Great video. I like getting my vocals as best as I can with my vocals chain then add NYC parallel compression with high end and your low pitch down trick for body. Good stuff Warren!
I hated multiband compressor on vocal before, but now I have really good results with it by "riding" low mids using moderate attack, slow release. I also boost the highs with it and set the HF band to act like a custom deesser. I'm trying to avoid setting cuttof points from 800hz to like 4000hz because they tend to sound unnatural in this area. Thanks for video Warren!
I also do limiter -> compressor -> eq -> compressor -> eq -> compressor -> multiband -> Parallel compression. I always watch Marc episodes cause sometimes you catch is what you've never thought before. And a very nice presentation. Very polite
@Produce Like A Pro Warren any chance of a video discussing differences in production of male and female vocals? Do you treat them differently? If so could you maybe discuss it during FAQ Friday, please?
Every mixing engineer have their own way of giving life to vocals, for many mixers that wanna have a bright vocal that sits on top of the track Marc's way of mixing was beautiful and we can use some his techniques 👌🏻 Thanks for sharing 👍🏻
Always like Marcs relaxed and clear delivery. The song is great and he clearly explains how he approaches everything in less than 10 minutes. #Respect. Thanks to Produce Like A Pro for this outstanding content.
Sounds like the vocal was tracked pretty amazing in the first place. Would love to see an episode on tracking including mic choice and the use of outboard vs itb processing. The vocals in this video have a presence not too many engineers seem to nail. It's that balanced thick forward vocal sound engineers like Serban Ghenea are famous for. Another great episode from Marc. He's definitely one of my favorite guest presenters on this channel!
@@BobbyLouxMusic will never happen bro. All these UA-cam channels have vocals that are already processed very well. Then they add some plugins on them and do a few moves and be like “that’s all I did!” There’s not 1 channel where a big time channel shows the the tracking and processing from beginning to end. Not 1.
I’ve seen a lot of Vocal Chains over the Internet but this probably the best video. Video is cleanly put, the chain is well explained and tells how different this chain is different from other chains. Put this guy on the channel more.
I have this excellent video 'bookmarked' and will make a habit of re-watching it every once in a while just to refresh my thoughts on how it really should be done!!! Thank you as always for kindly sharing your knowledge and experience - much appreciated!
I love Marc ability to explain what he does. And how to interact with each plugin to make a difference. I've learn so much from his videos. Keep it going man. Sounds beautiful.
This was a fantastic reminder of how layering compressors can achieve smooth in front vocals. Gonna try something similiar right away! And I'm gonna have a marvelous time doing so! ;)
I like it! Simple, lean, and open. I like workflows where you can assess each step instead of a “magical black box” solution. Tks and please keep simple good capsules like this coming!
Sounds great! I appreciate a pop vocal that hasn’t been destroyed with compression. I thought Mark did a tasteful job molding this vocal. Using multiple compressors on a single track is still a little over my head as an engineer. This video was helpful.
Super helpful video, thanks Marc and PLAP. Didn't notice the sleeping hound until right at the end. I actually like having my animals in the room with me despite the inherent hair and fluff problems they can create.
Marc has a great demeanor and even more importantly gets right into giving useful information. Another point I’d like to make is it’s like Christmas all year long with Warren and everyone at Produce Like a Pro. Thank you
I’ve watched a lot of tutorials .. but with you i see more details . It’s like a new mixing class . In depth with more elaborations .. thank you very much .. love from Africa 🇹🇿..
used wave's equivalent pis for marc's chain and the vocal sits in its spot, doesn't move, doesn;t fade or surge, stays on point...perfect. now on to the verbs...thank you so much marc. i put a L1 first with barely any limiting and the rest fell into place. yippity do daw day
First off, I do like the mix and vocal especially - Better yet, Marc Nelson is a great explainer and I learned a lot. I would have been happy with another 30 minutes on just this one track. Thanks Marc! A+
Having a great vocalist and having the vibe for a killer take, then Add salt and pepper before serving ;-) cool video and superb presentation .. thank you more of these please Warren
Amazing video. I really enjoy Marc’s videos - I like how he explains why he makes certain decisions and then let’s you hear the different elements at work. I’ve learned a lot from all the videos of Marc you’ve shared. Cheers. This was a really good one.
Here's how you do the same chain with free plugins: - FabFilter Pro Q3: TDR Nova - Klanghelm MUC: Analog Obsession Varimoon or Klanghelm Muc Jr - Waves MV2 - Sonic Anomally's VOLA2 - Waves Multiband: Cockos ReaXComp - Soundtoys Echoboy: Valhalla FreqEcho, Valhalla SuperMassive, Stone Voices Ambient Reverb, Sonic Anomally's Leet Delay, GSi Varispeed...Depends on the type of delay wanted. - De-Essers: Either use another multiband compressor or something like SleepyTime DSP Lisp or Airwindows DeBess - Soundtoys Decapitator: Depends on the type of saturation you want. Analog Obsession's PreBox, SGA1155 and so on. - SoftTube Tube Tech Classic Channel Strip: Analog Obsession's Rare SE + I'd say Analog Obsession's Kolin - Acustica Audio El Rey: Don't believe there's any free RCA AVC compressor emulations on the market.
