What do you do to get the voice out of the rest of the mix?

[studiogear]

Techniques of eq and compression, reverb, plugins, etc

[Ethan Winer]

The Truth About Vocal Eliminators

[studiogear]

I mean to get the voice upfront without ruining the rest of the mix...not to remove the voice.....thanks anyway

[superiorsound]

Originally Posted by studiogear

Techniques of eq and compression, reverb, plugins, etc

Eq the mids up usually works for me

[studiogear]

2k-5k area?...but what if you have a harsh voice???

[RCM - Ronan]

Tons of compression, ad working on all the other tracks to make sure they do not fight the vocal.

[blim]

Originally Posted by studiogear

I mean to get the voice upfront without ruining the rest of the mix...not to remove the voice.....thanks anyway

This might be the first gearslutz post ever in which the title of the original post actually has an apparent meaning which is the direct opposite of what the original poster intended.

[Eigenwert]

It´s important to capture the vocal as good as possible. I usually use some of compression on the vocal but not too much EQ. Make sure the position of the mic sounds as good as possible. Do you sing? It helps a lot to sing and to record your own vocals because (if you have ears and are a gearslut) then you will learn much more about vocal recording than just setting up the pre & mic and hitting the record button.

[Eigenwert]

Originally Posted by blim

[...]

Blim? Are you a friend of Rennie Pilgrem?

[studiogear]

what plugin compressors do you use to get the voice upfront?

[seanmccoy]

Originally Posted by studiogear

what plugin compressors do you use to get the voice upfront?

Depends on the type of music and what else is in the mix, but my current favorite in general is the UAD LA3-A. Their VCA VU is good for massive squashing. Waves' Renaissance Compressor is also very useful. For uber in-your-face contemporary sounds, try Camel Phat.

[nukmusic]

What do you do to get the voice out of the rest of the mix?

1. fader levels(automation at times)
2. pan settings
3. EQ

[kittonian]

Believe it or not, getting the vocal to sit right in a mix has less to do with what fx and eq you put on the vocal than it has to do with creating the space for that vocal with regards to arrangement and sound shaping of all the other instruments.

A vocal is not really intended to sit on top of a mix like karaoke. Instead, the mixes you probably love are the ones where the vocal is loud and clear, yet sits in the mix.

Just as you need to properly carve out space so the bass and kick can interact both separately and together, so too do you need to make space for everything else that exists in the mix.

A nice trick for vocals is to compress with an 1176, then run it into a de-esser and then hit a nice warm eq with a hi-pass around 80hz, a small bump at 200hz and a small bump at 5k. As long as it has been recorded well, that should get a nice sounding vocal. You will also need to do heavy volume automation to ensure that the vocal comes through properly and is nice and even.

However, that all being said, I will reiterate that no matter if the vocal alone sounds amazing, until you get the rest of the mix in order and the arrangement proper (this not only includes how many things are going on at one time but also what the sounds of each of those elements is) the vocal will never sit down.

[studiogear]

does analogue compression make a big difference when it comes to this???

[kittonian]

Originally Posted by studiogear

does analogue compression make a big difference when it comes to this???

Yup. Analog everything makes a big difference when processing audio, as long as you have nice outboard analog gear. Plug-ins just don't compare to the real thing, but are certainly usable.

[allencollins]

Turn it up.

When you listen to recordings with big vocals 9 times out of 10 its because they are the featured instrument. There really isn't much more to it than that.

It's like everyone is searching for that Beatles u47 vocal sound. When you have thin sounds surrounding a certain element guess what? That element is more prominent.

There are no magic eq/comp settings. When I produce a singer/songwriter I lay down a strong vocal asap and build the song around the vocal. 9 times out of 10 what is the last thing you lay down? The vocal? Just do the opposite. Ofcourse your not gonna sing first but lay down a quicky foundation then do a real lead vocal. Then lay down the rest of the elements around the vocals.

Getting vocals to breath also means less is more with the complementary instruments. Sometimes you got to sacrifice and use 1 gtr in the verse insread of two or whatever. Leave some space. If there is a magic bullet that's it....... 'Space'

[studiogear]

I use a neve 8816 summing mixer...and a tl-audio c1 compressor/preamp to track...shall i use the c 1 compressor in the mix as well for the voice? will i notice a difference...i.e get more seperation

[u b k]

i arrange the song with an understanding that arrangement is everything.

from there, when i mix, i make sure that every single element is out of the way. nothing steps on the voice, ever, unless i want it to... and while that's not often, it is often exactly what a moment needs.

as you can see, it's less about what you do to the voice, and more about what you do to everything else.

i'm simply restating what others are telling you, which is usually a good heads up.


gregoire
del
ubk
.

