Mixing vocals over instrumentals how to#
Mixing vocals over instrumentals series#

Mixing vocals over instrumentals how to#

Check out the video below to learn how to reference tracks using the Reference section in Ozone:Д«etween these two references-one matching the singer and the one matching the song-youвЂ™ll have good timbral goal posts as you approach your mix. Drag this tune into the Reference section of Ozone 9В and refer to it intermittently as you work on your track. You may be reminded of a comparable song with comparable feeling. Any vocal reminiscent of the one youвЂ™re working with can be a guide, if only to hear how others mix to the timbre of that particular voice.Д¬onversely, you may hear the arrangement/production of the tune and feel what itвЂ™s supposed to sound like right off the bat. If the singer reminds you of Ted Leo, bring in the Ted Leo track. It will almost certainly remind you of something youвЂ™ve heard before, so use this to your advantage. Have I preserved the immediacy of the rough mix? The excitement? Have I ruined it all with some frequency cut? Is it now too quiet? Too loud? Try never to lose the impact of the first, most urgent mix. Now, as you go through the various stages of mixing your vocals, always judge the placement of the vocal against this rough mix. When youвЂ™re mixing your own project, reference the rough mix with a complete vocal unless itвЂ™s really, sincerely bad.

ThereвЂ™s something about the energy of a same-day rough mix, something about its immediacy and urgency, which always serves as a lightpost when judging your own vocal in comparison.

The point of this is that thereвЂ™s always a rough, and the rough mix can always be your guide. If youвЂ™re the artist, youвЂ™re probably exporting the track to test on different sound systems-in the car, on your headphones, etc.-while itвЂ™s still in progress, so itвЂ™s helpful to have a rough mix thatвЂ™s as close to the desired, finished mix as possible. Having played in bands, I know from experience that nearly all engineers do the same thing: the rough mix leaves with at least a little polish so that even if itвЂ™s an early, static mix, itвЂ™s a static mix that still sounds good. When IвЂ™m engineering for artists, they always come away with a mix sporting a little processing on the vocals, something that shines the best light possible on the track in the small time I have. If youвЂ™re recording someone elseвЂ™s project, on the other hand, chances are the artist wanted something to take with them, so you deliver a preliminary mix also called a rough mix at the end of your first session. Well, not quite: if the mix came from an artist or a producer, it probably came with a rough mix attached, an example mix that helped everyone agree to move the song along. It might be different from what the producer or artist intended, and you have no way of fully grasping their perspective, right? Consider the rough mix a guideД¬onsider that you donвЂ™t really know how to make the vocal fit with the mix-you only have an idea of how it shouldВ fit. The answers are always different, which is why you always ask the question. You ask the question and realize that a delay throw on one particular phrase in the chorus is necessary to drive the point home. You ask the question and realize that reverb has no place in this particular tune. It becomes apparent that this vocal should be buried in the mix, not boosted to an unnatural degree, because the aesthetic of this particular song calls for it. You ask the question, and then notice the vocal imperfections that need to be tamped, or frequency ranges that conflictВ with the guitars. When you do, the answers will present themselves more and more clearly. The more apt question is, вЂњwhat does it mean to fit the vocal into thisВ mix?вЂќ YouвЂ™ll want to make it a habit to ask yourself this question every time.

Mixing vocals over instrumentals series#

These are a series of maddening questions that can easily drive you insane. Phrases like вЂњfit your vocal into the mixвЂќ are thrown around with great abandon on the internet, but what do they actually mean? Is it a matter of adjusting the EQ to fit the arrangement and mask recording imperfections? Is it paying attention to the level of the vocal each step of the way? Is it gain-staging, adding effects, and embellishing the vocalВ with clever edits? Ask yourself the following: what does it mean to fit the vocal into a mix?