Tips for Mixing Screamed Vocals 

Train your ears in just minutes a day: quiztones.com
Get Unlimited Premium Mix Training: theproaudiofiles.com/members
A video with tips for mixing screamed vocals from Joey Sturgis, Eyal Levi and Joel Wanasek.
Learn how to mix in a whole new way: nailthemix.com // JSF Podcast: bit.ly/jsfpodcast
-
Transcript:
Joey: Number one, you're going to be dealing with compression. The vocals are probably the most dynamic instrument in your mix. They're going to be really quiet, really loud, from word to word, and especially with screaming vocals, I think there's a lot of dynamics in the actual tone of the voice. You know, lots of fluctuation in terms of the size and the depth of the sound. Compression can kind of help you flatten that out a little bit, and make more of the characteristics of the screaming come to the forefront of the mix.
Now, however, not everyone uses compression. I know there are some people that use limiting. Like you Joel, is that right?Joel: Oh my god, I limit the crap out of my vocals. What I like about limiting versus lighter compression is lighter compression usually requires a lot of automation, and I think that if you limit, it brings in a certain level of aggressiveness to the vocals. Especially if you use a limiter that distorts well. For example, I like Waves L1 is awesome, or your Gain Reduction is really awesome.
That's technically a limiter, not a compressor, right?Joey: Yeah, it's kind of a cross between - it's definitely in the middle ground, for sure.
Joel: I've never checked or cared enough to even think about it. I just turn it on and go like this, and then I'm happy. [laughs]
But I like limiting because it can add some nice subtle saturation sometimes, and it can help the vocal cut, because it can give it that little extra bit of pop in the mix, and it allows you to have the control where you adjust the level and the dynamics as you choose.
Joey: Yeah, and I think with compression, you probably - a good starting point for aggressive vocals would be really fast attack and pretty fast release as well, which kind of becomes a limiter at that point, but that's what you're dealing with.
Now, once you compress a little bit more and you start to bring out all of the levels, you're going to notice that your esses are going to get louder. So, to deal with that, basically you would either do some multi-band compression or de-essing. What exactly are you guys using for de-essing when you encounter this?Joel: Well, I just like usually the stock Cubase one, or like the stock Waves de-esser, but I usually like to de-ess sometimes a little bit before compression, because sometimes compression can bring out the sibilance a little bit more. Like the attack of those frequencies, or I'll pre-EQ some of that stuff out.
You can experiment with going pre and post, but if that doesn't work, you can go and by hand do EQ automation or volume ride automation, but you have to be very careful of vocal peaks on the esses and the tees and all of that fun stuff.
Eyal: I guess in addition to everything they've said, one of the main-stays for vocals with me would be the use of distortion and saturation, and there's a few different reasons for why it's kind of like a life saver when it comes to heavy vocals.
First of all, I'll say that my two favorite distortions would be Decapitator and Saturn. They sound great on vocals.
One of the main reasons that I use them on vocals is because sometimes, you put all of the compression in the world on this super aggressive vocal, and still it just doesn't gel with the mix. Much like the way that if you put a clean bass guitar under a heavy mix, it would just kind of stick out like a sore thumb.
Adding the distortion helps somehow glue it in well. Also, if a guy just doesn't have enough of that balls in his throat, the distortion helps to bring it out very much. Adding those harmonics to a voice will really, really help to make it sound as aggressive as it needs to, and conversely, you can smooth out the vocals if you need to as well with gentle saturation.
So there's many, many reasons to use it. Plus, everybody loves really crazy lo-fi distortion effects at times with distortion, so.
Joel: Hey, Eyal, do you ever like parallel distortion or saturation on your vocals? Because I'm a huge fan of that.
Eyal: Absolutely. I parallel that stuff all the time. Take a super distorted - I mean, distorted at like, 100% with the mix knob all the way, and have that very, very quiet under your main track. It definitely tends to help the aggression and the cut come out.
[truncated]

Видеоклипы