Mixing Problems--blending vocals with already mixdown beats

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versatile242

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I am new to the the mixing and edit music....I been learning from youtube videos and I need help with getting my vocals to blend in with the beat...Could someone please help me and let me know what I am doing wrong...The music program I use is Adobe Audition 3, mastering program: Izotope 4, and I use a USB AT 2020 mic..
 
This has been a common question lately. Try searching.

Probably what will help most is a fair bit of compression on the vocal.
 
Having heard two tracks I take back my compression suggestion. It sounds more like a tonal mismatch. The tracks are "scooped" and hyped in the highs but your vocals have a strong low-mid component. What processing are you doing on the backing tracks and on the vocal? You might try moving the mic back a bit while recording your voice to lessen the proximity effect.
 
I record the hooks three times and pan 2 left and right at about 60...I record vocals or verse once, doubles twice panned hard right and left, and adlibs once centered.... I compress first. For Eq, I take out the low end of my vocals around 132 hz( high pass filter) and for d'essing i turn it down -7.9 db around 6669 hz. Then I add reverb, exciter, and widener
 
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It's a compression issue, but not the way you think it is.

Those mixed beats were compressed pretty hard. Every time a drum hits, the entire volume of everything else dips in volume for the tiniest fraction of time. Because the entire mix is compressed together, everything has the same behavior...except for your vocals. Unfortunately, you can't just slap a compressor on the vocal track and fix it because the compressor has to respond to the peaks of the beat instead of the vocal peaks if it wants to "fit in". And the peaks of the beat have been largely removed...

You can try your hand at a dynamic expander on the beat, then lay the vocal on top and re-compress everything together. But again, since the beat already had it's peaks shaven down there isn't much left for the expander to grab on to. You could also try running the vocals + beat through a compressor side-chained to trigger on just the low frequencies of the beat... and maybe a second pass with lighter settings side-chained to the higher frequencies.

It can be done. It is just a tricky procedure that takes much manual poking and trial.
 
versatile242 said:
I record the hooks three times and pan 2 left and right at about 60...I record vocals or verse once, doubles twice panned hard right and left, and adlibs once centered.... I compress first. For Eq, I take out the low end of my vocals around 132 hz( high pass filter) and for d'essing i turn it down -7.9 db around 6669 hz. Then I add reverb, exciter, and widener
Click to expand...

Cutting at 6669Hz is not de-essing. If you want to de-es, use a de-esser. It's making the vocals muddy, especially compared to the hyped highs of the backing track. Once you replace the cut with a de-esser you could probably ditch the exciter.

Why are you using a widener? You're not stuck with a 2-track mix of the vocals, you have the individual tracks and could just pan them wider if that's what you want.
 
Hmmm, I usually don't compress the music but I will run the leads to a buss with compression and the hooks to another buss with compression. If I use compression at all on the track it's because it lacks a little ummph and I don't use it heavily. If I put anything across the main mix it may be izotope ozone with a setting that's not over compressing things. Then it's just a matter of leveling the vocals to "sound" like they are part of the pre-recorded music track.
 
Stay away from the USB mic's also, they aren't meant for recording, just broadcasting(even though some companies claim they can be used as recording mic's)
 
I heard the songs and the balance can be fixed for sure.
watch how much time you work on a piece, because this is mostly a result of tired ears.

now volume and stereo width is your best tools when working with mixed down beats,
but not the only tools, in your case.

your vocals will need a proper EQ to raise some frequencies and lower others, besides that you will need the right compressor, something that will smooth your vocals a little.

next time you record you can do something a lot simpler to achieve best results take more distance from the microphone when you record, because...
and remember that always, this is a time saving tip...
Mixing is starting from the recording stage.

you can read the articles here to get more appropriate knowledge and techniques :
Music – DM

don't forget the upload the results so we can hear it too.
and nice flow by the way :)
 
The music sounds like its way far back, and the vocals are up front all alone. I do almost all live recording with acoustic guitars, so I'm not exactly sure why your mix sounds so separated. I've recently started using ozone 4's multiband compressor on individual tracks as opposed to applying it to an entire mix. in some cases, i've been able to squeeze vocals into a mix better than simply trying to EQ them into place. For my voice in particular, i compress the mids (say, 600 Hz to 1500 or 2000 Hz) and mid highs (2000 Hz to 9000 Hz) separately with ratios from 1.3 - 2. I set the compressor threshold about where the ozone mastering guide suggests: iZotope Ozone - 64-bit analog modeled mastering effects for Pro Tools, VST, MAS, Audio Unit, and DirectX audio applications, and then add a little make-up gain to each band if necessary. Sometimes I'll roll off the lows with a shelf EQ or highpass from 150 to 350 Hz. What I've found is that this process tends to pull my vocals into the music if they stick out too much in some spots. My vocal tracks are relatively dynamic though, whereas yours are pretty chill, so it may not work for you, as it may remove too much dynamics from your vocals. I recently used this same technique on an old mono tape recording of a country singer who was performing with pre-recorded instrumentals. The music seems very far behind her voice, but by compressing the mids on the song, I was able to draw her voice back into the mix some. I would post an example but I can't export tracks right now.
 
also, if sibilance is a problem in your vox, compressing the high mids can tame those too...this is another option instead of a de-esser; If you do EQ out the "ess" sounds, I'd recommend automating so that the EQ only cuts on the very brief intervals when it is needed, and do this only to the vocal track (ie. not the entire mix). This is very tedious if the entire vocal track is full of sibilance, but if that's the case, it probably means there were some problems during tracking that were overlooked. I've fixed a few of my own vocal tracks in this way, and I like it better than some of the de-ess plugins i've tried. You can also loop sibilant sections and boost EQ with a narrow bandwidth (if you have parametric EQ) to locate which frequency to cut on any particular syllable.
 
Try this method for DE-ESSING I know it's more involved than the ones included in most DAWs but I've had better luck with it because I have better control over isolating the offending freqs without overkill.

I heard some parts where your vox were completely over shadowed by the bass -- primarily where the bass goes into a more upper bass end. You might try to find that freq and notch it with an EQ on the backing track. This PC I'm on has a sub so it's playing stuff I don't normally hear on the DAW.
 
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