getting very clear vocals

D

dzara 4

New member
Have been going through my record collection and was listening to notwist

a great CD called "neon golden" . The vocals on the record are great and I

can hear everything the singer is saying . Some records are really hard to

figure out what the singer is sayin but not this this one. I usually boost

around 10k to get some clarity and use a ratio of 2:1 with a 1ms attack

and 200ms . Also usually use reverb 1 sec reverb applied sparingly. Vocals

are sounding pretty good on my mixes recently but was wondering if

anybody could offer me some tips on how to achieve voclas with a little

more clarity. This is the vocals chain I am using/

shure ksm44 -->focusrite 220(not using comp or eq during tracking)--

>fireface 800

Thanks
 
well other things to take into account are the acoustics of the room and the actual pronunciation of the vocalist. with that mic, you shouldn't have many problems getting clear vocals.
 
Many singers seem to throw pronunciation out the window in favor of feel or never even consider it a major component of singing. That’s a mistake imo. There has to be a compromise.

Mixing wise, it all depends on what the singer is week on. 5k for S & T and general definition. Around 3k for B’s & V’s and what not.

Effects are the other killer of vox. As little as can be gotten away with is best.

Now I have to read the article SS Glen posted;)

F.S.
 
Both those articles are stellar. I think that the "excitment compression" they are referring to in the motown article is parallel compression if I am not mistaken.


Thanks for the great reads and advice I will try applying some of those methods
 
Freudian Slip said:
Many singers seem to throw pronunciation out the window in favor of feel or never even consider it a major component of singing. That’s a mistake imo. There has to be a compromise.

Mixing wise, it all depends on what the singer is week on. 5k for S & T and general definition. Around 3k for B’s & V’s and what not.
Click to expand...

Great post.

10k will not boost clarity. I would say I hit around 2-5k to clear up vocals most often, and usually cut at about 12k to clear up sibilance issues if there are any.
 
Add a gate if you dont want breath noise.
Desser next. (if needed)
Then a multiband compressor (i use the waves C4).
Then a compressor (I use the waves Rvox, or an 1176 plug in).
Then a limiter (like the L2 or the Massey final plug.....something that holds the fort down with out being an audible thing, i think brick wall, or "final type" plugs do this well).

Then a bad-assed reverb (EMT 250 impulse, Or the UA Plate 140).

Then tons of Flanger.
 
xfinsterx said:
Add a gate if you dont want breath noise.
Desser next. (if needed)
Then a multiband compressor (i use the waves C4).
Then a compressor (I use the waves Rvox, or an 1176 plug in).
Then a limiter (like the L2 or the Massey final plug.....something that holds the fort down with out being an audible thing, i think brick wall, or "final type" plugs do this well).

Then a bad-assed reverb (EMT 250 impulse, Or the UA Plate 140).

Then tons of Flanger.
Click to expand...

Editing is better than a gate for vox.
3K for the mid range kinda telephony sound, 12K+ for "air" and 5K for presence.
Lo cut around 100Hz and scoop around 130 to get rid of muddyess.

Eck
 
No limiting at mix down, maybe at recording if needed.
For mixing C1 brings out the smooth warmth, and Rcomp for compression. Alot of volume automation to bring out the dynimacs.

Eck
 
I probably know jack – but I always do a bit of comp on vocals while recording and I am not a big de-easer fan. I think diction is the key to a great vocal even in death metal; - particularly end consonants – you really need to hear the ‘k’ in fuck or it just sounds like ‘fun you’.

I use to too often reach for the plug-ins and processing when playing with mic type and position (sideways for persistent sibilance) and a solid pop shield (Cascade Aluminium) can sort out so much before burning tracks.

I love parallel (Motown) compression and it works really well on snare and foot drum fattening as well – you can either compress the hell out of the second track and just raise it up below the main track or if you’ve managed to get your drums ‘breathing’ you can keep the same attack/release time on the 2nd track and just increase the ratio.

I'd put another vote in for editing vs gating on vocals - if the vocalist is quite it is singer but a loud breather it is dam near impossible. I wouldn't limit at mix down - but I multi-band compress - but it all depends how you are going to distribute - an Mp3 mix is a different animal to CD quality and more people are starting to mix for the medium (but then they always have - that why we love compression)
 
xfinsterx said:
You arent setting your gate correctly then.
Try using the key filters of th gate.
Click to expand...
Yeah you could be right Finster, but I like to really pay close attention to vocal editing, even using time expansion to smooth out tails of vocals along with reverb volume automation at tails etc.

Eck
 
Lots of great suggestions and srticles on this thread, I'm bookmarking all the articles to read this evening.

That's a great vocal mic you have there. However, not every mic fits every singer, you might try some other mics you have to see if any of them are a better fit for the particular vocal you're recording. I had a singer in a while back that was really good, but had a unique timbre to his voice. After going through all my best condensors, I wound up recording his vocal with a Shure Beta 57.

good luck!
 
ecktronic said:
Yeah you could be right Finster, but I like to really pay close attention to vocal editing, even using time expansion to smooth out tails of vocals along with reverb volume automation at tails etc.

Eck
Click to expand...


Id say also that having the singer a few inches back off the mic, makes gating a much easier thing as well.
 
dzara 4 said:
I usually boost around 10k to get some clarity and use a ratio of 2:1 with a 1ms attack and 200ms .
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with boosting a little bit here and there, but you might want to try some strategic cuts as well. For starters, you can usually roll off the low end of most vocal tracks starting at around 100 hz with a steep curve.

From there, you can try cutting some of the low-mid junk at around 400 hz or so. Backing up from the mic an extra inch can make a world of difference in taming proximity effect.

But the number one problem I see with most vocalists is in their technique. Too often I see people singing without a lot of confidence or conviction, and this often manifests itself in a less pronounced vocal track. Worse yet, I even see a lot of singers trying to pull a Stevie Wonder ... moving their head out of the microphone's "sweet spot" when singing. Sometimes it's just a matter of getting caught in the moment, but more often than not, it's because they aren't confident in their delivery. And this drives me crazy, but if you have to look off to the side even slightly at a lyric sheet or a cheat sheet, then guess what?

Off-axis vocal = unclear vocal. Never move your head out of the mic's sweet spot.

Lastly, I don't know what kind of compressor you're using but a 1ms attack time time seems far too quick. Most of the anunciation / clarity of a vocal track comes from the first 20-40 ms of a word as it's being formed with the singer's mouth. With a 1 ms attack time, you're basically clamping down on the word before the initial consonant (beginning of the word) has a chance to come through. Give the singer's lips a chance to move, and the word just a tiny bit more time to develop before you proceed to squash it.

.
 
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