How to Mix a Lead Vocal

By Stewart Cararas, eHow Contributor

updated: September 11, 2010
I want to do this!

It's common to receive a project where the bulk of the material has been recorded at
someone's home studio. Digital technology has made vast improvements and has become
readily available at consumer price points. Many well-known recording artists rely on this
very technology because it provides them the convenience of working from home. The
methods do pose the possibility of substandard engineering, however. A handful of
techniques can either salvage a great vocal performance that may suffer sonically or make
a great one even better.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions
Things You'll Need:

 ProTools HD or LE recording system

 EQ and compressor plug-ins
 Computer suitable for mixing

1. 1

Reach first for an EQ to dial in or remove unwanted frequencies from the

vocal track. If the vocal was recorded in a small room, such as a closet, it
will inherently sound boxy or boomy. If you remove a judicious amount of
100Hz, it will become less bassy and reveal more of the upper frequencies.
If the vocal sounds a little hazy, move right over to the frequency of 300Hz.
This is what sounds similar to throwing a blanket over the speakers.
Subtract a fair amount of this frequency to make the lyrics more intelligible.
After this, move to the upper register and shelve up at approximately 8k.
This adds more presence to the vocal, but adding too much can bring out
more sibilance. Remember that EQ is short for equalization. So, in reality
you are balancing the frequencies.

2. 2

Reach next for your compressor, which is the next processor in the chain.
The compressor will make softer passages louder while retaining an overall
level relative to the loudest peak. The amount of processing is solely
contingent upon the source material and will vary from song to song. There
is no one-size-fits-all method. You can try serial compression on a lead
vocal. Serial compression is the process of adding multiple compressors in
series. As an example, say you have a really dynamic rock vocal within a
dense mix and you want that vocal to be very present and have impact.
Start by a inserting a UAD 1176 with a ratio of 8-12:1. Use a fast attack,
 medium release and 3db of reduction. If you're feeling really adventurous,
go with "all button in" mode. Follow that with a UAD LA2A with maybe 3 db
of reduction. At this point, the vocal is pretty well-glued into place and isn't
going anywhere. Send that to a gnarly Waves L1 to handle the peaks. It will
only react to very loud passages.

3. 3

Refrain from using reverbs when it comes to adding spatial effect. Instead,
use very short delays with no residual echo and stereo pitch shifting. Verses
are typically pretty dry in a pop mix. Depending on the song, you could add
a bit of plate reverb, but don't do it often.

Read more: How to Mix a Lead Vocal | eHow.com

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