r&b vocals mixing tips

[yl956]

ive been struggling and just about tried everything i could to try to get my vocals to have that smooth and silky kinda vibe going on...theres a song by khalid called "otw" where his vocals sound really soft and smooth and just jells with the whole track... any tips on how to achieve this r&b style of vocals...my vocals just sound so bright, gritty, and harsh.. idk if its my mic or maybe because i use mp3 instrumentals and cant really carve space for the vocals idk im running out of ideas... i have a tlm 102 going into a baby face pro... i try knocking out some highs around 10k but then they sound to dull and weird idk im just about ready to give up trying to achieve this any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Southsidemusic]

And maybe the fact that Khalid sounds great is that he is one of the best vocalists out there right now!

Maybe your voice isn’t good enough as singing like people of Khalids level isn’t easy and maybe your voice don’t suit rnb.

Not trying to bash you here but if you have to ask this question here and compare with a voice like Khalid makes me think you need to start with the basics of recording outside MIDI stuff ... and the fact he has a budget for hiring the best engineers, producers and record at a multimillion dollar studios where mics, room treatment, gear, consoles etc ... and his voice is AMAZEBALLZ

I would suggest you start by making your room well treated, not using more than a compressor and an eq with a little 3k on the top and eliminate the low end around 100. If your basic sound isn’t good enough I would start by recording vocals in a very treated environment. Harshness and all that usually comes by singing in a badly damped room and I know I could get a great sounding vocal with a TLM102 and the interface you have if I can get a romm with correct accoustic treatment.

You can buy new gear for hundreds of thousands of dollars and it will still sound like it does now unless the room accoustics are done correctly.

Allt this IMHO of Course

[YYR123]

Didn’t know this song or singer prior to this thread.

His vocals sound a little scooped in the mids to me.

It doesn’t sound like he is using a Neuman mic at all, maybe something on the style of a Re20 or a SM7b

It’s not too hyped by comps either.

[Southsidemusic]

No one said he use a Neumann mic, the OP has a TLM 102

Here they used a KorbyKat with a C12 capsule!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb24RrHIbFk

[yl956]

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

And maybe the fact that Khalid sounds great is that he is one of the best vocalists out there right now!

Maybe your voice isn’t good enough as singing like people of Khalids level isn’t easy and maybe your voice don’t suit rnb.

Not trying to bash you here but if you have to ask this question here and compare with a voice like Khalid makes me think you need to start with the basics of recording outside MIDI stuff ... and the fact he has a budget for hiring the best engineers, producers and record at a multimillion dollar studios where mics, room treatment, gear, consoles etc ... and his voice is AMAZEBALLZ

I would suggest you start by making your room well treated, not using more than a compressor and an eq with a little 3k on the top and eliminate the low end around 100. If your basic sound isn’t good enough I would start by recording vocals in a very treated environment. Harshness and all that usually comes by singing in a badly damped room and I know I could get a great sounding vocal with a TLM102 and the interface you have if I can get a romm with correct accoustic treatment.

You can buy new gear for hundreds of thousands of dollars and it will still sound like it does now unless the room accoustics are done correctly.

Allt this IMHO of Course

ok thanks for the info

[musicman691]

From the wikipedia page on Khalid:
"Khalid's music is primarily R&B and pop. He sings in both the baritone and tenor ranges, effectively rendering him a baritenor. Khalid possesses a two octave vocal range, ranging from the low G2 to the middle B♭4.[30] Khalid cites his mother as his leading musical inspiration,[4] and has also cited Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, Father John Misty, Frank Ocean, Grizzly Bear, Chance the Rapper, Lorde, India.Arie, and James Blake as other influences."

Couple that with this also from the same page:
"Khalid Robinson was born on February 11, 1998, in Fort Stewart, Georgia.[1] He spent his childhood in various locations including Fort Campbell in Kentucky, Fort Drum in Watertown, New York, and six years in Heidelberg, Germany[2] because of his mother Linda Wolfe's career in the military. Wolfe worked as a supply technician and became a member of the Army chorus.[3] In high school Khalid studied singing and musical theater. During his junior year of high school, the family moved to El Paso, Texas.[4]
"

You see there's a range of influences on his voice.

[amagras]

This ^ is important. What I hear is a good SINGER with not much vocal correction and pretty much standard processing.

[its2loud]

Rather than wanting to compare to another singer, why don’t you post a sample of the vocals you’re trying to mix and let some people give you some tips that might help you achieve what you want. Trying to match to Khalid has multiple challenges. It’s a combination of performance, studio, engineering, mixing, tuning, mastering.

On a side note Alessia Cara is amazing as well.

[yl956]

im not trying to make the artist sound like khalid as in the way he sings.. im talking about the smoothness of the vocals as heard in some 90's rnb music...i was hearing some tracks from boyz II men and to me it sounds like all the frequency's in the vocals are smoothed out i mean you dont hear no harsh frequency's jumping out like in some of todays hip hop n r&b music...it just sounds balanced out frequency wise

[Southsidemusic]

It is the Analog era hehe and the artists you mention recorded in million dollar studios with professional engineers and producers with many years in of knowledge aswell as CLA or Dave Pensado or similar mastering and mixing the songs so that sound won’t come easily by thinking you can just throw in a few plugins and be done. It takes a long time to learn.

We get that sound when we track thru our SSL4056G+ Console and use a expensive mic and great outboard gear HOWEVER if you have a good understanding of mic placement and you have atleast 1 channelstrip or a good preamp you should be able to get a decent vocal recording.

Understand that getting that smooth well recorded sound take time to learn obviously ( turn on KIIS FM and listen to how BAD recordings are nowadays ) and thats down to amateurs in bedrooms with a laptop and a good idea getting released and the radio plays the songs a week and then a new batch comes out!!

And as I said several times - You will NEVER EVER get good vocals without a Well Treated room and as you said in another thread you haven’t got any accoustic treatment so you will get harshness and hard sounding stuff! It really is that simple.

We have paid over 400.000 USD just on our rooms to be treated and that is not including one piece of gear, just the build

So unless you atleast read up about the basics of treating a room and get a few accoustic pieces and place them correctly you wont get anywhere.

For less than 1000 USD you will have the material for getting atleast a wardrobe treated aswell as a few bass traps and some damping where you sit and use the computer. I would ratber sell my monitors and get accoustically correct vocalroom and mix in headphones if I didn’t have much money to spend.

A well treated ( doesn’t have to cost that much ) is soo much more important than good monitors and or a great mic. That TLM you have is good enough to use for recordings for commercial release.

Remember that the more plugins you need to use for fixing a bad sound the worse the audio will get. We use a little busscompressor from the SSL console and a little outboard EQ like Pultec or RED series and some 3-5K from the SSL EQ and after we have make sure to only use minimal plugins for effects and stuff like delays and reverb but still rarely any compressors or eq after the vocal is recorded with great outboard gear.

If you dont have expensive outboard stuff and only use plugins you need to learn what they actually do to the audio and how much to use as using plugins the wrong way will also kill your sound very quickly.

As long as you don’t take the issue with your untreated room seriously this discussion is moot!