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== stopsky.net ==
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ProTools Karaoke Workflow

music howto

Hardware

A condenser mic is pretty key here, but you might as well try with whatever you have. FWIW my condenser runs through an M-Audio M-Track 2x2 (USB-C), which provides 48VDC phantom power to the mic, as well as driving the input used by ProTools.

It’s also essential to have headphones so the accompaniment does not leak back into the vocal track during recording. I use a cheap pair of earbuds, but over-the-ear headphones might be better for attenuating any potential leaks.

Install

Assumes Windows 10, probably works on OS X too?

  • ProTools First (I tested with version 2018.7.0)
  • Quicktime Player (needed by ProTools for reading some mp3 files)

Bookmark

You may find these helpful for sourcing/creating accompaniment tracks:

  • Vocals Remover - uses AI to remove vocals, even if not centered (note: limited to 7 songs per week)
  • YtMp3 - pulls mp3 tracks from youtube
  • ffmpeg - a command-line tool for converting between various media formats

Protools Setup

“image of ProTools Mixer GUI”

  1. Start ProTools and create a new project called “karaoke”

  2. Window->Mix

  3. Track->New (stereo/audio track named “accompaniment”)

  4. Track->New (mono/audio track named “vocals”)

  5. Track->New (stereo/aux input named “aux”)

  6. Duplicate aux track 2 times, for a total of three aux tracks

  7. Create a Send from “vocal” to “Bus 1-2”

  8. Set Aux input to “Bus 1-2” and output to “Bus 3-4”

  9. Set Aux.dup1 input to “Bus 3-4” and output to “Bus 5-6”

  10. Set Aux.dup2 input to “Bus 5-6” and output to “Out 1-2”

  11. Insert a 7-band EQ on “vocal” track. Make a deep well at ~9.5 KHz to minimize sibilance

  12. Insert a compressor on each of the Aux inputs (click insert slot, Multichannel plugins -> Dynamics -> Dyn3 Compressor, select “Vocal Comp” from presets pulldown)

  13. Insert a D-Verb on Aux.dup2. Settings depend on song style. Start with defaults and 15% (dry), gain = -0.0 dB

The result should look something like the picture. I wish I could find the video where I got the idea for this little stack, but the point of it is: add vocal compressors to bring the level of the vocals up to meet the accompaniment (use more if needed). The EQ is added at the voice source because cutting out the same frequencies across the board would make the whole track sound muffled. The D-Verb adds reverb/delay, which is the base effect you’ll probably need for vocals depending on the acoustics of your recording space. Also unlike other DAWs (e.g. Audacity) these effects are applied in real-time, which preserves the master vocal.

The free version of ProTools limits projects, so I’d suggest saving your master vocals if you think you’ll want to play more with them later. Or if you don’t care, just be aware that once you bounce the track, you lose most of your ability to play with it after the fact (unless you bounce the master by itself with no effects - a bit too much work for karaoke, in my opinion).

Procedure

  1. Download your backing track in some format that can be imported by ProTools (mp3, wav, aiff, etc)

  2. Strip the vocals if necessary using Vocals Remover (see Bookmark section)

  3. ProTools: Window->Edit, File->Import your accompaniment track file and cut/paste into the “accompaniment” track

  4. Set vocal to “Track Record Enable” on by pressing the left dot (near I S M buttons on the mixer interface)

  5. Click “Return to Zero” button to ensure time index is at zero, then click Record Button, then Play

  6. Sing your song

  7. Make any edits/adjustments to the mix

  8. Bounce the track: File->Export->Audio Mix