Mixing Rock Vocals

Mixing vocals is always the trickiest part of the mix. Even if you get every other aspect of the track sounding killer, if the vocals aren’t great the whole thing suffers. Instead of doing a general “How To Mix Vocals” tutorial ive decided to split the vocal mixing tutorials into the different musical genres. I think this will allow me to get into the specifics and differences of vocal mixing for each genre and also give you guys a better starting point for your mixes.

For this example im going to be going for the typical big in your face rock vocal sound thats been popular for years now. In the future I plan on doing a tutorial for Indie/lo-fi vocal mixing, but this is geared more toward a slicker more produced rock vocal sound.

-SATURATION-

Saturation (Click to enlarge)

Get This Plugin!

I always put my vocals through some sort of saturation as my first plugin. In this case im using the URS Saturation plugin with a setting that emulates a Neve preamp. I feel this rounds out the vocal a little bit. Takes just a touch of the digital edge off. I may be a little more aggressive with the saturation setting in rock then I would with Rap or Pop but in this instance im using my usual Neve style setting. With saturation plugins theres usually a ton of great presets you can try for whatever vocal sound you’re going for. To Learn about saturation plugins read my Saturation 101 article.

-EQ/GATE-

EQ/Gate (Click To Enlarge)

Get This Plugin!

I love using the Waves SSL E-Channel on rock vocals. The EQ is perfect for rock vocals and the Waves SSL channel gates are the best in the business in my opinion. Like ive said in other posts if you can only afford 1 plugin bundle, get the Waves SSL bundle. If I had to I could mix solely with those plugins. They’re just amazing! Ok back to the task at hand. I usually start by cutting out some of the low end to the vocal. I have the filter set pretty high, cutting everything off under 90hz. I also have a 1.5db dip on everything under 150hz. The more trained your ears get the more you’ll realize how much low end you don’t really need in the vocal. By cutting and dipping these low frequencies you’re starting to create a nice pocket for the vocal as well as getting rid of the low end garbage and rumble as well as opening space for things like bass guitar and kick drums. I then want to brighten the vocal up a bit and give it some bite. I boosted about 1.5db at 12khz for some high end shine and air, another 1.5db at around 5.5 to open the high mids/top end up a bit, and another 1.5db at 2khz to give the vocal some bite and clarity. I’ll usually sweep the eq between 1khz and 2.5khz to see where that nice mid bite is on the particular singer and then boost there. In this case it was at 2khz. Don’t be shy to boost in the 1khz-2.5khz. This is the “telephone” sounding frequencies but when boosted a little bit it can really give the vocal a “better then real” sound. It also adds clarity to the voice and really helps put them into a their own little pocket in the mix. Take a listen to big time mixes with your stereos EQ set to flat. You’ll start to notice that the vocals have a lot of midrange in them. The never ending rookie mistake is to boost tons of highs and lows on a vocal. No need! This just makes the vocal sound unnatural and takes up unneeded EQ space in the mix.

As usual I set my gate pretty tight. I want it to open and close pretty quickly in order to really tighten up the feel of the vocal and not allow too much breathing or mouth noise. This helps alot especially if you end up using a lot of compression because compression is gonna really bring out those breaths. For rock vocals I like a little of the breathing to be heard. It adds a sense of emotion and excitement to the vocal, but I don’t want to go over board and it become distracting.

-DE-ESSER-

De-esser (Click to enlarge)

In this case im using just the regular stock Digi De-esser taking off a bit of the esss’s for this one. I usually move the frequency around any where from 4khz to 8khz in order to find where the ssss sound is really popping out.

-COMPRESSION-

CLA-2A (Click To Enlarge)

CLA-76 (Click To Enlarge)

Get These Plugins!

