Welcome to Sage Audio. Today we’re looking at How to Mix Female Vocals. 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.
Understanding Formants
For this video, none of the points are in any particular order - you can use any of
the techniques shown here in your vocal chain in any way you see fit.
Typically speaking, female vocals have different formants our clusters of frequencies, that
are typically higher in pitch due to a smaller vocal tract. If you’re used to mixing male
vocals, you may need to re-access which frequencies you boost or attenuate since these will likely
be different.
We can simulate the effect of formants on the overall timbre of the voice - even if
the pitch isn’t shifting, altering the timbre will make the voice sound higher in pitch.
Let’s take a listen to this using a formant plugin.
Higher Fundamental
Female vocals will usually have a higher fundamental frequency - meaning we’ll need to consider
how we affect the low-frequency range. A female vocal may have a fundamental higher than 350Hz,
meaning we can use a higher high pass filter to cut out rumble, without worrying about
affecting this note.
With that in mind, let’s introduce a high-pass filter with a high slope, and notice how high
we can increase it without cutting into the actual performance.
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Unique Sibilance Frequencies
Similar to our last point, if the full range is shifted upward, this will affect other
aspects of the vocal, like sibilance. Whereas sibilance is usually located between 5kHz
and 8kHz for most male vocal recordings, they’ll be around 8 to 12kHz for female vocals.
This isn’t always the case of course, but 10kHz is a good place to start when de-essing
a female vocal.
Fixing Thin Female Vocals
Due to the higher fundamental, female vocals may sound a little thinner than usually - if
that’s the case we can use a sub-harmonic generator to create frequencies below the
fundamental. I’ll use LoAir to create a subharmonic frequency, and subtly blend this
in with the original vocal.
If this is too loud it’ll sound really artificial, however, subtle settings work well.
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Diffusing High Frequencies
This is a bit of a weird trick, but if you’re finding that your highs are too intense and
you’re having trouble controlling them even with de-essing, try diffusing them with a
reverb plugin. To do this I’ll use the Pro-R and isolate the reverb to the highs.
I’ll use a room emulation and set the mix super low - this will cause reflections to
my highs which diffuse the sound.
Increased Importance of Oversampling
If you’re mixing vocals, odds are you’ll use saturation to make the vocals sound full.
Since female vocals are often higher in pitch, distorting them will cause higher frequency
harmonics to form, which increases the likelihood of unwanted aliasing distortion, since a harmonic
could go above the maximum support frequency.
To avoid this all you need to do is turn on oversampling.
Let's take a listen to a female vocal with more distortion on the highs than normal to
get a good understanding of aliasing distortion.
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Adding Intelligibility and Clarity (600Hz, 3.5kHz)
Earlier we talked about how higher pitch vocals shift everything upward, and this is definitely
the case with important frequency ranges. For example, if I want to increase vowel intelligibility,
instead of boosting 500Hz, I may boost 6 or 700Hz - or for clarity, I may boost 3.5kHz
instead of 2.5kHz.
Every vocal is different so just use your ears, but keep in mind that important ranges
will likely have shifted higher.
Flattening Female Vocals
It's difficult to say exactly why this is, but I find that female vocals sound better
with a flatter frequency response. That said, lots of microphones will hype the highs and
lows, so if you’re finding this is the case, lower these ranges first and see if it improves
the sound.
An intelligent EQ is a good first step since it’ll flatten it dynamically, but a regular
EQ will work well too.
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.