In the 50th Into The Lair, Dave Pensado goes over some of his favorite techniques for getting a professional lead vocal sound! Shop the Sweetwater - Pensado's Place Store imp.i114863.ne...
It is funny how so many people tune in to listen to what an 'expert in his field' has to say about lead vocal treatment, only to post comments on all of the things that they perceive are wrong with how he does it. This is just my opinion, but it is not the engineer's job to re-write an artist's material, or to drastiaclly change the material to suit his taste; his job is to take the material, remove all the bad, and promote as much of the good in the material as possible. If you don't like Pensado's technique, then don't watch these videos. I will simply say this: he is being paid much more than most of us to mix music. The demand for his technique is indicated by the fact that he mixes some of the biggest artists in the industry. Anyone who is mixing a larger band, or being paid more money to mix, please feel free to critique Pensado, as I am sure he would appreciate your professional opinion.
Hallelujah !!! I have a long history for example of doing push-ups backstage (singing drummer here) and people telling me “you should keep your back straight, butt down, spread your arms”, etc I always stop midstride, look up ‘sardonically’ and say “would you like to warm up for me”? It’s always easy to critique from the sidelines.
More money and popularity dont mean he is better. Anyone can always learn from anyone. Dont be ignorant and say he cannot improve. Ive learned from people "worse" than me plenty.
Control and Shift while sweeping the frequency, gain, Q or breakpoint will also allow you to solo bands on the pro tools stock eq - a little-known trick!
At first, heard the auto-tune and thought 'oh man, this isn't even close to vocals I'm working on'. But don't let that turn your mind off. Be a student. I'm telling you guys, it took me 5 minutes to copy what Dave did on a vocal track I've been struggling with for weeks and the difference is night and day. Dave is laying out the blueprint, so take screenshots and apply the settings to whatever plugins you have. Dave, thank you so much for sharing!
Watched this months ago, been studying this whole time, now revisiting it...it makes MUCH more sense to me. Ahhhhh, what a little experience will do!!!
I have a whole new appreciation for this process. I've noodled around with music for 30 years. Even did some semi-professional recording but never really had a clue about a PRODUCERS and MASTERING. I'm hooked on Pensado's and giving us a glimpse on how the sausage is made and the true value this process brings. This is just as important as being a band member if you ask me.
Funny, I remember the days when you used a great mic on a great singer, ran it through a good mic pre, and maybe, just maybe, added a little limiting and/or tweaked the EQ and it sounded like heaven. Now they'll wheel any joker into a studio and use more computing power than the space shuttle to get a vocal track that nauseates me.
Well said Ronnie. I am very happy with the progress I made, and its videos like these ones that really help me learn just a little bit more about things. I hope as the year goes by I can intern at a studio and learn hands on just how much difference is made in a Professional high quality studio that leaves hardly any room for error.
Oldie but a goodie! I love how FF ProQ mk1 is new at the time. Looked great back then too! And I believe with UA Spark i may be using the same algorithm of the 1176
These videos are aimed at mix engineers who are working with recordings done at a high quality standard, and his mixes most-likely run through a summing mixer when he's done working with waves. There's a LOT that Pensado leaves out in these videos, and most people watching feel like they're just "not good enough" but it may just be your room, speakers, converters, or gear is what's lacking. After working with great gear long enough, your mixing guesswork improves substantially. Just keep at it!
All said, simpler is usually better. When we have the smorgasbord of plug ins available it is hard not to "try it all." Many a studio gig I've had has been ruined by opening the Pandora's Box of toys. Better to become very adept with fewer toys and milk them for all they are worth. That's why so much real music came out of the 70's and 80's.
There are good arguments either way in regards to plug-in but what really matters is the end result! I seen folks use less gear and software and turn out industry standard results! Keeping the listener in mind while mixing no matter what tools we use is the point. The listener (for the most part) doesn't care how the song was recorded. For us that do this is a great video. I'm always open to recording styles and use of equipment old or new that are different then how i record just for the knowledge of it.
