Vocals are typically the centrepiece of any track so having a clean and present vocal mix is critical for your completion. We can learn vocal mixing to improve vocal clarity and presence can have a huge impact on the quality of your mixes, whether you only work in a home studio or are mixing professionally.
Proper Recording Techniques
At the root of any good mix lie great vocals recorded. Hook up a quality microphone and preamp, make sure you’re miked correctly. The proper treatment of a room can also take care off the unwanted reflections and background noise, while recording.
EQ (Equalization)
EQ is key to vocal clarity is absolute key to vocal department clarity. Cut any low frequencies that are simply not needed at all, use a high pass filter in the region of 80-100 Hz to remove rumbles and bottom-end noise.
Compression
Compression is utilized to handle the dynamic range of those vocals for them to be more consistent and in your face. Set the release time to allow enough gain riding so that when there are pauses between phrases, the compressor will return to unity gain.
De-essing
Vocal recordings have unique problems that come with sibilance restrictions. A de-esser reduces harsh “s” and “sh” sounds without changing the tone. Adjust the de-esser to treat 5-8 kHz and set a threshold that is suppressed, but not so as you are dulling down vocals.
Reverb and Delay
You can add a short discrete reverb… this way your vocal will not disappear in the mix. You can use a pre-delay to prevent the reverb from cluttering up your sound. Just as well, a timed delay can provide depth without overcrowding the mix. By limiting the use of these effects, it insures that the vocals stay at attention.
Achieving vocal presence and clarity is a combination of good recording methods, accurate, controlled compression & gating (including limiting), transparent de-essers, learn vocal mixing, as well as the use of tasteful reverb and delays. By discovering all these dirty little secrets you will be able to make vocal mixes that just jump out of the speakers, hit in you in your stomach and heart every time ensuring your songs compete with any other song for attention.