rush909 wrote on Sat, 19 March 2005 15:43 |
this is great stuff... vocals are still my favorite thing to mix, but still the most challanging... I kinda saw it mentioned in this thread a bit.. are there any microphone/pre-amp combinations that get you to that sound without having to do the filter/compress/add underneath trick?
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I don't always feel the need to use that trick, even though I always use the same mic/preamp combo for all my vocalists.
Sometimes, the vocalist, the song, the way they sang, the distance from the mic, the mix itself...the raw vocal just sits right and doesn't need any "tricks" to help it.
Sometimes I go to all the work of executing that trick, apply it...then delete it, realizing it just wasn't needed in the first place. Don't look at that as a waste of time, but rather an exercise in exploring all the possibilties.
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There are SO many records that have that sound I find it a little hard to believe that the engineers on every one of those records went through this detailed process on every line of the vocals and backgrounds... not saying that some don't, as I am sure they do... but all these records with that sound???
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You don't really know what was done on those records you're listening to...and that shouldn't matter.
It should be all about what you think is right, from one song to the next, from one vocal performance to the next. Do what YOU think needs to be done on the song you're working on, within the parameters at your disposal (time / expense / resources).
My concept of producing vocals, is:
1) Not all of the vocalist's charisma will be picked up by the microphone,
2) Not all that gets through the vocalist's signal chain will stand up in the mix,
3) Not all that stands up in the mix will translate to the end-user's delivery system.
That is the "extreme vocal production" approach, and you follow that only IF your production is focussed on the vocal being the focal point of your production. You hear your production on an iPod, then follow a path back to coaching your singer to deliver maximum charisma...and do whatever you have to do between those two vertexes to realize your desired result.
It all starts with getting your singer to open his/her heart, and singing like they're not really singing, but LIVING. I always tell my vocalists: "Don't SING the lyric, LIVE the story ABOUT the lyric!" Because once you've got that, the audio "tricks" aren't so important...they're easy actually, because what you've got to work with will inform them, and if you need them, and which ones and by how much, if at all.