@@BrunodeSouzaLino My DAW, Ableton doesn't support 32bit vst. Anyways what i am trying to say is that I don't like AO stuff. I find them buggy and they come with analog looking UI but not the same characteristics as near as analog
Thanks Marc for another great video, and Warren for bringing it to us. I love the focus on subtleties that really make the whole work, as opposed to the brute force "hammer" techniques that see every problem as a nail to be smashed. Kudos and salutations, fellas!
Nice! I was recommended MV2 in the academy only yesterday. When I demo'ed immediately knew it will be great on vocals. Today I've been going back through my mixes and inserting it on all of them along with CLA Epic and Puigchild. You're costing me money Warren 😂 Only kidding. Well worth it. Another great video by Marc!
I track with an AKG The Tube (414 with a tube), usually, if it works for the voice. Into a Gains MP2 (discrete transformer balanced pre) and a Tube Tech CL1A and hit it hard. The Tube Tech CL1A can squash the crap out of anything and you only hear a beautiful sound coming out, never any audible side effects. The CL1A is amazing. I rarely compress during the mix if it was tracked with the CL1A. I used to have a Tube Tech MP1A mic pre at my previous studio with a former partner. It was hands down the best piece of gear I've ever used. Everything that went through it sounded great and sat in the mix with no effort. I'm only doing music on the side now but still want a Tube Tech pre, it's god like.
i would love to hear the dry take on this prior to all processing including volume leveling just to mentally calibrate expectations with the tracks that i usually receive.
For some reason, I have a feeling that if your suggestion was the case, he would explain how the sound changes instead of just demonstrating, defeating the purpose.
When it comes to pushing the vocals on front I like using parallel compression too and tend to use an api 2500 as this thing seems to like being cranked up
hi, and thanks Marc for sharing your time and knowledge, really appreciate. kind of a nerdy question here: when shaping the sound do you still always grab the Air EQ first, and the Fabfilter is for more precise notching job afterwards and possible band comp.. ? The Air EQ wouldn't do the 1k dip good? or the Fabfilter wouldn't do the shaping good in 'Natural phase' you think? for the Tube tech comp, since you're also a user of the Titanium, what's your call on those 2? when do you think it's better to use 1 over the other? (or is it because of CPU use here..?). thanks for your time.
Love the video, and love the content from Marc! I went to Spotify to check out this tune and the choruses are full of some major errors. They sound digital to me, perhaps from some transfer or upload process, but someone involved with the artist might want to let her or mgmt know. All the best!
hi Marc, great video thank you. interested to see that you put a delay inline in the middle of that chain. what type of delay are you using there and what's the thinking of putting that inline there as opposed to sends? to have it more 'baked in'? re the whole chain, I've used a very similar chain and approach for some time as well, with a couple different units interchanged versus yours, doing the same jobs: Harrison ava deesser in place of waves, an 1176 (current favourite arturia or slate blue) in place of the mjuc, and softube 100a in place of the tubetech compressor. that final compressor often fuse labs 373 these days.
Don't forget it's on a stereo lead vox buss, it's kinda like mixing into master buss fx, it has it's uses and can be very effective like this. I'm guessing he's done it like this because he likes the effect it gives doing it this way. Similar to compressing after a reverb, which i sometimes do on my returns. And delays for that matter, especially when you want a small amount of feedback but you want the levels of the delays to not tail off in volume so much. Cheers! :-)
Can you explain the reasoning for deciding to put the delay inline vs a bus? I'm assuming it's a slap back thing to mimic a double and to add thickness and width but what's the thought process
What are your favorite vocal mixing tricks?
Great video. I like getting my vocals as best as I can with my vocals chain then add NYC parallel compression with high end and your low pitch down trick for body. Good stuff Warren!
I hated multiband compressor on vocal before, but now I have really good results with it by "riding" low mids using moderate attack, slow release. I also boost the highs with it and set the HF band to act like a custom deesser. I'm trying to avoid setting cuttof points from 800hz to like 4000hz because they tend to sound unnatural in this area.
Thanks for video Warren!
I also do limiter -> compressor -> eq -> compressor -> eq -> compressor -> multiband -> Parallel compression. I always watch Marc episodes cause sometimes you catch is what you've never thought before. And a very nice presentation. Very polite
@Produce Like A Pro Warren any chance of a video discussing differences in production of male and female vocals? Do you treat them differently? If so could you maybe discuss it during FAQ Friday, please?