[dhiltonlittle]

thumbsup

well said

Originally Posted by u b k

i arrange the song with an understanding that arrangement is everything.

from there, when i mix, i make sure that every single element is out of the way. nothing steps on the voice, ever, unless i want it to... and while that's not often, it is often exactly what a moment needs.

as you can see, it's less about what you do to the voice, and more about what you do to everything else.

i'm simply restating what others are telling you, which is usually a good heads up.


gregoire
del
ubk
.

[studiogear]

do you leave a dip for the vocal frequencies through the use of eq and filtering?

[blim]

Originally Posted by Eigenwert

Blim? Are you a friend of Rennie Pilgrem?

Sorry, no.

[ThomasWho]

Well said allencollins

let me add:
The musicians are important too. Are they playing the right way for that song?

Whenever you add an overdub to the arrangement it should complement the vocal and make shure the spotlight is still on the singer. It`s`easy to forget that and just listen to the instrument itself. Especially for inexperienced musicians.

When you get great musicians in front of the mics your engineering and producingskills suddenly improve a lot!

Thomas

Originally Posted by allencollins

Turn it up.

When you listen to recordings with big vocals 9 times out of 10 its because they are the featured instrument. There really isn't much more to it than that.

It's like everyone is searching for that Beatles u47 vocal sound. When you have thin sounds surrounding a certain element guess what? That element is more prominent.

There are no magic eq/comp settings. When I produce a singer/songwriter I lay down a strong vocal asap and build the song around the vocal. 9 times out of 10 what is the last thing you lay down? The vocal? Just do the opposite. Ofcourse your not gonna sing first but lay down a quicky foundation then do a real lead vocal. Then lay down the rest of the elements around the vocals.

Getting vocals to breath also means less is more with the complementary instruments. Sometimes you got to sacrifice and use 1 gtr in the verse insread of two or whatever. Leave some space. If there is a magic bullet that's it....... 'Space'

[engmix]

i often mix very sonically dense records. big drums, lots of distorted guitars, thick pad sounds...etc. sometimes carving out the track for the sake of vocal space is not always best suited for the vibe of the record.

generally speaking the vocal is nuked with compression and limiting. sometimes the vocal needs to get quite thinned out with eq, which naturally brings up the upper mids and top end without touching that area of the eq.

also, i usually have a few channels of distortion that i buss the vocal to. one channel will enhance the mids, and the other adds an overall forwardness to the vocal. the later i may only bring in on the chorus, when the track is at it's peak density.

[r.staettler]

if there are some instruments fighting the vocal frequency wise i often route those instruments to a bus and put a compressor on it triggered by the vocals (ITB by the way)
if you are carefully it doesnt pump too much - better than raising the vocal and compressing the 2bus later on...

of course avoidance of frequency clash by arrangement and choice of instruments is the first way to try...

[studiogear]

But nearly all instruments are in the vocal frequencies...:s

[picksail]

Originally Posted by kittonian

Plug-ins just don't compare to the real thing, but are certainly usable.

Yet within the context of a mix anything goes and none of that "analog supremacy" matters whatsoever.

I would concur with what others have mentioned.

1) Heavy serial compression
2) Radical EQ
3) Vocal rides to "pocket" the vocal and allow for certain words/phrases to be intelligible.

The later is a totally different aspect of the mix, but is more specific to the quality of the song and not so much the mix.
You can get really neurotic with this by drawing in certain syllables to emphasize the words.
Automating EQ on consonants and vowels so that the envelope of the vocal inflection is consistent.

[studiogear]

I agree with what you said completely...But sometimes I really believe that anologue makes that bit of a difference....

[Karloff70]

Originally Posted by studiogear

I agree with what you said completely...But sometimes I really believe that anologue makes that bit of a difference....

Keep believing it....it's true....

[TonyBelmont]

Easy... pick the right microphone for the job and use an API preamp.

After that, all other mix decisions become easier....

[Karloff70]

Originally Posted by TonyBelmont

Easy... pick the right microphone for the job and use an API preamp.

Hey Belmont, you're everywhere....lol....didn't you say you were going to have a posting break...?