Avoiding Dull Vocals | FAQ Friday - Warren Huart: Produce Like A Pro 

Warren, the more I think about it, the more I feel like this is the best audio engineering channel on RU-vid. You always give great advice and it's always very specific and practical. Thanks man!

I really needed to hear this. Sing it when you are in it. The essence of the song.

R.I.P. master Dunlop. Thank you for your constant knowledge sharing

Hi Friends! Thanks ever so much another fine load of marvellous Frequently Asked Questions! I really enjoy talking about vocal mixing and vocal recording. Yesterday we lost a great in our industry, Jim Dunlop who many ion us know from not just Guitar Picks but of course for the Cry Baby Wah Wah which he pushed into the mainstream! R.I.P Jim Dunlop!

About the dull vocals question. I use dynamic eqs a lot for that. TDR Nova is a great free one ;)

27:06 Fun fact: Schnizzleton is actually the name of the village where Warren was born.

Warren, your passion and excitement for creation and engineering are absolutely contagious! Thank you for all the work you put into making your videos. They are a treasure trove of information and experience. Blessings, my friend!

12:26 regarding de-essing. FabFilter Pro-DS used to be the best solution, but DeEss from Airwindows has revolutionised de-essing-and it's donationware. Rather than just being a dynamic compressor that kicks in and squashes everything in the range that you've set, it actually recognises the waveform characteristics of the harshness of sibilance and smooths them out without attenuating the sound in that frequency range, so all the brightness is preserved. Only the harshness is tamed. I had always wondered why no one had done that. It's very easy to see sibilance in a waveform, so I couldn't understand why no one had made something that approached de-essing in that way. I switched to REAPER several years ago, so what I do is crank DeEss all the way up so it sounds totally lispy, then I use the wet/dry setting that REAPER has for every plugin, and bring in just enough of the dry signal to restore enough sibilance to sound natural. Also, I'll duplicate the track, remove the copy from the master send and route a completely DeEssed version of the vocal to an FX send for reverb, delay, or anything other effect that makes sibilance problematic. It's an amazing plugin. It's amazing on cymbals, too. Chris Johnson publishes his code for anyone to use, and about a month after he came out with DeEss, Waves released their "Organic Sibilance" plugin that is a complete rip off of his code. They could at least have given him credit for it! Anyone with a conscience should boycott Waves for many reasons, the biggest of which would get me banned from RU-vid if I posted it here. (I boycott Avid, too, but just because Pro Tools is a piece of garbage which hasn't done anything innovative enough to get anyone to want to upgrade, so they force the Avid tax on their users through a subscription model and artificial limitations.)

Excellent FAQ Friday. Once again I learned a Schnizzleton.

For the people who asked about the sibilance, you don't really need to worry about it now that Chris Johnson at Airwindows wrote DeEss (donationware). It recognizes the waveform characteristics of sibilance and smooths it out WITHOUT employing a multband compressor that will affect everything in that frequency range. Priceless plugin. I crank it all the way up as the first plugin in the chain on any FX sends for the vocals, and I put just enough of it as an insert on the track itself. I crank that one up all the way as well, and mix in some of the dry signal until it sounds totally natural. (This is really easy in REAPER as it has a wet/dry knob for every plugin. I remember doubling vocals for the first time when I did my first album for Shrapnel Records. Thing was, the producer wanted them doubled without it sounding like they were doubled, so, if I was lucky, I'd get a daily to take home so I could memorize what I'd done so I could duplicate it exactly. If I wasn't lucky, I'd just get to listen to a couple of lines, then have to do it. It was pretty grueling, but the results were great. No one had any idea the vocals were doubled. Doing an exact replication of songs that had melodies that stretched four and half octaves and some incredibly long note holds was tricky, but it really got me ready for the road. We had no Melodyne, no Pro Tools; only talent. Those were the days!

Shnizzle-ton! Next T-Shirt... "Produce Like A Pro - Learn a Shnizzle-ton!"

