Old 07-28-2022, 01:15 PM   #1
Jasonc206
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Default Mixing vocals with a 2track beat

I'm wondering if anybody could help me. I'm working on some songs, that I need to set the vocal within the instrumental. I already did some vocal Dynamic processing to even the vocals out. What would be some next steps to get it to sound more professional and sit within the instrumental?
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Old 07-28-2022, 02:53 PM   #2
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There must be thousands of articles and videos online giving advice on mixing vocals etc. That would be a great way to start
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Old 07-30-2022, 02:50 AM   #3
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Sage Audio did a great video just the other week on exactly this.

https://youtu.be/yYZZ2V2-sno
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Old 07-30-2022, 11:22 AM   #4
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Solo the vox against other individual elements and carve out any frequencies that are masking or obscuring the vocal. You can also pan the other elements, leaving the center for vox and bass.
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Old 07-30-2022, 01:23 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by foxAsteria View Post
Solo the vox against other individual elements and carve out any frequencies that are masking or obscuring the vocal. You can also pan the other elements, leaving the center for vox and bass.
“2 track” means it’s already mixed down to a stereo file.
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Old 07-30-2022, 03:09 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jasonc206 View Post
What would be some next steps to get it to sound more professional and sit within the instrumental?
What have you don't EQ-wise? What about ambience (reverb/delay)?
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Old 07-30-2022, 05:07 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jasonc206 View Post
I'm wondering if anybody could help me. I'm working on some songs, that I need to set the vocal within the instrumental. I already did some vocal Dynamic processing to even the vocals out. What would be some next steps to get it to sound more professional and sit within the instrumental?
Are you recording vocals tracking to this already produced instrumental track?
That should go pretty much the same as if you were recording from the ground up. As in, go for takes where you nail the performance. Punch in as needed.

What you can't do is finesse anything else around the vocal like you might do if you had the whole mix up in front of you. You might need to edit that two track here and there. You might need to do something like pull out a multiband compressor to reduce the volume of a single instrument if something pokes out and gets in the way. Exaggerated example: A guitar soloing over the part you now want to put a vocal over.

You still have your mixing board and all your tools. You have control over the vocal tracking.

There might be a need to match or find a copacetic vocal ambience production (verb/delay/etc) to match what's already baked into the instrumental 2-track.

A 5.1 mix will certainly be out of the question though!
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Old 08-01-2022, 03:43 AM   #8
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Cut some mids in the back track, ensure your vox isn't too low endy, e.g sounding full warm rich when solo'd.. you don't really want that in this situation. Tending to thin I suppose.

Touch of delay/short verb on vocal perhaps to help it sit
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Old 08-13-2022, 08:32 PM   #9
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So I mid/side processed the beat after watching a kenny reapemania video using the js encoder and js decoder. Pulled back the mids in reaEQ and boosted the mids in my vocals a lil bit. Any other thing I could do?
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Old 08-14-2022, 04:42 AM   #10
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Without hearing the material, it's hard to make recommendations, but you could try using side chain compression to reduce the volume of the 2 track mix when the vocalist is singing. Maybe apply this only to the center channel.
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Old 08-14-2022, 11:31 AM   #11
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You could set up a sidechain and use a dynamic EQ like TDR Nova to "duck" the 2-track at specific frequencies, based on the vocal dynamics and frequency range.

That would be a good way to let the vocals through without actually affecting the mix when the vocals aren't present.
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