I’ve been producing music for years and the way you’ve just explained compression has made me understand how, when and why to use it.. thank you. Subbed.
They way you think about your mix decisions is exactly what I like about your videos I’m not a newbie by any chance But I always take something away from your videos Thank you 🙏
There is a phenomenon, the fletcher munson effect which makes mixing Interesting, you have to find an optimal level, not too loud not too quiet. Also, I was taught to turn the volume of your speakers way way down and you can hear if your vocal Is the loudest part of the mix or too quiet. You have to listen carefully especially In parts where you think it maybe getting lost. "The Fletcher Munson Curves help explain why quieter music seems to sound less rich and full than louder music. The louder music is, the more we perceive the lower frequencies, and thus it becomes more full and rich."
When the singer singers Ooooooo, that time an annoying frequency pops up (extremely painful high eeeeeeeeeeeechiiiiiiii type) I have this in my vocals a lot, I don't to how to remove it as it is all over my vocals. Can you tell us how to treat this, use this same vocals and the section where he sings oooooooo at 4:23
For me, volume automation is essential no matter how much I compress. I go through the entire lead vocal and adjust the volume on almost every note. I say volume, but I usually do this in the form of clip gain BEFORE the compressor. That way the compressor isn't working extra hard for notes I'm just going to turn down anyway. I also almost always use parallel compression. I double the lead vocal, add heavy compression and saturation, and blend it in under the lead track. It's amazing how that evens out the perceived volume of the lead vocal.
This is fantastic! The only concern I encounter is with my perception. When I'm EQing or compressing vocals in solo, my mind tends to create a deceptive memory of the mix, causing me to mix everything incorrectly. I've learned that I should never make corrections or mix solely S. i guess that's how my ears+Brain work :)
Joe .. BRILLIANT video. This has been the bane of my existence for over 7 years .. and I tried this method on a track that has been particularly difficult for me .. BOOOM .. vocals sit perfectly .. I couldn't believe how much impact paying attention to each frequency of the vocals would have and then to really use compression in the proper way to lift the vocals. The only addition I made, and I only for certain songs, I added a very gentle limiter at the very end. Just enough to bring up the volume a tad without any real true reduction overall from the limiter. Sounds SOOO GOOOD.
It is curious that most of the pop song now being release have the vocals below or at the level of the music. The voice often simply acts like another instrument.
Which recent pop songs do this? I feel like it’s the opposite with the vocals always being the loudest element in the song. I feel like the vocals below the music technique was most common before the 2000s
I hear this mostly in rock. It's been that way for a while. Even take Radiohead in the 90s. It's impossible to make out Thom Yorke's lyrics in the mix. It's like the vocals are 'surrounded' by the music, so quite literally sitting 'in' the mix.
Hip hop needs to go back to under the beat in my opinion. I feel like because lyrics now aren't as intricate as they used to be this changed , but they are being pushed wayyy to far on top imo... The instrumentals in rap today are soooo good they carry the genre now
I've noticed this phenomenon, too. I don't believe it is a stylistic choice but a questionable mix. The majority of the Hot 100 is good, on the vocal levels.
Great video ! But it's a little annoying when you zoom in and keep some of the controls you're adjusting offscreen so we can't see what you are doing (high EQ moves, compression make up and so on).
Their is a Dip I Put into the Master/main track that has my Instrumental on it at around the 1k-4k range and use my vocal track input as the Sidechain. Then I'll "spread" the Instrumental, using a stereo imager and widener and then I'll Boost the Left/right channel or push the Instrumental just to the left and right channels (wideners do this and so do stereo control plugins) Then I'll work hard on it but I try to "up the Kick so it sounds center and the snares set triangular in the Mix (left/right/top) like a pyramid if you could hear the shape. I SOMETIMES Find also using a Clipper on the Vocal track works to help with peaking over the Instrumental but also keeping it sounding like it's cradled.
