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246 results for “vocal+mixing”
Jacquire King - Go To Chains
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From 00 min
Some typical chains of gear that I use on my lead vocal, I have a Neve module.
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From 00 min
The rest of it's just like a 1073. I use that on lead vocal, and that goes into a
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From 01 min
So that's the primary analog chain that I use for the vocal. But before that,
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From 02 min
That's kind of a typical vocal EQ for the Neve. In the computer, I use the MDW EQ,
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From 02 min
emulation. But back to the vocal, I use the Massenburg EQ.
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From 03 min
out of the computer to that analog chain. And then part of my vocal mixing sound is
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From 04 min
in that encoded Dolby sound. That's pretty much my primary vocal chain.
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From 04 min
Decapitator, you can put right on the vocal and get a little bit of distortion
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From 05 min
and a couple delays for a vocal. Also, I use a micro pitch-shift plug-in.
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From 05 min
A chain that I use on bass in mixing... I use a distressor pretty often for
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From 08 min
Other chains that I use for mixing that I feel like are really successful for me,
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From 09 min
a distressor is great. An 1176 can be great too. In mixing, if I'm going to
Stuart White - Beyoncé - Yoncé
As a key player in Beyoncé’s production team, Stuart White has traveled the globe making records with one of the world’s biggest superstars. In this 4-part series, the Grammy-winning engineer revisits the recording and mixing of a standout track from Beyoncé’s self-titled 2014 album. Codenamed 'Yoncé', the song is a bold artistic statement featuring all-star production from Mike Dean, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland and more. Stuart reopens the original ProTools session and explores how the track came together. He walks through his entire recording template, revealing all of his plug-ins, effects chains and routing choices. He also elaborates on Beyoncé’s signature recording chain and explains the reasoning behind each piece of analog gear. Outside of ProTools, Stuart discusses his experience working in a highly dynamic environment. He shares his tips for keeping sessions organized so when Beyoncé enters the studio, everything is ready to go.
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From 00 min
But that's the art of mixing too, is knowing when something's better
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From 01 min
But that's the art of mixing, too, is knowing when something's better
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From 03 min
and just how it kind of came together sonically from a mixing standpoint.
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From 04 min
Here's a vocal all-group where all the vocals combine there.
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From 05 min
But typically, when I'm tracking her and mixing her at the same time,
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From 05 min
and it's finished and she wants to rerecord vocals, I can load the session up
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From 05 min
If you're tracking and mixing and you want to be able to track
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From 07 min
Behind that, I'm boosting some mids to separate it from the lead vocal
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From 07 min
or whatever vocals it's going to it.
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From 07 min
And I very much think in layers when I'm mixing.
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From 07 min
And creating depth is a huge part of mixing.
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From 08 min
off Jay-Z's "Magna Carta" on her lead vocal
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From 15 min
but that's the art of mixing, too, is knowing when something's better
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From 32 min
He's a master vocal engineer and a vocal arranger.
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From 32 min
then it would distract from the focal point which is the lead vocal
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From 33 min
That's a huge part of mixing is finishing and knowing
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From 33 min
and the focal point is the correct focal point and everything else
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From 33 min
is supporting that focal point.
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From 33 min
- Let's move into the lead vocal.
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From 33 min
and I love the Neve on vocals, don't get me wrong.
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From 34 min
It has less low mid than the Neve which I kind of like for her vocal,
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From 35 min
So, that's a little backstory on just how I record vocals with her.
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From 36 min
This is the only vocal EQ I'm using on her lead.
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From 38 min
when you're mixing to do what I didn't do here,
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From 38 min
But either way, I think we can all hear that it's grabbing the vocal
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From 38 min
smooths the top a bit, and that's the whole vocal chain
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From 38 min
on this particular vocal.
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From 38 min
Sometimes when I'm working with a vocalist or mixing a vocal
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From 40 min
taking off some mids to make room for her actual dry vocal,
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From 41 min
This is just smart mixing with delays and vocals,
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From 42 min
is all buttons in on drums, vocals, anything you want
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From 43 min
Reason being is they're combining into being one lead vocal sound
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From 43 min
and I want that one lead vocal sound to trigger the effects,
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From 44 min
it just makes it easier when you're mixing and stuff.
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From 44 min
and they'll have all the vocals grouped to an aux the way I do here, right?
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From 44 min
they'll group all the vocals to an aux and they'll send to the effects again.
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From 44 min
sending to the effects as well and now you have double-bussed vocal effects
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From 45 min
The next vocal we got is kind of her rap track.
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From 46 min
Okay, now let's move into her background vocals.
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From 55 min
I can turn her vocal up while she's recording way louder than the track,
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From 57 min
and we had to strip it back and keep it simple and maintain the focal point
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From 57 min
where you don't need to be mixing through a lot of saturation
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From 57 min
One of the arts of mixing is knowing when it doesn't need that
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From 59 min
with the vocals where the low end is not ducking the vocals
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From 59 min
and the vocals aren't ducking the low end and it's all working independently.
Shawn Everett - Kacey Musgraves - Slowburn
Explore the mix of this hit single, taken from the artist’s multi-award-winning album ‘Golden Hour’. Drawing influence from psychedelic rock and synth pop, Shawn crafts an unusual mix that has set a new standard for country music as we know it.
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From 00 min
Initially mixing her vocal,
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From 00 min
that very LA way of compressed vocals,
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From 01 min
more of a heavy atmosphere around the vocal.
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From 03 min
and asked me if I would consider mixing some songs for Kacey Musgraves.
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From 11 min
This album had come out pretty close to the time when I had started mixing
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From 11 min
when the actual artist is that good at mixing.
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From 11 min
I'm a fan of his mixing.
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From 12 min
that I would say I love their mixing as well as I like their music.
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From 28 min
of mixing stuff, I was referencing maybe some of the "Thriller" stuff.
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From 51 min
Up here, we'll go through the vocal, but for sure the vocal is going through it.
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From 52 min
A lot of times when I'm mixing, if I'm mixing for a while,
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From 55 min
Let's go up to the vocal.
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From 56 min
happening with her vocal where I would send out the clean track
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From 56 min
Then I had a parallel version of her vocal coming back as well on a console.
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From 56 min
So, I've just imported the original lead vocal
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From 1h00
Here, we have this vocal effect, so I'm pushing her vocal even further
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From 1h00
I like vocals sounding a little dark
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From 1h01
I think that when I was initially mixing her vocal, I was thinking of it
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From 1h02
of maybe compressed vocals forward and not a lot of actual effects,
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From 1h02
that have that sound where it's there will be vocal forward
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From 1h02
around the vocal with this setting, which they were really loved
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From 1h03
And I've gotten more into thinking about vocals in that way
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From 1h05
Coming up here, we have some more background vocals.
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From 1h12
in the mixing process because it's the end, and I understand why,
Andy Wallace - Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye
Join acclaimed engineer, producer and mixer Andy Wallace at Red Bull Studios NYC for an in-depth exploration of the track ‘Last Goodbye’ by Jeff Buckley. In this 4h30 series, Wallace takes you on a journey from the record’s musical foundations and pre-production to a full new analog remix of the song. After giving an overview of the arrangement, recording and production process, Andy Wallace begins a fresh mix of the session on the studio’s SSL console. He takes you through his workflow step-by-step, demonstrating his renowned ability to unmask and clarify through careful EQ, gating and panning. He shows his use of grouping, effects and stereo buss compression, while giving detailed reasoning behind his decisions. He also covers other topics such as artist psychology, client feedback, headphone mixes, monitoring, recording techniques, phase, gain structure, and automation.
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From 00 min
in recording and producing, and also in mixing.
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From 00 min
and also in mixing that song in particular,
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From 02 min
I'd like to talk a little bit about miking techniques
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From 06 min
The reason I put in on-axis is, especially if you're close-miking
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From 10 min
Lastly, I would like to talk about vocals.
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From 10 min
I did some talk about miking Jeff's guitar amp and guitar amps in general,
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From 10 min
but certainly miking Jeff's vocal in the video that we did for "Hallelujah,"
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From 11 min
However, I do some compression on vocals typically
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From 12 min
with the exception of a vocal, because vocals tend to be very dynamic.
