[0:00] It's been 12 years since my journey
[0:01] started of trying to get a better vocal
[0:04] sound. And in that time, I've probably
[0:05] mixed thousands of hours of vocals
[0:08] alone. In this video, I'm going to
[0:10] condense those thousand plus hours into
[0:12] 24 minutes of the most important things
[0:14] I've learned in getting a professional
[0:16] vocal sound. By the end of this video,
[0:17] you'll know more about mixing and
[0:19] recording vocals than 95% of artists out
[0:22] there, and you won't have to go through
[0:23] the years of frustration to get a good
[0:25] vocal sound like I did. Let's get
[0:27] started. We'll start off with what I
[0:28] assume most of you struggle with most,
[0:30] which is actually mixing vocals and
[0:32] putting plugins on them. Although this
[0:33] is far from the most important thing
[0:35] that you can do to get a better vocal
[0:36] sound. I'll get to that at the end of
[0:38] the video. It's probably one of the most
[0:40] confusing. Let's go over the plugins in
[0:41] the order I normally use to process my
[0:44] lead vocal in. Heads up, the vocals that
[0:45] we'll be working with today is a custom
[0:47] song that I made specifically for this
[0:49] video. First plugin we'll start with is
[0:50] pitch correction. For modern song
[0:52] production, pitch correction is make or
[0:54] break, and getting it right is
[0:56] essential. That being said, pitch
[0:57] correction is very genre and singer
[0:59] dependent. If your singer is mostly on
[1:01] pitch or you're working with a genre
[1:02] like folk or acoustic, you might not
[1:04] need it for this track. It feels more
[1:06] pop, so it makes sense to use it.
[1:11] There are two main types of pitch
[1:12] correction. Manual, which involves
[1:14] individually moving each note that was
[1:16] sung, and automatic, which automatically
[1:19] does it for you. In my opinion, manual
[1:20] gives better results than using the
[1:22] automatic counterpart, but it does take
[1:24] significantly more time to dial in a
[1:26] vocal. I normally use melodine for any
[1:28] manual pitch correction that I'm trying
[1:30] to do. On the other hand, automatic is
[1:32] way faster, but in my opinion, doesn't
[1:33] sound quite as good. For this
[1:35] performance, and the vocal was already
[1:36] sounding mostly on pitch, and for the
[1:38] sake of time, I'm going to be using
[1:39] automatic. In my opinion, the best
[1:41] automatic sounding tuner is Autotune
[1:43] Pro. Let's go on to the next plugin in
[1:45] my vocal chain, EQ. EQ, in my opinion,
[1:47] is the most important plugin that you're
[1:49] going to put on your vocal chain today.
[1:50] And most people have no idea what
[1:52] they're doing with it. Out of all the
[1:53] plugins we'll use today, it's one of the
[1:55] hardest to get right. That's probably
[1:56] because every vocal, every microphone,
[1:59] every different recording needs slightly
[2:01] different EQ settings. Even though
[2:02] that's the case, there are some EQ moves
[2:04] I find myself regularly doing regardless
[2:06] of the singer and microphone that's
[2:08] being used. Those moves are getting rid
[2:10] of the bass below 100 hertz,
[2:13] adding a high shelf around 8K and
[2:15] boosting the shine and then dipping some
[2:17] of the mud around 250 to 750 Hz.
[2:23] [Music]
[2:25] This is a good starting point for most
[2:26] vocals. You can do this same type of EQ
[2:28] move with any type of EQ that you
[2:30] choose. Some of my favorites to use are
[2:32] the ProQ4, like I'm using here, or
[2:34] Logic's stock EQ. I also want to point
[2:36] out that the majority of these are
[2:38] subtractive EQ, or in other words,
[2:40] taking away the sound. This cut and this
[2:42] dip here. This is the opposite of
[2:43] additive EQ, which would be adding or
[2:45] boosting frequencies. I find that
[2:47] subtractive EQ tends to sound more
[2:49] natural, whereas additive EQ can add
[2:51] some colors to the sound, which can be
[2:52] pleasant. When I want to add those
[2:54] colors to the sound, I often turn to
[2:56] analog emulations of EQ to get the job
[2:58] done. The first plugin that I'll use is
[3:00] a simulation of a Ptech EQ. I often use
[3:02] this to boost the highs of a vocal above
[3:04] 8k. I'll go up to 10k here. Turn up the
[3:07] bandwidth and boost up
[3:10] [Music]
[3:19] just more present overall. I'll also use
[3:20] the same technique to boost to low end.
[3:22] I find that both of the boosts just have
[3:24] a nice sound to them. The other analog
[3:26] EQ I find myself using a lot is the
[3:28] emulation of an SSL EQ. I used this
[3:30] exact EQ setting for years on my vocals
[3:33] and I stole it directly from a mixer
[3:34] called Leslie Braithweight from a video
[3:36] I watched about 8 years ago. Taking some
[3:38] of the filter up to get rid of the body.
