Best Way To Level Volume on Vocal Track

[stephentayler]

There is no magic bullet..... nothing beats time and attention, after all, vocals are frequently the most important part of a recording. I have spent much of my career getting to know singers and finding out how to help them record.

First, find the right microphone..... it has as much to do with how it sounds to you, the recordist, as it does to the singer in their foldback.

I work on the recording chain, using compression/limiting where I see fit, and finding a great headphone mix for the singer.... first we must find the best headphones as well!!!

I ride the levels to tape/disc and automate the headphone mix..... this is part of getting the great headphone balance, and therefore the great performance. I also ride reverb and delays, as well as the general mix. My job is to inspire the singer.

Having recorded the vocal, and maybe made a comp, I spend a lot of time adjusting the levels, not just of the phrases, but the breaths and consonants and sibilants, prior to any further compression or treatment. I usually do this in a non-destructive mode, and merge the track.

I can then use an overall compression, limiting, EQ or whatever.... but usually in the mix I have many copies of the same track that are used in different ways in the various parts of a song.

I think what I am trying to say is that I get the best results when I can take the time.... I try to factor the necessary amount of time into my projects so I can pay attention to the mix, and all the attendant components ( vocals, grooves, etc...)

So, maybe the easiest and quickest solution might be to use Vocal Rider from Waves.... but personally I cannot beat taking my time and using my judgement!!

Warmest best wishes

Stephen

[monkey man]

Great call, Stephen.

As a side benefit, your approach would tend to minimise plug-in processing, something I personally will be striving to do even though technology has come a long way. No matter how I slice it, my gut instinct still tells me that more plugs in series equal more distortion and result in deviations from the natural and therefore (usually) better-sounding result.

Kassonica, I can only conclude (given your good ear) that the MOTU Leveler plug introduces very little distortion considering your use of 3 in a row! Way to go MOTU! That chain does give me the heebies though.

[Radiogal]

For me.. I adjust the soundbites with the "set bite gain".. after that I´ll process.
IMO it´s not that great to adjust volume by using a compressor..
You´ll lose so much definition at a very early stage..
Just my 2 cents

[David Polich]

Great tips posted here!

I wanted to comment on Stephen Tayler's mention of making copies of
the vocal takes. I usually split the vocals into sections depending
upon the general dynamics of the secions...for example, if the
verses are generall sung quieter, and the B verses and choruses
are hard-hitting, I'll have the singer track those sections independently,
or if that's not possible I'll just split the vocal into different
sections, so I can process them independently. Dynamics and EQ settings
for a "soft, whispery" vocal aren't going to be the same as the ones
for a screaming rock-out vocal.

Also, many productions call for "specialized" vocal treatments, such as
the all-too-common "telephone EQ" vocal, the "robot" vocal, the "T-pain
Auto-Tune" vocal, the "overdriven/distorted preamp" vocal, the
"sliced and stuttered" vocal, etc.

One of my favorite tricks for blowing up a lead vocal during a "triumphant"
chorus is to put a doubler (like Waves Doubler or VacuumSound's ADT) or a chorus on the vocal. I disable the doubling effect during the verses. Or
I'll have the singer double-track the chorus vocals if they're able to (some
singers, unfortunately, are terrible at doubling their own vocal).

No matter what effects plug-ins I put on a vocal track, I still find myself doing automated rides on every vocal track. I don't think Waves
VocalRider is smart enough to make those kinds of fader riding decisions -
it has to be a human being doing it. It's tedious and I never look forward to it..but I have yet to do a project where it wasn't required. Since I
started using Melodyne, I'll run the vocal track through that and use
the amplitude tool to adjust the levels of the blobs, so that lessens the
amount of level riding I have to automate later - but that is also time
consuming. Either way, there isn't any quick way around it.

[daniel.sneed]

[...]One of my favorite tricks for blowing up a lead vocal during a "triumphant" chorus is to put a doubler (like Waves Doubler or VacuumSound's ADT) or a chorus on the vocal. [...]

I just discovered the hard way, that VacuumSound ADT plug, wich I like much, brings the audio track 30ms late.
I wish I had known that before. Now, I know!
Hope this will bring help, and good timing (!), to your projects.

[Dan Worley]

I would just caution not to overdo it. Not every phrase, word, syllable, or breath needs to be as loud as all the others. Leave some natural quality and human dynamics to the voice.

Many pop singers are now taking a breath just about every other word (or the mix engineer is adding them in). And they're loud, over-exaggerated and over-processed breaths. I think they're meant to add emotion and even a percussive quality to the track. Yeah, it's a style, but personally, I think it sounds weird.

c-ya,

Dan Worley

[mhschmieder]

Some great advice in there! It's what I've been doing due to Mix Automation not being possible on my now-retired G4 iMac, but until Dave's post, I hadn't given much thought to how I was actually also treating the split tracks differently, following my musical intuition. So, actually, I think for vocals, at least, I will keep on using different tracks.

Following up on some later comments, regarding the preservation of more dynamic range in the vocals, another thing you can do to make the differential less glaring, is to allow a thicker backing during the build-up parts -- which you would probably be doing anyway. It doesn't have to be additional parts; it could just be a doubling effect on guitars etc. This will help balance the harmonic support for the louder vocal sections.

As for modern vocal stylings, I cringe every time I hear a current group (by mistake, as I have no radio, so it's just when shopping or hearing other cars blasting something). What are they thinking? Is it supposed to sound orgasmic, hence increasing teen sales? I also hear it on vendor websites when they demonstrate vocal processing tools, and it makes me not want to buy! Everyone today sounds like they're whining when they sing, on the verge of breaking down. It's so unappealing!

