How to Comp Vocals in Ableton Live 11

Learn how to do a vocal comp in Ableton Live using the Take Recording and Comping feature. Vocal editing procedure - explanation and demonstration. Learn Live 11. Free Ableton Live Key Commands Download: http://bit.ly/LEVELSMusicProduction https://LevelsMusicProduction.com Vocals by @mixedbyellag Download 20 Essential Ableton Live Key Commands document here: http://bit.ly/20EssentialALKC Hey, I'm Futch, Ableton Certified Trainer, music production coach. I'm going to show you how to comp vocals in Ableton Live 11. What is vocal comping? The comping part of vocal comping stands for composite. That means made up of various parts or elements. Why would I comp vocals? So you have the ability to record multiple vocal takes, and then edit together the best parts from each take to create your final vocal comp. When would I do a vocal comp? Imagine the case of a freestyle rapper who wants to perform the take from start to finish and get the whole performance. In that case, the performance becomes the take. And in that case, you probably wouldn't want to make a vocal call. Sometimes the singer just does a great vocal take from start to finish. And if that's the case, let's just use that take. Maybe you can use one or two words from other texts just to fix obvious mistakes. But if somebody does a great vocal take all the way through, maybe keep it. How do I comp vocals? Well, the first step is you record multiple takes, let's say four or five, get the singer to sing them all the way through. And make sure you're keeping good or great takes you don't want to make a vocal comp out of OK takes. So maybe it takes them nine times to do five great ones. Keep the five great ones. And now let's start the vocal comp. How do I rate the takes? If it's you singing, you probably know the lyrics and you won't need a lyric sheet. If you're producing somebody else's vocals, get them to type out a lyric sheet for you so you can see where you do. Listen and make a note on each take for the phrases and words you might want to use in your final vocal comp. The best way to do this is by either using a rating system like one to five, maybe one is the best or five is the best, however you want to do it. Rate each take phrase or word with that number system. Or you can use color-coding. So maybe yellow means OK, blue means good. Green means awesome. And red means no way. What makes a take or a phrase Great? Well, probably the first thing you're going to judge is the pitch is the singer singing in key or not by recording comping and producing vocals, you'll just get better at figuring out if the singer is singing and key or not. At first, it might be difficult for you, but you'll quickly get better with lots of practice. The best way to tell if they're singing in key or not, is to keep the bassline, whether it's a synth bass or a bass guitar, high in the mix when you're listening to it and listen to the pitch difference between the bass and the vocal. Bring down the other things in the mix that are just going to be confusing, guitars or synths with lots of treble or distortion on them. Just bring those down in the mix while you're doing this. And it'll be easier to hear what you're doing. For drums, just keep it simple. Just kick, snare, hi-hat, that solid bass, and your vocal is really all you need. So just listen to it does the singer sound in key compared to the bass or out of key? The next thing you're going to judge is timing. So the vocal doesn't have to be exactly on the drums. But it has to make sense with that rhythm. So think of Happy birthday to you. If I sang it Happy birthday-to-you. It just doesn't make sense. Happy birthday's got a rhythm to it. Da da dot dot dot dot and you're going to want to make sure the vocal you're producing has the appropriate rhythm to match the melody that you're trying to achieve. 0:00 Intro 0:09 What is vocal comping? 0:17 Why would I comp vocals? 0:51 When wouldn't I comp a vocal? 1:22 How do I comp vocals? Part 1 2:02 How do I rate the takes? 2:42 What makes a take or a phrase great? 2:47 Pitch 3:53 Timing 4:35 Clarity 5:02 Emotion 5:28 X Factor 6:01 How do I comp vocals? Part 2 6:07 Main take 6:22 Rough comp 6:43 Cleaning up 7:14 Crossfades 7:33 Comping demonstration 12:48 Fine Tuning 13:01 Consolidate Vocal Editing Ableton Live Learn Live 11: Comping #ableton #learnlive #live11 #abletonlive11