Mixing/Tracking Vocals - In General

  • Thread starter Thread starter get2sammyb
  • Start date Start date
G

get2sammyb

New member
Hi guys,

I'm just totally confused by the process for mixing vocals into an existing track and making them fit. I'm not a singer and we have been working on getting decent mixes of the backing tracks before we track the vocals... but it got to the point where it was time for me to record something for the intro of a song earlier and given my lack of experience in mixing vocals I got stuck pretty quick.

I used a preset on Line 6 Gearbox to create the preamp for the vocal and what I got was something that sounded nice alone... but didn't mix at all. I compressed the vocal, cut the low end (and after some consideration decided to cut the high end too) and applied some chorus and this was my final product:



Now I don't totally hate it but I'm sure you can appreciate something is not right with the vocal - in that it sounds thin, or just generally out of place. What should I be doing to correct the problem?

Any tips?
 
After that, do some searches through these forums about vocals....

Anyways, when I mix stuff down, Like say vocals, I'll cut the sibilance's at around 8+khz, and then maybe add some presence around 5khz, if the vocals are muddy, I'll cut at 200hz ish range. and maybe boost on narrow Q some where in that range too, and then go to the instrumental tracks, and cut at that same freq. Then I'll add reverb, delay etc to taste, and compress whatever needs to be compressed, etc. There's like a lot of stuff I can write about how I do mixes, but then it gets complicated and this post would go about a page or more... and i'm about to leave work, so i'll write some more whenever, or one of these smart engineers can keep you on the right track.
 
Thanks for the tip.

So if my guitars are occupying the sort of 400-800 range I should be thinking of cutting that?
 
Whoah, hang on before you start cutting and changin ad hoc, Saammy...

It not very easy to tell just what's up when you supply a sample that contains only two spoken (well, kinda shouted) words in the whole thing :).

But from what liilte there is to hear it sounds like *maybe*, *maybe* the vocals are kind of sticking out instead of fitting in and feeling a little thin because you have relatively dry vocals (not counting that echo effect at the end) sitting on top of a fairly compressed and failry solid wall of sound.

It sounds like you're trying to place meatballs on top of the final sheet of lasagna pasta; the meatballs just are not going to mix in and are going to stick out and taste like plain dry meatballs.

The problem is, those two tiny words happen during the intro bars to the song when you have everything else going full-tilt. Just toward the end of the clip it sounds like you're setting up fpr the verse and the mix opens up just a bit. The vocals may or may not sound entirely different there; I can't say for sure because there are none there.

The vocals do not sound intriniscally awful, there's no obvious clash with the wall behind them. In fact the vocals are quite distinct. They're just oil riding on top of the sea of guitar and not mixing in. I might try fiking that by diluting the vocals a bit and making them more "mixable" or "compatable" with the base you have.

Try wettening the vocals with a decent dose of reverb. Keep the decay on the reverb fairly short, but compress the mixed wet/dry vocal a bit to smear out the wet/dry mix a bit. Then try laying that "flattened and spread" vocal/verb layer on top. Adjust track volume to taste. It'll still lay on top like a layer of hamburger meat, but it shouldn't stick out like a couple of meatballs.

If you have further vocals coming down the pike in the more opened-up verse part of the mix, they might not need/want the same treatment.

G.
 
Hi Southside and Mindset,

I took both of you guys advice (gratefully received) and have had a play around in the past hour or so. I ended up taking Southsides advice and layering a wet track to the dry track. This was the result:



I also edited the EQ a little giving presence in then 5k area.

I feel it's an improvement. Anything I should consider to get it spot on maybe?
 
Glen,
you should eat, you sound hungry. :D


Sammy - Way better, spot on I'd say. The spirit of that short little vocal doesn't want to blend in any more than that.
 
Last edited:
Robert D said:
Glen,
you should eat, you sound hungry. :D
Click to expand...
"I'm hungry when I wake up/I'm sleepy when I eat" - The Subdudes

Actually I'm just trying to get everyone else hungry! :D

But anyway, to the point; Sammy, yeah, I agree that the vocal not sounds much better matched to the rest of the song with that verb on it, and I personally don't really have a problem with the sound of it the way it is now.

*Maybe* an option just to try would be to see if the vocals could be fattened up a bit on the lower end, somewhwere in the 150-300Hz range, just a couple of dB, but I'd be just as ready to throw that away as to keep it if it didn't sound better than it does now.

G.
 
I actualy gave it a touch more in the low end just after I posted up that sample.

Pretty happy now.

Thanks for the tips guys, appreciated as ever.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top