Thank You, Thanks for being an amazing mentor :)

Great advice on using DeEssers! In a similar vein, I've been using the TDR Nova dynamic EQ to control low mids like a DeEsser. As a result, the vocal normally sounds warm and the proximity effect, perhaps from some missed mic technique, is controlled when it's excessive.

Warren, be blessed!

Love working around the vocals. The thing about recording when you're in the feeling is so vital... I'm really gonna take these advices to heart. THNX!

Hey PLAP-Team and Warren, thanks again. I have to repeat myself, again worth any second watching.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. And RIP Jim Dunlop.

Love your stuff. Recording now, you've helped me so much!

I liked all what you said, but the part about the dynamics of younger singers was so, I mean sooo awsome. Thank you so much.

You are sooooooo spot on with your talk about getting the emotion of the feeling in the vocal when it's there !!! At the most vulnerable time for the singer... Even if the song is not complete even in the writing... I feel that the main writing is done after 8 bars even... Cause the song is a transfer of your most strongly felt emotion that brought you to finding the need to bring it to the sound of the emotion !

Always with the best videos. Thanks man!

RIP Jim Dunlop!

Thank you so much for this! So much invaluable advice for someone trying to record their own songs.

The best recording advice!

Thanks again Warren and team for another round of FAQ. As always, great content! :-D

Thanks Warren, this helps with the very dynamic stuff. 🙂

Thank you ever so much Mr Huart!! Always so in depth, marvellous teacher!! RIP Jim Dunlop

Amazing information !! Keep up the great work !!

Super FAQ Friday again. Thanks Warren.

I love his picks it's one of the best picks for gripping...I would always look for them first

I'm sure that Warren is often faced with making the most from many Vocalists that are simply dull but the darlings of a pop trend. Another challenge is making the best from Vocalists that have remarkable voices. Then he faces the lack of cohesive cooperation of band members and that's why Warren is on top of every angle in the book and is great at saving the day. His best "Trick" I am happy to say, is to simply get a flat rendition of a song first, and then build from there. Since I am "Old School" for me that is exactly where the adventure must start and did so even in the days of black knobs and no sliders. My tech knowledge is meager but having been lucky enough to work on the A&R side and singing when I could mostly for fun I am positive that anyone that uses Warren will not be disappointed.

Warren thanks for the video. Great advise and always appreciated.Have a great weekend my friend.

Thank you Warren! Great questions and tips as always! Have a great weekend!

Learned something new again. Thanks for making this video

Great video and excellent advice. Keep it up sir.

Lewitt LCT 440 Pure, let me tell ya. Cheap mic for us budget guys, but man it sounds great. And the best part, it's not super bright so the S-es aren't to bad. But DeEssers are pretty standard in every vocal chain. Also studio monitors (decent ones) are designed to let you know that something is annoying in the sound. Things will not be as harsh on consumer speakers.

Thank you so much Warren! Greeting from Canada! I learned so much, thank you for sharing your knowledge! Thank you!

Nice faq friday Warren, bravo! 👍

In the S and P's on vocal.. the air from the mouth is pushed out and downward.. I have had nice results adjusting the mic slightly above the upper lip of the vocalist. Eliminates the S's and P pops, without having to back off normal distance or thinning. Ive not tried the pencil trick. Defo give it a go next time to mix things up

Hey Warren, I asked this on one of your livestreams but it was a bit cluttered so I figured I'll ask here aswell. I'm currently deciding between the Kali LP-6es and the Focal Alpha 65s as my new main studio monitors. I figured since you have experience with both companies you could give me some very informed advice and lord knows I need it. Thanks and great work as always!

Excellent video, top notch content!

Great video, as always! Thank you so much for sharing! In the song "Young and Restless" the background vocals have a kind of "twisted, tuned, compressed" vocal sound? What is the technique behind that sound? Best Regards / CJ

Great video and info! Thanks ! Are you not using the Focal monitors anymore? Thanks again!

Good energy today... chuckled a lot. Thanks! Oh and your relaxed natural maven qualities are a boon wether one is a pro or noob.

my favourite shnizzle on any video, its all in the delivery and the performance))

Thanks for giving us tips and being our mentor😎

Beautiful advice. Thank you, Warren :)

Excellent info on vocals!

