| Rap, Rock, Reggae, and Country - vocals reign | | | | the verse, but then in another part it will sound shrill, or |
| supreme. If you can't deliver a great sounding vocal | | | | muddy? |
| then you ain't got chops, bottom line. And lets face it, | | | | It only makes sense since you are dealing with a living |
| sometimes vocals can be tough. | | | | thing - a human with a voice. This means that tone and |
| I am going to assume for the purposes of this article | | | | timber are ever changing. So the solution is to set up |
| that you have no control over how the vocal was | | | | multiple vocal channels. |
| recorded, and basically it's time to work with what | | | | In your DAW, simply duplicate the vocal channel and |
| you've got. | | | | set up the EQ and compression, and De-Essing to |
| So lets look at the basics. | | | | accommodate different sections of the song you are |
| Dynamics | | | | working on. You could have a V-Vox (short-hand for |
| Vocals have a huge dynamic range from a whisper to | | | | verse vocal) and C-Vox (Chorus Vocal). The tracks |
| a scream, literally. This means that you will be | | | | are identical but the processing on each track may be |
| contending with how to keep the dynamic under | | | | severely different. |
| control in order to keep the vocal riding in its correct | | | | This is the insider trick that top mix guys use to keep a |
| position atop your mix. | | | | vocal from sounding shrill when they jump into those |
| The top tools are compressors, de-essers, multiple | | | | high head-voice notes. |
| tracks and the good old fader. | | | | The beauty of this multi-channel technique is that you |
| Honestly the topic of compressors is far to extensive | | | | can set up all kinds of different variables that fit the |
| for this article, but needless to say that knowing how | | | | need of your song. Do you like the reverb and delay |
| to use them will separate the men from the boys [no | | | | on the verse but then notice that the vocal becomes |
| offense ladies]. They are critical to a good vocal mix | | | | unintelligible when the 24 tracks of power chord guitars |
| but then so are de-essers. | | | | come in during the Chorus? |
| I will usually place a de-esser first in the vocal chain, | | | | Simply set up your C-Vox track dry - or maybe with a |
| since sibilance is substantially louder in dynamics than | | | | slap delay - and compress it harder so it sits up in the |
| the rest of the vocal. So de-ess, then compress, then | | | | mix. |
| EQ. But you probably already know this so lets move | | | | When you are in the verse section of the song you will |
| on to some secrets. | | | | have the C-Vox muted. Then when the chorus comes |
| Multi Channel | | | | on, simply mute the V-Vox, and unmute the C-Vox at |
| Have you ever noticed how you can get a vocal set | | | | the same time. Voila. Great sounding vocal through out |
| up to sound great in one part of a song, say perhaps | | | | the entire song. |