[3:40] Taking more of that low end down.
[3:42] Dipping some of the mids around 500 htz.
[3:45] Dipping again at 4,000 htz and then
[3:48] boosting at around 9k with a high shelf.
[3:50] These settings I'm giving you are great
[3:52] starting points for vocals, but you're
[3:54] always going to get better results when
[3:55] you can train your ears to identify the
[3:57] frequencies that need help. Here's one
[3:59] concept that really helped me with EQing
[4:01] and just mixing in general. This tip has
[4:03] to do with the mid-range of any
[4:04] instrument. Think about 1K. It's one of
[4:06] the most important and most heard parts
[4:08] of any song or voice or instrument. And
[4:11] you can think of that mid-range like a
[4:13] rubber band. The more mid-range a voice
[4:15] has, the more it's going to band towards
[4:18] you and feel closer to you as a
[4:19] producer.
[4:20] [Music]
[4:26] The less mid-range a vocal has, the more
[4:28] it will start to blend in and dip back
[4:30] into the rest of the track.
[4:37] You can use this idea to help bring your
[4:39] vocals more forward in the mix. I think
[4:41] a lot of people would be really
[4:42] surprised to hear how much actual
[4:44] mid-range is on the vocals of some of
[4:46] their favorite tracks. Now, let's move
[4:47] on to the next plugin I'll put on the
[4:49] chain, the compressor. Compression can
[4:51] either glue your vocal perfectly or it
[4:53] can completely destroy it. And the
[4:55] difference is in understanding these
[4:56] tips I'm about to share. The first one
[4:58] is that different compressor types color
[5:00] the sound differently. My favorite type
[5:02] of compressor to use for vocals would be
[5:03] the FET type compressor, which most
[5:05] famously is the 1176. It adds a distinct
[5:08] flavor that I've come to love and expect
[5:10] when I hear my vocal tracks. I almost
[5:12] always use as fast of release as it can
[5:14] go, a pretty fast attack, and then a 4:1
[5:18] ratio.
[5:20] [Music]
[5:22] I also tend to chain multiple
[5:23] compressors together to get the best
[5:25] sound possible. Having multiple
[5:27] compressors in a row will reduce the
[5:29] workload of any one compressor and often
[5:31] leads to more natural sounding results.
[5:33] After adding compression, you might
[5:34] notice that you'll have some more lows
[5:36] and low mids that you might want to get
[5:37] rid of. You can always go back to the EQ
[5:39] from before and adjust accordingly.
[5:43] In this case, I think it sounds pretty
[5:44] good. The vocal is sounding way better
[5:45] in the mix, but there are still a couple
[5:47] peaks in the vocal that need to be
[5:48] tamed, that are being overcompressed,
[5:50] which brings me into my next point. Get
[5:52] out my iPad for this. With more
[5:53] compression, oftent times the voice will
[5:55] be more upfront and easily able to be
[5:58] heard. But it also comes at a cost of
[6:01] less energy. On the other hand, a vocal
[6:04] that's less compressed will be farther
[6:07] back and it will have more of that
[6:10] original energy of the recording. This
[6:12] is often an important trade-off to keep
[6:14] in mind. The more you compress
[6:15] something, the less of that original
[6:17] performance energy that will have, but
[6:19] the less you compress something, the
[6:21] less it will be able to be understood.
[6:23] For most modern mixes, you'll probably
[6:25] want to lean more towards more
[6:27] compression than anything. But there are
[6:28] ways to have the best of both worlds
[6:30] where you can get both energy and
[6:33] compression at the same time. And that
[6:35] has to do with gainstaging, which let me
[6:37] show you now. Notice these peaks in my
[6:38] vocal here. These parts are going to get
[6:40] compressed way more than the smaller
[6:42] parts of my vocal. To help fix that, all
[6:44] you have to do is highlight the selected
[6:46] vocal and then take it down in terms of
[6:48] gain. You can either do this in the
[6:49] region editor in Logic like this, or you
[6:52] can automate everything.
[6:54] I personally like to use the first
[6:56] method and create different parts for
[6:58] the regions because I can visually see
[6:59] how loud those vocal waves are getting.
[7:02] But actually, automating gain will
[7:03] probably give you more fine-tuned
[7:04] results. Let's move on to another
[7:06] specific type of compression that can
[7:08] really help save a badly recorded vocal.
[7:10] That would be the DSer. A DSER is
[7:13] basically a compressor that only targets
[7:15] a narrow range of high frequencies,
[7:17] specifically where S's and siblins live.
[7:19] Mics tend to exaggerate these siblance
[7:21] sounds while recording. They can make
[7:23] your vocals sound very sharp or painful.
