how does one "mix" a cappella?

[hummingbird]

I'm working on some a capella vocal tracks and I want to get it right. I probably will put in some harmony vox here and there, but mostly it will be one (hopefully) powerful voice. I can put a little compression on it... but what else? A tiny bit of reverb? Some EQ to level it out (I have a 4 band EQ)? If you could give some real specifics in terms of levels to set etc, it would be great. Working with the human voice is still something I am not totally clear about when it comes to production. (Once I've got one done, maybe I could post it and you could tell me whether to turn things up or down.)thanksHummin'bird

[ernstinen]

Quote:I'm working on some a capella vocal tracks and I want to get it right. I probably will put in some harmony vox here and there, but mostly it will be one (hopefully) powerful voice. I can put a little compression on it... but what else? A tiny bit of reverb? Some EQ to level it out (I have a 4 band EQ)? If you could give some real specifics in terms of levels to set etc, it would be great. Working with the human voice is still something I am not totally clear about when it comes to production. (Once I've got one done, maybe I could post it and you could tell me whether to turn things up or down.)thanksHummin'bird Hi Ms. Bird!I've always compressed voices quite a bit. The goal is for it to sound "natural" without some notes being a lot louder than others. I've done this producing pop recordings for singers, but I think it applies to a capella singing also. --- If your compressor makes the sound too dull, THEN add some EQ to bring back the presence to a natural sound. Experiment with the EQ frequencies to accomplish this. I also like to add a bit of "high highs" (over 15 kHz) to give the voice some air.Reverb is a matter of taste. I'd probably use a bit of moderately long reverb on a vocal if you want to give it some space.I've done voiceover production as well, and those tracks are usually left dry.Hope this helps,Ern

[justinatrecording]

Hey Hummingbird,With acapella voice be careful you don't squash it too much. You really need to maintain the vocal quality since it's so exposed. A cool trick that sometimes works (though not always) for gentle compression is this: set your compressor's ratio really low, like 1.5:1 or so. Definitely under 2:1. Then turn your threshold way down, maybe around -40, so it's always compressing. This can help with gentle level control that's pretty transparent. As for EQ, how does it sound on small speakers? Or in the car? Is the voice clear and easy to understand? Or do some words sound hidden? Does it sound bright or muddy? Compare it to other recordings. For reverb, you don't want it to sound like a voice over, or too dull and upfront. Like ernstinen said, a longer reverb is usually the ticket. A decay of at least 1.8 seconds, maybe more like 2 seconds or a touch more.If you can post the song we can help a lot more! Justin

[hummingbird]

Okay here's a rough cut try out (this is not the final recording, just something to play with). Settings:Compression - ratio under 2:1, threshold 40%Delay - length 1ms; feedback -6.00 dB; amount 30%Moderate Lo-Hi EQ Rendered with normalizationSwing Low Sweet Chariot - http://www.taxi.com/vikkiflawithPersonally I think the settings make it too bright.

[justinatrecording]

Vikki-What mic did you use to record this? How close were you to the mic?Is the delay really set to 1ms? If so, get rid of it! Can you re-bounce it with no delay and no eq? I want to hear what you're working with. Remember that if something sounds good to begin with, it may not need any eq or other processing!Right now there's no low end and it's very harsh. I think your delay is causing some big problems, but I'm not sure. Let's hear it without that stuff and we'll go from there.Best,Justin

[hummingbird]

Quote:Vikki-What mic did you use to record this? How close were you to the mic?Is the delay really set to 1ms? If so, get rid of it! Can you re-bounce it with no delay and no eq? I want to hear what you're working with. Remember that if something sounds good to begin with, it may not need any eq or other processing!Right now there's no low end and it's very harsh. I think your delay is causing some big problems, but I'm not sure. Let's hear it without that stuff and we'll go from there.Best,JustinMic - Shure SM57 ... I was about 8 to 12 inches from the micI've uploaded a version with only a tiny bit of compression, everything else is raw --- http://www.taxi.com/vikkiflawithSwing Low Sweet Chariot - 2I left the old version up for comparison...THANKS!

[justinatrecording]

Hey Vikki,Cool--hearing the raw is really helpful. A few things first...1. You should be closer to that mic. You want to use the proximity effect natural to that mic to get some more low end and a fuller sound. The other bonus is that cuts down on the room noise, which I can hear in the background.2. There is some distortion when you hit the big loud note on the second A section. If you use good mic technique you can handle this dynamic range a lot better. Have you ever seen a really dynamic singer like Christina Aguilera perform? On the louder notes she actually pulls the mic away, and gets closer on softer passages. This evens out the audio level without using any compression. Sweet! Try this and it will help a lot--it just takes practice. Overall, just be careful you don't distort your preamp or input to your computer/audio interface. Distortion like that will almost automatically ruin your chances of a placement.Now, that mic is a fine mic for many things, but not the best device for what you're doing on this song. Do you have a condenser microphone? Right out of the gate a good mic will give you 99% of what you need sonically on this. Anyway, if you don't have another mic we can make that one work with some eq'ing. To me it sounds a little harsh in the mids on your voice, and a little dull on top. So, I'd try adding high shelf eq above 10k, and pulling out some mids. Your eq curve may resemble a smile afterwards... So, let us know about a few of these things and we'll come back with some more ideas!Justin

[hummingbird]

Thanks Justin. I am borrowing a vocal mike from a friend. I have looked into buying a vocal mic but it's very hard to know what to get when you have a very sweet voice with a lot of brightness and not very much production experience (and not a big budget, either). I will try recording this over the weekend and post again. I did back away from the mic on the upper note, but perhaps not enough Thanks again!!

[justinatrecording]

Cool--yeah, let's see how the new mic works out!

[ernstinen]

Hi Vicki!Justin has been very helpful --- I hope the mic you borrow works for you! Have you heard the John Fogerty song "Deja Vu All Over Again?" Great song. --- It makes me think of the last time you posted questions about recording vocals. "Get closer to the mic; Try a condenser mic; An SM-57 (although a great mic) isn't really made to record a woman's voice" etc. Maybe I dreamt that, but what of those suggestions have you tried?Just wonderin',Ern