Producing music: Transition by Vocals - Tips and Tricks (Ableton Live 9)

Hello steemains!

Today I'm going to show you how I made a transition effect in my latest track using a section of the lead vocal.

Listen to the song here: Down By The River ft. Break Out The Crazy

The effect first comes in at 0:44, then later can be heard again throughout the whole track.

In order to make this effect work you will need a part of the vocal that is containing long consistent notes, preferably not spoken words, like the "Oooo-Oooo-Oooo"s at the end of the verse of this song.

So let's focus on this section only:

Basically it is the "Oooo-Oooo-Oooo" part of the song reversed, with a couple of automated and a few preset audioeffects added.
It can be heard in its original form right before the transition comes in.

Because it is at the end of the verse, right where I want my transition to come in, it harmonizes with the follow-up just perfectly.
If there was a significant change in the tempo or keys it would be quite tricky, only heavy editing could make it work, but in that case I would just experiment with different sections untill I find the right one to work with.

About the audioeffects:

• Reverb
• EQ8
• Amp
• Autofiler
• Compressor

Reverb gives the sound depth and with a little bit of decay time gives it an extra dimension.
I've also added a predelay and a Lowcut, that I'll explain as I get to the Amp.

EQ8 is good for highlighting or depressing different range of frequencies. The automation you can see on the picture belongs to this effect, it depresses the sharp "hhss" noises and leads the transition into the next section making the effect smoother. Autofilter serves the same purpose.

Amp is one of my favorite audioeffects when it comes to vocals, especially the "Blues" setting, which makes the whole thing sound more natural. You can give the vocal an extra boost and amplify different parts according to the frequency range of the sounds.
As it can be seen on the picture, the Bass and Middle ranges are the dominant ones. The heavy bassline is actually coming from Chris playing the piano while singing. That's why the Lowcut on Reverb, without it would be overwhelming.

The Compressor is only there for a simple Sidechanin effect.

Here is a demo for comparison:

And that's it, I hope you find this one useful!

STEEM ON!