[Prime Mover]

You mean the breathing? Yeah, it's pretty bad. I started hearing it when I first started listening to Muse, which I generally like. However I was thinking, "What on earth?" the entire time. It's supposed to make it sound like the singer is really having to work, but mostly it just gets in the way. Once in a while, I'll do it for effect, but mostly, I like breathes to be natural and fairly subtle in the mix. I leave them in, but keep them low. Breathing is a subconscious thing to reenforce the idea that the singer is in the room singing with the instruments... but it's not supposed to call attention to itself, for the most part. Of course, this is me and the kind of stuff I write/produce. But I'd generally throw that on my list of "bad modern trends that won't last".

[bolla]

I used to spend ages, on the Studer 800, spot erasing breaths out of vocal tracks to make them seem effortless !!!

[monkey man]

Aah... but strategic breaths, at the very least, must be left in there IMHO.

These are the ones one natually "expects" in that if they're not there, it'd seem odd. An example might be immediately prior to the singer's belting out a note or phrase with extra power...

This reminds me - a slight plosive effect helps convey a sense of power in the aforementioned example. Distortion, yes. Bad engineering practice, yes, but it has its place IMHO.

[Armageddon]

I usually comp a vocal track from at least three takes. The next thing I do is fix "t"'s, "l"'s and "s"'s where needed (sometimes, by transplanting them from other points in the track). Then, when I'm cutting silences, I get rid of about 99 percent of the breaths, or at least reduce them to the point where they're barely noticeable. THEN, I used to go into Peak (now, Wave Editor) and try and even out any places where the volume seems either too loud or too soft in relation to the rest of the track. This doesn't mean where the vocalist is intentionally singing more softly or loudly, it means where, for whatever reason, the volume doesn't match, like if the vocalist was somehow off the mic for a bit. THEN, I usually split my composited and edited lead vocal up into three individual audio tracks: verses, bridges and choruses. Each of those three have individual dynamics, sends and, possibly, even EQ settings, mostly due to differences in the singer's dynamics (and even tone) for those parts (softer for the verses, increasingly harder for the bridges and choruses), so I process them separately. Then, I put in an EQ and cut 80 Hz and below, then, a gate and a de-esser. Once I've cleaned and filtered everything, I run it through a fairly tight compressor, something with a little saturation for harmonics. I am considering switching to Vocal Rider for this, but only in lieu of a compressor. Even with all of that, I still have to automate levels, sometimes a great deal, to keep the leads at a consistent and forefront level in the mix.

[Prime Mover]

I'm gathering that most if not all have invested in a good pop screen, right? Probably the best $30 I ever spent. Completely eradicated any plosive problems I've had. One in a while I run across someone who has a problem with them, but a nice thin one can be very transparent. Just stay away from wind screens, those things suck all the life out of a recording, IMO.

[Espinoquartet]

Hi All,
quick question, if anyone can help.....I need to increase the volume on a single track,,,i tried the "SET BITE AND gAIN" It was ok, but i read somewhere that Automation is better for finer adjustment???
ie: Cajon on my track is very low,,need it to be raised higher..if anyone can help..I greatly appreciate it!!1

Thanks in advance!
Roger

[mikehalloran]

Yes, you can use automation to ride the gain of a vocal—I did it for years—but that technique is usually employed in special situations.

The normal way is to punch a vocal using compression or limiting, perhaps with some eq to make the vocal stand apart from the rest of the mix. DP has tools to do this, of course.
http://www.motu.com/products/software/dp/plug-ins.html

Then there are 3d party plugins out there ranging from freeware & shareware, inexpensive to those costing four figures (not recommending you take that route, BTW).

There are many YouTube videos from MOTU, Izotope and others that will show you how this works. Watch many. Hear the results. You need to educate your ears so that you can hear what works and when to use it.

I have a favorite plugin suite that I recommend for this use. Izotope Nectar Elements has a number of tools specifically designed for vocal production. What I like best is that you can go into any of the presets, see the tools that are being used and tweak them to taste.
https://www.izotope.com/en/products/mix ... -elements/

Do you really need this? Well... no but it saves a lot of time and, by looking under the hood as it were, you can learn a lot about how audio works. Although Izotope advertises it as a specialty vocal tool and implies that it should be used on mono tracks, it is far more versatile. I have used the tools and presets in Nectar I (the old name for Elements) on stereo tracks, mastering . . . anywhere when I was in a hurry to accomplish — depends on the task what I used. If you buy it, make certain to download the additional preset packages from Izotope.

No one pays Isotope's $129 for this. AudioDeluxe has it for $39. Plugin Boutique sells it under $35.
http://www.pluginboutique.com/deals/show?sale_id=326
http://audiodeluxe.com/products/izotope-nectar-elements

Again, do you really need this? No. DP has great plugins. The only thing lacking in DP is a large number of presets that combine various plugs to emulate others' ideas of how to obtain a particular sound.

Hmmmm... Izotope has a note saying that Elements will not work in OS 10.11. A number of their plugs (and others') did not work when El Capitán was released. I opened up a DP project to test. Elements/Nectar I works just fine on my iMac in DP 9 over OS 10.11.4.

[billf]

i read somewhere that Automation is better for finer adjustment???
ie: Cajon on my track is very low,,need it to be raised higher

How bad is the volume on the track? Was it recorded too low?