Vocal mix...

[Epicureous]

I’m having issues with making my vocal tracks fit well into a mix… I want to be able to, let’s say, whisper and to still have that come through clearly; even if there’s a screaming guitar in the background or (vox) placed off to one side of the mix. The reason for asking is my vox tracks have a lot of dynamics and I want to make sure they/that actually come(s) through the mix, without having to compress the hell out of them (which is what I’m currently doing; sounds bad)… or having to turn the volume up or down in the middle of the note; to me that sounds just as bad as compression. It’s also causing a frequency overload on some notes and when I go to turn that specific frequency down the notes sound muffled… I do move closer on quite notes and further away on loud notes so I don't have to use as much compression but it still doesn't seem to help.

I’m fairly new to this mixing thing…

myspace(.)com /epicureous

Here’s a track I mixed down give me some “mixing” pointers (not musicality pointers I could care-less what you think about my style)… As a side note: I didn’t use any effects (I’m tired of people telling me I did).

Equipment used in the vocal mix:
Blue 8-ball (I know it’s not the right mic for my voice)
Presonus Firepod
Nuendo 3
USR compressor and eq (plug-in)

When I get back to the states I’ll buy better equipment, but you use what you have…

[Talldog]

Could you do two vocal tracks? One for the soft and one for the loud.

[TexRoadkill]

Originally Posted by Epicureous

The reason for asking is my vox tracks have a lot of dynamics and I want to make sure they/that actually come(s) through the mix, without having to compress the hell out of them (which is what I’m currently doing; sounds bad)… or having to turn the volume up or down in the middle of the note

Compresion and volume automation are the tools used to lessen dynamics. You just need to learn how to use them better.

[mixsit]

And you have the option to pull down the background tracks in spots to help the vocal poke through.

[whiskeyfoot]

i'm still learning myself, but what i'm kindof finding so far, is that its the other instruments that are standing out too much, and probably not the vocal...i started moving things around a bit (panning), kindof 'widening' the whole scene, and then i found the vocal has its own little spot in the mix instead of just using the volume control alone (whether compression or anything)

i'm totally a newbie...so i'm throwin what i've been learning out there!
-j

[Grungeon]

Some more ways you can make the vocal stand out are:
*Eqing a hole for the vocals to sit in. That way, soft or loud, the vocals has its own space.
*Pushing the guitar back into the mix with reverb. Or bringing the vocals further forward with a reverb with pre-delay.

For an example of screaming guitars with still room for clear vocals, you can look at Fear Factory's Demanufacture album with a spectrum analyser.

[gdavi1]

what if you did two tracks like someone suggester or just cut your single take track into two tracks one loud and one soft.

and then using a little ducking to make the vocals sound presentable?

[IronFlippy]

Good mike technique should help you more than anything. Splitting the take is a common method, especially for trying to get a slightly different sound for different parts of a song.

[Epicureous]

Yeah I started playing with a spectrum analyzer after I made the post to see where I could make a bit of a hole for the Vox... And after looking around this site (and others), I stopped using a compressor on the vox and just started using subtractive eq'ing... and using the fader to make up for the dynamics... Sounds a lot more real to me (less processed)...

The reason I was hav'n trouble was the tracks I was recording were premixed (sent to me from other bands; they just wanted vox for reference material), so I had no choice on where the guitar were placed in the mix. When I record my own tracks I have no problem with the vox tracks...