Welcome to Sage Audio. Today we’re covering Advanced Vocal Mixing.
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.
Start with Clip Gain
For this video, all the tips I’m listing can be used in this order as a chain.
Or you take the info from this video that you like and incorporate it into what you already do.
Clip gain is great at balancing your vocal’s dynamics and reduces the need for
more noticeable compression later on in the chain. Find all of the aspects of the vocal
that don’t fit within the dynamic range you want for your vocal - then adjust the clip accordingly.
Although this is more time-consuming than compression or a vocal rider,
it’s a more professional way of balancing dynamics.
Isolate Sibilance
Similar to how Clip Gain controls dynamics, we can control sibilance by isolating it
and putting it on another track. We can also use clip gain to reduce the volume,
but you’ll get better results by placing the esses on a new track and turning it down.
Additionally, we’ll omit some forms of processing from the sibilance track,
like additive EQ and saturation to keep these from becoming harsh.
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Tune with Note Stabilization
If your vocal needs tuning, Metatune is a great option for this since it utilizes note
stabilization - which reduces the need for a note by note tuner like Melodyne.
We’ll use a medium-length stabilization setting,
select the correct notes for the vocal, and use a slower timing.
These settings will keep it natural sounding and reduce unwanted tuning artifacts.
Multiband Upward Compression
We can use an upward compressor to increase the signal from the noise floor up while leaving the
peaks alone - this reduces the dynamic range while increasing perceivable detail. With multi-band
dynamics processors we can use a positive range with a compression setting for this effect.
I’ll use 3 bands and isolate them on aspects of the vocal I want to amplify.
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Emulate Analog with Modulated Saturation
Instead of using an analog emulation plugin, try a demo of FabFilter’s Saturn 2 and utilize
its modulation settings to recreate analog sounds. In my opinion, the complex routing
this plugin lets you create gets you a lot closer to analog tonality than most plugins.
I made a preset called vocal bite which uses an envelope to push a distortion band on my mids
into higher frequencies whenever the vocal is sung. As a result,
we get program-dependent high-frequency distortion that achieves a biting sound.
Dense Reverb Trick
Reverb on a vocal is a classic sound, but an expected one - that said we can use some
creative processing to make our vocal reverb sound unique.
I’m going to use a bus to send my vocal to a parallel track on which I’ll place my reverb.
Once I dial in the settings I want, I’ll insert an upward compressor and heavily compress the
reverberated signal from the noise floor up. This creates unrealistically dense reverb.
If you can think of additional ways we could experiment with the sound of reverb on a vocal
let me know in the comments.
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Soothe and Gullfoss at End
At the end of my vocal chain, I’m going to subtly use both Soothe 2 and a Gullfoss EQ to reduce
resonance and masking frequencies respectively. Since we separated our sibilance earlier on,
we can focus Soothe2 on the mids and then use subtle Gullfoss settings to clarify the signal.
If you don’t have these plugins don’t worry about this stage of processing,
but just know that it’s an option for adding a little polish to a vocal track.
Unique Sibilance Processing
This last part is just something a little strange that I like to do with the separated sibilance -
which is to add a reverb plugin. I’ll blend in the effect, but no matter what it’ll give your
sibilance and unnaturally diffused sound, which sounds more relaxed than typical sibilance.
If you’re like me and you really don’t like the sound of excessive sibilance,
this is a way you can turn it into something that you actually enjoy listening to.
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.