Super polished vocals

[[UEAK]Clowd]

Does it really just come down to having a great source in front of a great mic? I'm mostly talking clean singing vocals here.

Maybe I'm imagining/overthinking things, but I've noticed that a lot of pro releases have a similar characteristic to the vocals... and I can't quite describe it in words but I think it is something a little bit more subtle than doubling, editing, tuning, automation, and all the other standard vocal polishing stuff.

In reference to my Dead By April thread(www.myspace.com/deadbyapril), I think it has a lot to do with the reverb. I don't know what kind of reverb they used but it's super subtle(you can hear it best on the acoustic intro of "What Can I Say" and even then it's subtle) but still adds a ton of magic and epicness. You can say the same for just about any big release.

Reverb seems to me to be one of the biggest things we can do for the vibe of a song/record besides the song(s) and the performances, and the producers of all these big pro releases seem to be experts at picking out exactly what reverb gives the vibe that they want/need. How do they do it?

disclaimer: I know everyone here thinks the band is "gay", and the same probably goes for super polished vocals... I know, but that's not the point.

 

[vespiz]

Yeah, it begins with a great source (artist - mic - room - preamp - converter...) & an engineer with great ears and then stuff like really great reverbs, harmonizers, delays etc. All high-end, usually. Tho' I suspect that you can get away with lower-end gear/plug-ins, if you know how.

How do they do it? Experience, good ears, great rooms.

 

[GarethSE]

Well I know for a start Joey Sturgis edits vocals syllable by syllable
and to me it sounds like those really pro vocals are really, REALLY overcompressed, yet they aren't, all at the same time
i read an article in sound on sound by the guy who mixed James Morrison's first record (british singer/songwriter/white boy soul shit kinda guy, nice voice) explaining his extravagant parallel compression technique
Output the vocals to a group track, which is then sent to 5-6 different compressors with vastly different characters, then he played around with the blend of compressors until he was happy, all while leaving the raw track well.. raw.
Plate reverbs sound really nice on vocals by the way If you don't want to hear much of the reverb, roll off above 10khz to taste, that seems to be the clincher for audible or inaudible reverb for me. That could help with the reverb you KNOW is there but can't hear.

 

[JonWormwood]

Well I know for a start Joey Sturgis edits vocals syllable by syllable
and to me it sounds like those really pro vocals are really, REALLY overcompressed, yet they aren't, all at the same time
i read an article in sound on sound by the guy who mixed James Morrison's first record (british singer/songwriter/white boy soul shit kinda guy, nice voice) explaining his extravagant parallel compression technique
Output the vocals to a group track, which is then sent to 5-6 different compressors with vastly different characters, then he played around with the blend of compressors until he was happy, all while leaving the raw track well.. raw.
Plate reverbs sound really nice on vocals by the way If you don't want to hear much of the reverb, roll off above 10khz to taste, that seems to be the clincher for audible or inaudible reverb for me. That could help with the reverb you KNOW is there but can't hear.

This is a fucking badass idea. Will try.

 

[GarethSE]

I had a little play with it once, it sounded a bit weird, but I'm sure that's down to the fact that I was playing with it stoned out of my mind at 3am one night.
I'm gonna try it in a mix eventually.

 

[Erlend_]

Well I know for a start Joey Sturgis edits vocals syllable by syllable
and to me it sounds like those really pro vocals are really, REALLY overcompressed, yet they aren't, all at the same time
i read an article in sound on sound by the guy who mixed James Morrison's first record (british singer/songwriter/white boy soul shit kinda guy, nice voice) explaining his extravagant parallel compression technique
Output the vocals to a group track, which is then sent to 5-6 different compressors with vastly different characters, then he played around with the blend of compressors until he was happy, all while leaving the raw track well.. raw.
Plate reverbs sound really nice on vocals by the way If you don't want to hear much of the reverb, roll off above 10khz to taste, that seems to be the clincher for audible or inaudible reverb for me. That could help with the reverb you KNOW is there but can't hear.

I read that SOS article too.. Crazy stuff! I need to try it one of these days

 

[Fragle]

i think it's also important to carefully EQ the reverb so that the ambient space sounds exactly like you want it without cluttering anything...you want to enhance the vocal track to be larger than life, and sometimes the reverb's own voice can get in the way of that (after you already chose the right reverb/ambient space mind you)

 

[Cryo114]

One thing I do these days is as said before, compress well so the voice is pretty consistant in volume. Then but i have a send going to the reverb before the compression. That way the reverb still reacts to what was loud in the vocal part before the compression. I think it gives certain parts an emphasis. Not sure how well this workds for non-"singing".

Did i explain myself well? :S

 

[Full_Tilt]

One thing I do these days is as said before, compress well so the voice is pretty consistant in volume. Then but i have a send going to the reverb before the compression. That way the reverb still reacts to what was loud in the vocal part before the compression. I think it gives certain parts an emphasis. Not sure how well this workds for non-"singing".

Did i explain myself well? :S

I like this idea because reverb is an inspiration in the tracking phase so shouldn't be eliminated in the end result .

 

[gabriel g.]

...extravagant parallel compression technique
Output the vocals to a group track, which is then sent to 5-6 different compressors with vastly different characters, then he played around with the blend of compressors until he was happy, all while leaving the raw track well.. raw.
Plate reverbs sound really nice on vocals by the way If you don't want to hear much of the reverb, roll off above 10khz to taste, that seems to be the clincher for audible or inaudible reverb for me. That could help with the reverb you KNOW is there but can't hear.

Holy shit 5-6 comps is insane man But I will try it
The reverb thing realy works great with the 10khz roll off!!!
I also put the comp after the reverb.

And I always push the raw track with the Waves R-Vox and R-deesser and then send it to the AUX for the rest (verb /sometimes delay/ parallel compression)

 

[chonchball]

Last month I just tracked Craig Owens (of chiodos / cinematic sunrise)'s debut solo record, and I just found which mic of mine matched his voice best. In this case it was a gold cascade. Ran it through my Avalon with light compression on the insert, and then used a little bit of plugin compression as well. His voice is just GREAT to begin with, so the takes lent themselves to sitting properly in the mix. Then I got the test mixes back from Casey Bates (who recorded Chiodos' last record) and he used some phenomenal compression. I just emailed him to find out what extra compression he put on Craig's voice to really round it out. It sound perfectly transparent yet POWERFUL. Finding a way to leave vocals dynamic while still somewhat stipping them of their dynamics is not really an answer someone can tell you. It's something you have to get a feel for... because every vocalist is different. Much in the same way a Tele with single coils sounds nothing like an SG with humbuckers.

After that there's a neverending realm of processing possibilities. You can widen the voice out with a stereo reverb buss, you can harmonize the vocals either naturally or synthetically, you can add slap back delays or, as in the previous reply, an overkill of compression. Toy around with what you have available to you and push it to its full potential and you'll come up with something that works for you. True, great gear can prove great results, but only if the person using the gear knows what they're doing. Someone with mediocre gear can get great results as well if you just really learn to USE it.

I'd start with compression and a NICE plate reverb buss and see how that works for you as a starting point. Then start experimenting.

 

[Fox Mulder]

is then sent to 5-6 different compressors with vastly different characters

Too bad I don't get delay compensation in pro fuckin tools m-powered.

 

[chonchball]

you're doing M-Powered Beat Detective work? holy crap, that's like torture dude!