Sharpen an acapella

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hav0k
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Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 11:26 pm

Sharpen an acapella

Post by hav0k » Fri Feb 11, 2011 6:37 am

Hello everyone,

I'm working with an acapella in a mix that is a bit muffled. its most noticeable when the vocalist pronounces the "s" sound - it's really dulled out - almost sounds like he has a lisp haha.

does anyone know a good way to fix this problem? sorry if this is a simple question - still a bit of a beginner.

ollyb303
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Re: Sharpen an acapella

Post by ollyb303 » Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:31 am

Get some EQ on there my friend!

EQ8 should do nicely....
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re.mark
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Re: Sharpen an acapella

Post by re.mark » Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:46 am

what bit rate was the original acapella? Guessing its mp3?

hav0k
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Re: Sharpen an acapella

Post by hav0k » Fri Feb 11, 2011 2:08 pm

acapella is 160 kbps. for the EQ, what exactly should I do? I really have no experience with effects on Ableton yet. I only recently discovered the magic of re-pitch/complex pro lol...

re.mark
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Re: Sharpen an acapella

Post by re.mark » Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:18 pm

at 160kbit most of the definition has been compressed out of the sound and no amount of EQ will get this back.

ollyb303
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Re: Sharpen an acapella

Post by ollyb303 » Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:57 pm

Oooooh, 160, ouch. You really need to be working with better quality samples dude.
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hav0k
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Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 11:26 pm

Re: Sharpen an acapella

Post by hav0k » Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:39 pm

ah that's too bad. the acapella is a rare one, and 160 is the best i could find. oh well...ill dothe best i can with what i have, i guess. thanks for the input guys!

Sly One
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Re: Sharpen an acapella

Post by Sly One » Sat Feb 12, 2011 12:12 am

Won't be anything to do with the bitrate. 160kbit isn't exactly hi-fi but you shouldn't have problems with legibility. If top producers can get great results sampling old scratchy 78"s then you should be able to do an infinitely better job with a clearly recorded 160kbit MP3.

This sounds more like a dodgy recording; bad mix or overzealous de-essing.

Either way, yeah - make of it as best you can! Don't discount the idea of re-inserting the "sss"s yourself though... you'll be amazed how natural it can sound.

H20nly
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Re: Sharpen an acapella

Post by H20nly » Sat Feb 12, 2011 12:21 am

what about doubling the track

panning one slight left, one slight right (not too much though)

adding a little really low delay < 30 milliseconds on at least one of them... a.k.a. - fattening

and maybe rolling off some bass and/or tweaking the mids and increasing the hi-freqs a bit with EQ

:?:

i agree that 160 isn't the best medium, but like Sly One says above... some amazing shit has been done with less.
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