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From 12 min
or some nice, warm tube compressor as I'm recording the vocals.
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From 16 min
which is Jeff's vocal and Jeff's guitar.
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From 17 min
There are one or two little extra vocal bits here and there,
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From 17 min
but primarily it's just one lead vocal.
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From 2h30
and other than Jeff's lead vocal,
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From 2h40
there's a place where there's a harmony vocal.
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From 2h40
or at the same session as the lead vocal.
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From 2h40
because it's just a little subordinate part that sneaks in behind the lead vocal.
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From 2h40
So I'll treat it the same way as I did with the lead vocal
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From 2h41
So I'm going to listen to it with the lead vocal
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From 2h41
the vocals, the strings, all those little bits of solo guitar,
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From 3h05
in a band track, even though I'm mixing from the drummer's perspective,
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From 3h12
I could even throw in the vocal at some time.
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From 3h43
The next thing I want to check out is the star of the show, the lead vocal.
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From 3h43
So I'm going to play the track from the beginning of the vocal part,
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From 3h43
I've done a little preliminary work earlier on the lead vocal
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From 3h43
that there would be little specific rides to be done on the lead vocal,
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From 3h43
So one way or another, I'm sure there'll be some rides on the vocal,
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From 3h44
that's when I will be doing a lot of the fine-tuning of the vocal.
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From 3h56
There's also a harmony vocal that happens just once in the song.
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From 4h26
and my mindset about mixing in general, you might want to check...
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From 20 min
And then mixing, I mixed my own material as well.
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From 20 min
and producing, and mixing,
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From 20 min
To this day, even if I'm just mixing a record, mixing somebody else's production,
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From 27 min
Is there going to be a live vocal recorded live in the room
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From 27 min
or is it just going to be a reference vocal?
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From 27 min
I generally try to have a vocal because that's one of the things
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From 29 min
I believe Jeff sang a reference vocal while playing,
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From 31 min
also final vocals.
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From 31 min
We probably didn't use a whole lot of vocals
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From 31 min
that were recorded on the basic track as finished vocals.
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From 31 min
There may have been elements, some little certain vocal bit
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From 31 min
but most of the vocal overdubbing was done later.
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From 36 min
If I'm mixing another producer's work, I'm totally unfamiliar with the track,
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From 36 min
where I don't even hear it before I end up mixing it,
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From 38 min
or possibly even a solo if it's just an isolated solo, vocals, typically.
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From 42 min
Sometimes there's low end on vocals where things are thumping and bumping,
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From 44 min
in a lot of these things including vocals, guitars,
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From 44 min
But speaking for a minute just about guitars, pianos, and vocals,
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From 44 min
you don't hear the definition, you lose some definition on the vocal presence.
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From 47 min
So getting back to my general philosophy in mixing,
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From 47 min
I guess this goes back to my club record mixing days
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From 51 min
I was talking to someone not long ago about mixing quickly and that thing,
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From 52 min
such as vocals, the string arrangement, additional instrumentation
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From 53 min
the piano and the vocal will work together better."
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From 57 min
outside of something that reflects my general philosophy about mixing,
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From 59 min
When mixing, I like to try to get the mix done in one day.
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From 1h01
you know, gee, I wonder, maybe I got the vocal too loud,
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From 1h03
and had that over everybody else, I'd be mixing all the records, you know?
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From 1h09
and I would use that on anything really, but vocals in particular.
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From 1h11
I like mixing things hard left and right on certain tracks,
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From 1h26
—it's actually a quad compressor, but I'm only mixing stereo here.
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From 1h31
and if I can solve the obvious problems before I really start mixing,
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From 1h31
it allows me to keep mixing quickly again,
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From 1h40
whether it's guitars or strings or vocals,
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From 2h02
This is something you have to be careful with miking amps.
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From 2h03
The other thing about committing early whether it's a vocal comp
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From 2h03
or mixing two mics together from one sound source,
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From 2h03
or deciding which little vocal phrase is better.
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From 2h04
If you have, for instance, a vocal comp,
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From 2h04
and you've got, you know, five, six channels of vocals,
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From 2h04
he did this little vocal thing that was just spectacular."
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From 2h05
I don't have any of that going on. Now I'm just listening to five tracks of vocals
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From 2h06
a vocal group trio, kind of a soul/R&B trio.
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From 2h06
So we recorded all the background vocals with the three-part harmony,
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From 2h06
I had doubled vocals and they sounded...
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From 2h09
—I'm talking about the band track here, not so much the vocal.
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From 2h18
I guess we might as well look at the lead vocal while we're at it here,
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From 2h21
But I'm almost certainly going to want to use some ambience around the vocal,
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From 2h22
So I'm going to run that vocal again,
Dan Nigro - Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe!
The Grammy-winning producer returns to explore his work with one of the world’s brightest new superstars. Discover the songwriting and production process behind this sensational single and learn how to craft chart-topping songs using a few home studio essentials.
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From 01 min
what the vocal world should sit like.
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From 01 min
In modern production, oftentimes, mixing is involved in it.
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From 01 min
The vocal processing is like, I'm doing most of it,
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From 02 min
the mixing.
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From 04 min
This is the demo, so there's not all the backend vocals
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From 14 min
We layered in all these cool vocals, which is the part that
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From 14 min
leads you into the vocal, the actual lyrics, which are this right here.
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From 25 min
but if it was a bass track or a vocal track in which, because I feel like
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From 25 min
bass and vocal is where you hear the most warbles in a song,
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From 25 min
This song, I think we recorded the entire vocal of this song at 120
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From 28 min
The vocals, in general, in this song was the hardest thing
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From 28 min
Normally, the microphones, the vocal mic is set up right over here.
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From 28 min
There's 9 vocals making up the stack in the first chorus,
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From 29 min
the vocals was what notes are you going to hit
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From 29 min
So the background vocals were really fun to play with and we have,
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From 29 min
I think there is low vocals here going.
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From 29 min
And then we have I believe softer vocals,
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From 31 min
So make a wall of vocal sound.
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From 33 min
So, we have all those vocals.
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From 33 min
what the vocal world should sit like.
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From 33 min
But basically, my vocal setup which has been...
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From 33 min
But the one that I usually use on vocals is an older one.
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From 34 min
That one I find better for when I'm doing a really soft vocal
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From 36 min
When I started recording some vocals and I liked the way it sounded.
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From 37 min
That being said, I will give you my typical vocal chain.
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From 37 min
For me, using the U99, that will brighten up the vocal a little bit more.
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From 39 min
That's the vocal chain that I use on most, most lead vocals usually have
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From 39 min
And then if I'm doing a bunch of background vocals, I'll often...
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From 39 min
all the vocals together besides the lead.
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From 39 min
So this is all the vocals without...
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From 39 min
Without the lead vocals, these are just the BVs.
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From 41 min
how many vocals to add.
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From 41 min
or a triple to a lead vocal, and then halfway through
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From 41 min
there's so many different textures to the vocals and the way that
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From 41 min
we originally started with just a lead vocal, obviously, making a demo,
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From 42 min
but the song to me, in terms of the verse, is Chappell's vocal.
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From 43 min
but it's not that important because her vocal is so captivating,
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From 56 min
But there is a lot of mixing that I'm doing.
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From 57 min
And a lot of the processing and the mixing
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From 57 min
I think that part of the mixing also comes into, whatchamacallit?
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From 57 min
Modern production oftentimes, mixing is involved in it.
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From 57 min
before I send it off to mixing, is part of my process,
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From 57 min
Especially the vocal processing, it's already like I'm doing most of it.
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From 57 min
that's pre-chosen before we're going to the mixing process.
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From 58 min
The vocals, that's days of work on my end, just figuring out the layer.
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From 58 min
Actually, mixing in the vocals, in terms of where the soft ones sit
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From 58 min
we're sitting there going like, "How do we want these vocals mixed?"
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From 58 min
And mixing is really important to me.