[7:25] And if you're boosting the top end, like
[7:27] I recommended with my EQ, this can
[7:29] become even more of a problem. TSRs are
[7:31] super easy to set up and they're very
[7:32] easy to hear the difference between A
[7:34] and B. Notice when it says show that
[7:36] this DSER starts working, let's turn it
[7:38] off.
[7:41] [Music]
[7:43] It's really subtle, but that small
[7:45] taming can actually help a lot. This
[7:47] particular vocal recording doesn't have
[7:48] a lot of sibilent sounds, but others
[7:50] definitely might. Just like with normal
[7:52] compressors, you can chain DSERS for a
[7:54] more natural effect. You can also affect
[7:56] where they are in the vocal chain, which
[7:57] will give you slightly different
[7:59] results. My favorite thing to do for an
[8:01] especially sibilent vocal is to have one
[8:03] go before my EQ and then one sandwich my
[8:07] EQ and compression. That means before I
[8:09] boost anything, I'm dsing a little bit
[8:10] and then I'm also dsing after my
[8:12] compression to make sure that that S
[8:14] isn't so harsh. Let's go over the next
[8:16] types of plugins I'll put in my voice,
[8:17] reverb and delay. Let's start with
[8:19] reverb. Most people use reverb to add
[8:21] space, but if you want your voice to
[8:23] sound expensive, you'll need to
[8:25] understand its nuances. There are two
[8:27] main ways of putting reverb on a track,
[8:29] either directly on the track or using a
[8:31] bus track. Both have pros and cons.
[8:33] Putting it on the track itself uses more
[8:35] processing power, but it can be faster
[8:37] and it can be easier to dial in and
[8:39] automate. Busing reverb oftent times
[8:41] requires less processing power. You have
[8:43] more control over the reverb bus itself,
[8:46] but it does take a little bit longer to
[8:48] set up. I tend to use a combination of
[8:49] both techniques on my vocal. If I'm
[8:51] working with a lead vocal or an
[8:52] instrument track, I have no problem just
[8:54] throwing on a reverb track by itself on
[8:57] there. Oftentimes, I'm trying to work as
[8:58] creatively and as fast as possible so
[9:00] that my ideas don't slip down the drain.
[9:02] However, for background vocals or
[9:04] something with 50 plus tracks, I'm
[9:06] absolutely going to use bus reverb so I
[9:09] can save on processing power. Let me add
[9:10] one of my favorite reverbs here directly
[9:12] to the lead vocal, the Valhalla Vintage
[9:14] Verb.
[9:19] The more reverb a vocal has, the farther
[9:21] back it feels in the mix. Let me go back
[9:23] to my iPad to demonstrate this. If you
[9:25] are right here and you're in a hallway
[9:28] and you hear a sound really close to
[9:31] you, somebody's whispering into your
[9:33] ear, you probably won't hear any reverb.
[9:35] There's not going to be any extra room
[9:36] reflections that bounce around and then
[9:38] go back to your ear. However, on the
[9:40] opposite side of the spectrum, if
[9:41] somebody's yelling at you from across
[9:43] the room, that sound is going to travel
[9:45] forever until it hits your ears, which
[9:47] is also going to introduce a lot of
[9:49] extra noise reflections and a lot of
[9:51] reverb. That being said, this would be
[9:53] more reverb farther away, less reverb
[9:57] right up close. Hopefully that makes
[9:59] sense. Now, let me show you how I might
[10:01] add reverb with a bus track. What's cool
[10:02] about the bus track is it lets me add
[10:04] any number of effects after the reverb
[10:06] to further change the sound. For
[10:07] example, a common one is to use an EQ to
[10:10] really hone in what frequencies the
[10:12] reverb is happening on.
[10:13] [Music]
[10:20] But this also works for other effects
[10:21] like distortion, an amp, chorus,
[10:24] flanger. To make a reverb feel more like
[10:26] reverb without mudding up the vocal, I
[10:28] like to automate the parts in between
[10:30] when the vocal isn't singing. You can
[10:32] either do that by automating the amount
[10:33] of send you have on the bus track like
[10:35] up or down or you can automate the
[10:37] individual plugin itself which is why I
[10:39] think the individual plugin shines. You
[10:42] can see I'm just automating it so that
[10:43] every time there is an empty space the
[10:45] reverb comes in.
[10:47] [Music]
[10:54] You're just filling in that space to
[10:56] give it that much more polish. The best
[10:58] vocals in the world are doing this all
[11:00] manually. and manually is the best way,
[11:02] just like with pitch correction. But if
[11:03] you're feeling lazy, you can do an
[11:05] automatic version of this by adding a
[11:07] side chain compressor to your reverb
[11:08] bus. Make sure that lead is selected in
[11:10] side chain on the compressor.
