Need help with mixing and recording a rapper

[PokerDude422]

So I have a rapper who I am about to record an album for, he is pretty experienced in the studio so he knows what he is doing as far as the tracking goes.

We are running through the tracks laying down the main track center and panning overdubs 30 left and 30 right on the verses and then on the chrous we are laying down the main track center and two tracks panned 30 each way and two tracks panned 60.

What I need to figure out is the mixing techniques and how to eq all these and such to make this sound good and if there are any other good rap techniques out there for recording. If anyone has any tips or any good sites to help me out with on this that would be awesome.

Thanks
Jake

 

[danny.guitar]

I don't record any rap...but the only answer is, do what sounds good. Probably not the answer you are looking for.

The background vocals should mix naturally with the rest of the song without needing much. You may want to pan them further off-center, try 60% L/R. Mess with the panning and levels until they sound right.

Another tip, which happens to apply to any style of music, is hit your MONO button (your DAW should have one) so you're listening in mono. Pan everything center.

Then mess with the levels. If things still don't sound right, you can try some EQ. Mix around the lead vocal, since that is the most important part.

But once things sound good in mono, and you can hear each instrument more-or-less clearly, go back to stereo and do the panning. You will find that the mix "opens up" a lot more and everything should sound much clearer.

If there's no MONO option in your software, there are free VST plugins you can download for that.