Mixing Backing Vocals/Harmony

Nola

Nola

Well-known member
Hey guys.
I haven't seen this topic discussed much, but how would you go about mixing a male baritone with a female soprano?

The male is the lead, the female is singing harmony at the same time (so kind of like a dual lead, but she's further back and singing a 5th and 6th higher).

To get the female to be audible yet not override the lead vocal, what would you do?
So far I have used more compression than I usually do, thinking it would tame her peaks and make her sit better, and then a little reverb. Is there anything else? Would you EQ more low end off to make her sound more distant?

I like how it sounds right now, but I'm wondering if anyone has tips to offer, etc. One thing I'm not sure about is panning. I have her panned slightly (10) left and like it, but I'm wondering if there's something better to do.
 
It's trial and error. Try muting all the tracks except the lead and harmony vocals and work on getting a blend that you like. Then add the drums, bass, guitars, and whatever else, one at time. As you add each new track, listen to how it affects your vocal blend and make adjustments to level and panning as you go. Anyway that's how I've done it, though not necessarily exclusively. I couldn't offer you specific advice on EQing a soprano other than the advice I would give about any instrument--make your EQ decisions based on the how the track sounds in the overall mix, not by itself. But generally backing vocals get more compression and ambiance than the lead vocal does. Or mine do.
 
If I'm mixing just one harmony with a lead vocal, I will not pan it away from center, or at most 5%. EQ shouldn't be needed with two dissimilar voices unless one is missing something in the overall sound in which case it might be needed on both vocals (like mine typically need some 'air' - hi EQ boost).
When I have a whole group of backup vocals, I will compress them together on the group folder.
 
concentrate on balance more than anything else, EQ and compression for me always comes after getting the balance right with vocal harmonies.
 
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