mixing lead voice

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woodentops

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how can i mix in a lead voice in a whole production and make it sound good? I am new in dealing with voice recpordings, heard a lot about doubling/multiplying tracks but nothing sounds good. Either the voice stands out too much or it sounds lost. Even equalizing didnt help too much.
Do you record voices mono or stereo?
I read in another thread about panning background vocals but what about the lead. Does it always have to be centered. What about delays and reverbs on vocals?
I know a lot of questions but i am eager to learn about that, plus i am tired of hearing my crappy voice mixing over my decent tracks.
Thanks in advance
 
Normally I have only the lead vocal and the bass\bass drum in the center with everything else panned at varying degrees. If another instrument (such as a piano) has a hook or riff in a different octave than the lead vocal sometimes I will leave that in the centre as well.

Just thought that maybe your vocal sounded 'lost' sometimes because the center was a bit cluttered ?

Maybe not.

Pap.
 
Yo Wooden tops of a Table:]

It takes some time to get the "voice" exactly like a Sinatra UP FRONT vocal --[however, Frank had some great mics to sing into.]

I have worked with a recording for ten or twenty hours, off/on, and finally got the "vocal" the way I wanted it -- up front.

If you over use reverb, your vocal and syllable context will be lost to boom boom de boom.

I like to use the 300 millsec delay on my Alesis reverb box for some vocalists, especially one who slurs the syllables. Articulation is key in a good vocal cut. Check out Sinatra's stuff or any other "good" vocalist and you will find great articulation. I also use a Lexicon reverb box in conjunction with the Alesis.

I run vocals through my ART preamp and I use the 20 Decible button for boost -- just started doing that and have had some good results -- I also cut a little bit of a Jazzy Raymond's overture the other day and ran the synth through the Art and got some neat sounds.

But, remember man, you really need to work when you mix down to whatever -- and, if you get a "good one" you can't wait to do another.



Green Hornet
 
Vocal out front?

Try this....

Use the eq on your mixer to slightly cut upper midrange (2K to 4K)
on all the tracks except the vocal.

Now boost the vocal in this same range and lower the vocal in the mix until you cant hear it too well, then back up a bit to where it sticks out of the mix because of the hi mids, but not too loud that it sounds un-natural.

Add slight reverb to all the tracks, (Having everything go through the same reverb makes it sound more connected, even though it was recorded at a different time and place)

Don't over use any effect, just a taste....

Dom Franco
 
Lead vocal timbre depends greatly on the genre and therefore a blanket statement can't cover all cases. Typically a good sound starts with a good mic. Good (and relatively cheap) all around vocal condensors are either the KSM-32 or 44 or the AT-4050. The Rode mics are pretty good too with a bit more mid range crunch. I notice a lot of big name artists like Sheryl Crow and Sting seem to be using the Shure mics regularly so maybe that should say something (though they break out the bad boy Neumanns for the real deal). Run it through a decent mic-pre like a Presonus MP-20 or if you want a really clean, transparent sound go rent a Great Rivers mic pre and check that out... A good mic pre really will make a difference in the sound that is printed. Stay away from cheaper mic-pres like the $99 ART unit. You can definitely hear the starved plate coloration and it doesn't seem pleasing to me. Typically, with the right mic and mic pre, you should need very little EQ to get a clean and tranparent sound that will cut through the mix. Clear a space for it in the mix, typically front and center with eveything else panned to some extent (except bass and some of the drums which typically are the exception). Place backing vocals elsewhere through judicious use of verbs, delays and panning. Anything in the same range as the voice (perhaps guitars or pianos) must either fit elsewhere in the mix or be arranged to not stomp on the lead vocals. A little compression is a good idea and will depend a bit on the singers mic technique. Don't over do it, if you can hear the compression kick in, it's too much. The better the singer, the less compression you should need. For effects on the lead vocal, it is always a good idea to trying ducking them to make the vocal stand out. Ducking, as you probably know, will drop the level of the effect whilst the vocal is occuring. This dramatically improves the transparency on a lead vocal when applying reverbs, and to a lesser extent delays. Finally, let the vocal breathe... don't apply gobs of effects, compression, and eq trying to fix a bad take. Sometimes there is nothing that can be done for a given take, and you need to do the best you can to salvage something. It should not, however, be underestimated what a really good singer can sound like with practically no processing applied to the voice. Sometimes it will just take a lot of attempts with coaching of the singer. There have been numerous articles in books and magazines over the years on this type of coaching. Look in this months Electronic Musician for an excellent article on this subject. Good luck and hope something here helps.
 
put the leadsong in the middle.
add the same reverb to all the channels exept for drums and base.
Low cut all instruments and vocals to get kickdrum and base some room in low freq.
you can add an extra vocal to all chiors to get the extra kick plus pan that one partly., or even do 2 extra vocals and pan the slightly left/right.
this should help you.



regards
Lars.
 
thanks

thanks very much for all the great help
i definitely can work with all the info i received from y'all
wow, that was my first time in this place and what an amazing help.
thanks again
 
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