Vocal Compression Mistakes 

Allow me to help everyone with a simple compression tip for everything! Compression NEEDS to be first in your chain (like on an SSL channel strip) First set your ratio. Set your attack to its slowest setting and release to its fastest setting. Pull your threshold down to reduce 3 or 4 dB. Then adjust your attack till you see some pumping going on. Then adjust your release to a slower setting. You want your compression to actually fit the tempo of your track. Boom...perfect every time. Remember..low ratios for punch...high ratios for control

Your tip of placing the compressor before the EQ literally changed everything in one of my mixes instantly. I was wondering why my vocals and guitar were so harsh, they sounded better without the compressor at first.

6:00 You just solved my problem that i been having for a while!! My vocal has been coming out to thinn Thanks Joe!

It's almost like the cat has been let out of the bag. I've been watching videos for years in which producers were telling hobbyists not to overcompress, touch the needle, or use multiple compressors gently. Now in a short space of time, I keep seeing videos from pros like this one, saying, you know this compression thing, use lots of it after all...

Hi Joe, just found this video and again, you are a lifesaver . I use to think because so many say it to not compress over 3 Db and have more compressors do the work, however, maybe that works well when a vocal is recorded in a high end studio or someone stood very far from the mic. I experience a lot that dynamics on words were sticking out and I kept watching the needle on the compressor that it didn't hit over 4 or 5 because that would be bad according to...I use today, like I see you doing, much more compression than I did before and I listen more than watch the needle. I do use more than 1 compressor though. Also with EQ. I experienced the same thing being very afraid cutting more than 2 to 3 Db in the 300-400 muddy section. I would loose the thick full voice I recorded, but in the mix it always sounded so woofie (is that a word?) It just sounded so present and mono and you can hear every pitch mistake of the singer even when tuned because the some thicker sound and thinner sound a singer makes is clearly audible when its too thick in that frequency range. I was afraid cutting toward 6 because that would be wrong and the vocal looses it's body it's said, however, in the mix it does sound a whole lot better and the varieties between the thick and thin pitch mistakes are barely audible. Boosting afterwards to get the fullness back works good as far as I now understand. Years I am wrestling getting a radio ready vocal and I am still not there where I want to have it, but a lot closer thanks to your videos, your advice, the love for music you share with us all. They say; sharing is caring, well you care my friend, and I want to thank you for giving your time to keep making new videos that will help us all to do better in composing, mixing and recording. Thanks 🙂

This, literally, did get me excited about mixing on a random inquiry at 5:30 in the morning. Thanks, Joe. Keep em coming.

Fantastic breakdown!

Okay, I've been doing eq first in thr vocal chain, and switching them around sounds much better here. I'm going to experiment with this on my record coming up! Thanks Joe, love these videos!

Joe you literally ended all of my recent vocal mixing frustrations by pointing out the eq before compressor phenomenon. Thanks a million!!!!

Thanks, great tips!

Thank you joe!

Thanks a lot!!

Clear and concise

You Got a Great Voice Joe. Love your tutorials. Thanks.😎

It's been 4 years now and I owe a great deal to you. Keep up the good schooling.

Thanks a lot. You have taken me to a new level.

Great explanation on how to hear compression!

so glad i came across your videos, they're always straight to the point and helping a lot considering i'm just starting out mixing, thank you Joe!

Thanks Joe, makes good sense, will try your methods out, cheers.

thank you!

I have been a full time mix engineer for 22 years and I still learn so much from you! Thank you for all of your hard work you put in these videos!

Hey Joe, thanks for the info ...

Thank you Joe. I rely learned a lot from you and made my vocal poetry better.

Nice. I came. across this exact issue recently and fixed it with the process taught here. I credit your recording and mixing classes with finding the path. Thanks Joe.

This was awesome Joe,, thank. Perfect timing cheers Keith Chadwick

I love your videos, simple to the point and i always learn something new, finally no more harsh vocals, and all we had to do is put the compressor first lol

this is too great an insight... I love this... I recently decided to reeducate and unlearn a lot about mixing... and this is the first video I'm seeing... thanks...

Make your own multi-band compressor High/low pass filter -> EQ -> compressor. The high/low pass filter allow you control what frequency range to affect The EQ allows you to shape the compressor’s tone to taste And then you have full control of your compressor of choice, Do this on at least three aux busses, and then repeat for the highs, mids and the lows. However, you’re only gonna kiss the threshold for barely little gain reduction. Works great for parallel compression to your master buss and getting a bit more loudness without over-compressing, so to bring up the softer stuff.