"I seen folks use less gear and software and turn out industry standard results! " Yeah, and they probably had better vocal tracks to work with than Dave does in this video. Dave has golden ears, a ton of experience and more plugins than I can possibly imagine, and with the crap work submitted these days, he damn well needs all that. Engineers in Hollywood discreetly bemoan the utter absence of talent coming through the doors these days.
Because it clouds the audio making it overall muddier. Rolling off the low end also allows a gradual cut so there's no missing chunks of frequencies when being played through different speakers. Also you want to take away as many frequencies as you can without affecting the tone so the overall song can achieve a louder state when mastering. You would be surprised how much you can take off just but getting rid of a few unnecessary frequencies. I dont know if this is why, but thats my take on it
I think the idea is to get how he mixed the song and what's causing the things you hear, your musical taste and whether you like the autotune sound or not really is irrelevant and should be taken out of the equation if you're trying to do what people like Dave are doing. Also, I'm sure someone has already said something but Dave mentions 15k early in the video a couple times and I think he meant 1.5k. I make that mistake all the time
Really annoyed by the negativity regarding the vocals themselves. This isn't the right forum for you to bitch about the state of contemporary pop. Autotune vocals or not, this is very useful information and we should all be thankful that Dave is sharing it.
Did you noticed the chain order? De-esser first, Pensado compressor 2nd, EQ third, and 1176 last before the parallel stuff but I think he revealed it based on the order in which he added it to the vocal and found need to add more in a better order in the chain.
I'm completely in two minds about this. On the one hand I think this is a really useful video, and it's definitely a sound the market wants at the moment, but I also think you nailed it with your comment at the beginning - it's a vocal sound that will be seen as VERY much of its era in a few years. And that really can't come soon enough: I'm so tired of this autotuned vocal sound that literally EVERYONE is using. Another observation is that you talk about the aggressive squeezing going on with music nowadays and it's ironic that the solution to a situation in which there's too much of everything else is to... well, add more. This whole loudness war thing is something else that needs to come to an end: it's another factor that's making a lot of music these days sound similar. I mean no disrespect to you in saying this - because it's what the market wants - but this video would be better titled "Mixing Generic Pop Lead Vocal Tracks" because it's definitely going to help people nail that sound. Sorry for the rant, and great channel btw - loads of helpful info.
Great tutorial. Thank you. All the asinine comments are useless and people talking about how music was made and plugins this vs analog that with the kind of vapid venomous attitude displayed here probably haven't been in the industry long enough on a pro level. People who do this for real have a bit more class and open mindedness than what's being displayed. People with jaded opinions only vs people with experience with perspective and insight.
Thanks Dave for another great ITL. It's surprising to me how many degrading comments there are for this video regarding the artistic value of auto tuned vocals. Art is any individuals right to express themselves' freely. Also staying "new" like Dave said is the key to giving the people what they want. For the people hating on such great info I guess you will be stuck in your "pre-new" era where no one will want to listen to what you have to offer.. thank god lol
I think it's because those compressors are going to saturate and boost the low end anyway. If he didn't remove them in the first place, there would be too much bass after all the dynamic control. Like you say, you could use a shelf after instead, but I imagine the extra bass from the 1176 would end up driving the Shadow Hills harder than Dave wants for example. He's discussed things like that in previous videos.
my thing is people always complaining about something, if music didn't change you won't be able to do what you do now at home or studio. Just enjoy the few things that make it all worth while.
I can do verses and effects really well, but my biggest issue with vocals, is really creating that big nice sound for chorus vocals. I have every plugin imaginable but I still feel the biggest difference between my tracks and professional tracks is the smoothness that I hear from outboard compression. I feel like every Master Track has some sort of outboard gear running through it and I feel thats what really kills my final mixes.
I'd say that maybe the character gives different harmonics and effects the low end differently and use compression means the low end will be more consistent and want change alot as the voice changes but still sounds natural.
