Vocal Processing

[2mojo2]

How far would you be willing to go to improve the sound of a singer in a competitive event at a high school?
I worked with my student crew recently on the annual talent show. For the first time in my memory, I had two parents who were anxious about the vocal mix and offering to bring in additional signal processing equipment to improve their children's voices.
I have dealt with many stage parents, but this turn of events was a little shocking to me.
Granted, this was not an audition, and there were no cash prizes at stake, but I was uncomfortable with the desire to "beef up" these this voices with electronics in a competition.

We will run whatever background tracks the students supply.
We will work with them on mic technique and adjust EQ for best effect.
Otherwise we run a pretty dry mix with some site-adjusted signal processors that were set up by the installing engineer.

Would you accept additional processors in a situation like this?
...reverb units?
........"sonic maximizers"?
.......Auto-tune?

 

[chausman]

In a competitive event at my high school (if we had such a thing) I would be inclined to provide a list of some sort of things that you were capable of providing, for everyone in the competition. And then only use the things on that list. If the parent who was supplying those extra effects would allow you to use it for everyone else, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. But in a competition everyone should have the same options IMO.

 

[2mojo2]

Good point, Chase.
The available equipment has been well established, if not always well understood.


Suppose I could provide extensive digital corrections and enhancements like some pop-tart tour, but for a modest cost.
Would it be in the best interests of the students?
Would it be worthwhile for the enjoyment of the audience?

What about a high school drama production?

 

[josh88]

Honestly what I would probably do in this scenario is set the mix and leave it. Exactly the same conditions for everybody. I certainly wouldn't add in anything extra for a single competitor.


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[FACTplayers]

I've never been in this exact situation, but I have had parents approach me and ask me to adjust parts of the mix. It has ranged from ignorant requests to slightly more aware requests, such as just "MORE!" to "can you increase reverb". Each time I tell them that I am working with the equipment I have at hand and if they would like something different to DONATE the equipment. I don't think I would allow someone to loan me a piece signal processing equipment for one show. My reasoning behind this decision is that I wouldn't feel confident enough that I am producing the BEST QUALITY sound since the equipment is new to me. I like to play around and test out the equipment long before I use it for a production. That way I know "everything" about it and how to make it sound best for each performer. Also, I want to make sure it isn't going to fail on me.

With that being said, my exceptions would be a specialty piece of equipment that the performance REQUIRES. You mentioned auto-tune. I can see how that can make or break a performance and not everyone would want to use it. Maybe in that case, put a note in the program?

 

[Footer]

Verb, delay, and compression are the salt to a good mix. All should be available to the engineer to make the talent sound good. It should be the engineers call.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[2mojo2]

Footer, I have been thinking about adding a few outboard processors so the student techs can learn about their use.
I have occasionally brought in outboard gear of my own for special effects.

 

[AudJ]

Speaking from an educational perspective, I think it is a disservice to the student to use auto-tune processing. Doesn't mean I wouldn't do it for the sake of the over-all performance or for a greater purpose, but the term "student" implies learning is part of the process. If they universally learn they can sound awesome without real preparation or hard work on their voice or ear, we create a reason to complain about the next generation of adults...

 

[2mojo2]

Do we also do them a disservice by planting miniature condenser microphones and wireless transmitters on them?

 

[AudJ]

The difference is in what a good singer should be able to produce. A good singer should be able to sing in tune. Even a trained professional singer on Broadway couldn't produce enough volume to overcome some of the pit orch/band/ background tracks at the volume produced in the 21st century. Consider room acoustics, reverberation, sound absorption, etc. and the human voice can't compete in many venues. Pop singing is even worse. Putting a mic on a student aids us in teaching proper breath support, tone quality, and pitch.

You can actually insure that a student will never have a good voice tone as an adult by forcing their volume at too early of an age.

 

[FACTplayers]

Speaking from an educational perspective, I think it is a disservice to the student to use auto-tune processing.

To clarify my previous post auto allowing auto tune, I was strictly speaking using it for songs that REQUIRE it. Such an example would be Kanye West's Lost in the Woods. Using it simply to correct pitch where the untrained (or trained) ear cannot detect auto tune wouldn't be allowed in my theatre.

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[2mojo2]

The difference is in what a good singer should be able to produce. A good singer should be able to sing in tune. Even a trained professional singer on Broadway couldn't produce enough volume to overcome some of the pit orch/band/ background tracks at the volume produced in the 21st century. Consider room acoustics, reverberation, sound absorption, etc. and the human voice can't compete in many venues. Pop singing is even worse. Putting a mic on a student aids us in teaching proper breath support, tone quality, and pitch.

You can actually insure that a student will never have a good voice tone as an adult by forcing their volume at too early of an age.

AudJ, that is a very interesting point about vocal maturity. Is late teens too early to encourage the use of an effective stage voice?
I do understand that amplification is often necessary to compensate for ambient noise, orchestral volume, or other factors.
Even so, the students are so dependent on amplification that I wonder if college vocal coaches and directors are disappointed with our students' ability to project.

 

[2mojo2]

To clarify my previous post auto allowing auto tune, I was strictly speaking using it for songs that REQUIRE it. Such an example would be Kanye West's Lost in the Woods. Using it simply to correct pitch where the untrained (or trained) ear cannot detect auto tune wouldn't be allowed in my theatre.

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FACTplayers, thank you for the clarification.
I understand that this "effect" is used in specific songs for novelty, but I have no immediate plans to add it to our rig for that purpose.
There is an interesting discussion elsewhere on this site about the use of pitch correction in community theater.

 

[AudJ]

AudJ, that is a very interesting point about vocal maturity. Is late teens too early to encourage the use of an effective stage voice?
I do understand that amplification is often necessary to compensate for ambient noise, orchestral volume, or other factors.
Even so, the students are so dependent on amplification that I wonder if college vocal coaches and directors are disappointed with our students' ability to project.

Not sure on an exact age, but late teens is probably fine. I usually work on the younger side of that. It does change per person, and male/female is also different. Also depends on where the kid is developmentally with his/her voice. I think the "how" supersedes the "when". This refers to singing, not speaking. There are probably vocal specialists out there that know more than me on the topic.