I’ve been away from the blog a bit because of mixing and mastering business but I’m back to share a big tip for music artists! I have experienced clients sending me stems that were supposedly “pre-mixed”. One in particular sent stems this week that were very heavy in the low-mids as well as the upperContinue reading “Why artists shouldn’t give mixing engineers pre-mixed material”
Tag Archives: vocal mixing
Does your vocal eq sound balanced?
So what makes a vocal sound so good that it leaves you speechless? Well other than the performance which is up to the singer…. it’s the tone and quality of the vocal. What makes the tone and quality good is a well balanced vocal. The right amount of lows, low-mids, mids, high-mids, and highs. SoContinue reading “Does your vocal eq sound balanced?”
Taking a long time to mix vs a quick mix
So this is sort of a debate between audio engineers. When you ask people how long they take to mix a song, I have heard a variety of answers. Some say an 8 hour day. Others have said two 8 hour days, some say half a day. So what is technically correct or just aContinue reading “Taking a long time to mix vs a quick mix”
A good visual is important in your DAW!
This article is targeted towards the non-Pro tools users! I have noticed that programs other than Pro tools have a bad visual for editing audio. Logic, garageband, presonus one, etc are just a few that come to mind. It is very important that we can visually see the gridlines and that we correctly set theContinue reading “A good visual is important in your DAW!”
Does 1 de-esser plug in do the trick?
Today I want to write about something that I had to learn over the years. One of those things where when you know the rules….you can break them! I always thought that using 1 de-esser plug-in was some sort of rule. If I used more than one then it would hurt the audio. While thatContinue reading “Does 1 de-esser plug in do the trick?”
Tuning the doubled vocals a little less than the main
So here is something that took years to finally figure out because no one teaches this….tuning the doubled vocal less than the main vocal. So obviously you want the main vocal to be pitched very tightly so that the listener isn’t turned off by a sour note here or there. This is a good mindsetContinue reading “Tuning the doubled vocals a little less than the main”
Having trouble getting your vocals to sit in a very busy instrumental?
I was mixing a song today for a hiphop artist and I did a technique that I have to do from time to time. The instrumental had some really driving synths and tons of high mid frequency energy throughout the track. When instrumentals don’t leave room for the vocal it can be a challenge toContinue reading “Having trouble getting your vocals to sit in a very busy instrumental?”
Are you struggling with eq on vocals?
Eq on vocals can be a bit hard at first. The main reason it’s hard is because of lack of ear training. It is very crucial to know what frequencies sound like, or else you will be playing a guessing game! It also helps to know the common problem areas in a vocal. Those problemContinue reading “Are you struggling with eq on vocals?”
Record your vocals with as much isolation as possible
Lately I have received a good amount of files to mix that have a lot of room sound to the vocals. While I can still make it work with some extra plug-ins that I will talk about soon, it is crucial to get an isolated sound. A dynamic microphone can be a great way toContinue reading “Record your vocals with as much isolation as possible”
Free plug-ins and included DAW plug-ins go a long way!
I want to share with you some great insight! You may overlook free plug-ins or not realize that there are free plug-ins but you shouldn’t sleep on this! I use a mixture of free and paid plug-ins every day and I definitely need both! I could even get by with just the free plug-ins ifContinue reading “Free plug-ins and included DAW plug-ins go a long way!”
Perfect Vocals Academy 