hey guys ,dis ur boy Bamidele holmes(WHF-World Hit Factory).am a producer based in the UK. In the next few days i will be posting series of tutorials on vocals recording chain and treatment, mastering your work within little budget,

this will depend on replies on how many ppl wanna know this,

yeah please drop it,

are the really holmes/ohms?

ok cool lets learn from u holmes , hows u doin?

Bamidele08 c'mmon come talk 2 me

bamidele we r waiting, i have always wanted to be a music producer and will like to learn the rudiments and what direction to start the learning from we r waiting pls

sorry guys for keepin a hold wud ve put it on yday but had to be in London, well i will be dropping it tommorrow by 11am UK time


much love

Hi bami i'd like to know what music software your using? As for me i'm using cubase.

abe we know u and mr bami are profesionals,share ur knowledge with us not going all technical

hey dready i feel you.
hi guys aint hear to preach i just straight to the point

Here in WHF, generally we use Apple Logic 8 and sonar for vocal mixing & mastering, ProTool to lay percussion(kick and snare) and cubase is strictly use for baseline.but its good if you are comfortable with using reason/fruity loops etc believe me continue using what u comfortable with. i heard someone say "how can i still get a that airy,clean sound without all the analog machines(preamps,compressors,limiters etc) and mics thats is standard Cuz i dont have such budget"? well like i said this tutorials is for extremely low budget i mean extremely. i crawled b4 i walk so i was once there lets go!

am assuming we are comfortable with our DAW as in we know the in and outs,every word in it and what they do.in a normal day to day studio, signal
chain can differ like say : mic---preamps(tube or solid state)/E-channel---eqs---compressors---audiointerface--daw but technology advancement has actually brought studio home. we see even preamp plugins.
so am assuming again u have an audio Interface that can record at least at 24bit 48000khz

Firstly, download waves suite(plugins) from thepiratebay.org.run it import it into ur DAW.
Good, vocals has been laid without any effect(dry){here,u need a good preamp & mic to get that high end out but if u dont have these dont worry we'll use the reverb and other plugins to bring it out}

after laying the vocals to ur satisfaction, on the vocal track it self insert the waves--SSL E

after laying the vocals to your satisfaction, on the vocal track it self insert the plugin u downloaded waves--SSL Echannel mono(its comes with a compressor,filter,eq).depending on what u recording either rnb/rap, choose a leadVox preset,
tune the compressor threshold to 12:1,
ratio= 8:1
a slow release of say = 0.40
click on the DYN S-C & CHANNEL OUT(lights on), u can see the changes almost immediately and turn the main volume up almost to distortion then hit it hard with a compressor again( Vintage Neve 33609--my best), u can play with these buttons to get the desired tune u want.Good mics brings less eqs etc but say u dont have money for good mics, u can dowload the Antares mic modeler(very good stuff), insert the plugin also in the vocal track choose the mic u want from top notch ones to good ones.these plugin imitates any mic u can find in studios.

but irregardless of ur sophisticated analogs machines/plugins the rule still applies "garbage in garbage out" if ur singer or rapper doeant get the vocalright its never gonna sound good.so never tell him/her bad vocal.ask him or her how she/he sees that u will be surprise at his /her response and will want to do it again.

then insert an eq giving it a lowcut of about 30khz or use the hum removal of about 60/30 gives the vocal a airy sound
nb: in any case, neva increase the vocal or beats more than the 0.0

when adding a delay or reverb.neva apply it directly, always use buses, insert the delay/reverb in the bus(tweak it to ur desired result)then pass the output of the delay buss to the reverb bus (in the case of rnb)u also created then the output of the reverb bus should be pass back unto the vocal buss.

so For recordings vocals onlittle budget u have to go VST Plugins, 1. waves suite
2. Antares Mic modeler
3. Autotune for rnb

tweak and try to get the vocals to sit in mix.dont listen to ppl who say u dont compress when u record at higher bit

