Hip Hop Vocals Don't sound IN the song

[ambi]

Whenever i've done hip hop Vocals in the past they didn't sound like they were inside the song. They sounded more like they were hovering above the music and you could tell they were pasted on. I record on my computer with a shure sm58, we had it running through a mackie mixing board, and we used logic audio to compress it and added reverb. I have to admit the songs they were placed in were total crap, and i have some theories as to why the didn't sound in the song, but i thought i'd see if any of you guys had experienced this before and if you knew how to fix it. One thing i thought it might be was because the songs were horrible and lacked a basslines, so they were very hollow and poor quality. Or maybe because we are used to the sound of our own voices and that made it sound like it was outt of place a bit. Anyways we've been making a lot better music now and my friend has purchaced a roland sp808 ex, and we are learning a lot more about production, but when we record again id like it to sound very good and inside the song. If your flow is'nt very good or off could that be it? Because we are ammatures, just startin out. Anyways, we also need a preamp because we had to take back the mackie board (it was a bottom of the line mackie mixing board btw) and we were thinking of the ART tube MP studio. Any sugesstions or help on the preamp, or the setup, or filters and effects, or levels, or anything that would help us id really apriciate any responses. Thanks in advance.

 

[midfidelity]

ambi, one thing i've done is mix vocals so they are just low enough that they are perfectly intelligible but not any louder. this gives the illusion of a louder, fatter bass response on the music tracks without turning the bass up (which can be dangerous if you are not very careful).

also, reverb is not a very appropriate effect on hip hop vocals. hip hop vocals are typically rougher sounding and reverb sounds a bit too wet. the exceptions to this are 1) special effects, and 2) if you are doing some very abstract, trip hop type of stuff and you are sure reverb is what you want.

if you want effects on the vocals, these work best for me:

1. a good sounding pitch shifter, on an AUX send, post fader (don't use it on the inserts), detuned only slightly less than the original vocals (minus about .15-.25 of a semitone or at about 98%), and mixed very low so it just barely thickens the vocals without competing too much.

2. a fairly short delay, occuring about (doesn't have to be exact sometimes) one 16th after the original signal. also keep this mixed quite low so it is very subtle but adds just a bit of depth.


also, avoid too much eq. use the low cut filter on your mackie to take out rumble and loud low end artifacts that can happen when a rapper is really getting into it. explore the proximity effect of your mic; you may sometimes want the vocalist right on the mic but you may want him back farther, depending on his voice. take special care that he is not touching the mic or it's stand during recording, and that he keeps his mouth at about the same place during the entire track so the volume of the vocal track does not bounce up and down.

a tube mic pre or a tube mic will make a big difference. compression and limiting helps as well. hip hop makes a lot of use of compressors and limitors.

mixing is an art of subtlety, and that subtlety is very often overlooked. many engineers often over-compensate when making changes, thus they always have to make changes. it took me a long time to unlearn that and i still struggle with it all the time. protect your ears from fatique and learn to hear the very subtle differences the slightest fader or eq adjustment can make- they can go a long way in the long run. do some reading about eq, frequencies and the ear (i recomend the book "Modern Recording Techniques"). your ear is very sensitive at certain frequencies and certain adjustments, even only half a dB, can make a good change. also, try not to monitor at too high a volume- your ears respond differently at high levels (i.e. "the Fletcher-Munson curve"). monitor at medium levels and check how your mix sounds at very low levels and high levels, and find the median.

 

[Teacher]

here is my plug in i use for hip hop which works great from me people have been pretty impressed considering i'm working wita Mackie into my delta 66, with a condenser

in this order
Waves RCL(Compressor Limiter set it to warm or soft)

Timeworks EQ(for low cut @ about 120hz i think this helps give the illusion being "in the song" cuz it won'tcollide wit the bass being that those Frequencies are removed)

SPL De-Esser( get rid of those dragged out sssss and shhhh's)

Magneto(tape saturator-gives a "bigger" feel which may also give ita more in the song feel)

this gives me very decent results i'd think wit the equipment i have