Vocal Technique

[milesyoung]

Hi, Please could someone give me some professional advice with a lead vocal track.

I have been given some male vocals to remix a dance track which are good quality, although I don't know how they were recorded exactly, other than it was directly into Protools.

However, there are three loud words at the beginning of each chorus and it seems as though the singer didn't move back from the mic slightly.

How should I compress the vocal so that this small section doesn't stand out so much? I have reduced the volume with automation but it I'm sure there must be a better option than that.

I've noticed that some dance tracks have a vocal sitting clearly in the middle of everything, which is what stage I am at, at the moment, but then on other tracks, the vocal is right in your face - but doesn't sound "glued on".

Could someone give me a bit of EQ/Reverb guiding on how to get this vocal "right-up-front"?!

Sorry if I am repeating any previous posts. I have found one or two bits of advice, but I would appreciate any further tips here!

Greetings from sunny Munich.

Miles

[love666]

one thing you could do is automate the compressor plug so it kicks in and out for those passages only

[JEdmunds]

as far as those loud passages, make sure you're compressor is set at a relatively fast attack to catch them.

[Jeff Schmidt]

I'd start by tweaking those changes with volume automation rather that using a radical compression approach.

I assume you'll want general compression on the Voc track for punch or color anyways right? So don't screw that up by making a compressor do some radical automation for a few phrases that got out of control and then suddenly jump back to regular duty.

You'll hear it, draw attention to it more and it'll probably sound like crap. Unless it's a techno re-mix and then no one will notice anyway. Kidding! Kind of. uh hem.

SO, pop the track into volume mode and draw EVERY little volume change where the vocal track got out of control - including all the plosives and excessive sibilent peices including too close (or far away) from the mic sections.

Then compress, eq and verb the track to taste making adjustments along the way so it fits in the mix.

I just got finished with a nightmare live recording where the vocalist's mic technique sucked big time - the track was plauged with nearly every vocal problem - too far - mic down throat Ps ESSS SHHHH etc. . . .

I spent over 3 hours fixing the lead vocal on 4 songs. It all came down to pretty anal attention to the volume automation - then smoothed it out with comp, eq and some verb.

In the end - the tracks were saved (meaning they're listenable now) and the vocal track sounds pretty good.

Oh yeah . . . the singer can continue thinking he's got nothing to learn! images/icons/tongue.gif

[PDupre]

Definately automate a volume change rather than compress it. It will be easy to graphically draw the change. Be careful not to alter too much as the artist may have wanted to "pop" those words and therefore performed it that way.

[milesyoung]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I have done the necessary automation to remove the sibilant and very loud sections of the vocal. The vocal is sort of "in the middle" of the mix but not up front.

Should I be using compression to get the vocal to sound very "near"? I have downloaded the demos of the Fairlight and Joe Meek compressors to try and achieve this.

Any further tips would be greatly appreciated!

[Jeff Schmidt]

You should get the vocal to sound as near or as far away as the sound of the track demands.

Obviously there's a lot of creative lee way here, but there will be a fine point between far away and close where the vocal fits INTO the mix and sounds like it belongs and is part of the music rather than "tacked on".

The key is to experiment with a variety of sounds. Try dry and close up first. Then get into creative filtering and experiment with distance and space and see if you like that way it sounds.

The genre of the music also has a lot to do with the type of sound the vocal should have and how important hearing every word of the lyrics is.

Some music, the vocals are the centerpeice, others the vocal adds the only human element and melody but beats and bass move the music.

But on occasion - following the genre leads you into predictability. Take the Tom Waitts stuff where he sings through a guitar amp! Not what you'd expect from a so called "singer songwriter" - but very effective. Have Fun! images/icons/wink.gif

[PTUser NYC]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but...

I think on a track fader (as opposed to a Master Fader) that the fader comes AFTER the plug ins. If you ride the performance, and apply a compressor to the insert of that channel, you are still going to be hitting the compressor with the uneven parts of the performance BEFORE the rides.

My advice is to do you rides first, to fix all the problems. Then, bounce to disk. Remember to solo the track and pan it to one side before bouncing to mono.

Then, import the fixed track into the session, and apply compression, EQ, ambience and rides for the mix.

If you do it the other way, the compressor will be hitting so hard on the problems, that you won't be able to get it to work like you want during the normal passages.

[Jeff Schmidt]

PTUSER is correct. I should have mentioned that as a common practice I usually route vocal tracks through aux inputs for processing. images/icons/blush.gif

[PDupre]

I'm not against compression (well over use I'm against - but that's another thread) or anything, but try using reverb to control the 3 dimensional aspects of your mix. A dry track sounds closer than a wet track. This will move things forward and back in the mix. As a matter of fact, this is one thing really missing from a lot of mixes. Vary the amount of wetness on the tracks and watch what happens. It's like moving the players around in a 3-d sonic model. Then some creative panning and "I hear a Grammy!". images/icons/grin.gif

Peter

[Hit$quad]

Question to PDupre..
Do you have a relative Ivan Dupree from Chicago images/icons/smile.gif

[ctmartin]

Miles,

As for reverb, use some pre-delay (use your ears, but maybe 20ms) to make the reverb effect stand-apart from the dry vocal. That way, you'll use less reverb volume in order for it to be heard, and the reverb won't weaken the sound of your vocal track by drowning it.

Peace,
C

[doug_hti]

Miles,
I don't remember what genre of music you said it was, but one of the easiest and most effective ways to bring out a vocal is to put a delay on it. The way I normally do it, is to make an aux trak. put the delay on the aux track. Time the delay to a quarter note or eight note, depending on the tempo....with simple math, or on some of the plugins, there is a tempo selector.
I usually put the feedback anywhere from 15% to 25%...
I usually gradually put the delay up just until I can noticably hear it...then I pull it back a few db from that point, to where I can't hear it. ....experiment, see what happens...

[PDupre]

To GeneralMix: No - Different spelling I'm a Dupre with and accent over the "e".

[Dr. J]

Miles, we have this situation often. I choose not to use compression or automation to fix it. I usually highlight a section of vocal that is "average" in volume, and check the db peak in it. Then I highlight the high peak areas, and normalize them down to the peak of the first section. That way the sections match up perfeclty.

As for the "up front" vocal sound, try taking the vocal track at a moderate point of volume, and turn up the fader to your desired level. Then apply some light, fast compression to keep the peaks down. This way your not over compressing the vocal and killing it's dynamics, but still keeping it loud and even enough to hear the sublte sounds.

[milesyoung]

Many thanks for all your posts and advice. When the track's done, I'll post a link!!! images/icons/smile.gif