I'm having difficulty getting a healthy dynamic range in my mix. We're dealing with a rock song, three guitars, drums, bass, vox.
I am reading up on what are reasonable targets for dynamic ranges for different styles of song. Basically, I've read numerous articles that say the target is a Loudness Range (EBU terms here, LUFS, etc.) of no less than 9. Found a Pro Tools article that's a littler more realistic, I think. It says to shoot basically for between 5 and 7 LU, depending on style, and lists dozens of popular songs along with their Loudness Range.
My problem is that I can't get my song's dynamic range above 3.8 or so. I've pinpointed the problem: it's my vocals. If I remove the vocals, all my measurements are great and it sounds great. -12 to -14 LUFS Integrated, PLR-S around -8 or 9. PLR Short Term around -9. Loudness Range (LRA) around 6 or 7.
When I add my vocals in I just can't keep the LRA within reason. It's always less than 4. I've tried using less compression, adding volume envelopes (which helps the numbers, but doesn't sound right -- sounds not natural).
I'm thinking I just need to re-do the vocals altogether, which is my next step.
Honestly, I like the sound of the song, but I recognize I don't have enough sonic variety in the dynamics.
Is it okay if the "band" has sufficient dynamic range even if the vox don't?
Thanks in advance. I've worked hard on this, just can't seem to get it. Any thoughts or tips would be most appreciated.
Tesgin
I am reading up on what are reasonable targets for dynamic ranges for different styles of song. Basically, I've read numerous articles that say the target is a Loudness Range (EBU terms here, LUFS, etc.) of no less than 9. Found a Pro Tools article that's a littler more realistic, I think. It says to shoot basically for between 5 and 7 LU, depending on style, and lists dozens of popular songs along with their Loudness Range.
My problem is that I can't get my song's dynamic range above 3.8 or so. I've pinpointed the problem: it's my vocals. If I remove the vocals, all my measurements are great and it sounds great. -12 to -14 LUFS Integrated, PLR-S around -8 or 9. PLR Short Term around -9. Loudness Range (LRA) around 6 or 7.
When I add my vocals in I just can't keep the LRA within reason. It's always less than 4. I've tried using less compression, adding volume envelopes (which helps the numbers, but doesn't sound right -- sounds not natural).
I'm thinking I just need to re-do the vocals altogether, which is my next step.
Honestly, I like the sound of the song, but I recognize I don't have enough sonic variety in the dynamics.
Is it okay if the "band" has sufficient dynamic range even if the vox don't?
Thanks in advance. I've worked hard on this, just can't seem to get it. Any thoughts or tips would be most appreciated.
Tesgin