Category: Blog

| By Thomas Brett | 

Introduction:

Although a lot of rock and metal engineers tend to approach vocals as kind of an afterthought to the drums and guitars, they’re actually the most likely thing to catch a listener’s attention and get them hooked the song!

Periphery’s Spencer Sotelo

The bottom line is… Unless you’re working on some kind of obscure instrumental music, vocals are king, and with this being the case… You’d better know how to get them upfront and consistent in your mixes!

VIDEO: In the following NailTheMix excerpt, Periphery engineer/mixer Adam “Nolly” Getgood demonstrates one of the many stages of dynamic control you can apply to a vocal track in order to help sit at the forefront of a mix:

Click here to purchase Nolly’s full, 8-hour-long NailTheMix course and gain access to the raw stems for Periphery’s “Prayer Position”!

The Name Of The Vocal Mixing Game: Staged Dynamics Control

Our ears are naturally tuned to the way a human voice is meant to sound, so you can’t afford to just slap some plugins across your vocal buss at the end of a mix and run the risk of ruining them… Especially when it comes to a tool as powerful as compression!

The best way to tame a vocal without squeezing the life out of it is to approach your dynamics control in multiple, incremental stages.

The 5 stages of dynamic control:

Pre-Read Disclaimer: The fact that I’m teaching you about each of the following processing stages… Doesn’t mean you have to use every single one of them every time you mix

Stage 1 – Tracking Compression/Limiting

Tracking Vocals Through an 1176

A lot of engineers like to compress their vocal tracks during recording for a number of reasons:

• It can help the singer and engineer to better hear the details of the performance they’re tracking.

• It means less compression is required from the get-go during mixing. (Also saving you some valuable CPU allocation!)

• It can be fairly transparent: Fast-Attack/Fast-Release UA1176 or Distressor style compressors are common go-to’s for this purpose. (This kind of analog gear also has the added benefit of imparting some nice harmonic coloration/saturation to the signal… Making it more likely to cut through a mix later on!)

• It’s up to you to decide how much you want to compress during tracking, as it’s heavily dependent on context and genre. I personally prefer erring on the side caution and doing a maximum of 5-10dB gain reduction while tracking in order to keep my options open for later on.

NOTE: If you don’t have any decent analog units at your disposal, you can simply emulate this kind of “tracking compression” in the box with a plugin version of the gear mentioned above with some similar settings. Just make sure that the plugin compressor you choose isn’t adding any monitoring latency if you’re attempting to track through it.

Stage 2 – Pre-FX Volume Automation

Pre-Fx Volume Automation in Reaper

Compression isn’t exactly a discrete process, and can cause some fairly unpleasant sonic artefacts if pushed too hard… This is where pre-fx volume automation comes into play:

• The primary reason a compressor might start “pumping” when pushed, is the fact that the release parameter isn’t fast enough to keep up with the wide dynamic range of the incoming signal.

• You might come across this issue if you’re dealing with a highly dynamic source, such as a vocal which is soft and “whisper-y” in the verses, but loud and aggressive in the choruses.

• Setting-up a single compressor to dynamically even-out both of these extremes effectively – while also trying to avoid any pumping – is a rather futile task.

• The solution is to manually go through your vocal, section by section, and even-out the large variations in dynamics with gain automation before it’s sent to a compressor.

• By doing this, you can reduce the dynamic range of your source materials by 5… 10… or even 20dB from the get-go in the cleanest way possible, all the while making them less likely to pump your compressors later on!

NOTE: How in-depth this volume automation should be is up to you. I personally like to do it in larger sections in order to save on time (verse, pre-chorus, chorus, etc…), however some people will go through the entire track, automating the gain of each individual word up or down for maximum consistency! It’s boring… but well worth it!

Stage 3 – “Enhancement” Compression

Enhancement Compression

While the previous “leveling” stages I’ve talked about have focused on preserving the integrity of the performance as much as possible, this stage is designed to purposefully alter the transient information of a vocal in our favor:

• Compressors aren’t just great at leveling out volume inconsistencies in vocals… They’re also awesome for adding aggressive transient punch and sustain to the front and back ends of each word/sentence!

• Much like we’d use a compressor with a slow-medium attack time / fast release to enhance the stick attack and ring/sustain of a drum hit, we can use the same concept to accentuate the initial consonants/sibilance and “breathy end trail-offs” of each word in a vocal track.

• A lot of well-known engineers like using the “blue-face” UA 1176 compressor for this very purpose, as when it’s pushed hard (20dB+ gain reduction) with a slow attack/fast release time, it can add some real bright & gnarly “spit” and “in your face” sustain to a vocal.

