Welcome to Sage Audio. Today we’re looking at the top 8 vocal clarity tips.
To get the most from your music, watch the entirety of each chapter for a complete
understanding of the topic. But first, If you have a mix that you need mastered,
send it to us to receive a free mastered sample of it with the link in the description.
Comparing Multiple Air Shelves
Before we get started, note that these tips are in no particular order and you
can add them to your chain in any way you see fit.
Air Shelves are a great way to add some top end to your vocal, but it helps to know what frequencies
are actually being boosted. With that in mind, let's use the Bertom curve
analyzer and observe some various air shelves on analog emulated EQs.
This way you can recreate the curve with a parametric EQ.
Here’s the Maag EQ’s air shelf, next an SSL shelf, and then an API emulation shelf.
Let’s listen to what these 3 can do to a vocal.
Boost 3kHz Harmonic
The harmonics of the vocal between 2 to 4kHz play a big role in adding to the clarity - if
you know the most common note sung, you can find the exact frequency and boost it
within that range. So if the most common note is A, A7 would be 3520Hz.
It helps to have an EQ with a piano roll, but if you know the frequency of the root note you
can multiple find the right frequency. For example, I know A above middle C is 440Hz,
so I can multiply by 2 to get 880, and again to get 1760, then again to find 3520Hz.
If you’re enjoying the video, consider hitting the like button;
it really helps us bring more videos to you
Increase Reverb PreDelay
This is a simple but often overlooked tip - when adding reverb, some pre-delay will preserve the
transient, otherwise, the reverb may make the initial consonant of the vocal unintelligible. A
pre-delay of about 40ms will work well in most instances - but use a longer one if needed.
This trick also works for other instruments like guitar
and synth so try it on those as well if they’re getting lost.
Separate Sibilance, then Boost Highs
One issue with boosting the highs of a vocal is that it’ll boost unwanted highs like your
sibilance - instead of fighting this with a de-esser, just isolate the sibilance
and move it to a new track. Now you can be more aggressive with your processing without worrying.
Additionally, you can adjust the level of your sibilance
or add some creative processing to better control sibilance’s role in your vocal’s clarity.
Only a small percentage of people that watch our videos are subscribed, so if
you’re enjoying the video consider subscribing. It’s free and you can always change your mind.
Emulator Specific Exciter
Exciters create high-frequency harmonics which can be really helpful when creating vocal
clarity - some exciters let you control which analog processor you emulate, in turn giving you
more control over which harmonics you create. Izotope’s exciter is a good example of this.
If we run a sine wave through it we can see how the different settings
result in various harmonics. So in short, use an exciter to quickly add vocal clarity,
but then consider which harmonic formation sounds best with your unique vocal.
Soothe2 then Saturation
Saturation, especially on higher frequencies, can add a lot of clarity to your vocal;
however, it can exacerbate existing issues with the vocal. That said,
I’m going to use soothe 2 on the vocal to dynamically attenuate
resonant frequencies I don’t want amplified, then I’ll introduce my saturation.
This way I’m not fighting against other frequencies that may be masking
clarifying aspects of the vocal. If you don’t have soothe 2,
that’s totally fine - instead, use subtractive equalization to attenuate unwanted frequencies.
If you'd like our custom plugin presets, audio samples, loops, download sheets, a members-only
badge next to your name in comments, and more, consider joining with the link in the description.
TrackSpacer on Vocal
Another unique plugin that can add vocal clarity
is TrackSpacer - if you place it on your vocal and use your instrumental or
completing signal as the external side-chain, it’ll dynamically adjust the vocal accordingly.
This way you can quickly delineate your vocal from the surrounding instrumentation.
Use very low settings with this plugin though since it’s a bit sensitive
and can quickly become too aggressive.
Parallel Highs Base
This last tip is a great foundation for creative processing that’ll increaser
the clarity of your vocal. In short, I’ll set up a bus and send my vocal
to an auxiliary track - then I’ll use an EQ to attenuate my lows with a high-pass filter.
I’ll ensure that this EQ is in a linear phase mode to avoid phase cancellation between my
original signal and this parallel one. Now that I have my vocal’s highs isolated I could increase
the track’s level to increase clarity, or maybe add a bright reverb, or upward compression, etc.
Any additive processing you do to this parallel track
will increase the clarity of your vocal, so get as creative and experimental as you want.
If you have a mix that you need mastered, send it to us to receive a free mastered sample of it
with the link in the description. Thank you so much for watching.