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From 58 min
the nuanced mixing stuff of choosing vocal, especially when it comes to vocals,
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From 59 min
So you're writing, you're producing, you're mixing.
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From 59 min
and mixing engineers, and...
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From 1h00
The songwriting, the production, the mixing It's like a constant
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From 1h02
And then you went and you made this record and then you're mixing it
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From 1h02
Is that what my vocal sounded like?"
Andrew Scheps - The Smashing Pumpkins - That Which Animates The Spirit
The Grammy-winning engineer returns to explore the mixing of an experimental rock opera by The Smashing Pumpkins. Thundering percussion, experimental synths and an ensemble of extraordinary guitars… Andrew blends all of these elements together to create a show-stopping mix that is larger than life.
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From 07 min
and we'll come back to the vocals much later.
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From 19 min
when I was still mixing on the console.
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From 32 min
because guitars and vocals live there as well.
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From 42 min
guitar overdubs lots and lots of vocals.
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From 1h03
point I was mixing something, I don't remember what,
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From 1h04
And I kept coming back to the song in the context of mixing the whole record
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From 1h15
What I'm going to do now is I will just mute the vocals
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From 1h33
There are a lot of vocals going on right there.
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From 1h37
And it is cool, but again, there's so many vocals going on here
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From 1h40
This is something where me mixing in headphones
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From 1h40
when I started mixing the song, laying it out, and I do that in headphones
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From 1h42
before you start mixing.
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From 1h43
I'm going to play this with everything except vocals,
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From 1h43
but there are no vocals right there, how it was.
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From 1h45
So that is very much the vocal melody.
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From 1h45
but you'll hear with the vocals that it is reinforcing that.
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From 1h45
once the vocal is in.
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From 1h46
So it's just a little bit of timbre for the vocals.
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From 1h47
All we have left is vocals and mix bus.
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From 1h47
All right, it is lead vocal time, the time you've all been waiting for.
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From 1h48
There's one thing in particular that's going on on the lead vocal combiner,
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From 1h48
which is where all of the vocals end up.
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From 1h48
So all of the vocal tracks are being assigned to the lead vocal bus.
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From 1h48
These vocals are being collected because they're all the lead vocals,
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From 1h48
I'll work my way from the tracks out to the lead vocal combiner
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From 1h48
So on each lead vocal track, all there is is a de-esser.
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From 1h48
what you're going for with all lead vocals.
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From 1h49
The other thing is if you're going to heavily process the vocals,
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From 1h49
on the individual low octaves as well as the overall lead vocal aux.
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From 1h49
So having de-esser first on the vocal tracks allows you to just deal with
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From 1h49
a natural-sounding de-essed vocal.
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From 1h50
So all of these lead vocals have that exact same treatment.
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From 1h50
and it will also fill in, it's really good on vocals that have resonant frequencies
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From 1h51
The problem is it's also where the body of the vocal is.
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From 1h51
overall to the vocal.
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From 1h51
I may have tweaked this on a different vocal track and then just dragged it up
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From 1h52
So then, all of a sudden, it's a very compressed vocal.
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From 1h52
So there are times when this will end up on every vocal,
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From 1h53
It's not because it's a soft vocal and you didn't sing it aggressively.
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From 1h53
when if I just turn the vocal up,
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From 1h53
out of the vocal, I just go in all guns blazing
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From 1h53
It's the character of the vocal, and that's what really helps it poke through
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From 1h54
But at the same time, you can't lose the vocal
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From 1h54
So all of these go into a lead vocal bus,
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From 1h54
but that doesn't go to the vocal aux straight away.
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From 1h54
On one of them, it's pretty much the unaffected vocal.
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From 1h55
So anyway, this has been on every single lead vocal
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From 1h55
from long before I was mixing in the box.
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From 1h55
This used to be the master fader that fed my console on the lead vocal.
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From 1h55
So that's the lead vocal getting affected a tiny, tiny little bit
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From 1h56
So I'm adding a ton of presence to the vocal.
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From 1h56
of the vocal itself.
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From 1h56
Then we come out with that really crushed vocal and I add back in
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From 1h57
What it does though is it's a parallel compressor for the vocal
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From 1h57
but focused in the presence range of the vocal.
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From 1h57
So when I take it out, the vocal will sink into the track a little bit.
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From 1h58
So this really levels out what's going on with the vocal in terms of the sustain
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From 1h58
The presence sustains so you can really hear the vocal.
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From 1h58
So the cleaner vocal and the crushed-up crazy Pultec vocal,
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From 1h58
the clean vocal and the Pultec vocal.
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From 1h59
So that gets combined, that is now my lead vocal sound
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From 1h59
and it goes up to the lead vocal combiner.
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From 1h59
which is the vocal crush.
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From 1h59
So we have a vocal that has an 1176 with all buttons in on the vocal track itself
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From 1h59
but rather than being right on the vocal, it's parallel.
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From 2h02
So you can hear with this that the vocal changes level the least.
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From 2h02
That's because when the vocal happens, it pushes the guitars down
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From 2h02
The vocal wins because it's loudest.
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From 2h02
So it gets the guitars out of the way when the vocal's happening,
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From 2h03
This way, the vocal just sort of pushes everything out of the way.
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From 2h04
This is a big part of my mixing.
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From 2h04
The other one that's not being used is a second vocal reverb,
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From 2h04
but we're using the first vocal reverb.
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From 2h04
So what we got here is a send to vocal verb.
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From 2h04
This was the first vocal reverb to be in my template,
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From 2h04
So we're just putting reverb on the middle of the vocal,
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From 2h05
I keep it as a plate because people say plates are great on vocals.
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From 2h05
It's a reverb on the vocal, just helps sink it in.
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From 2h06
Two more vocal effects.
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From 2h06
It's a very traditional vocal effect and it is in this little guy
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From 2h07
And if I solo up the vocal, you're not going to notice it a huge amount.
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From 2h07
But what will happen is the vocal will just sound dry without it.
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From 2h08
But in the track, the vocal will feel a little drier without both of these.
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From 2h09
All right. That is all of the lead vocal.
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From 2h09
Then, the background vocals.
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From 2h09
There are tons of background vocals and that's cool.
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From 2h09
collecting the background vocal parts are going to a background vocal bus,
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From 2h09
Exactly the same chain as the lead vocal bus.
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From 2h09
I could have just used the same stereo bus for all the vocals
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From 2h10
It's quite a stack, lots of vocals on here.
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From 2h11
Because it's background vocals.
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From 2h12
There's a stereo vocal crush, which is shared
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From 2h12
Rear bus vocal verb one.
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From 2h12
I'm not using vocal verb two.
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From 2h13
Their job is to support the other vocals in the mid range and above.
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From 2h14
That's it for the background vocals.
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From 2h14
And they are on in my template from the minute I start mixing.
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From 2h22
And sometimes it's taking out too much presence in the vocals.
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From 2h22
I think with Billy's vocals and the fact that I'm adding
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From 2h29
And then, we're mixing in 15% of distorted reverb craziness that's going on.
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From 2h30
Then, we have vocals that I'm adding a plate reverb to.
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From 2h30
And then, we've got plate again on the background vocals.
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From 2h35
and the vocal crush bus and all that kind of stuff.
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From 2h38
doing what I want to do to the guitars and the vocals."
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From 2h40
There's nothing like, "Oh, my God, that vocal ride was so amazing."
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From 2h40
you're going to be redoing vocal rides if they have to happen.
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From 2h41
Now, once I'm mixing and I've gotten mixed comments and the crazy thing
Al Schmitt - Orchestra Mixing
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From 00 min
Ninety percent of the time when I'm mixing I won't put any echo on the room
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From 02 min
overall thing if it's an orchestra and a vocal or something.