Thank you for this video. I think you’re right about putting the eq after the compressor

Since I started making music I always do EQ first on a vocal and compression after but I feel like this video changed my perspective. I'm going to try that with the next song i produce.

so well explained, thanks. would you be so kind a do a video on pros and cons of Compressor vs. Vocal Rider on vocals of course?

Holy Smokes! I just tried this on a vocal I just cut of Vince Gils "Never Knew Lonely"..... my chorus vocal was way over driving until I just did what you showed..... Sounds perfect now!

Interesting video. I really like the sound of 70s music when it comes to vocal compression because it seems like they've had a process that is very intelligent in getting a natural sound that's levelled out enough to not miss anything but held back enough so that you don't hear the breathiness and the artificial sound all the time. Minnie Ripperton and Neil Young's vocals for examples sound so beautifully human and light plus you can hear the moments when they they take the volume down and it sounds natural due to the dynamics being kept in there. Seems like there's this obsession in the music industry to create thick, forward, unnaturally levelled out vocals which frustrates me when I find an artist who's music I really like because I get pulled out of the music hearing how suffocated they sound by compression. I hear it the most in chart music but it's also in other genres like rock, metal etc plus I can't seem to find anyone on youtube who talks about it apart from an interview with Fenriz by BangerTV

So helpful. I watched now your EQ, Compression, Mixing and vocal processings and I learned so much. So helpful. Thank you so much for sharing your skills and knowledge!

great Video, thank you :)

Great example of why you don't want a slow attack on a vox compressor. Also, interesting point on using an EQ after the compressor to it clean up. I generally clean it up before. Gonna have to try that next time.

Just when I was starting to think I have had nothing new to learn from your videos, you hit me with this one. Now I know why my vocals always come out harsh! I've been trying to do most of my EQ pre-compression. #Facepalm

tq joe...

I 100% agree about Comp -> EQ. I found out one day being lazy (surprise surprise) and not wanting to move the EQ before the compressor. I applied it after and I never went back

good video - well done - It certainly depends on the singer - Some singers are all over the place and are uncontrolled. Too much dynamics is not always good.

Joe, thank you! I always like your videos, they are super helpful. Lately I have been afraid to over compress my vocals, and as a result I have been struggling to keep them sitting where they need to. So I appreciate this video!

what a revelation ... eq after the compressor. Thanks for this. 👍🏻 .. now I just need to learn to sing like that. 😝

Badman!!!! I'm watching you 💯👊👍🎹🎼🎶🎵

For vocals Waves Vocal Rider is many times a great solution. “Automated automation” to balance varying levels throughout a performance.

Nice!!🌊🌴🎶🤙

Super useful video!!! How do you get those light gray plugins instead of default dark?

Awesome videos Joe! I’m new to Studio One, using 6 Pro via Sphere. All I’ll be doing is vocal work, either covering tunes via separating tracks on Moises, or straightforward audiobook type work. I’ve seen several people set up several tracks for a single recording, L and R, and bus….it can be overwhelming. What’s the real deal?

remember debates about this in my audio engineering classes. but I like the eq after

Thanks for posting this Joe. What do you think of using a little less compression, around 6db of reduction and following it with a second compressor to help level it out?

Excitement acknowledged and still a FAN You ARE a Surgeon of sibilance. Old Dog Zazoo learns New Tricks

I can hear that compressor. Good ones can do the job without audible 'choking' of the voice. Some of it is settings but different compressors sound different. That's why there are so many, they each have a personality. Try out each one you have and see which gives you the sound you are most pleased with. My favorite hardware units are the Tube-Tech CL1A, which I own, and the Universal LA-3A, which I only have as a plugin. There are many other great ones, Just try it and see how it sounds.

It's basically impossible to overcompress vocals. My mixes have gotten a lot better ever since I realized that. Sure, you can set the wrong attack and release times. But in terms of actual gain reduction, it's difficult to go to far. I sometimes do 20 db. There's nothing I love more than stacking compressors and finishing it all off with a limiter on the end of the chain. Vocals and bass are the two instruments you really can't overcompress.

A wiiiise maaaaan saaidddd......compresss yo vocalsss goooddd ohooh yeahheah

Thanks Joe! Just curious: is there a tool who can "write" the compressors gain reduction into an automated volume lane?

I like when you teach us the proper industry terms like "bouncey bounce"

nice

Just submitted my album for publishing and I WISH I had seen this video a week ago, especially your 2nd tip/mistake. I tend to EQ before Compression so I don't "amplify the muddiness" but It just meant spending hours (upon HOURS) chasing harshness with every tool I could muster. Next time I'm going to swap them around and see how that goes!

the second advice is the most underrated one because all the pros who use tons of hardware they always compress first!

