The Secret to Mixing PRO VOCALS is Not What You Think

Epic mix! Could you make another and add some October ends tracks? Try Dark which is the newest one, then Call Me Before I'm Dead, Play Time, Of Stars all SLAP!!

Fire playlist. Could you make one and put in some october ends tunes? I'd suggest Dark, Play Time and Destroy Us All!!!!

What volume should you vocals be when compressing? That's something I get stuck with.

Wow I was interested in the video at the beginning, but those vocals sounded atrocious! And I don't mean the production of it, just the notes.. Sounds totally off.

You are always so inspiring in the choice of topics that concern a large majority...Thank you for everything you do to help musicians!🥰

Great tutorial as usual by Jordan...I agree 100%...This is definitely the way to go!

ha! and I felt guilty that maybe I am using too much compression. I always used compression since day one I tried mixing, and continue to do so cause I am too lazy to be automating everything haha Compression solves many of volume variation problems.

I kind of re-found this truth the other day when I was mixing a vocal that wouldn’t sit right. I started playing around with the purple 76 from PA and just smashed the vocal and voila, it sounded like a polished vocal

Thankyou very much Jordan. This really helped me 🙌🤘🏻

Thank you

You say compression is what makes the vocals sound professional, now are you compressing just the vocals or are you compressing both the vocal and instrumental stems together?

Very true………🫡

it's also clamping down nicely on the gnarly resonance around 600-800hz, (most noticeably at the end of the phrase in the word "know" of "I'll never know").

THIS! Is the secret I wanted to find for so long! Thank you, I finally can listen to my own voice and I kinda like it :D :D

Thank you for the video. I track analog before going into the box. Everything I track is compressed. Once in the box, everything will get compressed at least one more time via final multi- compression, while some tracks are individually compressed again an eq’d prior to any FX. Have recently been using multi compression on the individual kick and bass tracks. This has worked out well for me.

Mann I really like that automation u did tbh 😅 super cool and informative video thanks for Sharin 😊

Definitely compress hard with hard rock music so it cuts....how about a vocal ballad? How much compression would you use?

do you use la2a?

Re-watched this AWESOME video on finishing a vocal with compression! It is an excellent tutorial which I will continue to remind of myself moving forward. Thanks alot and best!!!

Very good walk through . I'm a retired film rerecording mixer and to my ears the best result was when you used automation . Obviously , EQ , COMPRESSION , REVERB , DELAY are all hugely important . But I may hear things differently - a song usually has not much dynamic range whereas a film is all over the place ( in a good way , if well done ) . In film mixing it's the faders - the other stuff is a compliment . Thanks for showing us your knowledge and techniques .

Reminds me of the "so i added more protein" video lol

Sounded better when you harmonized and stacked.

Message To: Hardcore Music Studio. My policy is to sound like the finished studio cut even when playing live using real time hardware.
Because if I don't, Tom Scholz would hit me with his knee brace. Even if I held up a portrait of his mother, Cass Elliot.
( I'm only kidding about her being his mother, She was my favorite musical perfectionist Virgo before Tom Scholz. )
I've never met Tom Scholz yet I sure would like to show him my fake ROCKMAN in the hopes that he decides it's time to adopt me like a new Mandalorian foundling.

Hell yeah! Love compression

Appreciate it so much Sir!😁

While trying to record vocals in a private room with a dynamic microphone (Beyerdynamic Opus39S) and an affordable - but still very flexible - compressor (Behringer MDX2600 Composer Pro-XL) on a Behringer Xenyx mixer (those have these sort of "british" soundig EQ's) I ran into a very interesting problem. Here is the situation:

- The compression ratio is around 3:1, soft-knee mode is on, auto mode is on, a bit of de-essing keeps the harshness out, a slow noise-gate is active for signal pauses.
- The mic has a noticeable proximity effect (bass frequencies get louder while getting your mouth closer to the mic)
- The low cut filter (75 Hz) on the mixer channel is active.
- The semi-parametric EQ is good enough to achieve a good sound (at least for my personal taste), no issue here
- The more I switch up the gain control knob on my mixer, the more "roomy" the mic sound gets
- Increasing the gain to the 2 o'clock position or above will make the signal noisy (still great pre-amps for such a cheap mixer)

And here is the issue:
My vocals are too silent compared to all the other keyboard and drum machine signals during a song...and I cannot add more gain without making the signal too "roomy" and too "noisy".

- I'm using a dynamic microphone because from the very beginning I already thought that a condenser mic would catch up even MORE of the room.
- If I get closer to the mic, I get a very "bass-y" vocal sound (totally unwanted...). Remember: The low cut filter on my mixer is already ON!
- For a more neutral vocal sound I always try to stay 10 cm away from the mic while singing.

My amateur-level singing style is not very dynamic and - at first glance - the ratio of 3:1 seems to be enough compression for my taste. In addition a relatively low ratio like this avoids the typical "pumping" of a compressor.

Does anyone here have suggestions about how to solve the issue?

I was wondering if maybe something like a Tascam TM-AR1 might be helpful...? Maybe I need another mic (with a higher output level)? Or do I need a more professional mic pre-amp?

Thanks in advance for your help. 🙂

goes to show the many different ways to use compression, I tend to focus on my attack and release times to get the dynamics tighter and only compress about 2dB max of GR. I want most of the signal very lightly compressed only trimming off the tops off the louder parts

great !!...process of elimination!!!

Thank you, really nice information !!! Is it the same with the acoustic guitar ? I find it hard to get that percussive/punchy guitar sound when recording an acoustic guitar track. It always sounds to much in your face and is kinda competing with the vocals and drums even though I try to EQ it. Could you maybe do lesson about that sometime ? Thank you

Compression hating Bruce Swedien said he used "just a squirt" of an 1176 on MJ's voice (and claimed to have never used compression of any kind on the 2 bus, or on sub-busses) on thriller and it sure sounds professional to me.

But i think EQ is equally important especially surgical eq because it takes away all the filth from the voice and presents a vocal with lot of soul.

What a secret. I've known this for 40 years.

🔥🔥🔥...👍TOP👍...🔥🔥🔥

The secret is a pro mic 😓

Is this true for pop and softer songs too?

To be fair: once you've wrapped your head around compression which is definitely the basis for a great sounding vocal, EQ, Layering and Reverb/Delay are equally important!

this video is gold, thank you SOOO much mate, i spent hours on trying to understand what was the problem with my mixes...i never realized the power of the compressor until i watched this video! <3

this is an amazing video bro thank you so much

I'm pretty confident that it's actually parallel compression though because you are able to get all of the benefits of compression without any of the drawbacks. Heavy amounts of regular compression soften sibilance and sibilance is an important when it comes to imparting energy and emotion that is a large part of how we perceive language.

Sick lesson. Thanks for introducing me to introducing me to Jevani Sanders this little line been stuck in my head

I don’t produce rock or metal but have been long ago. My vocal approach is extensive parallel processing, and extensive width-doubles, apart from thickening doubling.

What's the name of the band singing??

I dont listen to rock but this track sounds cool bro

THANKS ! you are talented and professional !

I’m gonna try it. I’m pretty sure it’s my singing that’s off. That’s probably a big part of my mix sounding off. 😂 thanks!

All the money I spent on plugins I spent on compressors (limiter, mastering and ssl) because I had to realize early on that our ears automatically and instinctually associate compression with pro records. A non-compressed vocal or bass will automatically make it sound like an amateur garage band. A consistent blow of good bass and and upfront vocals is what most of us are used to and the key to that is compression.

Thank you 🙏

At some point the breaths get too loud.

What’s the song