Lead Vocal Placement

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djclueveli

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Hi i'm new to this site and i wondering if anyone knows what i need to use to get my vocals soundin upfront like commercial recorded songs because my vocals always seem to sound live when i'm mixing and i want them to sound placed upfront like professional recordings. i want my vocals to sound upfront without having to pann anything. 1 just recorded 1 verse track and i want that to be the only track i use cause its a different type of song and i dont want no addlibs or anything just 1 track but 1 track doesnt always sound good without addlibs so if anyone knows what i can use to get my vocals sounding upfront please tell me cause it will help me out alot. is there any software or plugins that does this and i'm not talkin about waves stereo image cause that's not the type of upfront i'm talking about. i'm talking about the upfront in professional recordings such as a track by T.I. and Daz called "My Life". the vocals in that track are placed so well. anyways let me know if you know how to do this or if there is any software or plugin i can use to do this. thanx
 
If you use the sends on your "In The Box" mixing board itll help you.

All sends must bre routed to an aux track with the coresponding effect in place.

For instance, bus send 1 (prefader) to go to an aux channel that has a compressor with a heavy handed setting for added presence.

Then bus another send (prefader) to go to an aux channel with an eq that has a low-pass set at 300hz, to fatten things up.

Then bus another for verb (prefader), and set the verb to 100% wet.

Do the same with a delay (100% wet here too).

Now bring your main vocal up and add the aux sends as youd see (or rather hear) fit.

Best of luck.

-Finster
 
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Also use the reverb sparingly. A drier vocal will a sound more In-Your-Face. To add body to the vocal, you can add a bit of chorus and/or slapback delay over the aforementioned compressed and EQ'd vocal. You can also doubletrack the lead vocal.

A new thing I've been working with is to duplicate (or double track) the vocal and run it straight uncompressed through a band-pass filter and mix it in just below the original (Compressed version). Then sweep the frequency and bandwidth until I get the extra presence that seems appropriate. It really allows me to accurately hi-light complimenting frequencies, without drastically affecting the overall balance of the track/mix.
 
thanx for the help. i don't have any gear but a condenser mic and a mixer and that's it so i don't use the aux or other things. i just use the preamps on the mixer. And the bad thing about double tracking vocals is that it won't sound right in mono and if you want it radio played, they play their songs in mono. The phase will be messed up in mono.
 
All you use to record is a mixer and a mic? Do you mean a standalone digital recorder? I don't think you have to worry too much about your stuff being played on the radio, but even then, double tracking a vocal does not mess up your phase unless you're talking about copying and actually doubling one take and time shifting it. And even then, it's not mono that messes the phase up, it's just messed up unless you pan your doubled vocals hard.
 
The advice Finster gave you is good and very detailed. Set up your software mixer the way he suggests using auxes and use your reverb, delay, compression, and eq plugins the way he describes.

You can leave the original vocal track not panned, right in the center where you want it. But you can pan the delays and any of the rest of it wherever it works the best. Also, the way Finster has it set up, you can mix as much or as little fx and signal processing in as you want, and very easily.

Dryer vocals tend to sound more upfront, and wetter vocals farther back. That's in reference to reverb.

djclueveli, this is the third thread you've started on exactly the same subject in exactly the same forum. Please try to avoid doing that, it's better to put all your continuing questions in the same thread that you originally started.
 
all i have is a analog mixer and a condeser mic. i dont have anything to hook up to aux or anything like that. i can't afford that right now so i need to do it with plugins or something else
 
Is your mixer actually a digital hard drive recorder? Are you recording onto a computer? Or do you record your music straight onto your walkman? You must have more than just a mixer in order to actually store the music you are recording, know what I mean? If you have a computer you must have software that records it. Most software will allow you to do at least some of that routing stuff.
 
djclueveli said:
all i have is a analog mixer and a condeser mic. i dont have anything to hook up to aux or anything like that. i can't afford that right now so i need to do it with plugins or something else
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This is what we are talking about. If you are using a computer program like Sonar for example, it is set up like a hardware mixer, but in software. In the software you can have busses and auxes, just like a hardware mixer.

If you set up your software mixer and plugins as Finster suggested, you will be a lot further along toward getting the sound you want.
 
i'm lost lol. i use acid to record. all i do is press record on acid and talk into my mic and it records. after that i can put effects on it while mixing. can you explain in more detail what u do with the aux that you are talking about. is aux a way to put effects on vocals or something because acid lets you put effects on vocals after you record them so whats the differece in the way i'm doing it now and how you guys are doing it.
 
djclueveli said:
i'm lost lol. i use acid to record. all i do is press record on acid and talk into my mic and it records. after that i can put effects on it while mixing. can you explain in more detail what u do with the aux that you are talking about. is aux a way to put effects on vocals or something because acid lets you put effects on vocals after you record them so whats the differece in the way i'm doing it now and how you guys are doing it.
Click to expand...

What your asking The Gold Answer to a question that cannot be answered at all. It's like asking "How do I fly a plane?" and expect a one sentence answer. Study, my friend, lots of study and experience.
 
What he said!

Did you read Finsters post?

You are getting answers then ignoring them.

With no experience, almost no gear, you are NOT going to get a "Pro" sound. Sorry, but thats the way it is.

READ, READ, and READ some more....we have all done it.

Join the mix contests - there should be a new one coming up.

Also, if you posted some samples, we could give you more advice. If you have no way to put them up, use www.lightningmp3.com
 
I'm not familiar with Acid, but regardless of what you're using....at some point you've got to break down and read the manual. Figure out how everything works, then everyone's answers will start to make sense to you.

Another way of putting this....You want to know some techniques for strengthening your vocal tracks, but you don't know anything about your software or equipment (at least that's how it appears). That's like asking someone for a baking recipe when you don't even have an oven.
 
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