Learn Mixing Lead Vocals | EM Tips and Techniques on Mixing Lead Vocals

Every producer worth his or her salt will tell you that the success or failure of a non-instrumental recording hinges primarily on producing a riveting lead vocal track. While recording a great performance is the critical first step in the process, the mix engineer must work his specialized techniques on the raw track afterward to take it to the next level and rock everyone’s world. Simply slapping a compressor and equalizer on an insert is rarely enough. Wowing your audience takes some wizardry.

In this multi-part series, I’ll show you how to sprinkle fairy dust on the singer’s track to create a magic moment. Before it can cast its spell, however, a bewitching vocal must first be made to sit properly in the mix so that it sounds powerful but doesn’t overwhelm the band. In this first installment, I’ll show you how to use dynamics processing to do just that.

MIND YOUR SIGNAL CHAIN
In most cases, you’ll want to place dynamics processing on the vocal track before any EQ so that the compressor doesn’t limit the effect of your tonal adjustments. (In an upcoming installment, I’ll reveal a cool trick that takes the opposite tack.) Post-EQ placement would arbitrarily condition the compressor to dip levels when the singer hits a part of his or her range that has EQ boost applied, which may not be what you want. Use dynamics processing first to rein in the track’s levels. Then apply EQ to shape its tone.

DE-ESS FIRST
Sibilance (a whistling sound that can occur when the vocalist sings lyrics containing an s, f, or t) can create very transient and large signal peaks (up to 20dB!) that leap out of a mix and distract. Most soft-knee compressors are too slow and non-discriminating to catch these ephemeral, high-frequency peaks. But even though they’re always late to the party, their gain reduction function can still be whipsawed by sibilance after-the-fact. That’s why it’s important to place a de-esser (dynamics processing tailored toward taming sibilance) on a sibilant vocal before any compressor you use to create density or control average levels.

To quash sibilance, you usually need to use a limiter or hard-knee compressor that employs peak-detection circuitry. The limiter must offer a sky-high ratio of 20:1 to 50:1, lightning-fast 50µsec (0.05ms) attack time and a release time of 40 to 60ms. It should also allow access to its sidechain.

To de-ess the vocal track, first copy it and insert an equalizer on the copy. Using a shelving filter, boost the equalizer to the max (even 24dB is okay) above 5kHz. Cut below 5kHz as much as possible. Bus the heavily-EQ’d track copy into the sidechain for a limiter placed on the original vocal track. Now the limiter will “hear” a screechy version of the vocal with highs cranked and lows removed, making it ultra-sensitive to any sibilance. Set the limiter’s threshold so that gain reduction occurs when whistling fricatives sound but not when sustained vowel sounds are voiced.


Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Learn Mixing Lead Vocals | EM Tips and Techniques on Mixing Lead Vocals