One fix if you don’t want to use a compressor but you don’t want to manually clip gain is to use Waves’s Vocal Rider (or something similar)

On learning to hear compression, put the vocal in a mix or wrap pink noise around it. Then you can hear where parts get buried.

My vocals always had an amateurish sound, I finally figured it out that I did not compress them enough. Some channels always said never compress more than 3 db.....well they need more than that.

I put a compressor right on the front end now. I sing with lower parts and louder parts. I want to sound how I sound to myself raw… which means, I need compression on the mic. I also play finger style and pick.. which means, quieter and louder. So… sidechained effect on my Tascam DP32SD with Behringer compressor/gate/de-esser. 8:1 ratio. Full male de-essing… I will have recordings up soon showcasing what I mean. The stuff I have up now, I compressed after the fact.

Human nature isnt saying/singing everything at the same level. Cheers to overdoing comp with vicals. Great tips as always

Do I have to give you my email for your free 5 step mix guide copy and if so, why? Thanks Joe!

Hey Joe can you explain between volume and Louderness they are different.

Any advice on how to get rid of the hiss with compression?

Why does your vocal clip look clipped? Did you limit on the way in, giving you squared peaks, or are you zoomed in? I'm just wondering, if I saw that, I'd delete it, turn the gain down, and record again. Obviously you know what you're doing, I'm just curious. 🙂

Or you could take a page from George Costanza’s book and do the opposite. Place you EQ before the compressor and ram those lows into it, the compressor only acts on what you boost. You can actually change the tone of the compressor by boosting other frequencies of your choosing into the compressor.

Automation + Compression = Perfection

Thoughts on dessing first so the compressor doesn't emphasize it as much? Or does it null itself?

Before I go on listening and watching I want to say I never got an e-mail after asking for the 5-step mixing guide …

Thank you…I’m starting to hear compression…reps💪

Shouldnt the harsh frequencies on the vox be notched out with eq before the compressor?

There's no hard and fast rule about whether to compress before EQ or vice versa. I know of world class mixers who always put the EQ first. And I know of world class mixers who do the opposite. Some mixers will put an EQ before AND after a compressor. I suggest moving your plugins around in your chain and seeing what you like best.

Why you are not using auto makeup?

Vocals + Distressor 🎉

I, typically, leave the low-mids and lows alone before the compressor unless the final mix calls for a thinner sounding vocal. However, I tend to attenuate the sibilance frequencies a dB or 2 before the compressor to help counteract the harshness of the Ss moving forward. I do not get rid of a whole lot up there, or the vocals could sound too dark, but since most compressors do add some crunchiness to the high frequencies, it tends to work out for me 99% of the time! Figured I'd share that tip.

Joe you are out of your gourd. Why would i let the low-frequency breaths and booms trigger my compressor, just to EQ them out later. That proximity effect is no joke: low sounds are loud sounds. Better to filter it out first so I don't end up with random quiet parts.

Wow! I tried it on my own voice and the result is insane. My vocal chain: EQ -> De-esser -> SSL 9000J (Brainworx) I used to low cut in the EQ, now I'm never doing that again. It sounds like I got my balls back.

I don't like de-essers. Even if I can't hear it, I always think I'm ruining the sound of the whole vocal. I used a different method that someone taught me. I use melodyne. You break all of the s, t, k, etc... sounds into 2 notes in meloldyne & then lower the volume on the tiny little piece that needs lowered for the de-ess effect. It's a lot of work, but it worked great.

in my opinion, when the vocals sound amateurish and hobbyish, that's because there is not enough compression. Especially if people (me!) sing too close to the mic!

I join the list of those who used the eq first and then the compressor. And also to the list of those who will never do it again.

I've noticed how RU-vid doesn't use an EQ. They assume everyone with a smart phone is an idiot. Sadly I have been trolled. Make a video about that!

So What is the First Mistake?!

WHy not 1 EQ before comp and 1 other after ?

Bruh tell us how to get to even the raw vocal

Sibilance is weird the more you listen the worse it gets to my ears

It's way too easy and way too cheap to record bad music these days. Everyone's a producer. "Look how many free plugins I have!"

Hey Joey. You and me ...We got the same name, so I like you,really. But you pssing me off now. Before you tell me EQ a first so I don't amplify the mistakes. Whata ya doing.

I want to learn what there is to be learned here, but... The auto tune sound is so distracting I can't stand to listen to the video.

Joe sir I'm new at this with a Steinberg interface and Cubase LE AI ELEMENTS.. Would you please release compression e EQ videos using cubase plug ins please?