Getting Vocals to cut through a busy mix
One problem every mixer faces (aspiring and professional alike) is getting the vocal level correct with the music. Turn the volume too high, and it separates from the track. Turn it too low, and you lose intelligibility. While effects like reverb and delay and even small amounts of EQ and compression will usually do the trick, the problem always becomes exponentially worse in busy musical sections.
Take this case study - you’ve perfected the vocals in the verse, but when the chorus hits you completely lose them due to the increase in volume/intensity of the music.
Before I learned this trick, my initial instinct was to simply turn the vocal level up, but it always took away from the emotion of the song - the vocal ended up way to far in front of the mix, the increase in low/mid frequencies muddied the waters and the overall level started to over compress on my mix bus.
The solution:
I can’t take credit for this technique - it’s wildly used among professionals and has recently been publicized by Andrew Scheps. The basic concept is to use a combination of EQ and Compression in parallel with the unaltered signal to slam the high frequency content and create a sort of density for the vocal in the intelligibility range. The effect is turned up in busy sections as to not lose the impact of the music, but still make out the singer’s words and not lose the vocal.
Start by bussing your lead vocal track to an aux (I’d recommend Pre-fader so you can hear the effect in solo when you’re just starting with this technique). On the aux track, add 3 plugins in this order - your favorite EQ, your favorite compressor and your favorite EQ once more.
On the first EQ instance, add a drastic hi-self (boosting around +5dB around 8k) and a low shelf (- 5dB around 100hz). This will create a very shrill sounding vocal. Next, trigger the compressor to a relatively aggressive setting (I’d recommend 5dB average gain reduction with action and release to taste). On the second EQ, Add back in a low shelf and boost a few dB’s and add high-end back in to taste. The end result is a overly compressed version of just the high frequencies of your vocal. Automate the send to turn up in the chorus.
Schep’s recommends using PuigTec EQ’s and a LA-2A compressor. His specs below:
1st PuigTec:
Broadband = 6
-4dB at 100hz
+5dB at 8k
CLA-2A:
(high pass set at 100%), juice input to taste.
2nd PuigTec:
Broadband = 6
+6dB at 100hz
While this technique might seem a little long-winded, it makes a huge difference in creating vocal clarity in loud sections of a song. I’ve even tried using it in place of a de-esser!