So next is VST MASTERING

This tutorial describes one example of a professional mastering process with native vstplugins only. First of all, the final mix has to be established. Mastering is only used to bring details and brilliance to a mix, and not to boost a non optimized mix up. The better the mix, the less you have to do in the final mastering process. Export the final mix with a headroom of -3dB in a 24bit wav-audio file. Load in into an audio editing software like WaveLab, Soundforge, Logic, Audition.
Remove the DC-Offset. (Many DC converters show a DC offset voltage, which is a baseline that does not correspond to the 0 voltage baseline. This is caused by connecting the converter to a soundcard or by component tolerances relating to the internal voltage reference. Also,external mixer and effect devices can generate an offset voltage and thereby reduce the signal dynamics. Offset voltages can be recognized in that they do not show a baseline that is identical to the 0 voltage baseline).
We can now start with the mastering chain, this is what i do everyday get the plugins here
1. Waves REQ2Band: The first element in the mastering chain will be a 2-band-eq with a very short rise and fall time for the low and high cut. The low cut is necessary to avoid unwanted noises in the lower frequencies. Anything lower than 30Hz can be thrown out of the
mix.
"Waves - Renaissance Equalizer REQ 2 bands" with lowcut at 30Hz and highcut
at 20kHz

2. Waves LINMB: We continue with a 5 band multiband compressor. The sum of all bands will be compressed to achieve more headroom, so you can get the mix louder in the end.
"Waves - Linear Multiband" compresses the mix to achieve more headroom

3. Roger Nichols FREQUAL-IZER: Now we have to reduce the formants. Gain up each frequency with the right mouse button. The frequencies that produce a loud, unwanted tone are gained down till they can't be heard anymore. Also use your headphones! This is a very important step because it makes the mix soft and enjoyable for the ears.
"Roger Nichols Frequal-izer" cuts unwanted tones out of the mix

4. BBE Sonic Maximizer: Now we need an exciter to add harmonics to the mix that we have cut out in the step before.
"BBE Sonic Maximizer" adds harmonics back to the mix

5. Brainworx db Digital: It is time to eq the whole work with a special mastering equalizer.
To avoid antiphase, we need to get control of the stereo field. This is especially important for the bass, so it won't loose any punch. To solve this problem, all frequencies below 300Hz are set to mono (Mono-Maker wheel in the center). In the upper frequencies, the stereo field can
be widen a bit.
"Brainworx db Digital" avoid antiphase in the lower frequencies

6. Sonnox Oxforf Inflator: The next step is to add analogue sound to the digital mix. I prefer the Inflator from Sonnox Oxford, it really adds warmness to the mix.
"Sonnox Oxforf Inflator" adds warmness to the mix

7. Waves L3-LL Ultramaximizer: The end of the mastering chain is the limiter which makes the mix as loud as possible. Set Quantize to 24bits and Shaping to Ultra. Make a little
headroom by setting Out Ceiling to -2.0dB to avoid clipping. Now pull down the Threshold and don't let the Atten LED light up.
"Waves L3-LL Ultramaximizer" makes the mix loud

8. Waves PAZ Analyzer: To get a visual overview of the final result. The whole frequency band should be as linear as possible. The stereo field can be viewed, too.
"Waves PAZ Analyzer" provides a visual overview
9. Ok, let's see what we did again:
1. EQ (high-lowcut)
2. Multicomp (get more headroom)
3. EQ (correct formants)
4. Exciter (add harmonics)
5. EQ (avoid antiphase, widen up)
6. Inflator (add warmness)
7. Limiter (loudness)
8. Analyzer (Control the mix)
This is just one example of a mastering process. There are thousands of ways of mastering,but this one is certainly a good one and for native only the results are really amazing!
One more thing: Don't use Reason for Mastering!


i hope this has been quite helpful.if you feel there's something i left out please u can make it known,

@bamidele
all this is complex i have fruity loops.any tutorials?/?

am an upcoming female rnb singer.
i have downloaded the mic modeler, i try it yesternight i couldnt believe such thing exist.till downloading the E-channel though.nice one bami

but pls what do u mean at the point u were talking about adding delay and reverb on buses u created?
the E-channel does it stand in place of the preamps and what exactly do preamps do?

can u pls take time to answer my questions bami as i know u might be busy. thank you

thannnnnx a lot. e be like say na that site computer village boys dey go self

Hello

i want to train my voice n i dnt knw hw to go abt it. do we av a place in lagos one can learn voice training?

@ eedrisxxx

why dont we hookup. . . . lemme see what you got
i'm also and r n b artist with a rock flavour

hit me on YIM

Any r n b female singers in da house please holla me am a producer here wid my own small home studio? (London based singers only please)

@flowshow
i dont know much about FFL but have came across sometutorials on Youtube.u might wanna try them out.

@eedrisxx
let me know if the DAW u you are one of those i listed then i might be able to help

@afrknkngs

nice one u got there.keep it up

Thnx Bro :-)

~We Are AKS~