Re:new here vocals question
2011/03/12 11:55:18
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First off punctuation is your best friend on a forum like this. That way people really understand you.
Now for mixing a song. It really is an art that takes time to learn. First off the most important thing is to get clean clear tracks, both the instruments, and the vocals. Don't add effects at first cause that can confuse things at first.
Once the tracks all sound decent, mute the vocals, and adjust so that the instruments are all in harmony, and visualize a stage and pan the instruments like each member of the band is in his relative spot. Drums sort of in the middle, bass just a tad to the left, accoustic guitar a bit right, and lead guitar to the right a bit more. Piano to the left of the bass player. mix them so that each seems to not over power the other but sits in it's own space sonically.
Add a stereo buss in the mixer view and add a reverb effect to it. Next add a send to each instrument track, and add a touch of reverb to the tracks that need it. It is probably best not to add reverb to all tracks, as it can get a bit much quickly. maybe a touch to the accoustic guitar, and piano, and a tiny bit to the drums to make the cymbols sing. (later when you learn to have separate drum tracks you can reverb the cymbols only)
Now un mute the vocal track, and dial up the volume so that the vocals sit just a bit out front of the instruments where it sounds just slightly slightly too loud, not a lot, but a little. It will seem like that vocal track does not quite belong. Now add a send to that track as well, and slowly dial up a little bit of reverb and listen to the vocal slowly fall back toward the mix and when it sounds like it is sitting in the mix properly stop. If you have too much 'verb it will start to sound too far in the mix, and not as a lead track, too little and it stands out to far.
Next add another stereo buss and add a compression effect, and do the same only add compression to tracks that seem just a bit lifeless, and need a tiny bit of punch. Too much compression will ruin a mix.
Next add an multiband EQ to the master buss (if you do not have one setup add a stereo buss,a nd route all tracks to that , and the stereo buss to the main out. Place the EQ on that stereo buss. adjust the eq so that the muddiness is gone. Mud or heavy frequencies are usually between 1500 and 4000 htz. Roll of any thing under about 200 htz, and anything over about 20,000 you can't hear it anyway.
Lastly add a master limiter to the last position of the stereo buss after the EQ and make sure the mix does not tag the red on the meter.
Actually you should keep the mix from tagging the red in the recording process, as that is digital clipping and will result in a bad track.
All of this is subjective to what you have, and what you want. But gives a basic idea of what to do. Read a lot, and study the craft.
Finally getting good results depends many times on skill, but equipment does help. A laptop or desktop's sound card, and a cheap mike will limit your progress. The heart and soul of a recording studio is the interface that routes everything into the software. Save up and buy a decent recording sound card or inter face. The guys here can help with suggestions, if you give some input as to what you do and how you do it.