Vocal Mixing Tips

by Jason Johnston I have learned a lot from reading various books on the subject of recording. One such book is called "Behind the Glass - Top Record Producers tell how they craft the Hits". Below are some excerpts from top engineers/producers answering the question, "How to you get vocals to sit correctly in the mix?" "I ride the faders as I'm recording; when the guy is singing the vocal, I don't just sit there and listen to him. I'm feeling the emotions in my fingers, so to speak. When he's down, I'm pushing him up so I can hear every single syllable." Mike Clink (Guns N' roses, Sammy Hagar, Triumph, Whitesnake) "You just have to keep wrestling with it. Vocals are usually the trickiest thing..I usually start by putting the vocal up dry and see if I can shape it around the music...it's all about creating space; you only have so much 2, 3, 4 kHz that you can fit on a record before curling everybody's eyebrows. So instead of stacking it up, I'll try to dip some out and see if I can fit it in there, frequency-wise. A lot of people who haven't been doing this a long time, the first thing they'll do is start reaching for delays and reverbs and all that kind of stuff, but that's missing the point. You want to shape it so the music is sitting around it and the vocal is telling the story like it should, so it's in the right place. And then if you want to add something to it to put it in a space, go ahead, but you have to shape it first." Ed Cherney (Bonnie Raitt, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan) "Compression will help, and don't ever be afraid of putting the vocal too high in the mix. Sure, there's a point where it's ridiculous - I've heard some people put it too high - but you've got to hear every word, and what you should do is ask someone not involved in the production if they can hear every word." Tony Visconti (David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Thin Lizzy) "Take different microphones to try out until you find the one you want..just sing in all of them, and try them out. I set them up in an array where the singer can quickly move from one microphone to the next, and it's pretty quick - it's not a painstaking process for the singer or the producer/engineer to identify the microphone that really works best for the vocalist. The microphone is the place to start..." Chuck Ainlay (Vince Gill, Dixie Chicks, Trisha Yearwood, George Strait) Use these tips as a guide, but remember the best advice is to experiment - try everything and anything to get that great vocal sound. Just don't forget the first key to mixing in the vocals is recording them well in the first place.

Vocal Recording in Every Room of the House!

by Jason Johnston I have many conversations with people about where and how to record vocals at home. They ask, "Should I record them in the bathroom? The kitchen? The cold storage room?" And I say, "Sure, why not! What do you want your vocals to sound like? The bathroom, or the kitchen or the cold storage room?" You can record vocals anywhere you want, but just remember that you are not just recording the vocals but you are also recording how the room is responding to the vocals. So, you must always keep the room in the audio equation. A good test is this: go into each room or the house and sing loudly without a mic and ask yourself, "Is this the sound I'm looking for in the end?" Most good recording engineers have a problem with commitment. They are typically perfectionists who do not want to commit anything to track that cannot not be reversed at a later point unless it is absolutely necessary. This makes perfect sense and keeps you the most flexible in your final sound. For this reason, most vocals are recorded completely "dry" - no reverb - little or no compression - no EQ. All of these can be added and tweaked later. And this is why typical vocal rooms try their best at being a non-room. That is, a room that sounds like nothing. No bounce back from the wall, no reverb, no external sounds coming in. A typical vocal booth has a sonically pleasing shape like 6 X 7 X 8 (come to my Acoustics 101 class Jan 14th for more info!) and almost completely covered by Sonofoam or such material. It takes the room out of the equation and allows you to add room sound later if you like. You can get similar effects by opening your closet, placing the mic slightly inside and singing into the closet. (Don't take the clothes out!) Some people have made "sonic tents" out of 2 X 4's and heavy quilts. Another way is to dedicate a corner of your recording room to vocals, with heavy deadening material - just don't forget the ceiling. So record your vocals anywhere you like, as long as you like the sound. The myth that the best vocals are recorded in the bathroom was spread well before the time of being able to add artificial reverb after the fact. However, if you like the way you sound in the shower, then go for it! But you might want keep the water off and put some clothes on.

Converting Audio for the Web

by Jason Johnston

So you have completed your song and you want to share it with the world, or at least the world wide web. What formats for audio are typically used and how do you get it into those formats? Here's a quick primer on the different audio formats and how to get your song there.

A typical audio recording application (Cubase, Sonar, Pro Tools, etc.) will allow you to export your audio into a stereo track at full CD quality in either an .aif file on the Macintosh or .wav file on the PC. These two files are practically the same. CD quality is this: 16 bit at 44.1 kHz . In short, 16 bit refers to the size of the sample - think of an audio snapshot. Like pictures on the computer, the more bits the deeper the quality and the more storage space it takes up. 44.1 is the "sample rate" and this refers to how many thousands of samples per second are taken.

The problem with these full quality audio files is that they are quite large for the web. A 3 minute song would usually be around 30 MB. To reduce this size they must undergo what is called "compression." This basically changes the audio file and takes out redundant or perceived extra information. Compression always happens at a loss of audio quality, whether heard or unheard. The key is finding that right balance between file size and audio quality.

The most common compression format is MP3. This format typically allows users to download the song and just "stream" the audio in their browsers. In other words, the user now has your song on their hard drive and could potentially either burn it onto a cd, load it into their iPod or distribute it to others via "peer-to-peer" (p2p) networks. Some higher end recording programs allow you export in MP3 format, but because the format is actually owned by a company, most programs do not allow this because of licensing costs and issues. A good (and free) piece of software that will convert .aif or .wav files to .mp3 is iTunes. Under the preferences for "importing" you can change the MP3 quality from 128 to 160 or 192 kbps (higher number is better and more memory). Remember you can always compress down in quality, but "compressing up" will not increase your quality, only the file size!

The easiest way to set up your files for streaming rather than download is to enable the use of a "jukebox." Some fellow Canadians have come up with a nice free one called Flamplayer. You can also use the popular Real format for streaming audio, but it gets a little complicated. You can read a step by step here, but that is more than I know on the subject and why I tend to stick with MP3's. I just let people download, or even just give 45 second clips. Besides, what is the big deal with people downloading your music for free? If you want to get famous you'll need to give it away over and over again, so why not start now?