NOTE: If you’re still in the position of scratching your head every time the topic of compression is brought up, I strongly suggest you read through my “Visualising Compression” URM article from a few months back, in which I attempt to explain the whole concept in the simplest terms possible. DON’T PUT IT OFF ANY LONGER! – READ IT AND GET A GRASP OF COMPRESSION RIGHT NOW!

Stage 4 – Peak-Control Limiting

Peak Control Limiting

By this point, you should already be looking at a fairly controlled and dynamically cohesive vocal performance. However, chances are, there are still a few random untamed peaks that could be taken down a notch or two with some definitive brick-wall limiting:

• Although these kind of sudden transient spikes may not appear too audible to our ears… They have the potential to unnecessarily trigger your mastering chain later on and cause your entire mix to duck in volume for a split second each time.

• Applying a brick-wall limiter such as Waves’ L1 or Fabfilter Pro-L to the back end of your vocal chain and adjusting the threshold so that it’s only lopping off the most offending peaks is a simple, non-destructive way of eliminating the problem for good.

Stage 5 – Post-FX Volume Automation

Nolly & Waves’ Vocal Rider

This final stage is basically what Nolly was explaining in his NailTheMix excerpt at the beginning of this article with his use of Waves’ Vocal Rider…. However, I tend to prefer manual automation instead:

• While all of the previous methods of dynamic control I’ve mentioned in this article focus on getting the vocals themselves to be consistent and in your face… This stage is all about getting the vocals to remain on-top in the context of a dynamic instrumental arrangement.

• It’s simple: At the end of your mix, listen through the entirety of the track and see how the vocals are sitting against everything else on a section-by-section basis. If at any point they’re too loud or getting a bit lost, call up a post-fx automation lane and write-in a broad 1-2dB gain tweak up or down. (Basically what Vocal Rider is doing, but more customisable…)

NOTE: Make sure you’re not randomly skipping between sections when making these tweaks/decisions. As Nolly expertly demonstrated in the video above… The only way to truly judge the volume of an instrument in any given section is to listen to it in context of the entire song! Don’t be lazy, if you’re gonna do something, do it right!

CONCLUSION:

I REPEAT: The fact that I’ve taught you about each of the following processing stages doesn’t mean you have to use every single one of them every time you mix.

Although I’ll often apply all of them to a voice… I just as often find that you can achieve a great vocal sound with nothing more than a single 1176-style compressor and some basic volume automation!

Nevertheless… It’s important that you have a good understanding of compression for pretty much everything you’ll do in the world of audio… So make sure you’re putting in the time to experiment and learn everything you possibly can about it!

Final Words:

This concludes “IN YOUR FACE VOCALS (FT. PERIPHERY)”. I hope that this article has given you some new ideas to try out during your next project. Be sure to comment below if any of this information has helped you out, or if you have any questions.

Stay tuned for more production/mixing related articles in the not-so-distant future!

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Thomas Brett is a producer, mixing engineer and songwriter at Brett Brothers recording studio in the UK. Check out the Brett Brothers studio website for more information and articles on all things mixing www.brettbrothersstudio.com

Want mix tips from Thomas Brett? Read them here!

Nail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Chelsea Grin, Machine Head and State Champs. Join now for instant access!

| By Thomas Brett | 

Introduction:

Sick of the individual instruments in your mixes not gelling together properly?!?

Tired of your drums losing all of their punch during mastering?!?

Ever wish that there was a quicker, more efficient way of getting your mixes from “raw and boring” to “polished and exciting”?!?

Sounds like you need some Top-Down Mixing in your workflow!

What is “Top-Down” Mixing?

Simply put: Top-down mixing is when you apply some general “tone-shaping” FX across busses/groups in order to cut down on time spent dialing in individual mix elements which most likely call for a certain degree of similar processing anyway.

In the following NailTheMix excerpt, EMMURE producers/mixers WZRD BLD and Jeff Dunne demonstrate the importance of having a top-down approach in their mixing workflow:

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THE FULL EMMURE MULTITRACK SESSION AND 6HR-LONG WZRD BLD/JEFF DUNNE MIXING COURSE!

Why work this way?

Stop fighting against yourself: A lot of us are guilty of just slapping some plugins across the master buss once our mix is done with a delusional “cherry on top” mentality.

• The problem with applying dynamics processing such as limiters and buss compressors onto an already-finished mix is the fact that they can really affect your transient information.

• Let’s say you’ve spent hours mixing a song to the point that you’re really happy with how the drums are punching you in the face. Throwing on a limiter at this point will probably just end up killing most of the “smack” you’ve worked so hard on achieving, as well as causing the drums to lose their desired volume balance within the mix.
• A better approach is to work on getting your drums to hit hard while the master limiter is already engaged in order to prevent any unpleasant surprises post-mastering.

