Dynamic vocals

Ive been working with a female singer these days and I find myself adjusting her vocal track levels because when shes singing normal the levels are pretty much in line but then when she lets loose its very explosive. Then when we mix stuff down the vocal tracks always seem to get louder in some areas, softer in others. Ive tried using adding or dropping gain, ive used Vvocal dynamics, just wondering if you guys have any better techniques I can use! Thanks!

The singer's mic technique is the the engineer's best friend............Ron 

    I've had to mix tracks the required literally hundreds of volume automation events in one vocal track...sometimes several events for one word.  Dont be shy about rolling up the sleeves, zooming way in and getting dirty. 

    Using the 'write' function and controlling  the volume via virtual fader or real fader (if you have a midi controller with with assignable volume faders) can be useful for people.  I usually use a mix of the two, where I will automate the slider in different areas, then tweak the envelope manually after that.

    I do not like the "compression right off the bat" approach, especially if the track volumes are all over the place.  If you have ever mixed on a 4track you can remember the pain of having to memorize slider moves and practice before you bounce...with DAW's it's soooo much easier, although it can still be painstakingly tedious at times.

My short answer
-Volume automation (lots of it if need be)
-then light compression if appropriate.

    I'm certainly no expert but here's my workflow and thoughts on vocal compression (maybe it will help, maybe no one is reading anymore)
-Main Vox track gets compressed slightly
-...it then gets routed to a Voxbus which is compressed slightly with the other Vox tracks for "glue"
.....that bus may get routed to a mastering plug in (T-Racks in my case) for more compression/limiting/boosting. 
So in this case, our main vox track will probably get some sort of compression 3 times which adds up, atleast in my experience.  The end result can sound like a compressed pile of .....stuff... by the end, even if your first compressed treatment did not sound so bad.
    Therefore-I try and rely on compression to treat my volumes as little as possible as I know they will most likely get compressed in various amounts at later stages of the mix.

I always record my instruments with a slight amount of compression using a hardware compressor. This stops overs. I send my signal in as close to -6dB as possible and just run a slight comp at like 2:1 to even things up a bit.

Also, the singer needs to know proper vocal tehcniques when singing. When I hit something hard, I back off the mic just a little so it doesn't hit really loud. But even if I don't back off as much as I may need to, the outboard comp I'm running takes care of me.

From there once I'm done recording the vocal, I automate it a bit and then compress it a little more just to keep it nice and tight without any artifacts. This is pretty much the standard norm for most engineers these days. :)

I'm one of those singers whose volume is all over the place. It's not that I don't know how to use a mic, it's just that sometimes belting or whispering is the only way for me to hit the extremes of my range. I'm happy if I just get the sound on disk without clipping and worry about leveling later.

Leveling always starts with volume automation for coarse adjustment, typically with just a single node in front of each clip, maybe more for long clips. I try to get each clip to be approximately the same volume as the others in the track, without worrying about individual words and syllables. Ignore peak markers as they're no help here; judge by ear alone. Solo the track while doing this so you're not influenced by how it sits in the overall mix because at this point you don't care.

Next step is V-Vocal. I use that to balance individual words and syllables, which usually means lowering "S"s and hard consonants, and long vowels that resonate or sound woofy. While I'm in there I also soften breath noises as needed and mute any large gaps between phrases. I know a lot of people hate V-Vocal or are scared it's going to do something bad, but the Dynamics section is pretty safe. Of course, always audition every change you make, both in solo and in context.

At this point the track should sound pretty consistent but has yet to be at all smashed. The final step is compression. For vocals I like to use the Kjaerhus Classic Compressor on individual tracks. For maximum smoothness (not always desirable, but sometimes just what's needed) I'll use two instances, the first with a high threshold, fast attack and release so it just gets the peaks, the second with a slower attack and longer release for leveling.

Then, if I want a really smooth and homogeneous sound, I'll put an additional compressor on the vocal bus. Just remember that when you use more than one compressor they multiply, so you have to use gentle ratios like 1.5:1 or 2:1. If you find you need to use higher ratios, go back to the previous steps because you don't want to depend on compression that much. The less you rely on compressors, the better.

Because parts of a vocal track may necessarily be hotter than other parts, I also often like to automate the compressor's threshold. That way I don't have to find a compromise setting that works for the entire track, but can tailor the threshold to each section or clip.


One other thing that is sometimes needed is remedial EQ for resonances. If you don't have a proper vocal booth (and who does?) there will often be resonances that cause certain notes and tones within notes to be too pronounced. You can't fix this by volume manipulation alone. Normal EQ doesn't usually do it, either, because it's specific notes that are a problem.

Three things may help to mitigate this. First, try singing further back from the mic. Sometimes that doesn't help at all, sometimes it's just the ticket. Depends on your room, your mic and how strong a singer you are. Second, try setting your mic to Omni if you have that option. In a dead room or a nicely reverberant room, you won't be harmed by what's picked up from the back of the mic. It may even help. But mostly, it flattens the mic's frequency response. And finally, if all else fails you can resort to a multiband compressor.

Do you find it easier to manually lower the "esses" in V-Vocal as opposed to a regular volume envelope?

Yes, definitely. V-V automatically puts in the gradual level change slope for you, which greatly speeds the process. With practice, you can visibly gauge how much to dip it, which is harder with volume envelopes. The only real compromise is the lack of convenient un-do once you've bounced the track.

Sometimes, the V-V trick doesn't do the trick, though. It has to be a good-sounding "S" that's just too loud. If an "S" is too piercing due to a say, a resonance in the mic, just lowering the overall volume won't take the annoying frequency out. It'll still be there and still be annoying, just quieter. For that kind of scenario, you have to get creative. The best treatment is to re-track the vocal, which you can do just to extract the "S"s if you want to hang on to the original performance.

Thanks Bit I will try out V-vocal next time and see how it works for that job.
    I little trick for a d'esser:
A) Copy vocal track
B) insert side chainable compressor on main vocal track (I like Sonitus)
C) insert EQ on the copied vocal track.  Sweep the higher EQ frequencies on the copied track and exaggerate the "ESS" by boosting.
D) Assign the output of copied vocal track to the sidechain input of your main vocal track compressor.  This will make those exaggerated "ESSes" trigger the compressor. 
Compression setting-fast attack-fast release-high ratio 20:1 for example.  Then adjust threshold to taste.  I've had pretty good results with this. 
    I've never messed much with a real "de'esser" so I can't say how they work in comparison to this technique.  Hopeful this is useful for someone.

Never had much luck with software de-essers - the most transparent one I've ever used was the one included with the DBX 286A channel strip.

most pro mixers learn the performance, and ride the fader while recording.

combine that with a nice leveler that wont crush the dynamics, only lop the peaks off..

later, on mixdown, provide a nice compressor on the track, and another on the sub buss....... use the first to gently caress the performance, and the 2nd to catch and set the absolute limit for peaks

if you're mixing in the box, then, automate!
it's easy!

i find volume automation much preferable to compression, truthfully, i find a midline level to start with, where it mostly all sounds good, and then set that envelope, then start cherry picking the sections i want softer and louder, and just pop a couple of nodes on either side of those sections, and bring them down and up.

that's the whole point of the automation.

THanks everyone for your all your input. After reading all this I realise that with this singer im working with, part of the problem is her mic tech, and the rest I will just have to keep working on the tracks to get them in line. I do use compression but as Im kinda new to using effects effectively for recording, i still have lots to learn. She has only ever sang live and feels kinda funny not actually holding the mic when shes is singing, we laugh about it.  Thanks again for all your input!