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From 02 min
when I'm mixing with the orchestra and the vocal, in a sense. I have my compression
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From 02 min
on the vocal, but then when I use the three band it's on everything the vocal
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From 03 min
to them. The difference, and you'll see this when you get into mixing, is set your
Chris Lord-Alge - Kurt Diemer - Burn Together
Join the legendary Chris Lord-Alge for a series on mixing the melodic rock anthem 'Burn Together' by Kurt Diemer featuring Geoff Tate! Filmed at his Los Angeles studio, this series is all about CLA's approach to mixing completely 'in the box' – how he continues to achieve impressive sonic results in the digital realm as he transitions from analog workflow. Starting the mix from scratch, Chris teaches a comprehensive lesson that ranges from session preparation all the way through to final automation pass. He reveals his top choices of software to substitute hardware, and discusses key differences between analog and digital processing. He goes into detail on essential pre-mix groundwork, then tackles the project with his palette of plug-ins to craft another hard-hitting mix of outstanding quality that CLA is renowned for!
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From 01 min
Mixing is solving a problem and mixing is making something speak
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From 00 min
mixing In The Box especially because it's convenient with my laptop, with my UF8,
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From 01 min
you see all my vocals are 17-24,
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From 04 min
We have Kurt Vocal, and Kurt Vocal Double,
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From 04 min
So we have his main vocal and then we have VC, which means, Vocal Chorus,
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From 04 min
Vocal Chorus Double.
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From 04 min
Then we look at our second vocal, same thing, it's Geoff V+, VD,
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From 05 min
Vocal Chorus Low, Vocal Chorus Low Double.
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From 05 min
So, Phil X's vocals are all marked BV1, BV1 double.
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From 09 min
Who cares? I'm mixing it.
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From 09 min
So really, spending a little time before we start mixing makes all the difference.
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From 10 min
Obviously, go through your vocals, make the comps, do the tuning,
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From 10 min
But generally, all of the breathing and the pre-vocal crud that builds up here
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From 10 min
That's how we deal with getting the session prep for mixing
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From 10 min
Now, I do all my vocals blue.
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From 10 min
I do guest vocals, or replacements, or updates in pink or purple,
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From 11 min
That's helpful in other ways but not for mixing.
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From 19 min
Let's start mixing it.
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From 20 min
I find that the biggest problem I have with mixing anything in Pro Tools,
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From 22 min
I tend to use this a lot on my vocal stuff.
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From 25 min
I could look back at A and say, "Here's all my vocals before the comps,
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From 25 min
Where do I go back? Where do I know my vocal comp is?
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From 26 min
But, when mixing in stereo,
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From 27 min
How am I combining these vocals together?"
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From 29 min
I will say, "Well, look. I'm going to, obviously, have my vocals up the center."
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From 30 min
all these vocals and we're going to give them all the same chain,
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From 31 min
And since these vocals are all cleaned up, I don't really have to
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From 32 min
What this does is I know that each one of these vocals
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From 32 min
If vocal 1 is going to move 7 dB of compression, all of them are.
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From 32 min
Now, a lot of people could just put all vocals to one compressor, that works too.
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From 33 min
Lead vocals, obviously, are all up the center, because
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From 38 min
So when we look up here at the top we're like, "Well, since we're mixing
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From 43 min
And that's how I look at this, that the mixing is a combination
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From 44 min
I've shown you setting up a few Auxes, putting a few go-to plug-ins on vocals
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From 44 min
I've only put EQs on vocals and I'm not even going to start with them.
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From 45 min
And none of the vocals are up.
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From 57 min
So this is very important for you is when you're mixing it's like,
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From 1h07
And I think this is one of the big problems in mixing is that
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From 1h18
So I'm trying to make you see if we have all our faders up except for vocals.
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From 1h18
Do we have room to put these vocals in here
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From 1h19
Let us continue with looking at some vocals now.
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From 1h19
I have two Auxes for my vocals.
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From 1h20
We will put that over... We'll just start the lead vocals that way.
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From 1h24
Now when I listen to the vocals right here, the first thing I think
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From 1h25
when your mixing goes, "That idea I had first is not working right."
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From 1h25
to V1 because it's Vocal 1.
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From 1h28
with their main vocal tracks.
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From 1h28
The biggest problems you run into in mixing vocals is that the low vocal,
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From 1h28
or the mid, or the high vocal backgrounds aren't recorded the same
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From 1h29
you'd have your vocal going through your 1073, your LA-2A,
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From 1h29
so we want to make sure that a vocal is hitting the compressor chain all the same.
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From 1h34
I have one reverb already that's just being used for vocals
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From 1h35
Now I get a great vocal blend because they're kind of all hitting the same time.
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From 1h37
I will look at the Background Vocal Bus right here.
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From 1h38
I already have the vocals going through a Bus.
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From 1h38
Pick an EQ, pick a limiter, pick a vocal chain.
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From 1h38
So, you see the vocal chain I have?
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From 1h38
You see how much compression I'm doing to the vocals.
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From 1h38
There's only so much room for the vocal or the guitar solo to peek through.
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From 1h43
I'm feeling the vocals are taking over a little bit.
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From 1h52
So I think all I'm going to do here is really, "Let me just ride the vocals.
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From 1h52
which is all these vocals.
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From 1h53
So I'm really focused on the lead vocals, the two lead vocals,
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From 1h54
It's like, once you get the first line of the vocal right, you're good.
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From 1h59
I'm just riding the lead vocals, a little bit of backgrounds,
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From 1h59
So as I'm riding the vocals, I'm listening to the mix and saying,
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From 2h00
So the vocals, obviously, to me, is the biggest thing because
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From 2h00
I find mixing In The Box, funny enough,
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From 2h00
the vocals can overwhelm in the track's compactness.
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From 2h04
For me, it makes more sense to kind of get your EQ / compression vocal sound,
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From 2h04
just to put a vocal effect on it, put a reverb on it, put a delay on it.
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From 2h04
Mixing is solving a problem, and mixing is making something speak
Tom Elmhirst - Travis Scott, David Bowie, Norah Jones, Melody Gardot, Elisa - Vocal Production Workshop
Join the multi-award-winning engineer as he explores the art of mixing vocals. Tom reveals his closely guarded engineering secrets and provides a complete breakdown of his post-production techniques. Uncover the creative process behind each artist’s sound and learn how he transforms their raw recordings into compelling sonic masterpieces.
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From 00 min
all radically different artists requiring very unique treatments of vocal.
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From 00 min
or dropping little bits of the vocal down to achieve really radical effects.
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From 01 min
At the same time, it's not just for vocals.
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From 02 min
of vocal and production, and with their own inherent style,
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From 03 min
the principal vocal, to be the thing that gets most of your attention.
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From 04 min
a lot of manipulation for different vocal sounds in different settings.
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From 04 min
I'm mixing an Elisa song right now, who's an Italian artist.
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From 04 min
vocal textures and a vocal ambiance that allows me to play with it
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From 05 min
And below this lead vocal track here is created a bunch of audio tracks,
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From 05 min
So sending my lead vocal to three faders, subgroups, and then sending that
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From 06 min
Twenty-six, as I told you, is going to be my vocal throw.
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From 06 min
I'm doing a fair amount of work already before I even go... leave the vocal.
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From 08 min
I'm constantly, while I'm mixing vocals, thinking about focus.
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From 08 min
If the vocal's up front in my face, what that does,
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From 09 min
I've duplicated the vocal twice, hard panned left and right, you can see.
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From 11 min
So, yeah, essentially I've got a stack of the lead vocal copied here
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From 11 min
I've literally just dragged my lead vocal track,
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From 11 min
which is this guy here, Elisa's vocal track.
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From 14 min
So you can have super distortion on this vocal effect track,
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From 15 min
At the same time, I've still got on her lead vocal
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From 15 min
throwing the vocal down onto audio tracks.
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From 16 min
is that, because I get really bored when I'm mixing,
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From 21 min
It's a completely different vocal treatment
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From 23 min
wool feeling around the vocal.
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From 23 min
I'm mixing and for this very little, I think the vocal stem,
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From 24 min
If we add Norah's dry vocal...
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From 24 min
sense of width, which is all I want to add to this vocal track.
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From 26 min
on these effects tracks rather than the vocal.
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From 30 min
or until Travis's vocal kicks in.
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From 30 min
in terms of vocal effects.
