Topic: soundboard recording - overpowering vocals - help on editing

[fuzzyt11]

Hi folks,

  I recently did my first soundboard recording straight to my mini-disc recorder. The instruments are pretty clean (could boost the bass a bit) but what I noticed is that the vocals are almost overpowering the recording. I am guessing that the sound guy turned up the vocals to push the monitors. I set my recording level to almost the minimum so I had no control there. I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to possibly tone down the vocals a bit without messing with the rest of the recording? At the moment I have Sound Forge 9.0 on my computer.

cheers

Rob

[Albix]

I'd try some light EQ'ing of the vocals. No more than 0.5 to 1db in either direction unless the recording is really out of hand.

This interactive chart is great for identifying the frequencies of vocals and different instruments - http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm

[fuzzyt11]

thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a try and see what happens. I think the sound guy turned up the output on me as there is some distortion in the beginning and then it settles a bit as the show goes on. I don't think I can do much with that but I'll see.

thanks again

[boojum]

The soundboard generally has mostly vocals over the instruments as the instruments have their own amps to blast with.  The SBD is mixing for the room, not recording.  This is the problem with straight SBD tracks.  If you can get both, not possible with an MD without a mixer, you are better off.

[acidjack]

^^ QFT. This is generally why, despite how much non-taping average fans revere "soundboard" recordings, I find SBD pulls to only be useful if (a) you have an engineer actually mixing YOUR SBD outputs differently than the PA mix or (b) you run mics and mix the two sources.  If you have an AUD source to combine, then the overwhelming vocals are easily dealt with by adjusting the relative percentages of each source until the mix is pleasing to you.

As to your actual question, though, I think light EQ is about the best you can do.

[hummat]

A little compression may be your friend as well.

-jay

[splumer]

I use Cool Edit Pro, and it has an EQ preset specifically for toning down vocals. It might actually be for boosting the vox, but once the EQ "sliders" are in position, you could just reverse them (i.e., if a particular frequency is at +6dB, slide it down to -6dB) Whatever you do, save the original elsewhere in case you screw up.