how do YOU automate your vocal's gain?

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WeLoveYouToo
Posts: 202
Joined: 01 Jul 2017
Location: portland, or

03 Dec 2019

i have used an instance of a mini mixer or something with a gain knob as an insert prior to my compressor/fx chain, and automated it in the sequencer.
the only issue with this is that unlike most DAWs, in reason you can't just draw a damn gain curve on top of the waveform, it's underneath in a separate row, which makes it tricker to line up exactly.

however, when using midi, performance controller automation DOES show automation curves for pitch bend and mod wheel layed over the midi notes.

is there anyone who does this in a way to edit audio clip gain in reason easier than the way i do it?
as far as i can tell, reason only allows us to edit the fade in, overall clip gain, and fade out per clip.

i'm on R10.3

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miyaru
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Location: Zaanstad, The Netherlands

03 Dec 2019

I saw a video a while ago, where the author cuts all the words and phrases of the vocal tracks and brings up the gain of these indivial pieces of audio. It was then feeded to the rest of the chain. A lot of work, but maybe the most accurate....... starts around 1.55 min.

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xboix
Posts: 281
Joined: 22 Oct 2019

03 Dec 2019

Step 1: Add Waves Vocal Rider to the track. Fiddle until it's doing the bulk of the work then bounce down the result.
Step 2: Go through the waveform display and manually adjust the few bits that Vocal Rider did not quite get right.

It's quick and accurate. Job done.

Gain automation is a PITA, especially if, like me, you are prone to doing a some timing tweaks late on in the mixing process. I often get close to being finished and notice a syllable or two that needs moving slightly along the timeline.

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guitfnky
Posts: 4408
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

03 Dec 2019

compression.

:lol:

seriously though, compression, for 99%, and for the other 1% where it’s not enough, sometimes I’ll use a gain RE at the end of the chain, and automate that. or I’ll use the note volume in the pitch editor if I need to get more granular, although obviously that can get a bit more tricky since it can end up fighting with whatever compression I have going on.
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pushedbutton
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03 Dec 2019

record, slice, normalise.
best not to think too hard about this kinda thing.
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Using Reason since version 3 and still never finished a song.

Proboscis
Posts: 1004
Joined: 28 Aug 2019

03 Dec 2019

WeLoveYouToo wrote:
03 Dec 2019
the only issue with this is that unlike most DAWs, in reason you can't just draw a damn gain curve on top of the waveform, it's underneath in a separate row, which makes it tricker to line up exactly.
If you were to have a gain device within the audio track's rack module, then automate, it will create a whole new sequencer lane, which sucks. But...... if you automate the input gain for that channel from the mixer, a sub-track will be added underneath your audio track, rather than on it's own independent track. Makes things a little easier to manage. This 'nesting' work also with panning & EQ via the mixer controls.

It's a shame that these cannot be 'locked' together, in the same way elements are handled in video editing software, whereas if you move the clip, it's automation would follow wherever you moved it too. Yet another feature request I suppose, but these little helpful ideas seem to be ignored.
gain.png
gain.png (70.83 KiB) Viewed 1241 times

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WeLoveYouToo
Posts: 202
Joined: 01 Jul 2017
Location: portland, or

03 Dec 2019

xboix wrote:
03 Dec 2019
Step 1: Add Waves Vocal Rider to the track. Fiddle until it's doing the bulk of the work then bounce down the result.
Step 2: Go through the waveform display and manually adjust the few bits that Vocal Rider did not quite get right.

It's quick and accurate. Job done.

Gain automation is a PITA, especially if, like me, you are prone to doing a some timing tweaks late on in the mixing process. I often get close to being finished and notice a syllable or two that needs moving slightly along the timeline.
i am actually demoing vocal rider right now.
it’s really good!
this and renassance comprosseor really set the vocal in place as well as i could do with hours of automation.
i’m probably gonna buy it tonight, maybe take advantage of the waves offer buy 2 get 1 but indont know what other waves plugin i need... maybe something for saturation/harmonics...
any reccomendation?

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WeLoveYouToo
Posts: 202
Joined: 01 Jul 2017
Location: portland, or

03 Dec 2019

miyaru wrote:
03 Dec 2019
I saw a video a while ago, where the author cuts all the words and phrases of the vocal tracks and brings up the gain of these indivial pieces of audio. It was then feeded to the rest of the chain. A lot of work, but maybe the most accurate....... starts around 1.55 min.

yeah, this is a neccessary technique, which comes before the gain automation stage.
then compressor
then fx/eq
then maybe another compressor

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WeLoveYouToo
Posts: 202
Joined: 01 Jul 2017
Location: portland, or

03 Dec 2019

Proboscis wrote:
03 Dec 2019
WeLoveYouToo wrote:
03 Dec 2019
the only issue with this is that unlike most DAWs, in reason you can't just draw a damn gain curve on top of the waveform, it's underneath in a separate row, which makes it tricker to line up exactly.
If you were to have a gain device within the audio track's rack module, then automate, it will create a whole new sequencer lane, which sucks. But...... if you automate the input gain for that channel from the mixer, a sub-track will be added underneath your audio track, rather than on it's own independent track. Makes things a little easier to manage. This 'nesting' work also with panning & EQ via the mixer controls.

It's a shame that these cannot be 'locked' together, in the same way elements are handled in video editing software, whereas if you move the clip, it's automation would follow wherever you moved it too. Yet another feature request I suppose, but these little helpful ideas seem to be ignored.

gain.png
i’ll ask reason studios (still feels weird to say that) to add that to the requested features list as well.

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guitfnky
Posts: 4408
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

03 Dec 2019

splitting and raising the gain on every clip sounds super unnatural to me. I’m sure it works for some styles, but the process is tedious and the end result sounds very boring to my ears.
I write good music for good people

https://slowrobot.bandcamp.com/

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moneykube
Posts: 3447
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03 Dec 2019

one way...
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Screen Shot 2019-12-03 at 7.21.39 PM.png (247.81 KiB) Viewed 1189 times
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