[11:14] This compressor is set up in a way that
[11:16] when the voice stops, that reverb will
[11:18] come in. It's turning it down minus 10,
[11:20] and then when it stops singing, it
[11:22] won't, and you'll hear it better. In my
[11:24] opinion, it doesn't sound quite as good
[11:25] as the manual way, but it can really
[11:27] save you some time if you just throw
[11:28] this on. Let's move on to the next
[11:30] plugin, delay. Even though delay is a
[11:32] really popular effect, most people don't
[11:34] take advantage of some of the best ways
[11:35] of using it. Delay and reverb are very
[11:38] much cousins. You can do all of the same
[11:39] techniques that I just mentioned with
[11:40] reverb with delay. Anytime I'm using a
[11:42] delay, I almost always like to put it
[11:44] before a reverb so that my delay isn't
[11:46] dry. In this case, if I put delay
[11:48] directly on the track, I'll use h delay,
[11:50] which is one of my favorites. I'll put
[11:51] it before the vintage verb
[11:56] on a bus track. oftentimes that that
[11:58] means me making a completely new bus
[12:00] specifically for delay and then adding
[12:02] its own reverb plugin after the fact to
[12:04] make sure that it's not dry. The
[12:06] majority of time I use delays, I band
[12:07] pass the outcoming signal. Really easy
[12:09] to do on an H delay like this. You just
[12:11] take the highp pass, pull it up, and the
[12:13] low pass, pull it down. This helps gets
[12:14] it out of the way of the main lead vocal
[12:16] so that you can have both living in the
[12:18] same space but still be able to
[12:19] understand. teach you how to make better
[12:22] vocals. Just like reverb, probably to
[12:24] get the best results and fill in some of
[12:26] these spaces is to automate the delay to
[12:28] fill them in. And just like reverb, you
[12:29] can use that side chain compression
[12:31] method to do the same thing. If delay is
[12:33] a big part of the track sound, I'll
[12:35] often make its own track just for the
[12:37] delay itself. Sometimes what you hear as
[12:39] a delay is actually just multiple tracks
[12:41] stacked on top of each other with each
[12:43] vocal pasted exactly where I want it.
[12:45] This just gives me more control. For
[12:46] example, I might do that with this lead
[12:48] here. take the last part here and move
[12:50] it over.
[12:52] [Music]
[12:57] And sometimes I'll record a completely
[12:58] different part with background vocals
[13:00] that I'll sing on over that. I'll get
[13:01] more into background vocals in a little
[13:03] bit, but I thought I'd point that out.
[13:05] And here comes one of my most favorite
[13:06] tips when it comes to using delay.
[13:08] Delays are a fantastic replacement for
[13:11] reverbs when it comes to a busy mix. If
[13:13] you have a lot of elements going on
[13:14] already and your mids and your low mids
[13:17] are already very muddy and convoluted,
[13:19] then it's really a good idea to use
[13:21] delay instead of reverb. It will still
[13:23] push back the sound like you want it,
[13:25] but it won't muddy up the mix nearly as
[13:27] much. You can do that with an H delay
[13:28] right here. Instead of using the host
[13:30] and syncing up with your BPM, go into
[13:32] milliseconds, drop it down a little bit,
[13:34] turn up the feedback, and then use the
[13:36] dry wet knob to taste.
[13:39] [Music]
[13:45] that's got absolutely no reverb on it at
[13:47] all. The only thing that's driving it
[13:48] backwards in the mix is the delay
[13:50] itself. This is a really good idea if
[13:52] you have super busy mixes. It also goes
[13:54] right in hand with the next point of my
[13:55] delay. If you want to hear the delay of
[13:57] your vocal, take it off of syncing with
[14:00] your BPM. If you want your vocal delay
[14:02] to blend in with the rest of the track,
[14:03] then sync it to your BPM. 90% of the
[14:05] time I'm syncing it to the BPM, but that
[14:08] can be a really helpful hint. If you
[14:10] want to actually hear your delay better,
[14:11] then take it off and just use
[14:13] milliseconds and put it to some random
[14:15] value. Now, if all of these plugins and
[14:17] things I'm talking about still seem
[14:19] overwhelming, I've created a free vocal
[14:21] preset that you can download in the link
[14:22] below. If you download them, all you
[14:24] have to do is click on them and they
[14:25] will automatically load in. It will
[14:27] automatically change the sound for you,
[14:29] which is really cool. using some of
[14:30] these same concepts I mentioned. You
[14:32] don't have to worry about buying any of
[14:33] these plugins I have here because it
[14:34] only uses stock plugins. Go check them
[14:36] out in the description below. Now, let
[14:38] me do a quick fire round of some of the
[14:40] other cool vocal effects I like to use.
[14:42] First up, the flanger. Flanger is great
[14:44] for adding width, and it's also a good
[14:46] replacement if you didn't actually
[14:47] record doubles or triples.
[14:50] [Music]
[14:53] The next up would be format shifters,
[14:55] which I always put before any of my
[14:57] other plugins. Foreman shifters are
[14:59] great for changing the sound of a voice
[15:00] without actually changing the pitch.