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From 30 min
apart from some of the background vocals,
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From 31 min
So we've got Travis's dry vocal up top, a few bits and pieces on it,
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From 31 min
if you start changing your vocal lyrics and things
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From 33 min
these vocal tracks, but I'm throwing other things onto them now.
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From 33 min
We had a little lead-up into the vocal there.
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From 34 min
So let's just hear all the vocal effects now.
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From 34 min
or dropping little bits of the vocal down to achieve really radical effect stuff.
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From 34 min
Travis has already done a lot of all the vocal effects, he's brilliant at it,
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From 37 min
Sometimes when you've got a lot of effects work going on, on a vocal,
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From 42 min
I'm going to leave all the high end in his vocal, and I'm not going to have
-
From 42 min
any of the effects, especially long tails interfere with his dry vocal
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From 46 min
So we've gone from this quite a large vocal spread, if you like.
-
From 46 min
to then right back to his vocal.
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From 51 min
I'm going to set up a vocal template
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From 53 min
I can use it later and I can see the vocal jumps around a bit.
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From 53 min
vocal information condensed to one track.
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From 59 min
But let's start dragging down her vocal and removing
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From 1h00
But because there's rides on the lead vocal,
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From 1h04
background vocal information.
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From 1h07
So, there's the OG vocal, and here's the duped audio
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From 1h08
But because I've time stretched it there, I've got no place to put this vocal.
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From 1h12
but it's good on the vocals.
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From 1h17
But you got to be careful, obviously, that your vocal track's in shape.
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From 1h18
Quite often we have vocal changes, lyric changes, all sorts of shit happens
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From 1h20
particularly, in regards to vocals and how you can play with
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From 1h20
At the same time, it's not just for vocals.
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From 1h20
And when I'm listening to the song that I'm mixing,
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From 1h21
library of effects for a vocal or for a track for a mix.
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From 1h21
I think it's just about being really smart in your mixing.
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From 1h21
Why spend four hours doing vocal delays
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From 1h22
and they've never used vocal delays before,
Jacquire King - Wilder - Same Way
Join us at Jacquire King's Nashville studio for a in-depth workshop on recording, production, and mixing techniques! Each episode of this 16-part series focusses on tips and tricks used by the Grammy-winning engineer, who reveals many facets of his record-making process. Using Pro Tools sessions of three different songs, King demonstrates his methods and gives reasoning for their application to the source material. Some of the numerous topics covered include his mix buss chain, choosing a vocal EQ, adding presence to bass guitar, and optimising polarity. Not only does he impart a generous amount of his mixing workflow – he also covers his approaches to recording and production. Jacquire shows you his way of tracking drums, punching in a guitar, subtly enhancing a vocal with Auto-Tune, and much more!
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From 00 min
I'll be demonstrating specific mixing techniques and applications
-
From 00 min
that you can incorporate or interpret into your own mixing.
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From 1h06
or you're not familiar with the room you're mixing in, or whatever.
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From 1h22
and then we'll probably also talk about the vocal.
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From 1h29
...the lead vocal a little bit.
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From 1h30
It helps the vocal really come forward versus...
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From 1h30
in a simple but slightly expanded drum miking technique.
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From 1h33
Typically what I would do is while I'm mixing,
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From 1h52
Let's move this over to... let's go to Scott's vocal.
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From 1h53
So the Sunset Strymon is helping us grit this vocal up a little bit
-
From 10 min
mixing In The Box. A band called Wilder,
-
From 10 min
and then I've also stemmed it out a little bit on my mixing console over here,
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From 11 min
the drums and the bass and the vocals and guitars and whatnot,
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From 11 min
the sound of the console was a little bit darker than mixing the sources In The Box.
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From 14 min
Over a year ago I wanted to try to get much better at mixing In The Box
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From 14 min
and not been doing hybrid mixing as much.
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From 15 min
They are a young, local band here in Nashville,
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From 16 min
and what I would typically use on a lot of singers when I'm mixing is a Neve EQ,
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From 19 min
to get the vocal to cut through.
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From 21 min
like I didn't about this vocal sound,
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From 21 min
I typically don't use the attack and release like this on a vocal.
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From 22 min
and I'm really using it to really smash the vocal down
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From 23 min
so this is the way that I've done the parallel compression on the vocal.
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From 23 min
and the way that the vocal sits in the mix.
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From 24 min
whether you're mixing drum tracks together to present a drum kit
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From 24 min
or the way you balance background vocals, all different kinds of things.
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From 24 min
And this is what I want to talk about, this vocal.
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From 25 min
That's the lead vocal with an effect treatment that I printed, which,
-
From 25 min
Once I printed the reverb for the vocal,
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From 25 min
I shifted it ahead of where the vocal is actually happening.
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From 25 min
But now, I'm going to take you to where the lead vocal is.
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From 25 min
Much louder, it's sort of where you'd expect a lead vocal to be volume-wise.
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From 26 min
But I made the choice to balance the vocals really low, so it's still...
-
From 26 min
The decision was to create an affected vocal presentation
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From 26 min
and kind of get the song rolling without it being loud like the lead vocal.
-
From 27 min
to draw the listener in without presenting it as a lead vocal.
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From 27 min
balancing elements in the mix, is there's this high vocal part.
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From 27 min
It's not really a vocal, it's a keyboard.
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From 27 min
They're padding around the vocal melody. So...
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From 28 min
It's based around the vocals. It doesn't feel as big and as supportive,
-
From 28 min
They're helping create support and space for the vocal.
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From 29 min
So, hopefully me showing you the vocal level
-
From 29 min
but it's not really... the song really hadn't started yet in terms of the vocal,
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From 29 min
and not just go with very standard ideas that the vocal's always got to be loud
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From 29 min
There's some underlying elements that we have going on that support the vocal,
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From 29 min
other than just mimicking what the vocal is doing
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From 30 min
I've even used Lo-Fi on vocals.
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From 31 min
You kind of hear it up around the vocal a little bit,
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From 40 min
And I had mentioned the vocal and Lo-Fi earlier,
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From 42 min
Okay, so really quickly, let's talk about Lo-Fi on the vocal.
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From 42 min
I haven't done a lot on vocal, but the one song that I did
-
From 42 min
It is the only song on that record that I recorded Caleb's vocal with a 251.
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From 42 min
sort of top end quality to his vocal.
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From 46 min
to tighten up a vocal comp a little bit, tuning wise.
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From 46 min
We have some vocals, we have the bass, drums, acoustic guitar, vocals,
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From 48 min
Okay. So I've got this on the background vocals.
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From 49 min
On the background vocals I've got it at 40, which is a moderate speed.
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From 49 min
On a lead vocal I'd probably do something more
-
From 49 min
this is just tightening up the vocals or the pitch.
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From 50 min
What I'm also going to do is I'm going to turn off the lead vocal.
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From 51 min
And let's see. Let's do this. Let's just listen to this one vocal.
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From 53 min
Just because it's a background vocal.
-
From 53 min
to kind of leave it for the lead vocal.
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From 54 min
Obviously, I think the vocals sound pretty good without any tuning.
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From 55 min
to be able to shape and create modern sounding vocals with taste.
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From 1h02
Let's go to the vocal, why don't we, and quickly listen to that.
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From 1h03
What can happen on things like the vocal or guitar
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From 1h04
It feels like the vocal is more present.
Tchad Blake, Bob Clearmountain - Namm Show #2
We’re proud to present our second series of Mix with the Masters workshops at NAMM 2020! This instalment features a discussion between two legendary mixers – Tchad Blake and Bob Clearmountain. They share stories of their careers, discuss mixing techniques, and answer a variety of questions from the audience! Tchad plays some of Bob’s mixes, comments on them, and interviews him about the process. The pair proceeds to explore a number of important topics, including vocal treatment, monitoring, EQ, compression, effects, emotional attachment, contrast, mastering, and much more!
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From 01 min
and it was always a fantastic experience mixing Tchad's tracks.
-
From 03 min
It was as good as it gets as far as mixing goes.
-
From 05 min
I learned so much from mixing hit records just from watching his hands
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From 08 min
- You were doing those background vocals, doing the "Yeah."
