The "In-Depth Vocal Mixing" Thread

[Fox Mulder]

I apply them cuz I use a Soundblaster Audigy 2 NX soundcard, and it sounds like shit, causing lots of noise. Also, I record my vocals with a SHURE SM58 and, I don't know why, it makes a lot of strident sybillances when I pronounce "S". I'm thinking about buying an EDIROL UA25 EX cuz I can't stand this anymore...

Hehe man, A de-esser and gate is mandatory for vocals irrespective of what you use I was talking about the chain.

 

[C_F_H_13]

Hehe man, A de-esser and gate is mandatory for vocals irrespective of what you use I was talking about the chain.

I never gate vocals...I always always always just clean it up manually via editing and automation.

 

[egan.]

Here's just an example of what I did this weekend.

-Female lead vocal ala Feist. Recorded with a u87, neve 1066, distressor, and 1176.

PT processing:

1.PT EQ3-doing some minor corrective eq...pulling out a few wierd low mid honks and a few odd whistles in the top end.

2.Waves Desser- She needed it

3.Waves C4- I have a patch I created for vocals that's similar to the pop vocal preset, but a little more suited for the plugins that follow in my chain.

4.Waves Rvox- Just a little bit of compression here...maybe 3-4 on the loudest parts.

5.Waves L1- CLA posted a patch he uses in an article of SOS some time last year and I tried it on vox and actually really liked it. So usually all I do is drastically bring down the amount of limiting as compared to the preset.

All further processing was done OTB, and basically included some minor eq, a plate verb, couple of delays and some mild pitch modulation.

Hey man, what kind of GR are you looking for at each of those 5 stages of dynamics (excluding the de-esser)?

 

[CatharsisStudios]

my chain


reacomp(reaper repersent)
rea-eq
freeverb tooo
reacomp
maybe another freeverb

 

[Calippo Tecks]

For me, the main problem that I have at the moment of recording vocals is that, when I listen to my recorded voice, it doesn't sound as I hear it inside my head. Is there any way of achieving that the voice in the recording sound like the intracranial voice? Can it also depend of the kit that it is used in the recording and the chain of effects?

The answer is very simple:
You are an inexperienced vocalist and it means you are not able to sing good enough already. It'll sound like what's in your head after some time. You can find some things about that on youtube that might help you over time, like relaxing your tongue, the way to use your throat and things like 'head resonation' if I remember correctly, though.

 

[C_F_H_13]

Hey man, what kind of GR are you looking for at each of those 5 stages of dynamics (excluding the de-esser)?

1. c4- I'd say 1-3db...1db on average across all bands I'd say....but up to 3db.

2. rvox- 3-4db although sometimes 5-6db.

3. L1- This one varies alot...rock.metal...like 3-6 db....pop/folk = 1db maybe.

I'd say all and all it's like 10 db of compression...maybe a littl emore. But it's in small increments and with various settings and attack/release/ratios....

 

[egan.]

1. c4- I'd say 1-3db...1db on average across all bands I'd say....but up to 3db.

2. rvox- 3-4db although sometimes 5-6db.

3. L1- This one varies alot...rock.metal...like 3-6 db....pop/folk = 1db maybe.

I'd say all and all it's like 10 db of compression...maybe a little more. But it's in small increments and with various settings and attack/release/ratios....

Cool. I figured with that many steps in line you wouldn't be annihilating it anywhere. The L1 is probably the most surprising to me.
Are you doing much with the hardware or that more about tone?

 

[C_F_H_13]

Cool. I figured with that many steps in line you wouldn't be annihilating it anywhere. The L1 is probably the most surprising to me.
Are you doing much with the hardware or that more about tone?

Going in, the distressor was simply setup to catch the occasional wierd spike she'd have so it was at like 4:1 but threshold was set to just snag those....th 1176 was the real compressor...doing 3-4 db on average.

I actually have a few hardware things I do post all that ITB compression...but it's so track dependent It'd be hard to explain.

 

[theNeologist]

The answer is very simple:
You are an inexperienced vocalist and it means you are not able to sing good enough already. It'll sound like what's in your head after some time. You can find some things about that on youtube that might help you over time, like relaxing your tongue, the way to use your throat and things like 'head resonation' if I remember correctly, though.

