Singing Forum by Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy
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Three videos to provoke thoughtful introspection

HuduVuduHuduVudu Posts: 1,465Administrator, Moderator, Premium, 2.0 PRO, Facility Management


  • sagemacgsagemacg Posts: 2022.0 PRO
    Great samples @HuduVudu , Thank you!

    To @blondiewales and other sound engineering types out there (I'm not sure who all to tag), how much processing is done on the vocals for America's got Talent? That rendition of Creep is interesting in that I watched his mic work carefully, and expected to see a larger variation on mic distance between the quiet bits and belting bits even for someone with really great control. Is there significant compression etc. happening in these cases? Or is he really that phenomenal with volume?!
  • doc_ramadanidoc_ramadani Posts: 2,284Administrator, 2.0 PRO, Facility Management
    Control, control, control!

    @sagemacg: I am pretty sure that in all 3 recordings a tube preamp with slight compression (a few db) is used.
  • blondiewalesblondiewales Posts: 340Pro
    edited July 1
    @sagemacg It's not really about how MUCH processing there is so much as how well it's done.

    Shows like America's Got Talent have huge budgets and can afford top-tier engineers, so the sound engineering is usually very, very well done.

    On virtually any kind of recording, live or others, you can usually find various amounts of EQ, compression, and reverb. That's the bread and butter.

    So yes, while Brian is a good singer, the engineer is doing lots of work to make it sound as amazing as it does. He wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't. Keep in mind that all of these shows involve post-production. This means that the artist goes on and records and the audience claps etc, and then afterwards, they mix and edit the audio before releasing it for television. And that's if they didn't pre-record and lip sync for the camera (which they also often do). So yes, some engineer has carefully tweaked all the levels so they sound pleasant. It's not always compression. Many engineers will "ride" the volume faders with their finger, so they manually control how loud they want a certain part to be.

    Pro singers often also have better dynamic control than amateur singers, so that plays a role too.
  • sagemacgsagemacg Posts: 2022.0 PRO
    @blondiewales Thank you for answering the call! That's really good to know. I'm working hard at getting better managing volume but it doesn't help to chase impossible goals :)
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