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From 11 min
I still don't know how you get the vocal sounds you do.
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From 11 min
The recorded vocal's an odd thing because you can't have a vocal sound or be natural
-
From 12 min
But I defy anybody to get a vocal sound like that.
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From 12 min
I know it's him too but all your records have... there's a quality to the vocal
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From 12 min
It's not like I have some crazy vocal chain.
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From 13 min
It was just so fantastic and I just loved mixing the dryness of that,
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From 15 min
- For me, mixing is so different than sitting down
-
From 19 min
and then we continued to spend another month mixing the album.
-
From 19 min
And then he came in after a day of mixing, he came in and said,
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From 20 min
Both of you have done very bold moves as mixing engineers, and, at times,
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From 24 min
- You were the first person I ever saw sampling in mixing,
-
From 26 min
for mixing, if you have any?
-
From 29 min
For vocals, all the vocals end up with a high-pass just to get rid of any
-
From 30 min
or the way you bus things in mixing.
-
From 30 min
because I was mixing on a Neve, an 8068.
-
From 34 min
but how aggressive do you guys get with vocals and acoustic guitars
-
From 36 min
I use that for vocals mostly just to get rid of some harshness out of voices.
-
From 37 min
I was mixing something for The Stones and I came in at the end of the vocal session
-
From 37 min
and Mick was still about to record a vocal, and the engineer,
-
From 40 min
and for vocals it comes in really handy to control some harshness in vocals.
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From 41 min
is slowly converging, and then in some ways, the mixing engineer
-
From 41 min
I'm curious from your guys' perspective, what is the future of the mixing engineer?
-
From 41 min
Is there going to continue to be a role of the mixing engineer in the future?
-
From 42 min
- You know, I think the mixing... and it wasn't by design,
-
From 42 min
I think most artists and producers out there realize that the mixing is something
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From 42 min
I think it's the mixing engineers who are going to take over the world.
-
From 44 min
- [Man 6] Do you ever do de-essing where you're taking the entire vocal track down,
-
From 45 min
that takes the whole vocal down, or do you like to take just the band?
-
From 45 min
- No, it's on the whole vocal because I do it on the SSL with a
-
From 45 min
But in Pro Tools, I just draw it in on the volume, whole vocal,
-
From 47 min
or micing the amp or a mixture of both of them?
Eddie Kramer - Shinedown - Stone Free
Join us at LAFX studios in Hollywood for a look inside the track with Eddie Kramer! In this series, the rock 'n' roll super-producer guides you through the mixing process of 'Stone Free', a Jimi Hendrix cover by the band Shinedown. Summing through a vintage API console and processing with both outboard gear and plug-ins, Kramer harnesses the best of analog and digital capabilities. You'll see how he manages, treats and blends a large number of drum and percussion tracks with intricate acoustic guitar parts to create a textured yet punchy rhythm section. He also demonstrates his hybrid approach to processing acoustic bass and a number of vocal tracks. Aside from demonstrating his mix techniques, Kramer comments on various recording and production aspects of the project.
Tom Lord-Alge - The Beaches - Give It Up
Join us for a look inside the track with rock mixer extraordinaire Tom Lord-Alge! Hosted at his very own Spank studios in Miami, this series focusses on Tom’s hybrid mixing techniques and general approach to projects. The session at hand is of the raunchy single ‘Give It Up’ by Canadian band The Beaches. TLA plays the rough mix, gives his opinion on what could be improved, then dives into his mixing workflow that is ‘in the box' apart from SSL console EQ, summing, and mix compression. He demonstrates his way of blending drum samples, recreating the lo-fi vocal aesthetic of the rough mix, and increasing perceived loudness with the SSL Quad compressor. Tom also explains why he avoids certain common workflows, compares stereo compressors, and plays his mixes with and without analog processing!
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From 06 min
how I work in tandem with the Pro Tools and mixing within the box.
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From 08 min
And I'm doing them in between the vocals.
-
From 08 min
It's the main rhythm. I'm riding that up in between the vocals.
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From 09 min
So, in my opinion, as I was mixing it,
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From 10 min
Part of the mixing is making decisions like that.
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From 11 min
So it's why mixing isn't just about taking what you're given and blending it well,
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From 20 min
So, on most occasions of my mixing,
-
From 22 min
it had kind of this cheap vintage reverb on the vocal.
-
From 23 min
and what I was hearing in their rough mix, what attracted me to the vocal,
-
From 23 min
So, let's listen to the vocals solo'ed with that reverb effect.
-
From 28 min
And then the final event in that vocal chain, just to put a little bit of bite
-
From 28 min
back into the vocal because I felt that once I did that de-essing,
-
From 34 min
but I think it gives a lot of hope to the cats that are mixing within the box,
Michael Brauer - Grizzly Bear - Yet Again
Welcome to Electric Lady studio B for a mixing series with Michael Brauer! Working on a SSL 9000 J-series console with an exquisite array of outboard equipment and Pro Tools, he mixes the indie rock single 'Yet Again' by Grizzly Bear. Michael takes you through his unique template that comprises a large number of analog compressors inserted on audio tracks, instrument busses, and the master chain. Furthermore, he shares details about his effects units, EQ, converters, and favoured plug-ins. Brauer tackles the multi-track production session, enhancing it as best he can while retaining the essence of the song by following his 'match and improve' approach. You'll witness how he 'Brauerizes' the mix by sequentially compressing bass and vocal duplicate tracks, riding levels into buss compression, and printing the mix with tape emulation.
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From 00 min
really quick, and then we'll start mixing a song that I love from a band
-
From 00 min
So a quick recap. My approach is about mixing into compression,
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From 19 min
So let's send the lead vocal to a few different compressors and build the vocal
-
From 31 min
Let's just get a little bit more detailed on the vocal. Generally,
-
From 31 min
I like to separate... I mult my vocal onto two channels, as I do with the bass, for
-
From 31 min
and the bottom end. But a vocal generally, the way you approach
-
From 32 min
one sound but then the chorus is really being led by another set of vocals,
-
From 32 min
so there's no need for me to be switching between a verse vocal sound,
-
From 32 min
and a chorus vocal sound.
-
From 32 min
fader, this vocal into three or four compressors, which we can look at.
-
From 32 min
little pre-compression, which is what I've done on this vocal,
-
From 34 min
So on this vocal, it's a combination of the dry and the effects that are on there.
-
From 35 min
If I just played the vocal without even the insert, let's see what it sound's
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From 36 min
So what you're hearing in difference is how much fuller the vocal sounds,
-
From 36 min
levels very much, you would just hear a fuller vocal and more dynamic, and as it
-
From 37 min
So that's the difference between the traditional way of the doing a vocal and
-
From 37 min
the approach where you're molding the vocal with two, three, four different
-
From 37 min
to get something to enhance the story. Therefore, the vocal needs to,
-
From 38 min
So the question is, I've got the dry vocal and I've got the effects,
-
From 38 min
same path. Plus, as I'm riding the vocal, which I do a lot of riding,
-
From 38 min
So everything that I want to do to this vocal,
-
From 39 min
addresses, certainly, riding the vocals of getting where the effect is lost,
-
From 39 min
to what's already an affected vocal.
-
From 47 min
Now the important thing here is as I'm mixing, I'm just responding to what feels
-
From 47 min
drums, with the guitars, with the vocal? How to keep the vocal just on top of the
-
From 59 min
And in this section, let the backing vocals take over again as the lead.
-
From 1h06
radio to see where I'm at, is the vocal sitting just right? But for the most part,
-
From 1h12
The lead vocal, as you know, is not going to any of those, it's going to a
-
From 1h12
separate set of compressors that I've built up. Then the backing vocals and what
-
From 1h16
Those of us who are still mixing on analog desk, we have the challenge of recalls.