[15:03] [Music]
[15:08] Next up would be sampled vocals. Take a
[15:09] portion of your lead vocal and drag it
[15:11] to an empty track and put it into a
[15:13] quick sampler. Turn on slice, take the
[15:15] sensitivity down of the transients, and
[15:17] all of a sudden you can play these chops
[15:18] on the piano.
[15:24] can be a super cool and creative way of
[15:26] finding some cool ideas for vocal chops.
[15:28] Next up would be LFOs. LFOs are really
[15:31] great for emulating side chains or
[15:33] rhythmic stutter effects like this.
[15:38] Next plugin I talk about is creative
[15:39] busing. Just like with our bust reverbs,
[15:41] we can add some different effects to
[15:43] them to get some interesting sounds. For
[15:44] example, we might be able to add a clip
[15:46] distortion or after that we could even
[15:48] add a guitar amp. Now any of the reverb
[15:50] that's going through this bus is going
[15:52] to go through Valhalla room. It's going
[15:53] to be side chained. Then it's going to
[15:55] be distorted and then gone through an
[15:56] amp.
[16:01] This allows for a lot of really creative
[16:02] effects and can give some cool results.
[16:04] Next up would be reversing vocals. Take
[16:06] the first part of your lead vocal, drag
[16:08] it to a new track, turn on reverb, and
[16:10] crank that thing up on the individual
[16:12] track itself. Bounce it in place. Extend
[16:14] the tail. Double click on it. Go to
[16:15] functions. Reverse. And now you have a
[16:17] vocal swell that you can put right
[16:19] before your drop, that's going to sound
[16:20] cool.
[16:21] And if you put it right before your
[16:23] actual drop, it's going to just hit even
[16:24] harder.
[16:27] [Music]
[16:28] This next tip has to do with distortion.
[16:30] Distortion is a heavier version of
[16:32] saturation and can add grittiness and
[16:35] energy to a vocal. Cranking it up is
[16:36] great for genres like rock, punk, or
[16:39] metal.
[16:42] But I do want to point out that it won't
[16:43] emulate the actual distortion that a
[16:45] singer needs to sing to get the best
[16:47] results. This is without Saturn, but me
[16:49] singing with a slightly distorted tone.
[16:53] You can hear that there. But sometimes
[16:55] what I'll do is I'll only distort the
[16:56] high end if I want some extra presence.
[16:58] So I'm just going to distort this part
[16:59] here. Take this part and turn it
[17:01] completely down.
[17:04] It's leaving that low and mid-range nice
[17:06] and untouched, but it's really
[17:07] distorting that high end. The lead vocal
[17:09] is maybe the most important thing to
[17:11] worry about when it comes to your vocal
[17:12] tracks. But there are some other things
[17:14] that really make a difference as well.
[17:15] Let's move on to the next important
[17:16] topic that can really transform your
[17:18] vocal sound. Doubles. Doubles and
[17:20] triples are when you have the singer
[17:21] record the same part multiple times. You
[17:23] can take these separate recordings and
[17:25] pan them one hard left and one hard
[17:27] right and they will create a new width
[17:29] to your vocal. It sounds so much better
[17:31] with doubles and triples if you're
[17:32] trying to have more energy. To get
[17:35] started with these doubles, I'll often
[17:36] copy and paste the same exact settings I
[17:38] have from my lead vocal onto my doubles.
[17:41] Then I'll tweak the processing slightly
[17:43] depending on what I want. The two most
[17:45] common things I'll do is tune the
[17:46] doubles and triples to be slightly more
[17:48] tuned than the actual vocal itself and
[17:50] then to take away some of the high-end
[17:52] information with a high shelf EQ. That
[17:55] just helps the lead vocal shine out even
[17:56] more.
[17:57] when you do what you're supposed to. If
[18:00] for some reason that you didn't record
[18:02] those doubles, you can fake them by
[18:04] duplicating the lead vocal track twice,
[18:06] duplicating it again twice, going to the
[18:08] track, going to fine-tune, and going up
[18:10] plus 15 on one track and minus5 on the
[18:13] other track, panning one right, and one
[18:15] left. And this is going to simulate that
[18:17] same effect.
[18:21] Notice it still sounds weird and that
[18:22] the actual double and triple recorded
[18:24] takes are always going to sound better.
[18:26] If you need even more energy, I'd
[18:27] recommend recording other vocal parts
[18:29] either an octave up or an octave down.
[18:32] Check out what this sounds like.
[18:36] If you want a more detailed high-end,
[18:38] you can do the same exact technique, but
[18:40] instead of singing normally, you can
[18:41] whisper into the microphone. Check out
[18:43] what this sounds like.
