Transatlantic working - and some advice needed please

[Aidan]

I've recently started collaborating long distance with the former vocalist in my band, who's now living in Washington state. So I'd also like some advice on the following track. We're collaborating on some keys only/vocal covers of Joni Mitchell songs...

 

Little Green

 

Both parts were recorded in Garageband (as Kari doesn't have Logic) and then imported into Logic here.

 

There are two obvious problems with the tracks Kari supplied. First of all, there is noticeable hiss and secondly, there are some quite prominent plosives. Both these are probably fixable at source for future work but just wondered how I can make the best of what was delivered.

 

I took off the compression Kari had added and shelved a low-pass filter on the vocal to tame the worst of the plosives but really think they need some kind of manual editing and some light compression adding back (I rode the faders a little to compensate this time around). Is this possible in Logic, or alternatively is there a plug-in I can use to get around manual editing (I'm lazy as hell).

 

On a wider note, how many of you out there are involved in similar remote working projects? What software and collaboration methods are you using and what broader advice on this, if any, can you offer?

 

All contributions very welcome, guys - thanks.

 

 

 

[DanS]

On a wider note, how many of you out there are involved in similar remote working projects? What software and collaboration methods are you using and what broader advice on this, if any, can you offer?

 

I didn't listen to the track yet, but I've done a lot of collabs before. Software wasn't an issue, we just exchanged wav files. No matter where one started their part in the song, we always started our parts at 0:0:0, and agreed to the tempo in advance. Whoever did the mixing would edit the track length as required. We had an average of 5-6 collaborators per project, always enjoyed it.

[stillplaying]

fair bit of this.

 

First stage:

 

Stereo mp3s passed back and forward via email - always rendered from zero to make them easy to line up in whatever DAW someone is using.

 

Lots of to and fro-ing until the arrangement settles down.

 

Last stage:

 

Main vocals redone then parts sent (via post) as .wav files.

[Mike Warren]

I enjoyed that. International collaborations are fun (see the video in my sig ).

 

Being critical, here are my observations:

 

1/ There is a rumbling throughout the song. It's very noticeable in the quiet parts. Is this the noise from the vocal track? If so, a noise gate will fix it.

 

Edit: Forget that. Looks like my laptop has developed a fault. I guess I can't trust what I'm hearing otherwise on the track as well. I won't be able to listen to it on my studio computer until tomorrow.

 

2/ The vocal sounds over-processed. Sounds like pitch correction in places, but I can see that it might be something else going on, perhaps bit-rate compression, or noise reduction.

 

How did you remove audio the compression? Re-expanding a track is difficult to achieve unless you know exactly what the original compression settings were. Did Kari use a decent sound card and microphone?

 

I would love to have a go at mixing it if you feel like sending me the individual track files. I accept you may hate what I do with it. I can supply upload space if needed.

 

[Steve Force]

I have done some collorboration as described (two were released on CD) and it was painless. The two on CD's were bass (one upright, one my 1966 Fender Jazz Bass) and I used Cubase, recored raw (no effects, compression, etc.) and sent several takes as WAV files (used an audio compression freeware which name escapes me right now..)

[Cygnus64]

It sounds good. The only thing I notice is that the piano and vocals don't seem to have the same sonic signature i.e. different reverbs perhaps.

 

On a wider note, how many of you out there are involved in similar remote working projects? What software and collaboration methods are you using and what broader advice on this, if any, can you offer?

 

 

 

I've done over 100. Software is irrelevant if it's all time-stamped/start at 0:00. Sent files via Usendit or something similar. Everything should be recorded dry without any effects except for perhaps compression on vox.

 

I usually include a click track, but I'm usually doing stuff that is fairly complicated.

[Aidan]

Cygnus, yeah like a dolt I recorded the reverb on the CP5 rather than sticking it on dry and then using Logic's plug-ins. So nothing to be done about that.

 

Mike, it could be the filter which is making the vocal sound a bit processed. Right at this moment, I don't know what Kari is using, mic and interface-wise. Asking. She uploaded a native GB file back at me so the the compressor was added to the channel in that when I got it, so I just deleted it after it imported into Logic.

 

And yes, I'd love you to have a go at it yourself - it would be most instructive for me, as I have limited experience of this stuff, really.

 

The rest of you guys - thanks for all your input. I'm mega new to all this but feel it could easily become quite an addictive experience. And Kari is still one of the best vocalists I've worked with, I really dig her style.