Tony Maserati - Foster The People - Pick U Up
Step into the Hollywood studio of distinguished engineer Tony Maserati, where he mixes the stem session of ‘Pick U Up’ by Foster the People! Tony voices his initial ideas upon listening to the material, then embarks on a journey of sonic enhancement, signal blending and problem solving. Using his custom template, select plug-ins and fine outboard gear, he demonstrates his approach to mixing live and sampled drums, claps, vintage synthesizers, strings, electric guitar, bass, and vocals. Witness how he overcomes issues with the source material, treats the audio, encounters phase problems, performs vocal edits, rides levels, tackles mix revisions, and attains the final result.
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and today we're going to talk about the process I went through mixing
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And the great thing about modern mixing is you're only a couple of clicks away
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mixing Foster the People, a song called "Pick U Up."
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Also it just seems like the background vocals kind of jump in
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At the moment, I'm just going to focus on the drums and I'm going to mute the vocals
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I think that's going in the direction. Again, early on in my mixing process
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and how they're working with the vocals.
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At this point I'd like to hear a little bit more of the vocals,
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that I have in the box sort of mixing.
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I don't know that there is a way of fixing that, but let's see.
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and I would use it on vocals quite often, and anything I wanted to open up
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Let's look a little bit at some of these vocals.
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I'm also sending to a parallel, which in this case is parallel vocal,
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I'm really using the parallel to keep my vocal up high in the mix.
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You can hear immediately that when I mute the parallel vocal,
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the vocal intelligibility factor kind of decreases.
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And that's exactly what I've got the parallel vocal for,
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The hooks, he's really meant to be part of the chorus in the background vocals there,
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On the background vocals I'm choosing to use the Tube-Tech channel
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But I do feel like that entrance of these vocals
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Let's do the same thing for the lead vocal.
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of what's happening on the vocals.
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I'm going to do a little bit of work doing some cleaning on the vocals as well.
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A little bit of vocal level stuff and some overall tweaks.
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He's feeling like his vocal needs to be a little louder.
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In this case, I am going to add the vocal so that I can ride with the whole track.
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he wanted a bit of increase in his lead vocal,
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so the verses come down and meet his vocal a little bit better.
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and he's local so he can always come by.
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The great thing about modern mixing is you're only a couple of clicks away
Finneas - Billie Eilish - Therefore I Am
We're thrilled to release our first video series with the multiple Grammy-winning artist, songwriter, and producer Finneas O'Connell! This instalment focuses on the creation of 'Therefore I Am', the 2020 single by his superstar sister Billie Eilish. Finneas takes you through how he co-wrote the song, recorded Billie's vocals, produced the record, and prepared the stems for mixing by Rob Kinelski. With the multi-track production session open, he revisits the process of making drum beats, layering percussion, forming bass lines, and creatively mangling samples. He explains his workflow that involves mixing as he produces, trying impulsive vocal harmonies, and creating a rough master for reference. Furthermore, O'Connell shares the details of tracking with Billie, reveals his signal chains, and elaborates on the duo's songwriting approach!
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That texture, to me, is so satisfying to add to a vocal moment.
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is that I don't feel that I'm a master mixer, but I do feel that mixing
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as opposed to only thinking of the vocal line
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And so this verse vocal...
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And then I would migrate to a DAW and record the vocals and record the piano
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And then Billie's vocal... It's just a lead, which is super dry.
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and I think that texture to me is so satisfying to add to a vocal moment
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So the main vocals just come in dead center and then the Sample Delay,
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Which I think is the main lead vocal of the chorus, dropped an octave,
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a finished lead vocal so that we can record,
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of how she is with her lead vocal.
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Her lead vocal she does like a million takes and eventually makes one
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I'll cut out 'Ss' from most of them and leave the primary vocal 'S'.
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Her vocal chain right now is a Telefunken 251 into a 5211 Neve preamp
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She wants to deliver her vocal performance the way that she would
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She does 99.999% of her vocals sitting on the couch.
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I don't have a vocal booth here at the studio.
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and then I think that is where mixing really comes into play.
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If I weren't mixing as I produced, it would feel very chaotic,
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In my specific case, my relationship with mixing is like
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I do almost always send vocals with their wet stem printed
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and their dry stem printed so that they can finesse a vocal
Jack Antonoff - Lana del Rey - The Greatest & Mariners Apartment Complex
We’re very proud to present our first video release with songwriter, musician, and record producer Jack Antonoff! In this series, we learn about how the versatile creator got involved in songwriting, recording, and production, and progressed from his analog roots to current approaches and techniques. Antonoff imparts his opinions and philosophy on such vital matters as vocal style vs. lyrics, writing sessions, capturing emotion and space, analog vs. digital equipment, simultaneously writing and producing, committing to takes and sounds, collaboration, sharing a vision, avoiding vocal booths, mixing your own productions, and more. He dives into the multi-track session of ‘The Greatest’ by Lana Del Rey, taking you through the initial guitar chord progression from which the song was developed, early demo material, unusual decisions regarding instrumentation and levels, lyrical arrangement, and a variety of parts that includes acoustic guitars, piano, Mellotron, drums, cellos, synthesisers, vocals, and electric sitar!
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If you have a vocal, and the lyric is like, "Hi, I'm talking only to you,
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The second you double that vocal, or put a little ambience or a delay,
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And so I got very involved in the local scene,
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And a big part of writing and production and mixing is how you get it out.
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I would always say, "I don't like the way my vocal sounds.
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And if I'm recording vocals, which usually I just do at the console,
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or theatrical vocal stacks with totally fuzzy guitars.
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And then it's the same story for then me mixing records
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The whole thing, whether it's writing, touring, producing, mixing, anything,
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And the final frontier, that was really mixing
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or the vocal is a little too right. The idea of pitch is so relative,
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And look, at the end of the day whether you're writing a song or mixing a song
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I believe in recording vocals to reflect what's being said.
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I believe in dry vocals if it's something that feels like it's meant to be
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If you have a vocal and the lyric is, like,
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the second you double that vocal, or put a little ambiance in it with reverb
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My vocal chain is pretty standard in terms of...
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Usually when I'm recording vocals I'm just trying to take a lot to then figure out
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I also think that, whether I'm recording my vocals or someone else's,
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it's nice to build a layer of confidence before you have to do the vocal.
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I think it's very destructive to "do vocals."
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And then the second someone's like, "You have to go do vocals,"
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So I always have the mic set up here, I don't really believe in vocal booths,
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where the piano and the vocal is the entire song.
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where there were all these brilliant vocal moments from different takes,
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which I have my vocal chain, but it's always different.
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like different vocal sounds.
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we're just getting vocals and getting vocals, and I mean,
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some of those first vocals from writing are really perfect.
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"Get it, think about it, figure it out, just throw in a vocal."
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And often, when you throw in a vocal, that's when you actually get the take
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and then these punchy vocals that are against it
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and this is 16 vocals of harmonies, we record those and then make it one.
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And if they're here, then now your lead vocal can be right here.
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if we have a song where it's like acoustic guitar and a vocal
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happened, like all of a sudden there was 32 tracks of vocals
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that's the whole thing, it's very common. I love doing that with vocals.
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With mixing I take things all...
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What he did is sort of the dream of mixing. He just saw it a different way,
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and he made the drums kind of quiet, and the vocals really loud.
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And then recording her vocal and doing these main takes,
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And then this landscape of vocals,
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and recording the vocals in a very extremely intimate way where it's like,
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and intricate, and then mixing them incredibly low.
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the vocals together, was to create just this odd space.
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There's plenty of things that are just acoustic, scratch vocal,
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So put that guitar in, that 12-string is actually later you can hear a vocal
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with the production and the recording and the mixing of all of it is
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is there's, I think, 40 tracks of vocals on this song.
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Even stuff like that, it's like there's so much more low end in these vocals
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was that they were going to take up way more space than vocals usually do.
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So that was the original kind of demo or scratch vocal.
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And then there was, I want to get this vocal better, or little moments like I
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It's a vocal first, but throw percussion or tambourine in it
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And then, of course, the concept of a vocal booth, tiny closet,
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I've never enjoyed being in a vocal booth or recording someone in a vocal booth.
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that you'd have to have a massive vocal booth or just be in a huge live room
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a guitar solo; it works on backup vocals, works on pianos.
