Vocal Levels in a Mixdown

[Anil Singh]

Is there a specific level for vocal tracking in a mixdown? How loud does it have to be. Where does it have to be (Eg. panning) and can I or should I use Har-Bal and T-Racks to make the vocal sound good first then add it to the mix?

Thanks
"Knowledge is power"

[har-bal]

Is there a specific level for vocal tracking in a mixdown? How loud does it have to be. Where does it have to be (Eg. panning) and can I or should I use Har-Bal and T-Racks to make the vocal sound good first then add it to the mix?

Thanks
"Knowledge is power"

Anil

Go to my home site www.hdqtrz.com and click on tips. You will find a great article on recording vocals.

VOCALS - E.Q.

Record vocals flat.

To avoid popping tell singer to move mouth slightly away during "problem words", or move mic off-axis from singer's mouth. If all else fails, cut 100Hz by 10dB.

During recording "soft, wispy" vocals close to the mic, cut 100Hz by 7dB. (If you're using a condensor for close-up vocals adjust the mic's pad to -10dB.)

For more "top" = boost at 6 to 12kHz, but watch out for sibilance !

For more "presence" = a little boost at 3 to 4kHz.

To take out "harshness" and leave room for other instruments = cut 1kHz by about 6 to 12dB. (You can use a bandpass filter. Bandwidth = a 0.5 octave.)

Backing vocals sit better in the mix if you roll off a touch of bass. This may sound thin on it's own, but will be normal in the mix.

Note : The longer the reverb decay time is, the lower it should be in the mix.

To eliminate sibilant sounds, use a de-esser or an equalizer with filtering in the sidechain path of the compressor.

VOCALS - COMPRESSION

(A variety of different settings !)

1) 3:1, Gain reduction = 10dB. Singer with wide dynamic range = 4:1 or even higher, right up to 10:1.

Gate = slow release. Set to AUTO (or fast attack, rel. = around half a sec (.5))

2) Ratio = somewhere between 4:1 and 8:1, Attack = fast as possible, Rel. = Around half a sec.

Thanks to Mark Dance for the settings above.


Cheers

Earle

[Anil Singh]

Thanks for the information but, when mixing vocals how loud does the vocal have to be when combining it with the music?

[har-bal]

Thanks for the information but, when mixing vocals how loud does the vocal have to be when combining it with the music?

That depends on the music. The idea is to sit the vocals in the music and not above it. A great way top check this is to go to another room and hear if the vocals are jumping out at you. It is much easier to hear where your vocals are sitting in the mix from another room.
Compression helps blend the vocals into the track.

Earle

[Doug]

Hi all, could somebody please help me, ive read in this forum that it is a good idea to mix down at -6 db, I was wondering if i could pull the master fader down in a 24 bit recording as opposed to mixing the tracks to make sure the highest peak is -6db, the only thing is i have heaps of volume automation going on and obviously the easiest thing to do is pull down the master fader. I know that you lose bits by doing this but i think theres bits to spare in a 24 bit recording. What would be the best thing for me to do cause i have to pull down the theshhold of the opto+halfinch preset on one of my songs,to prevent clipping and im pretty sure i bounced it at -0.1 Any help is greatly appreciated, also guys i have been everywhere on the net with regards to do it yourself mastering, this place by far eats them, my final results now sound pro. Thanks to all. Doug

[chippy]

Hi all, could somebody please help me, ive read in this forum that it is a good idea to mix down at -6 db, I was wondering if i could pull the master fader down in a 24 bit recording as opposed to mixing the tracks to make sure the highest peak is -6db, the only thing is i have heaps of volume automation going on and obviously the easiest thing to do is pull down the master fader. I know that you lose bits by doing this but i think theres bits to spare in a 24 bit recording. What would be the best thing for me to do cause i have to pull down the theshhold of the opto+halfinch preset on one of my songs,to prevent clipping and im pretty sure i bounced it at -0.1 Any help is greatly appreciated, also guys i have been everywhere on the net with regards to do it yourself mastering, this place by far eats them, my final results now sound pro. Thanks to all. Doug

Just pull down your master fader a little.

I am not sure what you are mixing in, but I use cubase SX and all audio is handled at 32bit float. This allows the audio to keep its resolution untill it hits the output of your sound card.

[mflorio]

Hi all, could somebody please help me, ive read in this forum that it is a good idea to mix down at -6 db, I was wondering if i could pull the master fader down in a 24 bit recording as opposed to mixing the tracks to make sure the highest peak is -6db, the only thing is i have heaps of volume automation going on and obviously the easiest thing to do is pull down the master fader. I know that you lose bits by doing this but i think theres bits to spare in a 24 bit recording. What would be the best thing for me to do cause i have to pull down the theshhold of the opto+halfinch preset on one of my songs,to prevent clipping and im pretty sure i bounced it at -0.1 Any help is greatly appreciated, also guys i have been everywhere on the net with regards to do it yourself mastering, this place by far eats them, my final results now sound pro. Thanks to all. Doug

You can do it all from the master fader as long as you're sure none of the separate mix busses are overloading. Otherwise, you'll have to deal with it at that level and pull down the buss or even track faders.

Mike

[dyonisos]

I read all of the above. I agree that the vocal shouldn't "jump out too much". Another check I do is to do a mono check to see how the vocals sit in the mix. I'll temporarily set my master bus to mono instead of stereo. I suppose this amounts to the same thing as turning the volume up and leaving the room to listen. Only difference is I can continue to leave my feet up, drinking my beer and eating my pretzels.

Another good test is mentioned in one of Craig Anderton's books (the Sonar one), where you mix "with noise". Start off with just a white (or is it pink?) noise track turned up fairly loud on a separate bus from the master. Slowly fade in the song using the fader for the regular tracks' bus. As the music slowly becomes audible try to discern what becomes audible above the noise first. Is the the vocals? Is it the drums? I suppose the goal is to have the song sound completely musical as soon as possible after it rises above the volume of the noise. If at first you hear vocals, and you have to increase the master bus by another 6 or 7 db before you can make out the rest of the music, then maybe the vocals are too loud...