While this sounds harsh he's absolutely right. How you think you sound and how you sound is very commonly two different things, especially to an inexperienced vocalist. Listening to how you sound while you're actually singing isn't going to give you a true replication of how you sound...instead your mind will fill in the gaps and make it seem like you sound like how you're trying to sound. It's like having someone try to talk to you, and you trying to listen while you're singing to that person at the same time....You can't focus on singing and listening perfectly at the same time without practice.

So don't rely on effects to get you that sound....record yourself...critique yourself...and above all....practice.

 

[punkrockacademyfightsong]

SM7 (presence boost on)
TLA PA-1 (high pass at 50 Hz)
distressor (usually 3:1, attack around 2, release around 3,5, detector on highpass and mid focus, output on highpass and dist 2)

ITB: usually just a touch of eq, 1-2 dB boost around 1,6 kHz to get it a bit more in your face, high shelf from 7 kHz up around 1-2 dB
Usually a touch of extra compression (Rvox) to make it sit better
Send to Kjaerhus classic verb, another send to a tempo delay with quite some feedback, highpass and lowpass (more as a sustainer) which I also route to the verb.

 

[Deadstar]

i'm lately finding really useful to triple track the same exact performance, pan the main track + or - 7 and the other 2 hard L/R. I leave almost natural the main track while crushing the the other 2 with comp.
Did u try that?

 

[El_Gato]

On cleans, I hate doubles, triples... Maybe if s/he's a veeeery good performer it could go for some parts but, generally speaking, I think it's better to copy-paste and move tracks some ms and fx's to taste. I'm going to test some vocal-oriented plugs and see what happens but ATM I'm just applying the verb and delays to the "doubles". I know most people won't realize there are doubles on many known songs but not for me in my experience.

On the other side, I'm tracking myself now and I kept some doubles to try to make em very subtle just in case. I'm starting mixing next week so I hope I'll experiment a bit these days. Who knows.

 

[Rob Logic]

Matt Smith has commented in a couple of threads of a similar nature. His vocals are epic as hell and sound amazing in regards to the production. If you do some searching you might be able to find info about this in addition to the good advice already within this thread.

 

[Deadstar]

who is matt smith? can u post the links? i can't find the one u are refering to

 

[professorlamp]

Maybe a bit of a n00b question but why do you have the reverbs set as sends instead of just inserts?

 

[ahjteam]

Maybe a bit of a n00b question but why do you have the reverbs set as sends instead of just inserts?

it's in parallel that way. and so that other tracks can use the same reverb too.

 

[Ermz]

Usually there will have been a Distressor used on the way in, anywhere from 3 to 6dB GR.

After this it has been pretty much anything that will work.

On Untruth it was a combination of the SSL E Chan compression followed by IK Fairchild (this worked out pretty well).

Lately it's been more like:

RDesser
URS Saturation or Soundtoys Decapitator (used to be Bootsy's tessla)
iZotope Trash (depending how much grit is needed. Tape saturation setting can work pretty well.)
C4 (pop vocal preset)
Rvox
L1
1176 Rev A
SSL G Channel (for EQ)

By the end the vocal is pretty much pinned.

 

[crillemannen]

Nowdays i find the vocals to be very easy to get good sounding. It is all about having a good microphone and a good preamp. Compress the hell out of it and then apply reverb and delay if wanted and your set to go.

I usually use these plugins:

waves c4
BF 1176 -20 GR
Waves ssl e-channel
Waves R-desser

 

[Melb_shredder]

Someone already nailed what i do pretty much, but to mention what I've been doing lately.

Death vox etc -
SM57 seems to sit things right to begin.
Heavy compression on the way in.
Some more staged compression ITB.
Some EQ to high pass cut some mud and boost a little between 3 - 6k and then high shelf 1 - 3 db at 8k.

Some 'tube' distortion plugin gets used if I'm using a valve mic also to squish it up a bit on the way in to focus and have less EQ later.

Then just a little verb and some delay, and then I'm happy with clear cutting, not ovbiously verbed vocals I haven't done much automation with FX though yet.

 

[qwe]

is there any rule regarding the what stuff goes first... i usualy put compresion, than eq, than desser, than reverb...

if i put first desser, than compresion, than eq and reverb, is there some major difrence? maybe someone knows this by theory x) ok its best what i feel its the best...
but maybe you have some advice, what should go first in vocal chain and why? tnx dudes! x)