This is great! It reminds me when someone asked Mike Dean how he got a good vocal mix and said "I turn them up a bit louder than the music" 😂 Love the eq advice and that you are not doing a "compress it all to #$%^ Vocals sound a bit like Muse.
small music theory tip. If your progression is minor 1-maj5 1st inversion(in this case Dm-A7/C#), it's good practice not to double the third in your melody. there are exceptions, but when the 3rd is your target note in the melody, and your bass note is that leading tone also, the doubled leading tone results in a kind of unsatisfying hollow sound. If you want to keep the melody the same, resolving to that C#, good ole A7 with the A in the bass works fine, but there are other options. A7/E grants contrary motion which is nice, then then you can hit Dm/F after which is a good payoff. A7/G is like a castlevania sound which can rock. You can also climb down Dm-Gm/Ab-Dm/A-A7sus/G. like a chord on each of your melody notes. Probably too chordy but try it Alternatively, if you want to keep the C# in the bass, hang on that high Bb, then when you hit the A7/C#, sing your "sus" up there. "pro-" on Bb and "'mised" on A. This would make a b9-8 suspension over an inverted dominant which is a smoother, more solid choice when it comes to proper voice leading/counterpoint. emotionally, you'll also achieve a real "weeping" quality that comes from this badass b9 suspension over the inversion
I could have used this for a group challenge I was doing the last two nights! But alas, except for "butter compression" this is basically what I did. I do have one question: when you set the makeup gain on the first compressor, did you raise the channel input volume? I was expecting you to use the GAIN on the compressor itself. Great instructional video JG.
Well done Joe as always. Much appreciated. One question.. what if you do overdubs to thicken? Do you shoot for different EQ profiles or mirror each to be the same? Thank you 😎🤙
This is great advice! One question though, how would you approach a static mix for an a cappella track? It feels like vocals are harder to nail down in one spot than instruments, so when all the tracks are vocals, it feels extra tricky to get even a workable static mix before eq and compression and leveling work.
automate a utility gain on each vox track, get everything consistent first. You can also chop and gain automate each quiet or loud part. waves vocal rider can do this for you but the old school way is to do it by hand. Hope that helps
Yeah, fix the eq, then "smash" it. You can also do alot of clip-gaining to put less stress on the compressor. That's more work, but can give a better result result. Bottom line, the better the vocal performance, the less you have to mess with it. Good stuff!!! 1) Could you ask Presonus to put the Input and Ouput level meters back to beside eaxh other, in the GUI? 2) I feel like the auto-gain button (EQ/Compressor) does not work right? Or I don't understand it... Not getting the levels I would expect when A/B-ing between "In" and "Bypass". Thanks 😊
Have you ever tried the Waves MV2 ? Hi there friends always learning from you from the beginning 10 years ago 🙏 thank you very much for the beautiful teachings
The trash compactor analogy made it real easy to understand thanks, the 2nd compressor, and the 2nd EQ, technique were great too. I make my instrumentals in GarageBand. I now see the importance of mixing the vocals. My question is do we really need to use the EQ and compressor on the different instrument parts or no? What if you already like the way the beat sounds already, do you really have to mix the beat?
Superb mate, I've never really had to mix full on vocal with my genre of music before! This explains it perfectly for what I struggled with last night in a mix 👍 Definitely gonna look at your 5 step plan 🤙
Thanks for the Compression Tips. I used to know how to do it but now that you refreshed my thoughts I'll give mixing a try later on today. God bless you
i have recently been able to upgrade all of my equipment going from an iphone using garage band and my apple headphones to make music to buying a microphone, ableton, an interface, and a quality pair of headphones to step my music making up but it got so overwhelming and so i decided to focus on vocal production first because i’ve always been so intrigued by it!! lmao but anyways i’m off topic now but this is the first video where someone’s explained something in a way a beginner can understand ! i definitely got so much out of this ! i was watching other videos and i was like okay but WHY are we adding this stuff like what does it do!!! and you answered a majority of my questions. everyone else i’ve watched has just showed them doing it and not really explained anything and the before and after are huge improvements but how did you get there??😭😭 like adding different layers to not mess up the sound you’ve created or fix something else from a sound you like just makes so much sense when you EXPLAIN IT.
Brooo I’ve been into producing since high school I’m 23 now… and how you explained compression and everything overall! Insane🔥 Definitely you got the gift of teaching.
Thanks again Joe! 🙏🏻 I just wanted to encourage and let you know that you've taught me just about everything I know and I look forward to every video, eager for something new to learn. You & Gregor have brought me a long way and I'm incredibly appreciative. 💕
