Punchy Vocals
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Posted on Sep 06, 2004 01:48 pm
exile
Member Since: Sep 06, 2004
hi,
I'm a hip hop producer/mc finishing up a full length album, and due to a low budget i am engineering/mixing everything myself at my home studio.
I am trying to achieve as professional a sound as possible and so i've been researching some mixing techniques used by engineers who have worked with one of my favorite groups, OutKast (I've also been using their album "Aquimini" as a referance).
I've learned that most of their vocals are recorded with a Neumann M149 through an Avalon 737 straight into Pro Tools, and then some Waves plug ins are used. That's about as detailed as i've been able to get so far.
Now, I am also using an Avalon 737 except with a Rode NTK microphone and recording into Cubase SX. I feel like i've tried almost everything and i still can't get those punchy, crisp, warm vocals.
I'm aware there's that step of mastering that will help, but i've been through this process once before (had an ep mastered at Battery Studios in NYC) and it still wasn't anywhere close to the professional quality i've been searching for.
Of the Waves plug ins I've tried compression, short Tap Delays, EQ, etc. It helps, but not enough. maybe i'm not using them right, or maybe i havn't found the right combonation.
I guess my question is, what am i missing, what IS the secret technique?!?! Is there anyone out there that can help me with these rap vocals??
-ex
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Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Sep 06, 2004 03:31 pm You should be able to get pretty punchy vox from the Avalon itself. You might try using a multiband compressor pluggin as it will give you a much more targeted touch on the vox. If you do a search for punchy vocals I think you will find a few articles and threads here that have some other peeps settings or advice on getting there. Otherwise be patient and someone will come along with some good advice for ya.
Everyone has a little differant idea of what is punchy, and I will bet if you tweak around enough you will find that sweet setting that will give you what you want. I know personally I have spent hours upon hours trying to find just the right tweak to get something to sound like I want. And most times using someone elses idea of a good setting was definately not what I wanted myself.
So keep tweakin and you will definately find what you are looking for. You are using the right tools for sure, so dont give up on them, it is just a matter of twisting the knobs till you hit that sweet spot.
JoshmanJoShMaNMember
Since: Jun 25, 2004
Sep 15, 2004 09:05 am Iv been recording my cousins rap vocals for about 8 months now and I had the same problem. Rap is so hard to record because you rely 100% on the vocals to sound good and its hard to get them to blend into a mix when the music is all on one track.(or even 6 or 7) I downloaded a demo version of a plugin called the BBE Sonic Maximizer im sure you've heard of it. It sounds grate. its $100.00
so its kinda pricey but well worth the money. Try it out and see how you like it then buy it. You can download the demo version at www.cakewalk.com
And if you have protools it should recognize the plugin.
Dec 03, 2004 07:44 pm Hey Exile,
I have a few tips from some experience in pro circles. There are a number of techniques you can use, but essentially for strong upfront vocals like you find on most Rap CDs you'll probably start at the tracking level to get that sound you're looking for. The first trade secret is you gotta get your Vocalist/Rapper to get up real close to the mic, I mean really close. Typically you'll hear that you should be 6 inches or more away from the mic, but the top producers will tell you, that to get that warm in your face sound you need to get about 2 to 4 inches from the mic. Of course you'll need a pop screen in between, but you may even have the vocalist have their nose touching the screen. The issue you may run into is that it's too loud at certain parts of the performance etc..., so make sure you turn down your mic pre-amp to compensate, and the other thing is you'll want to get a signal about 75% of the meter, not like on tape setups where you're looking to almost ride into the red (or 0db), that just doesn't work well on digital recording. Next trick also starts at the tracking level and that is to duplicate performance line for line. So you'll have two lead vocal tracks the are exactly the same, not harmony or flat doubles, but two tracks performed exactly the same way, take the second one and have it's volume at about half of the original (you can play around with this setting to get what you like) and it will give you that thick punchiness you're looking for. On the mixing end of things, short delay where the effect is very low in the mix always works nice and a lite compression on the vocal helps sometimes depending on the style of the performance. Another trick in post is to double tracks by copying them, then shift the entire second track just slightly behind the first one (milliseconds), not so much that you hear an echo, and not even enough where you hear a chorus like sound, but a little less than that will give you a double, and if you pan this off to another space in the mix you can get a wider and sometimes fatter sound. That being said, I still prefer the thickness you get by actually performing a second vocal track. The slight nuances between the tracks give you a natural smooth thick punchiness to the track. - Good Luck, I'd love to hear how it goes. Email me if this helps at all. - Jim
