General Vocal EQ, Comp, etc. Tips

[Sean in Silence]

So there is a general snare eq thread and a general tom eq thread (both of which are EXTREMELY helpful)
So I just figured I'd start a vocal one
Since I haven't seen a whole lot on this in one single thread at least
So any general suggestions?

 

[Machinated]

quick attack usually, medium release (although really depends on the source material, use your ears!).

delay and reverb are cool, even better to automate certain parts to make it more interesting. eq wise, it really depends, just do what you need to to get it sitting right.

 

[C_F_H_13]

General Ideas....as always it's source dependent.....

I usually use 2 layers of compression on vocals. One that's a general squash with 4-6 db of reduction on the loud sections, and then a limiter type stage as a safety net and to lift the vocal a little. Back when I did alot of pop stuff I'd absolutely floor the compression on vocals but now I'm backing it way down...

as machinated said....quick attack, medium release, and I usually go 4:1 with about 6db of reduction or 8:1 with 4db of reduction.

I AUTOMATE vocals alot. Tails of words, the breaths up and down depending on it's emotional relavence....

EQ- This is really hard to say cause it's soooo different person to person. For me, I do some cutting on shit that bothers me (wierd honks and rings and other annoying things) and then a gentle (key word GENTLE) lift in the top end to add some air.

Hope that helps a little

 

[Machinated]

I usually use 2 layers of compression on vocals. One that's a general squash with 4-6 db of reduction on the loud sections, and then a limiter type stage as a safety net and to lift the vocal a little. Back when I did alot of pop stuff I'd absolutely floor the compression on vocals but now I'm backing it way down...

+1

 

[Allu83]

+1 for this thread!

I'm really interested in your tips... I'm still not really happy with how my vocal tracks sounds!

 

[Jaymz]

Yeah some fav, Compressors/Verbs/Delay's would be cool

 

[sash poask]

yep also interested in this, as i mostly been concentrating on the guitar/bass/drum sound so far..

 

[GarethSE]

I compress my vocals a ridiculous amount. Infinity:1 ratio, -50db threshold.
Boost volume with gclip and elephant.
shit ton of eq.

 

[Machinated]

I compress my vocals a ridiculous amount. Infinity:1 ratio, -50db threshold.
Boost volume with gclip and elephant.
shit ton of eq.

i used to eq like mad when i first started - then i remember reading 'only do what needs doing' and thought about why. now im literally just doing small adjustments to get things right.

how come you are needing a shit ton of EQ? without sounding like a knob, id guess something is up with your mic if it needs that much eq....

 

[Jaymz]

I have a question....when you/if you LP your vocals where do you roll off from?

 

[C_F_H_13]

Yeah some fav, Compressors/Verbs/Delay's would be cool

Some of mines....these are all plugs for ITB mixing BTW....Tracking or hardware stuff is a whole other can of worms...

Also note that I'm a PT user unless my discovery or reaper today turns into an obsession haha.

Compressors- Waves Rvox/C4/L1/RenComp. I use a combination of these plgs on vox. I also love Compressorbank/MH Channelstrip.

EQs- MH Channelstrip/ DIGI's EQ3 / Filtberbank

Verb- Dverb/Rverb/Altiverb.....all source dependent.
Delays- Line 6 Echo Farm....but my new favorite is Echoboy from Soundtoys....it's awesome.

 

[C_F_H_13]

I have a question....when you/if you LP your vocals where do you roll off from?

IF I roll off vox...and it's pretty Rare, It's like 6db/oct at like...18.5 k maybe? Sometimes if I get vocals that are really dull, I'll do a big boost in the 10-20k rage with a shelf and the LP filter it off a bit to kind of even it out and not make it so abrasive.

 

[Sean in Silence]

Thanks for all of the detailed responses

 

[IanBTS]

Any tips for essential vocal EQ ranges? Like : "Body at 200Hz", etc...? (And of course the differences in EQ essentials between screams and cleans, if any)


Also random n00b question as far as automation goes. Does typical track automation in a given DAW (I use Sonar) come before or after the effects inserts on a track?

 

[C_F_H_13]

Any tips for essential vocal EQ ranges? Like : "Body at 200Hz", etc...? (And of course the differences in EQ essentials between screams and cleans, if any)

"Ranges" for vocals are totally voice dependent in my opinion...girls/guys are totally different and the key of the song is important too.

A very broad idea is that most stuff in the bottom can be filtered ( I usually go up to 80-100 hz ) I do a cut in the 3-400hz range, and another in the piercing 1.5-3.5 k range....another in the sibilant range, and a general top end boost in the 10k range....

Also random n00b question as far as automation goes. Does typical track automation in a given DAW (I use Sonar) come before or after the effects inserts on a track?

Not sure about Sonar, but in PT the automation is after the inserts. I'm sure other DAW's allow you to switch it too....

 

[Morgan C]

Also random n00b question as far as automation goes. Does typical track automation in a given DAW (I use Sonar) come before or after the effects inserts on a track?

You can choose - either input gain or 'volume'/export gain. I prefer using input gain on tracks that aren't compressed/limited too much so that I can still change the overall volume of the track.

 

[IanBTS]

Is it a bad idea to automate the input gain on a vocal track that will have a compressor on it? (I'm wondering because the songs I've been working on recently have large fluctuations in volume between high and low screams on the main vocal track)

It seems to me like it would make the compressor's job a little bit easier if the vocal track going into it was already relatively evened out. Wouldn't this help keep from overcompressing the originally louder sections, if everything was automated to close to the same volume before the compressor was applied? Don't know if that makes sense or not...

 

[beyond dead]

in logic, volume automation is prefader, so it will even dynamics BEFORE the compressor. not sure about other daws.

 

[Metaltastic]

in logic, volume automation is prefader, so it will even dynamics BEFORE the compressor. not sure about other daws.

By default? I could see that driving me crazy if I didn't know it was the case...

 

[beyond dead]

yeah by default. it is definitely important for me to have volume auto pre fader. if it wasnt, it would be completely useless to me.