[18:47] It adds a nice presence to the mix
[18:49] without being overbearing. I don't do
[18:51] whisper vocals for every track, but for
[18:52] certain genres, I find it works really
[18:54] well, like pop. If you want your vocals
[18:56] to be less noticeable and overall
[18:58] tighter sounding with the actual lead
[19:00] vocal itself, I recommend syncing them
[19:02] up in time with the lead vocal. This can
[19:04] be a time- inensive process because
[19:05] you're going to take every single
[19:06] transient and move it to where it needs
[19:08] to be. But once you do, it's going to
[19:10] give you a good result. Let me show you
[19:11] what it sounds like with these timed up.
[19:14] [Music]
[19:16] And
[19:19] without those small differences in
[19:21] timing make the background doubles feel
[19:22] a lot beefier. So, if you're going for a
[19:24] tighter, more polished sound, you'll
[19:26] probably want to sync them all up. I
[19:27] also want to point out that I almost
[19:29] never touch my lead vocal in terms of
[19:31] rhythm. I just am looking for a good
[19:33] solid performance and recording to
[19:34] start. There's a decent chance that I'm
[19:36] not exactly on the grid, but I find that
[19:38] getting too close to the grid just can
[19:40] sound a little bit robotic and
[19:42] unnatural. And it can sound especially
[19:43] unnatural if I have to do that in
[19:45] post-production and move every single
[19:47] transient. Now that we have our lead
[19:48] vocals done and our doubles done, let's
[19:50] go over some background vocals.
[19:52] Background vocals often go unnoticed,
[19:54] but without them they completely change
[19:56] the feel of a mix. While recording
[19:58] background vocals, I often recommend
[20:00] using a different mic completely. In
[20:02] this case, I used a SH SM7B. Most of the
[20:04] time when you're recording lead vocals,
[20:06] you'll use a large diaphragm condenser,
[20:08] which has a nice sparkle to it. To make
[20:10] sure your background vocals stay in the
[20:11] background, it's important to use
[20:13] something that is a warmer sounding
[20:14] quality, like this dynamic microphone.
[20:18] [Music]
[20:23] If you're recording harmonies and you're
[20:24] ever in doubt of what to sing, just find
[20:26] the actual chords that are being played
[20:28] in the instrumental and then sing each
[20:30] triad or note of the chord itself on the
[20:33] lyrics. That's what I did for these
[20:34] harmonies. Check it out.
[20:41] Also, keep in mind the more background
[20:42] vocals that you actually record, the
[20:44] more options you'll have for things like
[20:46] panning and the beefier your sound will
[20:48] be. for the same exact reasons as I
[20:50] mentioned before when syncing up the
[20:52] vocals to the lead vocal. When dealing
[20:53] with a lot of background voices or
[20:55] harmonies like this, I'll often group
[20:56] them into one group and then process
[20:58] them together. In this case, the only
[21:00] thing that I put on them was an OTT,
[21:02] which stands for over-the-top
[21:03] compressor, which is a great free
[21:04] multiband compressor and a channel EQ
[21:09] already sounds pretty good, and I didn't
[21:10] have to throw a thing on any of these
[21:12] except autotune. My last tip for
[21:14] background vocals is that they can also
[21:16] just be there to help with the
[21:17] instrumental itself. You can use them to
[21:19] sing along with leads or other synths or
[21:21] even guitars to help give them extra
[21:23] texture or flavor. Or they can be the
[21:25] actual synth line themselves just like I
[21:27] did in this song. Check it out. pitch
[21:29] correction.
[21:32] [Music]
[21:43] You can feel free to get really creative
[21:44] with it, but the amount of times that I
[21:46] use my voice as an instrument itself is
[21:48] way higher than you might think. Okay,
[21:50] so we've got all of our vocal tracks
[21:51] done. Now, it's time to mix them. Let's
[21:53] talk about mixing your vocal track and
[21:55] balancing it volume-wise with the rest
[21:57] of the instruments going on. I used to
[21:58] think that vocals should just be on top
[22:01] of the mix. But then I learned some of
[22:03] these techniques and it really helped me
[22:05] out. First, I recommend mixing into a
[22:07] limiter. The limiter will affect the
[22:08] overall volume relationship between the
[22:10] vocal and the rest of the instruments.
[22:12] And if you're going to have it on the
[22:13] master in the end, you might as well
[22:14] throw it on here so you can hear what
[22:16] it's going to sound like.
[22:19] Dial in the right volume for your voice
[22:21] compared to the rest of the instruments.
[22:23] you should mix in mono. It really helps
[22:24] you understand how the rest of the track
[22:26] is helping to sit together. If you're
[22:27] mixing on headphones only, you can
[22:29] always add a gain plugin to the end of
[22:30] the stereo output and then turn it on
[22:32] and you'll mix in mono.
