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When making a song, one of the most crucial aspects to ensure is that the vocals blend perfectly with the beat. It's an intricate dance between two elements that's vital for the overall sound and feel of the track. If the vocals clearly standout or get lost within the beat, it can disrupt the listener's experience. In this post, you will learn how to create a harmonious combination of vocals and beats in your tracks.
Getting your vocals to sit well in the mix involves an understanding of various production techniques, from using the right plugins to comprehending the importance of overdubs and back layers. This blog will guide you through the process and arm you with the practical knowledge you need to become a pro.
The first thing to understand when recording vocals is the critical role that zero-latency and efficient plugins play. These tools allow for high-quality vocal recording by delivering ultra-fast response times and reducing unnecessary load on your system. You'll want your vocals to be as clear and crisp as possible, as they're the focal point of your track.
Recording rap vocals, for instance, often requires a lead. This lead serves as the blueprint of your vocals, showing where the emphasis should be placed to deliver a breathtaking performance. However, the real excitement comes from the back layer and overdubs. Back layers and overdubs add depth to the performance, creating an intricate weave of sound that adds to the overall impact of the vocals.
The Vocal Rider Plugin is a practical tool for creating a zero-latency chain. This plugin effortlessly maintains the desired vocal level for your track, eliminating the need to manually ride the fader. The Vocal Rider Plugin balances your vocals in relation to the instrumental components of your track, ensuring they neither overwhelm nor get buried in the mix.
To make the most of the plugin, fine-tuning the sensitivity for the vocals is essential. By activating its fast detection feature, you get immediate response on the vocal ride, which is indispensable for on-spot adjustments and maintaining a consistent vocal level. Discussing side chaining, this option comes handy when you want the plugin to react to a different source than the vocal track itself. Essentially, mastering this technique helps in handling inconsistencies in performance dynamics and produces a smoother final output.
Another vital aspect of mixing vocals with the beat is managing the tone. The Manny Marroquin EQ, renowned for its smooth, musical tone shaping,comes particularly handy in this scenario. This plugin is designed to handle excess thickness in vocals, ensuring your vocals stand out without overwhelming the beat.
Additionally, the Manny Marroquin EQ provides a versatile frequency range. You can boost or cut frequencies, helping you add character to your vocals or tame unwanted frequencies to achieve a balanced mix. The flexibility it presents in shaping the tone can take your track to the next level.
A common hurdle in the mix is dealing with sibilance and harshness in the vocals. These aspects can make your track uncomfortable to the listener's ear. To handle this, the live version of Sibilance in combination with Deesser is recommended.
These plugins are specifically designed to reduce annoying sibilance and harshness in your vocal tracks. They provide precise control over these problematic frequencies, ensuring your vocals are smooth and pleasing to the ear without losing their presence in the mix.
Next in line is the NLS Channel. This plugin plays a vital role in saturating your vocal tracks, adding that analogue warmth and depth necessary for your vocals to snugly fit within the mix. By driving the signal slightly hot into the NLS, you add the much-appreciated harmonic richness in your vocal track.
This plugin emulates the sound and behavior of three vintage consoles, bringing a unique character to your vocals. Having this level of versatility in a plugin gives you immense control over your mix, helping you achieve the perfect blend of vocals and beats.
Once you have treated the vocals with different plugins for getting the right dynamics, tone, and sibilance, it’s time to make the final blend. Here, Studio Rack and the Vocal Rider’s sidechain option come into play to ensure a seamless blend of beat and vocals. Studio Rack is a software application that lets you chain and control multiple plugins in a flexible manner.
Vocal Rider’s sidechain option is used to set the relationship between the vocals and the beat, balancing the duo to achieve the best possible mix. This helps maintain the lyrical clarity and beat-thump simultaneously, enhancing the overall audio experience.
Now that you know how to bring the vocals and beat together, it would be exciting to notice the difference between your initial and final output. Use your newly implemented skills with the three intelligent and zero-latency plugins - Vocal Rider, Manny Marroquin EQ, and Sibilance - to examine the improvement in your vocal processing chain.
Listen to the balance of vocals and beats, the level of clarity in the vocals, and the overall harmony of the song. You'll not only see how much your music has changed, but also get a clearer idea of how these techniques and plugins have worked to enhance your sound. Embrace this learning experience and continue experimenting with new methods to improve your mixing skills further.
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Ella B.
Songwriter, producer, artist
I keep finding songs in my library I forgot about with
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