What steps do you guys take for vocal mixing?

  • Thread starter Thread starter vVShellShockVv
  • Start date Start date
V

vVShellShockVv

New member
I know most people say "try and learn" or "everyone is different"...But fuck all that...I just want to hear everyone elses way of handling vocal mixing...what steps or how to do it, or whatever pointers you have, so some of us have a place to start..for anyone who helps, thank you, for all who are just gonna say the some ole "try and learn" line, stop wasting your time posting and move on:D
 
Parametric sweep to isolate and notch-out nasty resonances. Compress. Pretty simple, really - ;) Avoid trying to change the tone of a track (any kind of track - vocals, guitars, whatever) during mixdown. You should get the tone right at the source, and then mixdown is really easy... just do those two things I listed. It really is that simple if you record a good, and good sounding, take.

Further reading:

How to do a parametric sweep: http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/columns/gstep/index.php?id=69
Compression (with good sounding results): http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/compuncomp/index.htm

The author of the linked resources is "SouthSide Glen" on this message board. His articles are excellent and will take you a very long way if you really learn what he's teaching... That should get ya started :)

edit: Almost forgot: If the singer can't stay in key for shit, then Melodyne enters the process, too - before the parametric sweeps.
 
Last edited:
Good lookin out man, I appreciate the info, Im messin around with fx in audition but i still aint perfected it yet..thank though!
 
Last edited:
Definitely use a parametric EQ to lessen freqs that aren't relevant to a vocal. I usually roll off the low freqs and thats about it. After that, I will add dynamic range processing (compressor, dynamics process, limiter, what have you).

From there its all moving the fader to get it to fit in the mix. Hope that helps. Similar explanation as the guy above me.
 
Good lookin man...I use about the same process.. I just gotta learn how to use them to get the clean crisp sound...is there a usual order I should run each one in?
 
I know if I ask how to set up each one, you guys will say "it depends on you," so Im not gonna ask...If you have tips on it, it would be koo..but Im askin the chain you run each in..what comes first, and what comes last...
 
lol. That's too funny, man. You've totally got a large portion of this board's completely-cryptic-thus-unhelpful-to-beginners approach to advice pegged. (They're usually right when they say shit like this, btw - but I totally understand what you're saying - there was a time for everybody when we didn't understand why "you just can't fix it in the mix" and other vague things of the sort. Hearing them a thousand times didn't help anybody learn why, though - helpful little tidbits of advice that are actually usable helps you get there a little bit at a time.

So here is one of those useful (for me, at least...) tidbits:
The two most important mix-time effects are EQ and compression. Traditional wisdom (and many, many manuals that came with hardware compression units, EQs and mixing boards) has always said to put the compressor first, and then the EQ, so that the EQ does not alter the tone-related effects of the compression. This traditional wisdom may have been completely practical before the "wall of sound" thing caught on, but the problem today is: EQ after compression alters, and in some cases can largely undo, the actual dynamics-compression effect of the previously-applied compression. For this reason, I have found it to be infinitely faster in a "wall of sound" (aka:"typical modern commercial sounding" - whether you love 'em or hate 'em...people pay for, and expect 'em) mix, to put the EQ before the compressor, so that after I do the initial parametric sweeps and notch out the nasties, if any exist, I can smash the track into shape, and then EQ out any nastiness which appeared/surfaced as a result of the compression, without the vocal (or whatever) becoming undesirably dynamic as a result of the EQ applied, which would then necessitate another round of compression, which might impart or reveal yet another unpleasant sound on the track, which would require more EQ, then more compression etc. etc. etc. Either way you're gonna go back and forth (to some extent) adjusting the EQ and compression side-by-side until you find the right balance that gives you a non-dynamic, nasty-resonance-free track, but I have found that putting the EQ before the compressor gets the job done much, much more quickly. ;)

Works well for me, you can hear a few mixes I've done on my myspace page (which is linked to somewhere on my profile here on this board).
 
Last edited:
yeah imma go check out your page and see if you got the sound I am lookin for, I did the whole sweep thing but it didnt really work for me, i didnt get the honking sound i was supposed to be lookin for in my vocals, and if i did, i would keep sweeping past it and it would disappear, maybe i was doin it wrong i dont know, i read that article a few times and for some reason i still couldnt figure it out, maybe i gotta read it 50 more times or somethin...but ne ways, thanks for you response..imma go check out your page now...

Oh and maybe if you could check out my music page and listen to my newbie(haha) sounding music and tell me what I can do to improve the sound...Keep in mind that this music before I took you advice and started messing more with mixing...please check out the first song(most recent) and let me know...any advice would be great

Edit:
What did you do with the ad libs on your "unstoppable" track?? I like that
 
If you have no nasty sounds jumping out during the sweep....then you need to share your signal chain! Or upgrade your monitors...:p What's the signal path for your recordings, and what's your monitoring setup?

