The reference track that The Jang had sent me for the vocal processing was clarity by Polish club. In this mix the vocals have a prominent slap back delay on them throughout the whole song this was the main element they wanted me to capture while referring to this track for the mix. I used some new plug ins from Waves to achieve this effect. The original tack of the vocals was really easy to work with as it was very dry and the singer Javier is almost pitch perfect all the time. They didn’t want the vocals to sound over processed but wanted them to be very tight and clean sounding. I started with CLA vocal processor to get this clean sound I added a preset called ‘start me up dry’ this boosts the levels and makes the words clearer where they aren’t. The processor has 6 main functions all in one plug in. There is three different types of effects for each section. For example the compression level has 'push'- used for a vocal take that has some straining sounds in it, 'spank' which is a fast attack compression and 'wall' which is a longer type of compression. You can control the level at which they compress using the fader. The features include bass, treble, compress, reverb, delay and pitch sections. The different processing sections turn on and off depending on the effect you are trying to achieve.
I put this effect first in the chain on the main vocal as a direct insert. I put the EQ and compressor after this effect as I thought that even though there is a compressor in the effects unit it would be better to place it after so that it didn’t affect the EQ that I had already used.
Here is the set up that used for the main vocal line in the verse’s of The Jang’s track called Spin. I used the ‘start me up dry’ preset then instead of created a delay bus and putting a different delay on the vocal I decided to add in the delay feature. The bass is set to ‘sub’ and given around -3db of gain. This makes the lower frequencies in the vocal more boomy. The treble setting it what makes the high end of the vocal clean and clear. It is set to ‘bite’ which is the less harsh of the three settings and it boosted +5 db. I tried switching this setting to the ‘roof’ feature but it made the high end too tinny sounding and I wanted it to be warm and clean. The compression section is set to +5db and on the ‘push’ setting. There was a fair bit of strain in Javier’s voice at the beginning of each phrase this dulled the sound of the strain and didn’t affect the rest of the vocal phrase which is all I needed the compression to do at this stage of mixing. Although I already had a reverb set up for the main vocal I decided to mute it and try the reverb unit it the processor. With it off I thought that the reverb I used made the vocal sound a bit to thin especially when I compared it to the reverb in the processor. This could be due to the delay and reverb sections working best in this unit when used together also. I Set the reverb to ‘tight’ as the chamber and large settings were too much and made the vocal sound too distant in the mix. The delay setting I used was a slap back delay. This is where the reference track came into play I tried to get the delay as tight and as prominent as I could. I found the delay sounded really nice in this processor so just boosted it to +10db to achieve this effect. The pitch channel I left turned off as it wasn’t needed.
In addition to the CLA vocal processor I used another compression after this that I used in the initial recording as well to clean up levels. I used the Waves RCompressor I set the threshold to -8, the ratio to 2.27, the attack at 16.0 and release at 160 and the gain at 0. I tried a few different ratios and attach and release times but I thought that leaving it relatively level would be best so that it would just catch any peaks that the compressor in CLA vocals didn’t.
I added an EQ The REQ 6 band to boost the vocals where it was sounding thin and not full enough compared to the rest of the phrases. I boosted at 120hz where the most of the vocal range sits to fatten up the sound and cut out the high end at about 12000hz to get rid of any messy high end that occurred through reverb and tone.
Through the chorus there is a main vocal line and two harmonies that both sit in the relative minor scale- a 3rd and 5th above. I used the same settings in the CLA vocals as in the versus but had a different EQ. I boosted the highs through this section as the vocalist reaches for his falsetto it isn't as projected as his chest voice but the original take was clear. I added some gain around 1k to where most of the vocal line sits as well as at 85hz to boost the bass end that I think the chorus was lacking. This was a creative choice that I need a second opinion on from the band to see if they want those frequencies present or just the higher frequencies. I think it might sound a bit too muddy.
Another creative decision that the band suggested I try was to add a time based effect such as modulation to make the chorus sound obscure. I used added a flanger (MetaFlanger) plug in on to the channel and had a play around with the settings. It definitely adds a nice layer to the vocal that wasn’t there before and makes it sound a little bit dissonant but it gets made up but the airy backing vocals. I set the feed back to 32 which is quite low and set it to 50/50 in the mix. I used a triangle wave rather than a sine wave as the shape of the modulation as it gave it more of an edgy tone. I set the modulation rate to 0.42hz to make it sound smooth and not too jumpy. I set the stereo image to wide so that when you listen in headphones the flanger reverberates.
The backing vocals I just compressed and sent to a reverb AUX channel with a chamber effect on it to make them sound more operatic. I also added a Doubler to make them sound really reverberated and move around while listening in headphones. I used a 2 band EQ to boost different frequencies on both the harmonies on the higher one (5th above) I cut the very high end to get rid of the airiness of it and the piercing frequencies. I boosted at 2K to get the nicest tone to pop out in the mix. On the lower one I boosted the higher end and the 2K to achieve the same effect. These harmonies needed to compliment each other that is why I cut the high frequencies on one track and cut the low on the other to get a broader range with not clashes.
I still have a fair bit to work on with the other songs but this one is sounding really tight and it has been a good learning curve for me putting different effects into play too see what sounds best. However, every time I listen to a mix I think is finished I see flaws I didn't see before or think of something else I could add or change to enhance the listening experience.
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