14ms is the delay which lets you add the doubled track at the highest possible level without losing the original as primary listening target. above 14ms the curve decays pretty flat until you get an audible echo wheras below 14ms, the curve declines very quickly.
Hi mr. Pensado Khappa MJ here, singer and producer. Doubler produces a very impressive effect but I prefer to use Harmony Engine, what you think about it mr. Pensado?
Dave, I want to know your honest opinion on autotune use and for example this song. I honestly can't believe you'd be excited to do a record like this?
so you are rolling off a lot of low end and then adding it back in via character (from analog gear and/or analog modelling)? Everything else your doing makes perfect sense to me. But I can't wrap my head around why the results are better with your approach then simply using a more subtle low shelf. Please understand I'm not questioning your technique, I just want to know why it works.
Anyone who directly opposes autotune better also dislike distortion on guitar. Time delays, phasers, and flange are also all out of the question bad ... :rolls eyes:
great work dave!!!!! i must say the buzz of having ur name printed on a bit of kit is gotta be worth more than money .......... p.s can u put a limiter on mitt romney?
Where would you return the Orville to? Would the frequency shelf of the de-esser on the parallel spring reverb could be set higher than the de-esser on the main vocal track? Basically lower than the main track, or higher than the main track but with a lower threshold?
I agree that the vocal isn't perhaps the best example he could have used; it was heavily processed with auto-tune as an effect before Dave even started working with it (not his fault) but I think that a vocal performance that was more "organic" (natural) and dynamic in character would have been better suited as an example of a "pro" lead vocal track. IMO of course.
Dave, do you have any videos that take a good look at mixing pop adlibs? Something like the last chorus of End Game by T Swift. Can't seem to find much on this subject on youtube and thought it would be helpful for a lot of producers out there. Thanks!
Dave!! I was trying to find the video where you explain how to use a De-esser, You say something like stop when you here the SSSS in the side chain mode... HELPP
What is the point of rolling off so much low end only to bring it back with compressors? I'd love for Dave to elaborate on that. Is it just for control? Also, about the 10db cut at 500hz, does this indicate a poor mic choice or is this not unusual?
Hey people. Sup? I want to know if someone can help me. What is that next to the speaker in red below to the sconce? Please I'll appreciate your feedback.
What's this thing with the "past 14ms"? When I use a haas effect I'd offset one channel anywhere between 8-20ms and I found that only after 25 to 30ms you would really start to get a noticable delay. Would you say that you get it much earlier or is there another secret with these 14ms? :)
This is frustrating in one respect: The additive effect simply takes over. Much of the same can be achieved with singular effects such as a stereo reverse chorusing which does three things at once. (1)At 14ms or above it spreads the vocal. (2)The natural comb filtering will add the upper mid boost. (3)The chorusing, used mildly with small feedback levels, will give that kind of softening effect he achieves while making the vocal more present in the mix.
God bless you; busy works soft has notNice tutorialng on tNice tutorials. I feel more comfortable from watcNice tutorialng tNice tutorials in mins than I have ever before.
So guys. i've just recorded a vocal track for a R&B / pop track.. I recorded the vocal on a sE 3500 microphone. Unfortunately this has an insanely high treble boost. It makes the sound flat and itchy in the ears, what am i going to do here?
It's 2019 and STILL haven't heard about this "d mechanic" ? I'm sorry, but the music sounds like some cheap video game soundtrack from the 80s and the vocal sounds like it's run through autotune with the rate turned all the way up. It strikes me as blips and beeps and odd sounds that have a rhythm but are going nowhere. :( That "new" EQ looks just like the one that comes standard in Reaper. You can add as many nodes as you want, make each node one of many kinds (band, notch, high or low pass, etc) and solo any of them, enable/disable any or all of them, stretch the Q way way wide or narrow, etc. I can hardly use any other eq. That is so intuitive and flexible, visually. You can automate every aspect of it in Reaper, too. Automate the gain, q, frequency, etc. Was the autotune applied before you got the data or if not, why wasn't autotune or whatever plugin it was not shown? That's part of the effects on that vocal track, yes?