[22:35] [Music]
[22:40] Once you're in mono, you can turn down
[22:42] the volume of your monitors so that it's
[22:44] really, really quiet. You want to barely
[22:46] be able to hear anything. The only
[22:48] things that you should be able to hear
[22:49] poking its head through are the snare
[22:50] drum, the vocals, and the words
[22:52] themselves, and then maybe the kick
[22:54] drum. If that's the case, then you know
[22:55] that you're on to something good with
[22:56] your mix. This is just a good mixing tip
[22:58] in general is to listen to your mix at
[23:00] really low volumes. You can also use
[23:01] this same trick with reference tracks to
[23:04] see how theirs sounds at really low
[23:05] volumes. I find that to be one of the
[23:07] easiest ways to dial in my vocal volume.
[23:09] Another trick I can give is to stop
[23:11] soloing your vocals. Nobody cares if
[23:13] your vocal sounds really good by itself
[23:15] because they aren't listening to it by
[23:17] themselves. They're listening to it with
[23:19] the rest of the track.
[23:21] [Music]
[23:25] And the last tip that I'll do has to do
[23:27] with creating a submix of your
[23:28] instruments and then sidechaining your
[23:30] vocals to that bus. Let me explain what
[23:33] I mean. You can route every single
[23:34] instrument bus of your track into
[23:36] something called a submix except for
[23:38] your vocals. Then on that submix, you
[23:40] can add a side chain so that any time
[23:42] that that instruments hit and the vocal
[23:44] is singing, it's going to dip out some
[23:46] range right here in the mid-range here.
[23:50] [Music]
[23:51] This can just help that vocal sit in the
[23:53] mix rather than on top of the mix even
[23:55] more. Now, let's move on to maybe the
[23:57] least sexy part about getting a good
[23:59] vocal sound. Editing. A good vocal take
[24:01] still needs editing to sound great.
[24:04] Otherwise, it's just going to sound like
[24:06] a demo. When I'm talking about vocal
[24:07] editing, it means going through getting
[24:09] rid of any extra noises, any pops,
[24:12] clicks, taming any pllosives. I know I
[24:15] heard one here. And that's what the
[24:16] process is about. If I have a possive
[24:18] right here, I can just quickly get rid
[24:20] of it by adding a nice little fade
[24:22] there. Already sounding way better.
[24:24] Those small subtle changes like that are
[24:26] going to add up to a big end result. One
[24:27] of the biggest parts of editing I
[24:29] already mentioned before comes from
[24:30] gainstaging the track itself before it
[24:32] hits a compressor. I know I talked about
[24:34] this, but it it really is that
[24:35] important. If you're struggling with
[24:36] some noise in between your vocal takes,
[24:38] you can get rid of it pretty easily with
[24:40] something called a noise gate. But just
[24:42] like most things in production, the best
[24:44] results will come from manually going
[24:45] through and getting rid of any of those
[24:48] parts that might be problems. Another
[24:50] part of the editing process involves
[24:51] comping. Comping is short for compiling,
[24:54] and it means you're going to take your
[24:55] best vocal recorded takes and stitch
[24:57] them together to make one crazy good
[24:59] mega take. You can determine what part
[25:01] sounds best and then select it, and this
[25:02] will give you the best results. You can
[25:04] get really crazy with this, but I
[25:05] recommend trying to keep it simple.
[25:06] Comping say six different vocal takes is
[25:09] a lot easier than coping say 60 vocal
[25:11] takes. And while choosing the best vocal
[25:13] takes, the emotion and the energy of the
[25:15] takes themselves is way more important
[25:17] than the pitch. The pitch is oftentimes
[25:19] one of the easiest things that you can
[25:21] affect later. Whereas energy, there's
[25:24] not a plugin for that. And finally,
[25:25] let's go over the most important part
[25:27] about getting a good vocal sound, the
[25:29] recording itself. Now, I know a lot of
[25:31] you out there are expecting to fix your
[25:33] vocals with plugins and tricks and tips,
[25:35] which is why I started this video with
[25:37] them. But honestly, if you don't get the
[25:38] recording part right, none of what I've
[25:40] told you in this video so far is even
[25:42] going to matter at all. While you're
[25:43] recording, the closer you get to a
[25:45] microphone, the boomier the sound is.