NOTE: In the cases where taking a “haphazard” master buss approach results in a marginal improvement anyway, chances are it would’ve worked even better if you’d just mixed into it from the beginning…

Closer to “mixed” from the get-go: Our ears are fickle. After listening to a few minutes of a raw mix that initially sounded dark and lifeless, they’ll slowly start to acclimatise… Eventually ignoring a lot of the issues which were blatantly apparent to begin with.

“Commercial mixes are so much brighter than any raw tracks you’ll ever receive that inevitably almost every track is going to need some kind of low and high-end enhancement in order to compete with a mastered sound.” – Adam “Nolly” Getgood

• For this very reason, it’s important that you’re not spending too much time listening to your individual instruments in the context of an unmixed arrangement. Otherwise you’ll run the risk of deceiving yourself into thinking everything sounds better than it really does after fifteen minutes or so.

• Applying some general polishing EQ across your master buss the moment you begin a mix can instantly help push your mix from “raw” to “decent”… And in return, prevent your ears from settling on anything too mediocre from the get go.

NOTE: A pretty standard approach to master buss EQ is to apply a sort of “smiley face curve” which accentuates the highs and lows, effectively having the same effect as scooping some of the midrange. Guys like CLA and Andrew Scheps have been known to use Pultec style EQ’s for this purpose. Click here to learn more!

Example “smiley face” master buss EQ settings on a Pultec style EQ.

TOP-DOWN MIXING TIPS:

Figure out what most of your mixes seem to need, come up with a good all-round starting point:

• A lot of engineers have “go-to” drum samples and tones that they tend to reach for in certain musical situations.

• Example: If you often find yourself gravitating towards the same few drum samples for a great rock drum sound, it only makes sense to come up with a good “ballpark” processing chain preset which’ll help you get them from A-Z a bit quicker.

• I’m not necessarily saying you should use the exact same settings every time you decide to go for a particular sound, but rather that you can use them as a good starting point and tweak them slightly to better fit the musical context.

You don’t have to over-do it, but don’t be afraid to crank it either:

• You’ll often see random “pros” on forums talking about how you should never have to boost/cut/compress more than a few dB at most while mixing, and never ever go anywhere near those numbers during mastering.

• I CALL ABSOLUTE NONSENSE!

• Watch any single one of the NailTheMix live mixing sessions and it’s clear to see that the actual professionals aren’t particularly concerned with the numbers, and simply do whatever it takes to achieve the sounds they’re after. (Whether it takes 20dB of processing or only 2dB of processing…)

NOTE: Take the Periphery NailTheMix session for instance – During his master buss rundown at the start of the live mix-through event, Nolly demonstrated how he applies a fairly substantial 5-6dB of upper-mid/high-end boost across the whole mix before even beginning to mess with any of the individual instrument channels. The result? AN INCREDIBLE MIX!

Click here to purchase and watch Nolly’s full Periphery NailTheMix course.

• My point is… Trying out bold settings that might seem crazy to others is often how unique and interesting sounds are born! Trust your ears, not your eyes. If it sounds good, it is good!

Consider using separate instrument and vocal busses:

• Although I’ve personally been a fan of the “top-down” approach for years, it wasn’t until I began sending my vocals and instruments into separate mix busses that I really achieved the results I was looking for.

• The primary reason for this was the interaction between the vocals and drums, and how they were reacting to my buss compression.

• By keeping the vocals separate from every else, I’m able to keep them on top of the mix without their volume ducking every time the snare hits. On the flipside, this also prevents the rest of the instruments from ducking every time the vocals jump up in volume.

NOTE: There are a million ways to set up your mix routing/bussing, and there’s no such thing as “the right way”. My best advice would be to do your research, and come up with something that works well given the particular tools you have at your disposal.

CONCLUSION:

Top-Down mixing is just one of the many tricks which can really have a huge impact on your ability to get great results fast in the studio.

If you want to further develop your skills as a mixer and eventually build a successful audio career, it’s hugely important that you’re always on the search for new methods of improving your workflow for better time management and efficiency.

Why not check out my “5 Tips To Super-Charge Your Mixing Workflow” article from a few months back right now?

Final Words:

This concludes “TOP-DOWN MIXING (Ft. Emmure)”. I hope that this article has given you some new ideas to try out during your next project. Be sure to comment below if any of this information has helped you out, or if you have any questions.

Stay tuned for more production/mixing related articles in the not-so-distant future!

---

Thomas Brett is a producer, mixing engineer and songwriter at Brett Brothers recording studio in the UK. Check out the Brett Brothers studio website for more information and articles on all things mixing www.brettbrothersstudio.com

Want mix tips from Thomas Brett? Read them here!

Nail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Chelsea Grin, Machine Head and State Champs. Join now for instant access!