With rock vocals I really love smacking them hard with compression. By compressing the vocals hard you end up really pushing them up front, keeping them present and bringing the emotion and nuance out of the performance. When done right you can get away with a lot of compression and your vocals will sound and sit great. This is another one of the tricks that gives you that “larger then life” sound. For rock i’ll usually use 2 compressors. The first one being the Waves CLA-2A. This plugin has a great smooth compression sound to it. I’ll usually have this compressor compressing anywhere from 3-8db depending on the track. I then will put the Waves CLA76 right afterwards. This compressor is a little more aggressive sounding in my opinion. Ill have this one compressing about 5-12db. For heavier music I might be compressing much harder with each compressor. My rule of thumb is the heavier the music the more compression to use on vocals. So if I was mixing a metal song i’d probably be doing more like 8-10db on the CLA-2A and 7-15db on the CLA-76. This is also true in reverse, the lighter the music the less compression. If this was an acoustic track i’d probably only use the CLA-76 compressing about 3-6db and I wouldn’t even have the CLA-2A in the chain. I don’t really ever touch the settings that you see in the picture. If you’re using different plugins i’d suggest starting with the vocal presets given. Also ive learned through the years that when compressing vocals hard, using 2 different compressors usually sounds better then 1 compressor doing all the work.

- TAPE SATURATION -

Tape Saturation (Click To Enlarge)

The final plugin I use is DAD Tape. This plugin emulates Tape saturation and I find it just sounds amazing. It rounds the top end off in a very pleasing way while adding some goodness I can’t explain in words. It also Brings the vocal even more upfront but without it being harsh or annoying. It also helps keep the vocal sitting in one place. The more you learn to hear what saturation plugins do the more you’ll see how important they are in ITB mixing. They really help gel things together and warm things up.

EFFECTS

There are a never ending amount of vocal effects you might use in a mix. Keep in mind what im showing you below is my usual starting points. It might not be exactly what I use on every mix or what will work for your mix, but they’ll definitely be good starting points.

-SPLIT HARMONIZER-

Split Harmonizer (Click to enlarge)

Get This Plugin!

For those who arent familiar with a split harmonizer effect you can check out my Split Harmonizer Article that gives you the basics about it. My main harmonizer effect plugin is the Waves Doubler. This is a great plugin, and its very easy to setup a basic harmonizer effect. This is also my goto setting anytime im using a split harmonizer. The harmoinzer is giving this vocal a little stereo spread while also giving it a really polished modern sound. I set this at about -18db on the Aux, just enough where you can feel it but its not really very noticable. Sometimes I might do a bit more if its the chorus of the song to get an even bigger stereo vocal sound.

-REVERB-

Lexicon Reverb (Click To Enlarge)

Get This Plugin!

The reverb im using is the Lexicon PCM Native Reverb. Now Im not gonna lie to you. This plugin bundle is a bit pricey but OH MY GOD are these plugins incredible. After working with these plugins its pretty much the only reverb plugin bundle I use. They’re the same sounds you find in the extremely pricey Lexicon hardware units that have been used on countless hit records and the just sit in the mix perfectly. The Lexicon plugin im using in this instance is the Lexicon Plate. Im using the stock preset medium plate 1 with a slight tweak to the pre-delay. I did this so the reverb hits a slight bit after the vocal and keeps the vocals a bit more upfront, not letting the reverb make them too washy. I have the reverb amount set to -19db on the aux. Not too much, but enough where you can hear it in the mix. Use your judgement to decide how much your mix will need. I choose this reverb setting for this tutorial because it sounds great as a main vocal reverb on many different mixes. I use this particular setting a lot in my mixes. You might end up needing a bigger reverb or possibly a smaller reverb but this setting is a great starting point and will help you realize what your mix will need.

-DELAY-

Delay (Click To Enlarge)

I love using a quarter note delay on vocals. I blend it in ever so slightly to where you can just feel it and barely hear it in the mix. I find it really gives the vocals some space and have a nice larger then life sound. I have the feedback set to 27% so that the delay will repeat and fade away as it repeats. I also activate the low pass filter and cut out the highs on the delay so that the delays will feel further away. Thats a little trick to know. When you cut highs out on something it starts sounding further away.

And that my friends is one of my pretty standard Rock vocal chains. Of course things change a bit depending on the song but this should give you a good starting point for your mix.