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Mute everything except the vocals, just think in a very clear
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talking and filtered vocals.
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All those things happened in 20 minutes; that piano and the vocal.
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And those are so many incredible little vocal moments going on
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And also the range of her vocal, like we were saying in the other song,
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Recording vocals with very filtered... a lot of vocals,
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but we don't need it anymore because her vocal is taking that space.
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Same thing with a lot of her vocals, all the sounds.
Chris Lord-Alge - Phil x & The Drills - Another Minute with You
We’re excited to bring you the sequel to our previous Chris Lord-Alge series! After witnessing how CLA recorded the rock band ‘Phil X & The Drills’, you can now learn exactly how he mixed their song. At his own studio, ‘Mix L.A.’, Chris mixes the track from start to finish on his SSL 4000 G console, using an enviable collection of outboard gear alongside plug-ins within Pro Tools. Following a recap of the tracking session, a detailed walkthrough of his routing, and the configuration of his multi-track session, CLA dives into the mixing process. Throughout the series, he explains his actions as he works by giving reasons for the use of particular gear and settings on certain parts. You’ll see how he uses compression and EQ both as inserts and in parallel, his mix buss chain, his vocal effects, automation techniques, and much more!
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Then we had the lead vocal at 23. Then here's his guide vocal, right here,
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we muted that and then we cut a new vocal on a different mic.
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The tracking vocal was cut with a SM58, right?
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Then I just put him in the vocal booth with a U67.
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Same chain: Fairchild 660, and then here's his vocal, here's the main.
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A vocal plate.
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It's about two seconds. This is like a vocal reverb.
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Then I have 14, I use Bus 14 only as a vocal effects throw.
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If I want to automate some vocal throws that go to my Echo Pro Delay,
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I use Bus 14 because it's right next to my vocals.
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This lets me send all my vocals, the 15 and 16, to add volume
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all the vocals at the same level and control them from here.
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I already can predetermine guitars, drums, bass, vocals are already pre-bussed
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All the vocals go to 15 and 16.
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Lead vocal, lead vocal double.
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I love those for lead vocals.
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I have six more faders of background vocals.
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but they work, to me, a lot for vocals.
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In my mixing sessions I like to have the vocals or whatever
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there's nothing above the vocal.
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If I have stuff on 9 through 12, they'll be above my vocal track.
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My rough mix is always top of the screen. So we're showing lead vocal,
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My color-coding: vocals are blue, guitars are green, drums are red,
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Lead vocal V.
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and looked at the vocals that we had.
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Maybe an hour of vocal tuning, just because I was trying to
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A plus sign to me always shows that this is a tuned vocal.
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Lead vocal, vocal double, vocal harmony, vocal harmony double.
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I have the vocals labeled super simple.
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Obviously I like my vocal - the lead vocal, outputted to 17.
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If the vocal is going to 17, the comments reflect it.
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Here I'm mixing so I can spread it out in the places that I'm familiar with.
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I have vocal, backgrounds, bass, because the bass is down there.
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Well, it'll get in the way of my mixing.
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than a couple of little plug-ins for the vocals. Why?
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Let's talk about mixing your own stuff.
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I think it's worse mixing stuff I engineered because then I'm like,
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When you're mixing your own stuff, you're criticizing yourself on the way in,
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The rough mix I made didn't have the vocal comp, didn't have a tuned vocal.
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Now, most of the time in mixing, if everyone's heard the rough mix,
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And we have four big vocal tracks.
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Let's move on to the vocals.
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It's four vocal tracks.
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On this vocal, I just remembered that because of the Fairchild,
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I'm going to start with the vocal here.
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When I'm mixing other songs, I just use my ears and I can even
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So we go back to listening to the vocals.
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I have this little vocal answer that happens.
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Okay, so that covers our little one trick pony verse 2 vocal with some effects.
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We got him covered, but we got to look at the other vocal we have
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Since the vocal's at like, -7.9, let's just try -9 here...
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So now, what we've done is we have lead vocal, double, parallel harmony 1,
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But what we do is do similar processing and dynamic control on the vocals, right?
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a filtered vocal with like a chorusing doubling effect
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Let's discuss what I'm going to use on the vocals, okay?
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We have a vocal reverb, a little 480, a little vocal plate,
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We have a Tape Eliminator which is a vocal slap,
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As far as the processing on the actual vocals, we're using L1s,
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I have two 1176s blueies, voila. Lead vocal, vocal double, right?
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Just adding some top to the vocals on the way to the compressors.
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The vocal's sending to all this stuff all the time,
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vocal double comes in the Bs, right?
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We've gone through the drums, guitars, bass, we got four vocal tracks.
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Let's start the mixing.
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There's my extra vocal, right?
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I have my vocals where I want for the B section there.
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So we look at where that vocal re-enters.
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We'll just look at that guitar a moment because we were focusing on vocals.
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so echo returns, vocal rides, guitar section.
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In the second pass what I'll do is just double check the vocal's levels
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All we're going to do is arm just vocal tracks.
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you just want to make sure that your vocal balance is right
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Happy mixing from CLA!
Teezio - Chris Brown - Angel Numbers
The Grammy-winning engineer returns to explore the softer side of Chris Brown’s critically-acclaimed album, ‘11:11’. Having worked closely with Chris for several years, Teezio offers unparalleled insight into the artist’s musical universe. Explore the hybrid mixing process behind this chart-topping R&B ballad and learn how to craft exceptional-sounding vocals and instrumentals.
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I didn't work on them prior to the mixing process.
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I'm making room for the vocal, I'm making room for other elements
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probably after everything to make a little more room for the vocal.
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again, in those frequencies of the vocal for sure on this side
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is the vocals have to be the most important part of the record.
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and get stuff out of the way so that when the vocal comes in,
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but the normal way of me mixing a record is everything's muted.
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And the last thing I always mix is the vocals.
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The vocals are there to be put on top of the track, essentially.
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Then move to the bass, then move to the music elements, and then vocals.
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I went straight from music, and now we're going into vocals.
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Let's get into the vocals.
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And the only boost that I do for vocals typically is a 10K boost.
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So that cut-through factor that the vocal has
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depending on what key the record is in and how high in his range his vocal is.
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If something is in a very high range vocal, I won't have to put so much 10K
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just because his vocal already be providing me
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I used the Silver for the vocals and the Black-Face
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I know a lot of people like to use RVox, and they're smashing the vocal.
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I'm talking, you probably… I just want to push the vocal forward
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So let's jump into the hook lead vocal which is going to have mostly
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the same processing because this vocal sort of lives in a similar range.
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There's not that much different processing going on in the hook vocal
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this vocal was something that was all just one piece.
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for the hook vocal which is on the right side
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here on this hook vocal.
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that I'm getting out of that vocal.
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And there's not that many vocals on the hook.
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Chris loves doing these low-octave pitch, high-octave pitch things under his vocal.
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So that's this vocal here.
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And one thing that I usually do with a pitched vocal
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the vocal, the lead vocal is the most important part of the entire song.
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A lot of these vocals, specifically for this song
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and there's not a lot of change in dynamic in his vocal.
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The stuff that makes the vocal cut through is actually now
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Chris's vocal tends to have a 2K, 4K, 400, and 200 problems.
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And you can see as soon as I pop that in, the vocal becomes clearer
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Just reducing those low end things actually makes the vocal brighter.
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It just gives me that extra inch to bring the vocal forward.
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So the vocal's actually getting pushed forward
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A lot of the problem with a vocal like this
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because I don't want this pink vocal here,
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I actually don't want it sitting on top of these vocals here above the green ones.
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And you can hear that crispiness in his vocal that's coming out
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But these vocals are also sitting a lot further back than the main stack
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to sort of move things out of the way for this vocal.
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just because their vocal actually being in the background creates a contrast
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against Chris's vocal because they're two different voices.
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because again, I'm trying to make room for the main vocal,
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The digging never ends with some vocals.
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So that's actually Chris's vocal, literally... without this CLA plug-in,
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It's supposed to be there and you feel this air coming into the next vocal.