On that Unstoppable track (which is not mine, I only recorded the vocals on it). That was a couple years ago, but I'm pretty sure I just had the vocalist record his ad lib parts twice, then I panned them pretty far left and right, and set a delay on the last syllable of each one, with both delays panned to the center. So it sounds like his voice bounces out, then back in. Pretty simple little trick.

Maybe I'm just dense, lol... but I can't seem to find a link to your music anywhere.
 
vVShellShockVv said:
I know most people say "try and learn" or "everyone is different"...But fuck all that...I just want to hear everyone elses way of handling vocal mixing...what steps or how to do it, or whatever pointers you have, so some of us have a place to start..for anyone who helps, thank you, for all who are just gonna say the some ole "try and learn" line, stop wasting your time posting and move on:D
Click to expand...

I pan the vocal center and pan lots of stuff away from it, sometimes hard left and hard right. I leave stuff like bass and kick drum at or near the center, cuz they don't impinge on the vocal much.

I use a parametric EQ on the vocal track. Because I have a good mic and because my room isn't ugly, I get a pretty good sound, but still I roll off everything under about 100 Hz in order to get rid of rumble, and I reduce about an octave of 350 Hz by maybe 2 or 3 dB. After that, it's fine tuning. You might want to explore adding an octave of maybe 4K or 5K to your vocal, but don't boost it too much up there - maybe a dB or two.

I don't use a compressor on vocals much these days. I go through the vocal track painstakingly and draw a volume envelope on everything so that I get the levels I want.

I add modest amounts of reverb on most of the vocals I do. Drier vocals sound more upfront, and that helps them get heard in a busy or loud mix.
 
My fault.. I forgot to post my myspace link..here it is www.myspace.com/TopFlyteStudios .... If you could check it out and give me some pointers on what I should be doing to make it sound better...

My setup:
akg c3000b condenser mic-->presonus tube pre---->m-audio fast track pro---->laptop--->yamaha h350 monitors
 
Last edited:
dobro said:
I pan the vocal center and pan lots of stuff away from it, sometimes hard left and hard right. I leave stuff like bass and kick drum at or near the center, cuz they don't impinge on the vocal much.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Bass, snare, kick, lead vocal = dead center. Always.

dobro said:
...reduce about an octave of 350 Hz by maybe 2 or 3 dB. After that, it's fine tuning. You might want to explore adding an octave of maybe 4K or 5K to your vocal, but don't boost it too much up there - maybe a dB or two.
Click to expand...
@vVShellShockVv: After listening to the first track on the linked page, dobro's advice in this quote sounds like exactly the EQ lovin that those vocal tracks would benefit from. If you feel that you must use those doubled up parts, I suggest you re-record or edit (whichever is faster for you) all of those doubled up parts to tighten the timing. Then reduce the volume of the doubles significantly. It can be a handy engineering trick to stack tracks like that, especially for guitars and stuff - But people want to hear one, single, clear, lead vocal right up the middle of a song.

Also, I am a fan of using the "telephone effect", but having the doubled "telephoned" tracks behind the entire verses like that kinda kills the novelty of the effect, it also makes it kinda hard to understand what the vocalists are saying. It's cool as shit when used sparingly, though - I would just leave it in the chorus, how you did it there sounds good.
 
yeah great advice guys, but there is one problem, because I am a artist struggling to get by, I usually just download instrumentals, which leaves me no room to pan the instrumental. The only thing I can manipulate is my vocals, in this case I heard it can be a good idea to copy and past the main verse, add reverb to one and pan it one way, add a delay to the other and pan it the other way....what do you think...any advice on that?
 
vVShellShockVv said:
I heard it can be a good idea to copy and past the main verse, add reverb to one and pan it one way, add a delay to the other and pan it the other way....what do you think...any advice on that?
Click to expand...

ehh.. I hate to do this, but - if it sounds good, then it's a good idea. There's a billion little tricks like that that can give an interesting effect - Reverb and delay can be cool, but they're not what is going to make a track sound good or bad. They're just like a (very thin) layer of icing on the top of the cake.

The most popular trick is probably the "copy and paste two copies of the original, pan them hard right and left, drop them in the mix about 12 db below the lead vocal, and pitch shift one up 9 cents and one down 9 cents". People have been doing this particular trick for years and years.
 
Hey Typhoidhippo... I still cant figure out how you did that effect with the ad libs on "unstoppable," is it possible to maybe explain a little more detail on that?
 
Hey i use adobe and cool edit they both are basically the same.. What i do is i do my main verse and keep it center. Then I dub like the punch lines (the words at the end of each line) and i pan the left about 35 then i do my ad libs and i pan those about 35 to the right. So it usually sounds pretty good because its not all just coming at you. I mean i know i ain't a pro, i don't use ne compression on equalizer or nething but i dono its still sounds good and i have dropped a mixtape out n it all sounds official so, i guess im doin suttn right lol.
 
yo Roc where can I hear what your finish product sounds like???
 
Yo your song sound pretty koo homie, but you got more of a mellow sound on that. Me, Im all about delivery like Bone Thugs N Harmony(fast and in your face), but for what you doin it sounds koo for your style, Im WAY different with my style though....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top