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(May 16, 2003) Swivel Master starts this off, asking:

I've recently been trying to get into real song production - you know, with real instruments and vocals - and I've been having trouble finding the perfect mix of vocals and perfect EQing of them. My own voice is really deep, and never seems to sound right in any way in the mix :D It's either too loud, seeming to push out too much over the other stuff, or too soft, being drowned out. Compression? EQ? what do I do?
-Swivel Master

barbarella

Hi there,
yeah apart from compression (I always use it - it's pretty necessary - waves ren comp is my fave, set to 'vocal' and with the left slider pulled down to about 12....) Or else you could try cutting some low frequencies. Try anything from cutting below 140 up to about 500 (or even higher). Especially if you have a low voice. You can do it so it still sounds 'realistic' but will work better in the mix, or as an effect in iteself. Distortion and delay can be fun...sometimes I put a 'telephone' eq on...or you can do stuff like move and copy vocal bits to their own tracks and do different things to them, panning them around...

i sometimes add some waves stereo delay, set on 'exciter' which is so short you can't notice it as a delay, but it just fattens and widens the vocal. Put it on a bus and then send to the bus then you can use it for all your vocal tracks. Also if you want to save on CPU you can put the compressor on a bus too though don't send to the compressor like you would a delay, rather make the track's output the bus (and then the bus's output the main output of course)

cheers-
barbarella


-L-
Get a good vocal mic, or if you're starting up a studio try getting a couple of different mics if you can afford it.. That way you can try each one on the vocalist you're recording until you get one that shows off the strong points in their voices..

Also compression is very important. I sometimes use Waves Trackslammer (using it from within Sound Forge) for a really powerful "pumping" vocal effect. It sounds great during heavy partys of the song.. I believe Marilyn Manson used a similar effect for some of their stuff. It makes the pre-syllable parts of words sound like they're rushing upwards into the mix.. kinda.. Um, difficult to describe. Anyway, yeah, I think they actually did it by putting the vocals through a guitar amp.. But the principle is kinda the same. :)

Finally, try to minimize plosive sounds by putting a mic guard in front of the mic. That way if some idiot sings "peter propped the penile pencil puppet perpendicularly" with all those's "p" sounds in there creating big rushes of wind in the direction of the mic, they'll be slowed down by the guard and won't create a huge bassy popping sound.
You can buy mic guards, or make your own one.. I can't remember what the best material is to use though. Obviously certain materials would have too much effect on the way the vocals sound. Sound On Sound ran an article on this one time I think, but I forget a lot of the details...

Finally - reverb!!! For a really good vocal sound some subtle reverb can do wonders. There aren't a lot of situations where adding reverb is a bad idea. Particularly on quieter vocal parts and especially on acoustic type tracks it works superbly well. Just make sure it doesn't "colour" the sound too much.. a good vocal reverb is usually barely noticeable.

-L-


chadwick

When it comes to your mixdown, dont forget to check the levels of each instrument, you dont want certain sounds to drown out others, or become cluttered if they are filling the same frequencies.

One great tip I was given when checking the vocal, is to stand outside the room while its playing, you should just be able to hear the vocal over the top of everything else, but not too much.

I think every instrument in the mix has its rightful place, its just a matter of tweaking until it sits just right!

audio illusions

Try these tips.

* Set compression ration to 3.5:1 (get close and adjust to your taste).
* Set attack and release times to tast. (I use pretty quick attack and release times)
* Playback Instrumental in MONO (assiuming you hav a good mix)
* Play at a real low level.
* Bring up lead vocals until it can be heard clearly over the instrumental (but not high enough to stand out).
* Use the same settings on background vocals, but compress a little heavier, and bring them up so they sit just behind the vocals.
* Turn up mix volume, and adjust panning to your liking.
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