Mixing the vocals and the beat together...

[sYgMa]

There is a Sticky about recording your vocals, but when that's done... If you wanna make the beat complete, you gotta mix it with the beat...

So, drop your technics.

 

[open mind]

My technic is very simple but effective:
i compress the instrumental beat then i compress the vocals then i compress the instrumentals+vocals together.
now aint that simple? ha!

WARNING! dont overdo the compression of each sub because then the final master bus will sound shit.

 

[Ash Holmz]

one of the hardest things to do correctly 4 sho... u want the vocal upfront and present but not drowning out the beat.. very small amount of reverb and decay work well to settle the vocals into the mix .. use very very small amounts... panning delays off center can make the vocal appear bigger too ... compressing works too ... diffrent songs (and diffrent voices)require diffrent compression techniques ... for really busy mixes u need to make sure the vocal has its space and is not competing with other insruments in the same space or frequency... also panning adlibs and things like that make the vocal appear larger too... dealing with sibliance can be tough to ... i hate using d-essers so i just try to pick the right mic to begin with that wont leaving u tring to eq and d-ess the shit out of your vocal... when u eq try to cut instead of boost... boosting frequencies often sounds unnatural....

nothing beats a good rapper tho .... if u got a rapper with a tight delivery, the correct mic for his vocal style, and good mic technique, ... u really dont need to do alot of work to get the vocal to sit pretty in there...

 

[samuelock]

good advice ash..this should be a sticky if it isn't already.

i agree. panning really does wonders to vocals. i usually compress a whole lot. maybe that's why everything sounds bad.

 

[Hi-Lo]

one of the hardest things to do correctly 4 sho... u want the vocal upfront and present but not drowning out the beat.. very small amount of reverb and decay work well to settle the vocals into the mix .. use very very small amounts... panning delays off center can make the vocal appear bigger too ... compressing works too ... diffrent songs (and diffrent voices)require diffrent compression techniques ... for really busy mixes u need to make sure the vocal has its space and is not competing with other insruments in the same space or frequency... also panning adlibs and things like that make the vocal appear larger too... dealing with sibliance can be tough to ... i hate using d-essers so i just try to pick the right mic to begin with that wont leaving u tring to eq and d-ess the shit out of your vocal... when u eq try to cut instead of boost... boosting frequencies often sounds unnatural....

nothing beats a good rapper tho .... if u got a rapper with a tight delivery, the correct mic for his vocal style, and good mic technique, ... u really dont need to do alot of work to get the vocal to sit pretty in there...

thats some solid advice man, and i been lookin for that type of info for a minute now. thanks a lot.

 

[Relic]

good advice ash..this should be a sticky if it isn't already.

i agree. panning really does wonders to vocals. i usually compress a whole lot. maybe that's why everything sounds bad.

LOL^

I record the main vocal in mono then I split it into stereo typically using D-Verb, it has a vocal setting and I use it
Sometimes I EQ here (in fact you should).
Then I use the standard compressor set for vocal levelor.

In fact all adlib vocals and everything at this point I use vocal levelor compression but not dverb.

Chorus's I mix slightly louder then main vocals to bring it out, verb or what ever effect is optional.
An interesting technique for chorus's is to do like four takes and heve 2 of the takes panned 100 L and 100 R
while the other two somthin like 24 L-R..Makes it fuller.

Just what I do...

then like Ash said ...

 

[Ash Holmz]

when using compression on vocals (or any instrument for that matter)i always follow this approach .when working within a daw.....

dont use it unless u absolutely have to ... period.

try and get as far in ur mix as u can possibly go without compression... treat compression like ur last lifeline on who wants to be a millionaire 4 real... often times after panning, a lil dealy, a lil revrb and just setting the levels right .. u realize that u dont need compression all the time... plus if u decide to get ur trax mixed by a pro he will appreciate a dynamic mix instead of one thats got ren comps and l2's all over the place.. what sounds better on a vocal, a vintage 1176 or the digi compressor .. think about it.... if u cant do it right .. just dont do it..

people overuse compression cuz it gives u that temporary satisfaction of hearing the vocal louder and more present .... but if u really analyze what the compressor is doing to your vocal u will realize alot of times its just sucking the life out of it and many times leaves artifacts...

that being said i actually do use a lil bit of compression on the vocal .. usually an rvox with a very low ratio but sometimes i just leave it off depending how well the vocal was recorded.. good rappers have a "controlled fury" meaning they spit with emotion and vigor but at the same time are in control of their breaths, and and maintain a fairly even tone through the whole verse... when ur recording dudes like this u dont need to squash their vocal..let that shit ride.. but unfornatley the major of people rap completely out of control lol