Ideas for Mixing Harmonies

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jaynm26

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Any new ideas out there for mixing singing harmonies...Certain effects, plugins, bus techniques.

Im an old dog no new tricks. My approach, EQ each harmony individually, pan each to form nice bundle of sound. Then I bus all harmonies to a sub-track with additional EQ and Comp for the whole group. The bus track will have sends for Delay/Reverb sometimes I route to a chorus fx aux.

Give me some of your techniques guys
 
If you track correctly, you should not need to EQ each track. EQ should only be needed to correct a particular singer's vocal 'issues'. I'll EQ my own voice to get rid of the boxiness (I'm nasal as all h3ll), or to add a little high end brightness - this is on the lead vocal though, never on the BU harmonies.

I put all the BU harmonies in a 'folder', so that I can then apply compression to that group of tracks as 1. I create a send from teh folder to the reverb buss.
I never EQ the folder, although I guess you could if you wanted a particular sound (lo-fi, telephone, etc).
 
I Understand the use of EQ, Im looking for ideas for mixing harmonies.
 
jaynm26 said:
I Understand the use of EQ, Im looking for ideas for mixing harmonies.
Click to expand...

Jaym, you've done this before. Relax man. You asked for ideas on mixing vocals. His contribution was that he doesn't EQ vocals, puts them in a group and compresses the whole group. That's not good enough for you?

I have a few suggestions, but I'm afraid you'll give me an ignorant answer and then I'll have to beat on your ass like I've done before.

So I'll keep them to myself. :)
 
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I eq the heck out of my BGV's. I usually roll off the low end, so I don't get more build up in the unwanted sections of the freq spectrum. I might also roll off the high end; 5k and above, so they dont' compete with the lead vocal. (I have enough sibilance as it is!!) I also use a gate or edit between words and cut close to the beginning and end of each phrase. Learned that one from JoeyM and since then I see that done in a lot of commercial releases.

I used to add a ton of reverb to the bgv's too, but someone intelligent pointed out my errant ways. Now, it's just a smidge.
 
jaynm26 said:
I Understand the use of EQ, Im looking for ideas for mixing harmonies.
Click to expand...

Chili said:
I eq the heck out of my BGV's. I usually roll off the low end, so I don't get more build up in the unwanted sections of the freq spectrum. I might also roll off the high end; 5k and above, so they dont' compete with the lead vocal. (I have enough sibilance as it is!!) I also use a gate or edit between words and cut close to the beginning and end of each phrase. Learned that one from JoeyM and since then I see that done in a lot of commercial releases.
Click to expand...
Come on man!!!!!!!
 
Rolling off the low end, say 200Hz and lower, really helps a lot in most productions.
 
Screw it! Again with the EQ...
Because we preceive high pitch sounds as being closer to us, and sounds lacking high end detail as being further, low passing back vox pretty extremely is a great way to push them back without needing too much reverb or delay.

Also, lately i've been putting my harmonies more toward the center of the mix than in the past. For me it helps to emphasize the lead part, without the harmonies seeming like they're floating in no man's land. I do lots of modern rock style songs, and this is what I hear in professional tracks.
 
Chili's EQ *trick* can be done on a BGV buss, does not need to be applied to each BGV individually. Taking some of the high end out might not neccessarily work well - depends on the actual voices and the sound desired.
 
I would suggest applying some EQ to the BGV's. Hope that helps.
 
RAMI said:
Jaym, you've done this before. Relax man. You asked for ideas on mixing vocals. His contribution was that he doesn't EQ vocals, puts them in a group and compresses the whole group. That's not good enough for you?

I have a few suggestions, but I'm afraid you'll give me an ignorant answer and then I'll have to beat on your ass like I've done before.

So I'll keep them to myself. :)
Click to expand...

@ RAMI, ?

mjbphotos said:
If you track correctly, you should not need to EQ each track. EQ should only be needed to correct a particular singer's vocal 'issues'. I'll EQ my own voice to get rid of the boxiness (I'm nasal as all h3ll), or to add a little high end brightness - this is on the lead vocal though, never on the BU harmonies.
Click to expand...

RAMI, I understand perfectly well what he is saying...He is explaining the use of eq with background vocals, then he goes in more detail explaining his use of Eq on the "Lead Vocal"...are you following RAMI??? I respond with "I know the use of eq. Meaning I understand the use of eq on background vocals & also lead vocal I understand the uses of Eq in both context that mj stated. You should really read post before you go badgering them RAMI, this is all RAMI's War right here people beware.

mjbphotos said:
I put all the BU harmonies in a 'folder', so that I can then apply compression to that group of tracks as 1. I create a send from teh folder to the reverb buss.
I never EQ the folder, although I guess you could if you wanted a particular sound (lo-fi, telephone, etc).
Click to expand...

RAMI, then he goes into to explaining his techniques for background vocals...mj did I say you tech was stupid or dumb or not helpful in anyway? Did I "put down" your response? If I in anyway offended you mj tell me I will apologize....

I simply read mj's post in entirety and stated, "I understand the use of eq" in the context that mj brought up, but I am looking for other ideas that is all i said.

RAMI, you should chill for real.
 
sixer2007 said:
Screw it! Again with the EQ...
Because we preceive high pitch sounds as being closer to us, and sounds lacking high end detail as being further, low passing back vox pretty extremely is a great way to push them back without needing too much reverb or delay.

Also, lately i've been putting my harmonies more toward the center of the mix than in the past. For me it helps to emphasize the lead part, without the harmonies seeming like they're floating in no man's land. I do lots of modern rock style songs, and this is what I hear in professional tracks.
Click to expand...

Never thought of that, or thought of it that way..you know most pan out away from the lead to kind of spread the BGV's around the LV but bringing them in and tucking the close makes more since..All background vocalist for shows are grouped together not sprawled out all over the stage in what you would call "No Man's land"..You just changed my panning approach to mixning harmonies sir.
 
Any tricks, ideas, effects, bus tricks, or weird plugins to use on harmonies?
 
Oh what the heck I'll guess I'll give me own.

I Eq each harmony tracks separately to give each its own sound (digital EQ for cuts, Analog for Boost & color). I rout to a BGV/Harm Aux with Analog EQ mainly just boosting a little highs, cutting lows, very subtle as not to change the individual character of the harmonies.
The BGV/Harm Aux has a Choir FX send (Antares Choir, should really check this plugin out) very small amount followed by the UAD Neve EQ hp lows, cut a little mid depends on vocal, cut or boost highs depends on sound, mainly use for color and saturation. Next I put a small plate reverb on the insert very short plate, short time, very subtle. Send the BGV/Harm Aux to a Hall Reverb, Long and bright.
I also experimenting with the Aphex Exciter set up as a Aux send, sending from the BGV/Harm Bus I cant describe it simply BEAUTIFUL!

I hardly ever setup delays for Harmonies if I do its very short delay mainly for fulness and space. I hardly ever comp harmonies. Sometimes I switch out the Choir effect and exchange it with an Ensemble or Enigma depends on genre type and singer.
 
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