Thank you Warren, it is always nice to know some background knowledge. At the same time It makes it also always very clear to me that I would make my final recordings only with a Pro like you are. Nice to create and record ideas at home..but when it is time to record it...it should be Warren Huart time. :-) I really like your approach. Cheers, Angel.

Thanks! Great Advice. I was just working on a song where I kept trying to re-record the vocals. I could not capture the same feeling I had in some of the earlier takes.

How about mixing your own vocals? I don't know about everyone else, but I become super critical and keep tweaking for ages. So hard to judge what's good or not.

As usual, great great video Warren!! It´s imposibble not to learn a lot from your videos.

HI Warren, I've been learning from you and the academy for 3 years now and I finally felt confident enough to record my first gig! I will be working with a 4 piece country rock band with two of the members in the rock hall of fame so I would say they are professionals. :) I will be tracking 12 songs live in a studio using all my gear minus the instruments of course, also overdubbing vocals later, mixing and mastering the album. I quoted them $150 per song do you think that's an ok price?

Hey Warren, hope all's well with you sir. Was just wondering if you've ever worked with any artists/musicians who you didn't really like or whose music you weren't that keen on (not looking for any names obviously). If so I'd be curious to know what your reason was? Was it simply the money, perhaps it was the opportunity to work with a high-profile artist to raise your own profile, maybe you have a fear of saying "no" to work in case it all dries up or perhaps you had another reason. Cheers for all the awesome videos; you're so giving of your time and experience. We all appreciate it.

Keep on keepin' on good sir! Feed the world : )

I like the idea of riding the gain while recording vocals, but it's hard to do when you're recording yourself singing. I guess I'm gonna have to exercise more self-control when I sing. However, I'll definitely try it next time I record my bandmate "singing" backing vocals.

Very interesting tips, thank you Warren! One point I've come to disagree on is using early vocal recordings. This is probably a matter of personal workflow. In my projects I do record guide vocals as soon as possible, but then use them to learn, rehearse, and try to improve. I compare this to the situation when a singer manages to achieve a better live rendition by re-singing a song countless times and finally outperforming the original studio recording. But of course everyone's flow will be different.

Thank you som much for sharing your knowledge and time! I'm just about to release my first original song to Spotify ect. A lot of the techniques I used I learned from you =)

VERY NICE ! Warren

Veeeery good FAQ Friday! :)

I believe I got it from Dave Pensado, but you can go in a cut the clip gain on just the "s" a little to keep them from striking the compressor so hard. I find it does help if I have a really excessive S.

Warren, great stuff here! Thanks. What’s your take on the AKG Solid Tube mic for vocals?

thancks a lot to you warren and the team! i really love to work with you some day but the travel ban wouldn’t let us in. which mic do you recommend to use mainly?

haha now I have an idea when you are gain riding on the hardware preamp. there are those gain rider plugins, Waves has a popular one. you can record a typical take (given the singer is so reliable) without touching the hardware. have your gain rider plugin create midi data for volume control. then, plug some hardware automation motor on the preamp input knob, and route it to the midi data that was generated. (also there should be lots of shnizzle stuff out there for robotics students who want to automate a rotating axis) use some midi tech tool plugin to have a shift and scaling factor. you might edit the midi data a little bit. but then, you can record many more takes with the preamp unattended. does anyone do this already?

What did you do with the Focals?

Your lyric sheet with comping notes looks just like mine. Stars and circles and parentheses. Pretty high tech. 😁

Hi Warren, if you produce and co-write with an artist in your studio and it gets optioned by a major label for release, who owns the recording? Does the label acquire the master recording, or do they lease it from you?

I need to save up for more proper mics and black shirts. I just have an inexpensive dynamic mic that I have had for over a decade and I have an AKG P420. They get the job done but I'm really just getting my feet wet in producing vocalists. I have always just written and produced instrumentals. Again, thanks so much for what you are doing. I have learned a lot since I have subscribed.

