Vocal Mixing (In a similar vein to AA and TDWP)

[marathegreat]

My band is recording some stuff very soon, and me being the one in the band with any idea about mixing at all, it is up to me to make it sound awesome. Just a quick question what different effects does joey use for Screams and Cleans, I know he said once he didn't like using reverb and just delay but could anyone add on, also EQ rule of thumbs would be a huge help, thanks.

 

[GearMan2point0]

What Joey uses, will cost you a lot of money. He uses tons of Waves plugins which are typically around $100-$300. Rvox is one of them, that is great. You need lots of compression. Reverb? I would like to know what Joey uses also, I can never seem to get that one right. and EQ, depending on the mic, I usually Hi Pass, and boost the high end. Makes it more crispy. If you are doing screams, compress the shit out of it. I usually use 2-4 compressers on my tracks to make them huge. But it all depends of you are editing lows, mids or his or fries. Use your ear. Save up money and buy Waves Plugins if you want to capture the sound Joey has. good luck

 

[OneDaySky]

For the singing stuff, in order to get the Joey sound, you def gonna need to double track (not duplicate track, 2 different takes) Keep 1 track dry and the other make wet and make it softer than the dry. Joey used to use the standard Reverb A and Mod Delay in nuendo. (I just copied the .dll file from the nuendo vst's and put it o
In my Cubase Vst's folder and they were there) Automate the effects on certain words or chorus lines.

Hope that helps man
Clint

 

[K Odell]

If you have these plugins I tend to like using this chain:
Rvox
1176 Bluey
La2a
and then bus it out to TC Electronic M30verb and waves H-Delay then bus the H-Delay to the M30verb.

I also triple everything then vocalign it all so its super in sync.

 

[jimwilbourne]

as much as I still want to hear details about this from Joey, this is how I see it:

first of all. get your takes in.
personally, this is the first big step. get the singer to sing it correctly about 3 times. then comp together 2 solid performances that need little tuning. then go in & do some tuning. I believe Joey has been actually pulling some great studio performances out of his vocalists because his tuning artifacts are becoming minimal.
same process for screaming vocals. just without the tuning step. you're looking for screaming tone on this step instead.

once you get some beautiful realistic takes, I feel like half the work is done for you.
don't rely on post-processing to fix things. get it right at the source.

from here you start your mixing. compression is key here. I stage compression with 3 or 4 compressors in the chain.
2 of my favourites are: MOTU Masterworks Leveler & Softube's FET Compressor.
I don't own any Waves plugs. but I know the Masterworks Leveler is a wonderful LA2A style compressor. it also has a limiting option, so that's good.

EQ kinda varies depending on your mic/pre/singer. so honestly, you just gotta use your ears on this on a project-by-project basis.

for me, it's more about the delay than the verb. I only use reverb to make the delay less defined.
I call it the "smear effect"
but here's the secret:
if you want the vocal verb to sit right, you're gonna have to start putting in some automation skills.

Joey, feel free to chime in & tell me how wrong I am. haha

 

[Tim HLAH]

what distortion does joey use on austin carliles screams ? (ofmice&men, old AA)

i have a similar screamer ive recorded, but cant get that distortion/drive

 

[Beneath_the_Bliss]

what distortion does joey use on austin carliles screams ? (ofmice&men, old AA)

i have a similar screamer ive recorded, but cant get that distortion/drive

+1, didn't want to start a new thread for this because I'd probably just get butt raped by people saying, 'distortion obviously'

 

[ahjteam]

I'd say it's 70% the screamer and 30% of the distortion saturation.

 

[OneDaySky]

I'd say it's 70% the screamer and 30% of the distortion saturation.

mmmh thats interesting, i never thought of using the Tube Screamer

 

[masque-]

mmmh thats interesting, i never thought of using the Tube Screamer

What? screamer = the person screaming. not a tube screamer

 

[Seth Munson]

What Joey uses, will cost you a lot of money. He uses tons of Waves plugins which are typically around $100-$300. Rvox is one of them, that is great. You need lots of compression. Reverb? I would like to know what Joey uses also, I can never seem to get that one right. and EQ, depending on the mic, I usually Hi Pass, and boost the high end. Makes it more crispy. If you are doing screams, compress the shit out of it. I usually use 2-4 compressers on my tracks to make them huge. But it all depends of you are editing lows, mids or his or fries. Use your ear. Save up money and buy Waves Plugins if you want to capture the sound Joey has. good luck

Wait, where does it say that Joey uses Rvox?
and Joey doesnt compress his vocals, he limits them like myself.

 

[Joel4662]

I'd say it's 70% the screamer and 30% of the distortion saturation.

Speaking of saturation, not to get off topic, but any good suggestions on good plugins for saturation?
I use voxego voxformer now but it has those stupid dropouts

 

[Williamn]

Wait, where does it say that Joey uses Rvox?
and Joey doesnt compress his vocals, he limits them like myself.

Only limiting ?
Thats "new".. I remember a C1 preset that if im not mistaken was posted by joey and also he used to use the uad 1176.

What was the reason you switched out the comps for only limiting ?

 

[DevonSteelman]

Only limiting ?
Thats "new".. I remember a C1 preset that if im not mistaken was posted by joey and also he used to use the uad 1176.

What was the reason you switched out the comps for only limiting ?

Seth may be talking about how high the ratio is on a compressor to make it a limiter, rather than using a straight up limiter. I could be completely wrong though. None the less, I'm still interested to see a more in depth response or explanation .

 

[masque-]

Seth may be talking about how high the ratio is on a compressor to make it a limiter, rather than using a straight up limiter. I could be completely wrong though. None the less, I'm still interested to see a more in depth response or explanation .

Yeah. I remember him talking about setting a compressor with a really fast attack and a high ratio to "limit" vocals.

 

[OneDaySky]

What? screamer = the person screaming. not a tube screamer

Oh crap, my bad, didn't read properly. Sorry dude!

 

[OneDaySky]

Seth may be talking about how high the ratio is on a compressor to make it a limiter, rather than using a straight up limiter. I could be completely wrong though. None the less, I'm still interested to see a more in depth response or explanation .

Yeah man, I think your right, he uses a 20:1 ratio on a UAD 1176 compressor to act as a limiter

 

[Williamn]

Ah just read up on it and a ratio of 10 and beyond is where its considered more limiting then comping.
Makes sense then (and also how I treat most vocals) .

 

[Vinny]

mmmh thats interesting, i never thought of using the Tube Screamer

This just made my day

Anyway.
1. Solid Vocal performance
2. Good mic + pre (sm7b is more than enough for screaming AND singing, and any GOOD pre will do you justice)
3. Limit (or compress) like hell. I prefer limiting like the others (but I still use the compresser in the Waves CLA Vox plug-in, which I highly recommend)
4. EQ. I like to hipass the vocals and boost the highs (on screams) just as a starting point.
5. Good delay AND reverb combination (do NOT overdo the reverb!!!!)
6. Automation.

There's really no secrets to it.

 

[jimwilbourne]

This just made my day

Anyway.
1. Solid Vocal performance
2. Good mic + pre (sm7b is more than enough for screaming AND singing, and any GOOD pre will do you justice)
3. Limit (or compress) like hell. I prefer limiting like the others (but I still use the compresser in the Waves CLA Vox plug-in, which I highly recommend)
4. EQ. I like to hipass the vocals and boost the highs (on screams) just as a starting point.
5. Good delay AND reverb combination (do NOT overdo the reverb!!!!)
6. Automation.

There's really no secrets to it.

looks familiar haha.