Help! When I use delays my vocals sound "dirty" and "muddy" in my mix.

Hi guys,

I'm attempting my very first "real" mix. There are parts that I want really wet with delay. My problem is when I do that, it sounds very messy, muddy and just plain unprofessional. How do I fix this?

I'm putting my delay plugin directly on the track I'm using. Is there a better way to do that? Is there a right or wrong way?

Thanks for your help.

One thing to consider is using the delay only on the ends of phrases instead of an entire phrase. One way to do this would be to automate the delay controls. Another way would be to clone the vocal track and use an envelope to mute all but the ends of vocal lines and put the delay in that track.

I'm working with a quarter note feel. And, it is tempo synced. I had the delay on the whole track which gave it a feel I liked. I just hate the muddiness. Put a high pass on the track. Still sounds muddy to me.

I'm going to try putting the delay on a bus and routing the signal there. I'll also try putting the delay at the end of lines. But, that may not give m the feel I like.

Thank guys. I appreciate the advice.

mike_mccue


I don't want to seem too picky... did you hi pass the track or hi pass the Delay?

You probably want a perfunctory hi pass on the track and a specific hi pass on the delay return. The high pass on the delay return will probably be set much more aggressively than the filter on the dry track.

Just hoping that making the point clear may be of some help.

all the best,
mike

No, I just high passed the track. I will try doing the same, with more aggressive setting, on the delay itself. Thanks.

samson7842

mike_mccue


I don't want to seem too picky... did you hi pass the track or hi pass the Delay?

You probably want a perfunctory hi pass on the track and a specific hi pass on the delay return. The high pass on the delay return will probably be set much more aggressively than the filter on the dry track.

Just hoping that making the point clear may be of some help.

all the best,
mike

No, I just high passed the track. I will try doing the same, with more aggressive setting, on the delay itself. Thanks.

You will also encounter mud in the mids as well. I use the Sonitus delay alot on midi guitar rhythm tracks and will typically high pass around 150hz and then notch around 500-600 hz to further enhance the clarity.

+1 all; Kylotan, that seems like a great idea.

Additionally watch out!:

Delay may cause phasiness (mud?) when: ... panned too closely (like behind the lead vox) and/or < 31msecs.  Yeah, unless you're opting for comb-filtering/phasey effects (for 'horrific' guitars), 31 msecs +/- is a magic number.

IOWs (from my limited experience):

1) Keep delay >= 31 msces and <= to 50 msecs.  For Haas effects, 32 msecs is awesome for my ears (panned hard LT and RT for source and delay)
2) Or pan the delay strait down the middle if 50 msecs or so.
3) Delay and reverb envelopes are great for dominant elements.
4) Use a Delay Send only if your delay is constant for all your pertinant tracks (since you cannot control a send's delay in msecs).  Delay (like reverb) is a CPU hog (for me), so Delay Sends make sense.
5) Consider adding a 50 msec pre-delay to your reverb send instead
6) Roll off the lows (per Zuma and others) and also the highs
7) Compress before the delay
8) Consider Sonitus delay for most stuff; it is clear and fairly straitforward.  Personally, I haven't had much luck using delay "feedback" and such (in Sonitus)

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I've been using them and I'm getting some pretty good results. When I'm done with my mix, I'll post it. I'd love to get some feedback. This is my first "real" and you guys have helped a lot.