Members MesaMonster Posted June 5, 2014 Members Share Posted June 5, 2014 Phil, Is there a book or website that you would recommend for mixing vocals. My daughter is doing a project where she is creating a CD of Girl Songs but she is doing it all acapella. Without music to go with her singing, you can hear a lot of issues with the track. I have been watching Jupiter Ace's 12 minute videos and how to correct vocals which are great. I would like to also have some background on the process of mixing vocals. I am also setting up a template so I don't have to setup every time I need to track a vocal. She has 40 songs that she needs to record. Thx, Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted June 5, 2014 Members Share Posted June 5, 2014 This should be your first stop. http://tweakheadz.com/guide-to-home-and-project-music-studios/Its pretty comprehensive in all aspects. Phil has done some articles here on how you'd want to mix but they are more for a complete band. There are some great audio tools you can use to enhance poor quality tracks. Some are free and some you do have to buy. Auto tune or melodyne is commonly used to get the vocals tuned so you don't have notes sliding in and out of pitch which is one of the big issues with inexperienced singers. Voxengo makes a plugin called Voxformer which I use on vocals allot. Its got some great presets to start from and it can give you some nice fat vocals with minimal tweaking. Or you could use free plugins. A Compressor, EQ, DeEsser, Gate, Limiter and High Frequency Exciter are some that can be used. There is also a free Plugin on that Voxengo site called Tempo delay. Its a stereo echo with chorus that can be used to add some excellent echo or ambiance. I use another free one called Classic Chorus you can download. Its got some nice settings for getting the vocals sounding fat and adds some room movement. If you want, you can upload something to drop box and then post a link here and get some feedback on what it needs. Its hard to give advice based on a verbal description and a quick clip can steer you right where you need to be focused. There's allot that can be done copying tracks, panning them left and right, using a pitch plugin and raising one up a few cents and the other down a few cents in pitch. If you want to hear a fantastic album done with nothing but vocals get a copy of Todd Rundgren's album called Acapella When you first listen to it you'd swear there was a whole band playing, but all the instruments, drums bass are done with vocals. He even did a live tour with singers performing it. There may have been some triggered vocal effects in there or live sampling but its still the most impressive acapella album of modern music I've heard. May give her some ideas to work with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MesaMonster Posted June 5, 2014 Author Members Share Posted June 5, 2014 Thanks WRGKMC. As always, loaded with great information and spot on. I am going to take a look at the site. Not ready to post clips yet. Still pretty novice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members witesol Posted June 6, 2014 Members Share Posted June 6, 2014 By "mixing vocals" what do you mean? Is she doing what would be instruments and rhythm section with voice too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 By "mixing vocals" what do you mean? Is she doing what would be instruments and rhythm section with voice too? That's what I was wondering too Kelly. Don, can you give us a bit more detail about the nature of the recordings? You said they're acapella - are they solo or group? And as Kelly asked, are vocalists doing the accompaniment / "instrument" sounds too? What sort of issues are you hearing sans the accompaniment? Is it pitch issues? Phrasing? Are you wanting to fix it at the source and re-record, or are you trying to fix what's already been waxed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators davie Posted June 7, 2014 Moderators Share Posted June 7, 2014 If there's only an acapella vocal track, then there's really nothing to "mix". Rather you need to focus on making a proper recording setup. That means finding a recording chain that works well with her vocals. That could mean getting a certain mic preamp and microphone. Also acoustically treating the recording space properly. Once things are recording properly then you need to decide on an effects processing chain that works well to enhance the performance (eg. EQ, compressor, reverb, etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gdoubleyou Posted June 13, 2014 Members Share Posted June 13, 2014 The space that you record in is a huge factor, especially if there are a lot of hard reflective surfaces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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