S
semsem612
Member
How to make a vocal track sound rich and full?
Mo Facta
Farts of Nature
Get a good singer with a great voice and performance technique. Match that with the correct mic and you're already there. A good preamp with good conversion can't hurt either.
As far as a mixing question goes, there's really no way to tell you as 1. Everything is subjective and 2. We haven't heard what you're starting with.
The tools we have are only there to 1. Correct a problem or 2. Supply an effect, and seldom serve to improve what we already have. Mediocre results will follow if this is attempted. This I am convinced of. There are always exceptions but in audio, when you have shit all you can really do is make shit pie. It will still taste like shit!
In terms of fixing the inconsistencies in a recording, this can sometimes serve to improve the situation as harshness and non-linearity is a big reason why recordings fail but this will never be as good as careful considerations taken from the onset of the production.
Cheers
As far as a mixing question goes, there's really no way to tell you as 1. Everything is subjective and 2. We haven't heard what you're starting with.
The tools we have are only there to 1. Correct a problem or 2. Supply an effect, and seldom serve to improve what we already have. Mediocre results will follow if this is attempted. This I am convinced of. There are always exceptions but in audio, when you have shit all you can really do is make shit pie. It will still taste like shit!
In terms of fixing the inconsistencies in a recording, this can sometimes serve to improve the situation as harshness and non-linearity is a big reason why recordings fail but this will never be as good as careful considerations taken from the onset of the production.
Cheers
C
clivus
New member
Ditto what Mo sez, plus consider double tracking the vocal.
T
triviul
New member
In principle I agree with the 'garbage in, garbage out' argument, but these days you can still do a lot at the mix stage. My main recommendation for getting a rich and full vocal sound is to make sure that you clear other things out of the way of the vocal. That Solomon Burke record from a while back, 'Don't Give Up On Me' is a great case in point. Everything in the backing track on that record is very restrained in the top end, which means that Burke's voice really comes through as clear and detailed in that region without needing unnatural high-frequency boosts. The same goes for more recent stuff too, such as Aloe Blacc's 'I Need A Dollar' or Adele's 'Someone Like You'. They're all cases of making the vocal sound great by clearing space for it by carving away bits of the other instruments.
FunkDaddy
New member
If the singer is good, this works a charm. If not, it tends to sound like a really bad chorus effect.
PDP
There once was a note
Good point, I just got new Adam A7x monitors and I can really hear the choices Engineers/Producers make on the lead vocal. If a mix is clear in the vocal range, the vocal doesnt need anything artificial to keep its prescence, thus it keeps its "body and richness" more naturally. In a mix with loud guitars, cymbals etc. You have to get on the enhancers, exciters and EQ and it thins out the sound of it.