i use slight reverb on my dry snares etc but try to stay away from its presence on my kick samples. how much you should use depends on how much it sounds like you need. play around with the controls. although it may seem like it, replacing the process of backing up vocals with a simple reverb is very unprofessional and i doubt there is any comparative likeness between the two if you really analyze the recording. especially if you are trying to get a deal with a label/publisher- it may seem ok when you listen but the first thing they will be thinking is "lazy!".
3. i dont have cooledit. why didnt you stay with cakewalk? i just bought sonar 5 (i really liked v4 when i downloaded it) and i must say it is quite a step up from cubase sx 2/3. so much easier/fun to get around. you should definitely consider going back to cakewalk. :thumb:
somebody with cooledit needs to help you out with this one though.

Good lookin on the reply...to answer your questions though...

2) I disagree, I think it shows a greater skill when you can make your verses sound clean as fuck without having to use backing vocals [which r mainly used to make a verse sound more powerful, add emphasis, or even cover fuck ups].

3) Had to move studio shit onto a new computer, and lost the disc for CakeWalk [it was only like the basic Home Studio version but still real nice, I liked it...was easy 2 use/learn on] so Diaz hooked me up w/ Cool Edit. It looked better than CakeWalk anyways from when I was using it w/ SicC back in the day.

 

[Hymnz]

is cool edit like a workstation (with multi-layer mixing capabilities) or something? i have heard its name thrown around quite a bit...
about the vocal backing vs other techniques - i will re-disagree (is that a word?) by saying that if you want really clean vocals without needing backup you should get a better mic!

 

[Hymnz]

is cool edit like a workstation (with multi-layer mixing capabilities) or something? i have heard its name thrown around quite a bit...
about the vocal backing vs other techniques - i will re-disagree (is that a word?) by saying that if you want really clean vocals without needing backup you should get a better mic!

 

[jflballer]

Normalizing doesn't reduce peak levels, that is compression. Normalizing brings peak levels to a selected point (usually 0 db is the default) and brings everything else up with it. Think of it as amplification.

Reverb is like a distorted echo. It gives the impression that sound is confined to a selected space. It's also not exactly an echo, but I don't want to get into that.

You want to hear a very high-profile case of shitty reverb? Listen to Lil Scrappy's verse in Lil Jon's "What You Gon Do?" -- the engineer obviously applied too much reverb to Scrappy's verse and gave it some metal-sounding effect.

Everyone in the music industry applies reverb to vocals in some level; it's wrong to think they don't.

 

[jflballer]

Normalizing doesn't reduce peak levels, that is compression. Normalizing brings peak levels to a selected point (usually 0 db is the default) and brings everything else up with it. Think of it as amplification.

Reverb is like a distorted echo. It gives the impression that sound is confined to a selected space. It's also not exactly an echo, but I don't want to get into that.

You want to hear a very high-profile case of shitty reverb? Listen to Lil Scrappy's verse in Lil Jon's "What You Gon Do?" -- the engineer obviously applied too much reverb to Scrappy's verse and gave it some metal-sounding effect.

Everyone in the music industry applies reverb to vocals in some level; it's wrong to think they don't.

 

[Preach]

pitch-shifting is do-able in cool edit pro without affecting the tempo. open the wave in wave edit mode (as opposed to multitrack mode). i don't have cool edit in front of me right now as i'm at work but on the left side of your screen there is a list of effect categories (fft filters, delay, etc). find the effect called "stretch" (i think it's in the bottom category), and you get to choose between three different ways to stretch your wave - time stretch, pitch change and resampling.

and baller defined reverb nicely - it gives you the impression that sound is confined to a selected space.

 

[Preach]

is cool edit like a workstation (with multi-layer mixing capabilities) or something? i have heard its name thrown around quite a bit...
about the vocal backing vs other techniques - i will re-disagree (is that a word?) by saying that if you want really clean vocals without needing backup you should get a better mic!

cool edit is a workstation, yes. it's like acid pro if you've tried it. i haven't used cakewalk so i don't know if that's the same thing.

 

[Hymnz]

yes, sonar is a workstation, and considered the best in the industry by many professionals. the only reason why most people tend to opt for pro tools software/hardware is that it is by now the industry standard, and that people just know the name and believe it synonymous with producing.
i have the mbox but i use it with sonar now instead of pro tools 7. i thought 7 would have stepped up its game with regards to many things like just about everything midi.
and sorry i didnt know the exact definitions of reverb and normalization, i dont tend to research the theory of things like effects. after all, you are supposed to use your ear....

 

[Bigg Limn]

pitch-shifting is do-able in cool edit pro without affecting the tempo. open the wave in wave edit mode (as opposed to multitrack mode). i don't have cool edit in front of me right now as i'm at work but on the left side of your screen there is a list of effect categories (fft filters, delay, etc). find the effect called "stretch" (i think it's in the bottom category), and you get to choose between three different ways to stretch your wave - time stretch, pitch change and resampling.

and baller defined reverb nicely - it gives you the impression that sound is confined to a selected space.

OMFG NOW I have ur dick in my mouth, ggkthx

 

[Preach]

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[assassin]

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Word!