[25:47] The farther you get from the microphone,
[25:49] the thinner the voice becomes. I like to
[25:51] stick somewhere between 4 to 6 in. to
[25:53] keep artists from actually eating the
[25:55] microphone while they record. You can
[25:56] set that up at four to six inches away
[25:58] as a shield and as a blocker. This will
[26:00] also have the added benefit of helping
[26:02] with sibilent sounds and pllosives. I've
[26:04] already mentioned this, but I'll say it
[26:06] again. My favorite type of mic to record
[26:08] vocals is a large diaphragm condenser
[26:10] mic. It has the most modern high-end
[26:12] sparkle out of any type of microphone,
[26:14] and especially for vocals, that is
[26:16] extremely important. I'd recommend
[26:17] buying the best one you can comfortably
[26:19] afford. This next tip might sound a bit
[26:21] strange, but if you record a lot of
[26:23] vocals and produce a lot of your own
[26:24] music, I highly recommend getting a desk
[26:27] arm like this. When I'm not using it, I
[26:29] can move my mic away. And when I am
[26:31] using it, it's plugged in, it's ready to
[26:33] go, and it's right at my mouth, ready to
[26:35] record. I'd also like to add that this
[26:37] desk arm or just having a microphone
[26:39] ready to go allows me to easily record
[26:41] any ideas I have that come out of my
[26:43] head with my voice. If I don't record
[26:45] those ideas, chances are very high that
[26:47] they will just be lost forever in the
[26:49] ether. I'd also recommend that if you're
[26:51] doing a lot of recording that you get a
[26:52] sitst stand desk like what I'm adjusting
[26:55] with right now. Ideally, all of the
[26:57] vocals that you record will be recorded
[26:59] while standing. Standing opens up your
[27:01] lungs more, your diaphragm more, and
[27:03] gives you a more supported sound. That
[27:04] brings me into my last tip that I'll
[27:06] mention while recording. While
[27:08] recording, I recommend actually singing
[27:10] to a drum track rather than a metronome.
[27:12] A metronome or a click track is okay,
[27:14] but actually recording to a live drum
[27:16] beat gets me way more in the pocket or
[27:19] way more on rhythm. This doesn't have to
[27:21] be a complicated drum pattern either.
[27:23] You can drag in a loop from Splice or
[27:25] you can just use Logic's session drummer
[27:27] to automatically generate you one
[27:28] immediately. Now, I know I've covered a
[27:30] ton of information in this video. If it
[27:32] seems overwhelming, that is completely
[27:34] normal. Don't worry. To make things more
[27:36] manageable, I'm going to hop back into
[27:37] my iPad and draw out a hierarchy of
[27:40] things you should be focusing on as an
[27:42] artist to get a better vocal sound
[27:43] because to be honest, most people focus
[27:46] on the wrong things. This is the exact
[27:48] order I think about things to get a good
[27:50] vocal sound in the mix. We're going to
[27:52] start actually first with the master. I
[27:54] think in terms of what affects the sound
[27:56] the least in terms of vocals, master is
[27:59] probably the least. It does compress
[28:00] things a little bit. It makes things
[28:01] louder, but everything else I'm going to
[28:03] talk about is going to affect things
[28:05] more. Second thing that I would put
[28:06] would be mixing. Yes, changing the
[28:07] volume and the relationship between all
[28:10] of the instruments can definitely help
[28:12] your vocals shine, but if you don't have
[28:13] the next three, then things aren't going
[28:15] to matter. Next one I would put would be
[28:17] plugins and effects. Your plugins are
[28:19] more important than the mix. If you have
[28:21] plugins that make your vocals sound bad
[28:24] or muddy, then mixing isn't going to
[28:25] matter at all, and then your master
[28:27] isn't going to change that either. Next
[28:29] up, I would say your mic. Your
[28:31] microphone does make that big of a
[28:33] difference. You can fix a lot of things
[28:35] that you might otherwise not in EQ with
[28:37] just the microphone and the actual
[28:38] recording of it yourself. I'll actually
[28:40] put slash recording cuz I think that
[28:42] kind of goes along with it, like the
[28:44] whole recording process. But the most
[28:46] important thing that you need to get
[28:47] right if you want good vocals is the
[28:50] performance. The performance itself, the
[28:53] singer. But if you don't have a good
[28:55] recording and you don't have a good
[28:57] singer, as much magic as I can pull from
[29:00] my ass, I'm not going to be able to fix
[29:01] it. I really am not. You really need to
[29:03] get this first. I've said this before on
[29:06] the channel, but if Adele were to sing
[29:08] through an iPhone, she would probably
[29:10] still sound great. I can do everything
[29:12] else and it would be fine because she's
[29:14] amazing at singing. And that's really
[29:16] what you need to hear. Sometimes the the
[29:19] truth hurts, but yes, if your vocal
[29:21] tracks aren't sounding like you want
[29:22] them to, maybe your rhythmic timing
[29:24] isn't there, maybe your falsetto sounds
[29:26] bad, maybe your chest voice sounds weak,
[29:29] maybe your tamber, your vocal tone isn't
[29:31] there. These are all things that you can
[29:33] learn about and get better at. The more
[29:35] you sing, the more you do, the better
[29:37] you get. Probably talked about plugins
[29:39] and all this jazz jazz and the other for
[29:42] so long, but I'm I'm telling you, if if
[29:44] you get the singer right, everything's
[29:45] going to change for you. There it is.
[29:46] everything I've learned about mixing
[29:48] vocals since I've started 12 years ago.
[29:50] Remember, you can grab that free vocal
[29:52] chain I mentioned in the video earlier
[29:54] in the description below. If you liked
[29:55] this comprehensive video on mixing
[29:57] vocals, I think you're really going to
[29:58] like this one I made on music
[29:59] production, which you can find right up