I go in and individually cut the S' in the take and bring the clip gain down first and make sure that the crossfade doesn't make the S' sound unnatural. Terribly overly excessive but I think it sounds better.... some times :)

I learned a lot in this one. I think I may Join the Academy

Excellent tips and ideas, as always. Have you done or can you do a segment on dealing with squeaky acoustic guitar string noises? I've tried surgically removing them by automating the volume and I've tried EQ adjustments, but nothing seems to work. Sometimes the squeakiness occurs as the guitarist is intentionally sliding into chords or notes, so the volume adjustments don't work because they impact the notes that need to be heard. And I can't seem to find a frequency (or frequencies) in the EQ spectrum that really tame the squeaks. How do you handle it? Can you give an example?

Happy Friday!

You've up the game with the video quality as well. A noticeable difference to match the advice.

Thank you

That TEC award looks good sitting up on the Kali. Now you just need a second one for the other side! ;-)

Great tribute to Jim Dunlop. Right on Warren!

I'm curious about normalization. I have seen it used before but I dont quite understand the reason behind using it versus gain. I was playing a soft finger picked guitar part and out of curiosity, I clicked normalize track after I finished recording itand it shot my volume up 10 fold. When should it be used and why?

How many takes would you have to get the notes down on the lyric sheet?

Hi Warren, love the faq Friday’s! Apart from myself, I’m sure a lot of your other followers would like to know how you go setting your mic pres when they’re included in your audio interface such as the Audient you’ve used? Are you able to juice up the mic pre to near top level while still recording conservative level in your DAW? My mic pres are included in my audio interface, and the level the DAW records is set by the level of the mic pre coming out of the audio interface, ie, I can’t independently set the level of mic pre & record level of the track in the DAW.

Can you do a video on doing vocals on old school punk vocals and/or industrial vocals? Can’t find any.

Hey, would the waves Vocal rider plugin do similar to riding the gain with a dynamic vocalist? Thanks

As always, great advice. However, I'm a bit skeptical about "being in a moment" recording because you can easily confuse it with demoitis. Anyway, it's good to know how it works for you.

The pencil trick, is it better up and down or horizontal?

Hey! This is good advice but my vocals still seem to sound pretty dry even using effects and eq etc. I record dry but they still seem to sound like I recorded through my phone mic lol. I use a pretty good mic, pop filter etc, and edit with Adobe Audition. I want my vocals to sound more professional. Like make them sound fuller and warmer and not dry. Is there anything I can do? I'd appreciate any advice you can give :D.

Так и быть - Subscribed

I'm gonna listen to this a few times. Thanks mate (^n haha)

Is there anything that can help lessen the learning curve of developing a good ear for EQing? As with learning an instrument, there can be things that we do that we think are helping us progress, but in fact, they are doing exactly the opposite... are there pitfalls to steer clear of for developing your ear?

Schenelzeton......nice word.

You look like a DJ on your Bae1073. Nice

right on time , just had to mix some dull ass vocals 🤦🏽‍♂️

Hi Warren, Lyrics Sheets would be a great addition to the Multitracks in the Academy! Cheers, Daniel

Hi Warren, so very sad about jim Dunlop, thanks for these great tips, all the best Darren Ross.

Thanks for another helpful video Warren! You've been looking a bit tired lately - how long has it been since you've taken a week off? I'm guessing never. ;) Take care of yourself, ok?

I really like you man. ( No pun indented) Would LOVE to work with you. Seem like a great personality. Keep up the great vibes and videos. Blessings

Hey Warren have you ever done a video on live recording a horn band?

Raise your pints lads for Jim Dunlop!

It's all in the moment :)

Lot of gold nuggets today

Thank FAQ it’s Friday

Problem is that on homestudios you barely have money for a decent condenser microphone for vocals, let alone more than one to try. De-esser's in fact tend to work a lot better than eq. Anyway Warren, why do manufacturers tend to do that overhyped highend on microphones? Compensate for low quality? I don't know if your ever realised, but most condensers, being based on actual famous condensers, get a LOT better if you just swap the capsule.