EQing and Compressing Hip hop tracks

[Mr_Brasco]

Trying to EQ and compress hip hop tracks. Just wanted to see if anyone had any tips on compressing hip hop vocals or is it best to compress the whole mix? I'm having trouble with getting the levels right. They are always low when I send them to DAT. Holla back

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[Teacher]

what are you having problems with? vocal levels? overall mix levels? both?

for Rap vox I usually strap on 1 compressor and 1 limiter, my current compressors of choice is the Ren Comp which goes first to control the dynamics, then I use the UAD LA2a in limit mode to catch any peaks...eq is so program dependant all i can say is roll off about to40-50hz and high shelf around 12khz and up..after compression.

For the overall mix, compression and limiting and eq is the answer. I'm guessing your probably mixing in to much low end (thats usually everyone's problem who just started mixing hip hop) which eats up headroom, which then inhibits you from increasing the levels w/o the bottom distorting, so put a High pass filter @ around 20 or 30hz...but your gonna have to play around with it till it sounds good.

 

[Mr_Brasco]

I'm having problems with both. The eqing I is sometime to high I get alot of sibs. I guess I need to cut some of the highs around 5-7 khz. Also I don't know if it's better to compress the vocals or just do the whole mix.
I have a akai dps 16 digital recorder and it has the digital compressor/limiter built in so I don't know if that's a good thing.

 

[Teacher]

IN hip hop you MUST compress the vox its like an unwritten rule...the entire mix is up to you, built compresses on a relatively cheap peice of gear is never a good thing but if you know what your doing your should be able to get useable results

 

[Mr_Brasco]

Cool, so what's the best compressor settings for hip hop vocals? Thanks for the love homie

 

[mixandmaster]

If you really want to make your hip hop vocal mixing idiot-proof, run them through something with a high ratio 8:1 or more. The only trick is that if you crush them that much, you HAVE to de-ess afterward and maybe work on (using volume automation) lowering the breaths. Also listen closely to your vocals soloed to see if the compressor is pumping too much, then adjust your settings.

Compressing that much takes a lot of the dynamics out of the performance, but it allows you to have the beat higher in the mix which is the way hip hop is being mixed these days.