vocals lacking body - solutions

[mikoo69]

hello,

in my mixes, my vocals are lacking body....it seems like its all upper mid range. in logic i compare my vocals to pro vocal stems (i.e. thom yorke vocal stem on nude) and my vocals are very thin in comparison.

so i messed with logics eq and got them sounding good by adding a bunch of low mids, however im wondering if this is the best approach. should i be subtracting hi mids? compressing a certain way?

i want to base the entire mix around the vocal, so before i can get deep into mixing, i need to make sure i have the vocal sitting right with a good amount of body

any help would be great.

[antoniosolo]

Get a new mic....maybe a ribbon.

[mikoo69]

thanks, but thats not an option. im in the mixing phase. no turning back.

[Lifted]

Originally Posted by mikoo69

hello,

in my mixes, my vocals are lacking body....it seems like its all upper mid range. in logic i compare my vocals to pro vocal stems (i.e. thom yorke vocal stem on nude) and my vocals are very thin in comparison.

so i messed with logics eq and got them sounding good by adding a bunch of low mids, however im wondering if this is the best approach. should i be subtracting hi mids? compressing a certain way?

i want to base the entire mix around the vocal, so before i can get deep into mixing, i need to make sure i have the vocal sitting right with a good amount of body

any help would be great.

SM7B for the future

Adding 200 hz (work Q from there) to your voice will work wonders for now, and then add mids with very wide Q at 3khz to taste

[antoniosolo]

Then you have many plugins ie compressors/eq's at your disposal....start twiddlin.

[Turdadactyl]

Originally Posted by mikoo69

thanks, but thats not an option. im in the mixing phase. no turning back.

If the vocals just aren't cutting it, it may have to be an option.

[mikoo69]

thanks again, but no its not an option. jeez.

[mikoo69]

i used an SM7b into an API 3124. so adding low mid EQ vs subtracting hi mids is the better approach?

[rogerbrain]

depends on the type of vocals .. I use the overdrive in logic to get a lot of things to the forefront. it can be quite subtle or rather rude. if you have other 'grit' plugs try them ,...Samplitude had a distortion mode in one of its comps that was great for that..

you can also mirror the track and delay one a sample or two and try them at different pan amounts.. that does a thing sometimes also in logic the stereo imaging plugs can place a vocal in a better spot to be heard..

..also check your other instruments to make sure you are not competing frequency wise.

[Lifted]

Originally Posted by mikoo69

i used an SM7b into an API 3124. so adding low mid EQ vs subtracting hi mids is the better approach?

Depends on the sound. The body of the voice that adds fullness is around 200 hz, so I would try that first, and then subtract the high mids if needed

[mdjice]

use some of that in ur DAW!!




Seriously, try Equing with a GREAT EQ, hardware if possible, try anymore from 100 to 500 be carefull it could get muddy! you can also try sending your vocal tracks to tape.

[joedoc]

Post a sample, that's the best way to get input. Doesn't have to be a whole track. Just find a spot where this "thinness" is most obvious.

I can think of a half dozen possibilities for thickening right off the bat -

- parallel compression
- firing the track out through an amp and remic'ing
- good EQ with xfrmrs, driven 'hard'
- ADT type effects
- bounce to tape and back again
- sacrifice chicken/goat/human (depending on the level of processing needed) to the all-powerful lord of darkness and thickness

Sample please!

[mikoo69]

Johnny India. Music. Sounds.

- listen to the track at top "no one knows no one"

- there is no bass in the mix as of yet, but can hear the way the vocals sounding.

[Unclenny]

Originally Posted by micbrowser2010

- parallel compression.........................Sample please!

Over here on the low side of the tracks I will sometimes put a BF76 on a bus as a thickening agent.

+1 on a boost in the 100-200 range.

Have to hear it............

[joedoc]

Thanks for posting the link, a lot of people never follow up, believe it or not... hahah

I had a listen (cool Nick Cave kind of delivery) - the singer definitely leans on the nose when singing, so that's part of the problem. So - time to mix, no retracking, as you said.

What I would do is set up a side chain in a compressor.

Then use the "boost and sweep" method to find the most aggravating of frequencies in the vocal. I'm guessing somewhere around 1.5k. It's not sibilance, but a penetrating resonance he works up. Not the worst thing ever, but you can help it.

When you find that spot, feed that boosted EQ into the sidechain of a compressor. Then play with the amount of compression, trying to squeeze the 'thin' parts while bringing up the rest. Yes, it's a fix, but that's what we are talking about in this case.

Drop me a line back. I'll be glad to run the .wav file through a Manley EQ here with the transformers pushed pretty hard, that may fuzz up some lows and thicken him up a bit more.

peace

joe

[antoniosolo]

The sm7b......well, eq what you can into it.....

[dr_Jezz]

I'll be interested to hear what some very experienced people say about this on here (I'm an amateur albeit with a few years under my belt). I agree with the above post about taking out the nasal sound (great delivery otherwise), but - is it me, or does this already not sound very highly processed? Has this vocal not already been eq'd to death (I don't mean that rudely) to give it that distinctly "megaphone" sound? Sounds as though all frequencies below roughly 250 have been taken out and it's been boosted around that very frequency range that the previous poster suggests might benefit from cutting (and above)? If this is a straight sound without much eq, I'd take a look at the recording chain before anything else. Also agree with the ADT comment earlier as a possible experiment (good freebie here; (( vacuumsound )))

Also - it sounds as though it is heavily compressed and eq'd at a point to make breath sounds and consonants stand out particularly. Perhaps this is the main issue if it is something that you have been provided with. Like I say - great song and I'd be interested to hear what others say about this

[ray_subsonic]

Now Now .. Lets be helpful ..

Surely some of us have been in these scenarios before, when you need to "mix your way out of a corner"

Just me ..

Perhaps the sidechain comp above wasn't the thing based on the following post.

I'd try multing/parallel bussing the vocal to a new fader/ aux track.

Insert a multiband compression/eq plug in (Waves, yadayada) on the new aux track.

Turn off all the bands except for Low-Mid.

Now play with crossover points to see what you can find in the low end of the vocal worth salvaging ..

Now squash it a bit. Then Blend the fader in ... Use that as a starting point.

Hope this is of some help RAy

[Dove]

I was listening to some of the other tracks to get an idea of the style and mixes. Please don;t take offence but on my Yamahas and through my ATH M50's the mixes are all over the place. I found vocals to be lost in the mix with little presence as well as distortion on some tracks. Too many similar frequencies all fighting for attention.

As far as the track in question you have similar frequencies in the piano fighting with the vocals. I would not only eq the vocals but the piano as well giving them each their own spectrums. Then you can deepen the vocals up with some low boost.

In the future that type of vocal would benefit greatly with a ribbon mic. A dark tube mic would also work.