Mixing Vocals With Music

[PulpBoy]

I have a real problem getting my vocals to mix well with my synthesized music. First of all, I do hip hop music so is a lot of bass in it. When I listen to the music and turn the bass down on my equilizer, there's no problem, the vocals sound fairly clear. But they are extremely muffled when I turn the bass up, even a little bit. I've tried turning up the vocals and all that does it make them sound obnoxiously high when the bass is turned down on the equilizer. Is there some kind of secret to perfectly mixing vocals? I use Cakewalk Home Studio 9. Here's my equipment list (it's short):

800 Mhz
Pentium 3
128 Megs of Ram
Delta 24 Sound Card with interface (2 ins 2 outs)

Roland Groovebox 307
Shure SM58 mics
MIDIman Preamp

Oh yeah, I'm not using MIDI. It's all audio. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

[John Sayers]

Sounds like you've got toooo much bass on either the vocal or on the whole track overall. Have you compared the overall bass with other hiphop tracks on your system?
cheers
john

[bball jones]

Also- do comparisons of your mixes on different systems and speakers. A general rule of thumb for vocals is 3db above the music.

[SPINSTERWUN]

Yeah, you probably have too much bass on your instrumental track.

You don't have to overload your 808's to get that low end feel.

Definitely listen to your tracks on different types of sound systems.

Your studio sound system

Your entertainment system

Your car

Your friends car

At the club you frequent (go down there a little bit before they open for business).

Hope that helps a bit.

Peace...

SPIN

[Mysterio]

sure shure are great cheap mics but they just aren't cut for making studio songs.

invest in a decent mic - i got an audio technica with a joe meek pre-amp and could tell the difference IMMEDIATELY!

it is a world of difference!

[John Sayers]

Hey Mysterio - haven't you ever used a shure sm57 in a studio??
cheers
john

[Mysterio]

i have - but u can tell the difference. i mean obviously it is a good mic for a low price - but there are better mics out there for recording HIP HOP vocals...

[JC Lives]

Hey pulpboy, I would try pulling some of the base out of the vocals. I would also try adding a little to the high end to give it a little more air. This will seperate it from the synth. If your synth is taking up some of the frequencies that the vocals are in, you may want to try and carve out some of those freq's on the synth track to open it up for the vocals.

Good louck and Happy Recording.

[bvaleria]

Originally posted by Mysterio
i have - but u can tell the difference. i mean obviously it is a good mic for a low price - but there are better mics out there for recording HIP HOP vocals...

No... not necessarily - some vocalists sound killer thru an SM57 - different mics for different applications, different mics for different vocalists too...

Bruce
Blue Bear Sound

[crosstudio]

EQ the vocals so that there are no vocals in your bass range, then EQ the bass so that there is no bass in the vocal range.

[firefox2001]

Are you monitoring through headphones? Don't, use flat response monitors, also Equalizers can really screw things up if you don't use them correctly, remember when you boost bass, you boost signal level. We always overlook the obvious.
Good luck!

[bball jones]

Mysterio!
I was born and raised in Chicago, the few things I live and die by are Cubs, Bears, & Shure Bros. microphones. Be they silver bullets or 315 ribbons.

[Mysterio]

yea - the shure mic is nothing but reliable and providing that sound we have all known to grow and love or at least bare!!!!

[wariwari3]

so far we don't know what your budget is.

let us know so we can give you a few suggestions

in the meantime I would definetly stick with the 57.