LOL: We All Fall Down

Miles Walker December 22, 2010 at 1:48 pm · Thanks Sona…I think the begigst thing to remember about eq-ing and compressing a vocal, at least for pop music, it’s really just about helping the lyric be present and tell the story of the song. Every vocal is going to have it’s own different set of “problem frequencies” as well as “sweet spots”. The trick it to listen while you are sweeping for them, and settling in there when you find whats working for that particular voice. Another good EQ tip, is when you find the frequencies that you boost, try cutting the amount you increase the gain by half, and see if it still gives you the same sound you are looking for. (as in if you boosted 4.5k by 3db, try dropping it down to a boost at 1.5db and see if you still feel good about the coloration). This way, you’ll have less phase shift in your vocal sound, and that’s important in not creating ear fatigue for the listener. I usually try and use subtractive EQ first, instead of boosting frequencies, for the same reason, it tend to create less phase shift for my ear. Using a good quality EQ (either hardware of software) will also lessen the apparent phase shift and make the change more “natural”. For compression you have to decide what you want to use the compression for….sonic coloring, or general volume leveling. If you are just looking to do some volume leveling, try and use the most transparent compressor you can, so as not to alter the color of the vocal, just help you out on having it sit in the mix a bit more. The Tube Tech CL1B is one of the best compressor’s I’ve ever heard for this…as well as the Crane Song Trakker on the “air optical” setting. In software land, Waves old classic the RCompressor is my go to for this practice….great simple operation and very transparent if used lightly. Love it. If you are going for more of a hard color compression, as in adding low end energy to a dull vocal or maybe trying to round off some harshness in the high end of that voice, try a more agressive compressor. If you hit them hard, the Distressor can do some unreal things with vocals. I also love the Chandler LTD and TG series….they both add some round darkness, but in a cool way to vocals. In the box…I like Waves CLA-2A and also the UAD fatso or Neve 33609 models…both sound pretty rocking, depending on what you are going for. As far as ratios and thresholds….all those are kinda program dependent, but I’ll usually start with a 3 or 4 to 1 ratio and medium fast attack and pretty fast release…to at least dial in the color, and fine tune depending on the tempo and style of the song after that. Waves H Comp has a really cool release feature on it’s compressor that syncs with the BPM of the song you are working on…which can make for some cool slopes on the vocal compression, it rhythm of the song. Great stuff!! Thanks for the questions….keep them coming. Peace!!

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