Mixing Rap Vocals Help

[legn8er]

Hello,
I am new to this forum and was hoping I may learn something.

I been learning the program Cool Edit Pro 2.1, and have myself pretty familiar with most of the basics. I have been trying my best to get my mixing down right but I just can't seem to grasp it down right.

My set up is:
AKG Preception 200 Microphone,
MobilePre USB Interface,
SONY MDR-V600 Headphones.

I will send you a mixdown I tryed to do myself, thru the cool edit pro, and would like some suggestions/tips on where to go from there, cuz to me the mixing sounds not right.

What I did:
Dynamic Processing -> Uber -punch 1 preset
Reverb -> nice Presence
EQ -> 4.0 hi -2.4mid -3.3low

Sample is here: (Type URL together, Would not let me post URL cuz I dont have more then 5 posts)
www .sendspace. com/file/psnmy9

[benage]

Hi, listening to the vocal the first thing I notice is it's hard to understand what your saying, as the vocal is loud enough I think the problem is you haven't made room for it with EQ. Unless you've done this already send all your tracks exept the vocal to a bus, place an EQ in the bus and scoop out some of the mid range, centre the peak around 1k reduce around 3db with a Q around 0.60 to 0.80. Then on your vocal boost the mid range but only by 1-2 db at 1k with the same Q. This should make the vocal intelligeble without it being so loud it sits on top of the mix. Hope this helps.

[legn8er]

Hey thanks for the reply, this is exactly what i am trying to accomplish, the clarity of the vocal, rather then upping the volume of it. I really do not understand exactly what you have said, any way to explain it in more detail, maybe in steps of how to accomplish this?

Thank you very much!

[benage]

Hi, sorry your having trouble, I don't actually use cool edit so I can't really run through it step by step for you, I'll try and make it easier though. I don't know whether cool edit has busses but as an alternative you can just add an eq to every other track other than the vocal and cut some of the mid range frequencies one at a time. You don't have to do it to every track but the effect is more pronouced the more you do, the most important tracks to do this to are usually the lead lines in the background like synths and pianos/guitars etc as these tend to occupy the same frequencies as the vocal. So just cut the mid range by about 3 to 4db with the centre of the cutting frequency being about 1000hz (or 1khz) with a setting of about 0.70 Q (the eq should show this somewhere, in case you don't know Q is just how far or not the cut reaches away from 1khz.

The most important frequencies of a vocal in a mix setting at least is the midrange from about 500mhz to 3000hz (or 3khz) looking at your first post again it seems like you may have cut these frequencies which I wouldn't do. instead boost these slightly by 1 or 2db (much more and the vocal may sound unnatural).

Hope this is ok now

[RAMI]

Originally Posted by legn8er

Hey thanks for the reply, this is exactly what i am trying to accomplish, the clarity of the vocal, rather then upping the volume of it. I really do not understand exactly what you have said, any way to explain it in more detail, maybe in steps of how to accomplish this?

Thank you very much!

What does the manual, that came with it when you bought it, say about this topic?

[legn8er]

Hello,

Thanks again for the reply, I have tryed what you have said and I am not sure I did it correctly, but this is what I basically did.

I did everything the same as above,
Just different on the equalizer.

Lo: 3.3db (160hz)
Mid: 6.0db (1000hz)
Hi: 4db (7000hz)

Let me know what you think and what else you may suggest to get it better.

Thank you,

LINK TO SAMPLE:
www .zshare. net/audio/168199248974021d/

[benage]

Hi, I'm not really sure what those reading mean you've given me. are you saying you've boosted by that amount for low,medium and high ranges? What kind of EQ are you using? I don't know what comes with cool edit but try a parametric or channel EQ if you have one using the settings I described earlier.

[legn8er]

Okay I was thinking maybe we can do this, if I send you my raw vocals, and the instrumental, could you try and mix something your way, and let me hear how it should sound?

SO i can practice to get it down

[benage]

Ok If you like, just upload them somewhere post a link and I have a go for you.

[legn8er]

I sent you a private message for the link. Let me know if you get it. BTW you got msn where we can talk easier?

[benage]

Hi got the files, I had some problem unstuffing them, my apple mac's
kinda old ,as is my unstuffing tool but I've got it sorted now, I'll try and have something for you soon. Sorry I don't have MSN we'll have to chat here.

[legn8er]

Okay awaiting your mix

[benage]

Ok I've done that for you, I've sent you a private message with the link.

[legn8er]

Hey man, appreciate your attempt. It is much clearer, but not exactly the sound I am looking for... :S

[benage]

Ok fair enough. I did compress the backing track a fair bit to try and make it easier to mix which brought out the reverb alot on the synth lead which made the vocal sound a bit 'spacey', I don't know if it was that you didn't like. The main tip I could give you to mix that perticular vocal apart from the methods earlier was take some of the bass out of it maybe a low cut at 200hz that should help you alot. The backing mix itself was OK but the clap sound is too loud and really sticks out so I'd bring that down a bit.