Do you guys smash the vocals when mixing?

[GuitarGod]

I understand series compression per channel. is there anything you add to a vox buss? or just leave it for levels?

[theBackwardsman]

I hit mine 2-3 times over (rock)

[skybluerental]

Originally Posted by Absolute

Can I just say something...you could pile shit up to the clouds with the bullcrap your hearing in this thread.

Vocals are absolutely pulverized on almost every modern hit you hear. Ever see someone lipsync to a studio track? Its so unnatural and obvious. Why?---because we expect live dynamics and we hear almost none at all.

There are 3 kinds of people
Those who smash their vocals and admit it
Those who smash their vocals and lie about it
and those who dont--and they suck at mixing

I like this one......teach the singer.
Yeah...ok. Any singer worth a damm has a dynamic range greater than a drumkit. If a singer can sing within 4 db of himself he's not singing..he's talking. 4:1?? Yeah right..on who? Al Gore? Good singers need big compression to bring them in. Slam that puppy until they are. Even Elton John was slammed into oblivion by like 12:1 30 years ago--and that was at a time when the songs themselves had dynamic range.

So you can listen to the guys who use perfumed toilet paper and dont know how to use compression without destroying a vocal or you mix like everyone else--needle pinned until its right

hmmmm,
i dont know what drum kits you are using, but my Rogers and Gretsch kits sure have a bigger dynamic range than ANY singer i have ever recorded, and i have recorded many. you are welcome to come by for a demonstration if you like, but no singer can get as loud as someone can on a drum kit........
this claim that singers have a wider dynamic range than drum kits is simply false.

then there is also the idea that a singer can move closer and further from the mic to control their recorded dynamic naturally. this is called “technique” and believe it or not it does work when someone knows what they are doing. a drum kit cannot do this, so comparing the 2 is sort of ridiculous. believe it or not, good singers with exceptional control over their voices and some idea of mic technique often require less compression.

compression is very useful when tracking and mixing vocals, but this notion that everybody who is making records is slamming all the vocals with loads of compression is just false.
sometimes yes, sometimes no.
always a little though.

we are not all recording the same styles of music and not everyone is trying to make recordings that sound like “modern hits.”

there is no accounting for taste.