Rap Vocals Mixing: Come and Listen to what I got so far......

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Member Since: Jan 19, 2005

Hey this is C Dog from Shut Down Productions out of Northern California www.geocities.com/shutdownproductions/ we have been recording vocals for probably about a year now and we are always looking for good tips and advice on gettin the best quality we can out of our situation. Let me explain to you what we have. Our recording area is a 4' X 6' booth that runs to an 8' ceiling. It is built with 2" thick wood and every crack is sealed. It is also lined in professional studio foam, all walls and ceiling. We have a blue baby bottle mic that runs into a focusrite voicemaster platinum preamp. From the preamp it runs into our Korg d16xd mixer. We do some basic editing on the Korg and run it into our computer running Cubase SX3. In Cubase we do most of the editing and effects. I have a link to a single verse in a song that I would like some comments on as far as how I can make the vocals sound more mixed in with the beat. My beat is only one track so it makes it more difficult to mix it but that is the only thing I have to work with. Here is a link to the verse call Endless Ammunition briefcase.yahoo.com/[email protected]
It does have some explicit lyrics so don't be frightened, hehe. We are doing our best to utilize the best out of our equipment but there is only so much the manuals can tell us. I would appreciate any recording, mixing, eqing, effect tips that anyone can offer. My ears are gettin a little burn't out so hopefully yours can help me

thanks
C Dog

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Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Jan 19, 2005 01:54 pm

Welcome to HRC, please put these type of posts in the music and composition forum.

If you are brand new here and people don't know you at all, don't be surprised if people don't listen and respond immediately...

Hold 'Em Czar
Member
Since: Dec 30, 2004


Jan 19, 2005 02:44 pm

"how I can make the vocals sound more mixed in with the beat"

welcome to HRC, your beat sounds more focused twarded the center, and you got the vocals spred pretty wide. i understand the effect you're wantin' there, if ya can bring the vocals more twards the center, not all the way but say 70% L and 70%R they'll prolly sit in the mix better.

peace

wyd

Frisco's Most Underrated
Member
Since: Jan 28, 2003


Jan 19, 2005 02:45 pm

Big ups. I'm doing my thing in the 415. I find vocals the most difficult thing to get right in the mix.

[quote]
My beat is only one track so it makes it more difficult to mix it but that is the only thing I have to work with.
[/quote]

This is true. I gave your verse a listen, and it sounds mixed pretty well. I'd say the thing is the eq could be emphasized higher in the spectrum as the vocals sit well, but sound kind of muddy to me. That's the only thing I can think of. It sounds compressed nicely, and sounds good as far as perceived distance. I'd just say eq.

Member
Since: Jan 19, 2005


Jan 19, 2005 11:51 pm

Hey thanks for the input. I had the artist spit the verse two times the same way. We use the preamp to do some basic compression when we are tracking we also gave it a little warmer sound on the preamp to attain the feel we were looking for on this song. After that we put it on the computer and cleaned up the vocals by taking breaths out and got the two vocal tracks as close as I could. I then panned each track to the left and right 40%. I then ran the vocals through a compressor de-esser plugin by TC works to bring up the level a little bit. Then put the vocals through Izotope Ozone 3 to give them a touch of reverb. I then run another compressor over the whole mix. I could be doin this all wrong, I have come up with this process for countless hours of tweakin, I have come up with some pretty rancid soundin stuff icon_biggrin.gif If it wasn't for these forums I would be in the dark to all this, if you got anymore tips, I'll take em

thanks,
Cdog

Frisco's Most Underrated
Member
Since: Jan 28, 2003


Jan 20, 2005 02:55 am

yeah, so this is the process I do with most all vocals, whether rapping or singing, or talking.

Record. Fix any plosives, timing issues and overly loud breaths with a wav editor. Compress. Add delay effect(s) like reverb or chorus or delay or multitap delay (if desired). EQ.

With raps, I usually record back up vocals (overdubs) as well. I usually just compress and eq these.

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