I just learned about the Scheps vocal trick and have been using that.
I have really been diggin this guys vibe. Great choice of a producer, and a great educator to boot. Thanks Warren
Me too
Never seen a masterclass pulled off in 10 min before. Truly impressive!
Super speed Don
Agreed! Thanks ever so much Don!
MV2 is a great plug in. Serial light compression really is the key to a great vocal sound, as you demonstrated effectively. Top tips!
Sonic Anomally's VOLA2 is a free alternative that can do everything MV2 does.
Thanks ever so much Tony!!
Marc is rad. I appreciate his dry, to the point delivery.
Thanks ever so much!
@@Producelikeapro to be clear Warren, i am NOT implying your humorous, cheerful delivery is not appreciated.
@@saladdaze7375 x
we are blessed that such a great mixer decided to open a UA-cam channel and share his amazing knowledge (or his amazing friends).
Never seen anyone using multiple compressors in this way. Unique... And makes total sense.
Every mixing engineer have their own way of giving life to vocals, for many mixers that wanna have a bright vocal that sits on top of the track Marc's way of mixing was beautiful and we can use some his techniques 👌🏻 Thanks for sharing 👍🏻
Always like Marcs relaxed and clear delivery. The song is great and he clearly explains how he approaches everything in less than 10 minutes. #Respect.
Thanks to Produce Like A Pro for this outstanding content.
Thank you, EB. Have a great weekend my dude
Guests on the Channel. Production. Editing. Fonts! This is amazing. Seeing this channel growing and expanding in front of our eyes !
Fonts 😎
Wow! Thanks ever so much musicfreak21!
@@marcdanielnelson317 haha fonts!
Sounds like the vocal was tracked pretty amazing in the first place. Would love to see an episode on tracking including mic choice and the use of outboard vs itb processing. The vocals in this video have a presence not too many engineers seem to nail. It's that balanced thick forward vocal sound engineers like Serban Ghenea are famous for. Another great episode from Marc. He's definitely one of my favorite guest presenters on this channel!
That would be ideal! I’d like to know the tracking process as well to complete the lesson..
@@BobbyLouxMusic will never happen bro. All these UA-cam channels have vocals that are already processed very well. Then they add some plugins on them and do a few moves and be like “that’s all I did!” There’s not 1 channel where a big time channel shows the the tracking and processing from beginning to end. Not 1.
@@Lexbannister cla does one for Mix with the Masters but it’ll cost $300
I’ve seen a lot of Vocal Chains over the Internet but this probably the best video. Video is cleanly put, the chain is well explained and tells how different this chain is different from other chains. Put this guy on the channel more.
I’ve had the MV2 on vocals after compression for the last couple of years. Brilliant for bringing back low level information
Yes, truly wonderful!!
@@Producelikeapro Quick question here, could it be replaced by a Vocal Rider ?
I have this excellent video 'bookmarked' and will make a habit of re-watching it every once in a while just to refresh my thoughts on how it really should be done!!! Thank you as always for kindly sharing your knowledge and experience - much appreciated!
MDN is always straight to the facts, the amount of knowledge this guy can impart in 10 minutes is astounding.
I love Marc ability to explain what he does. And how to interact with each plugin to make a difference. I've learn so much from his videos. Keep it going man. Sounds beautiful.
While I have yet to try these tricks by myself, I am impressed by the rendering and the reasoning involved.
That's one beautiful song. Again, Marc is a pleasure to watch, on your channel Warren. Thank you.
You’re very welcome!
This was a fantastic reminder of how layering compressors can achieve smooth in front vocals. Gonna try something similiar right away!
And I'm gonna have a marvelous time doing so! ;)
This guy is schooling us on “flavor,” a little here and there, small changes add up. Well done and for free to boot 🥾
I like it! Simple, lean, and open. I like workflows where you can assess each step instead of a “magical black box” solution. Tks and please keep simple good capsules like this coming!
I've watched this video so many times,... This guy is amazing, I wish I could give the video more like.
Sounds great! I appreciate a pop vocal that hasn’t been destroyed with compression. I thought Mark did a tasteful job molding this vocal. Using multiple compressors on a single track is still a little over my head as an engineer. This video was helpful.
I really appreciate this teacher. One of the most generous engineers on UA-cam. Great philosophy.
1 video with Marc better than 2 days 24/7 searching in youtube
The vocal harmonies with distortion adds a lot of life to the track. Simple and awesome track. Very soothingly mixed.
Beautiful vocal and with Marc's magic too. what more could one want.
Marvellous!
Marc is my favorite mixer hes got so much clarity in his mixes, hes an absolute beast
Thanks ever so much! Yes, Marc is a wonderful talent!!
Super thank you
Clean, classy and concise. I’m loving this series with Marc! great communicator.
Super helpful video, thanks Marc and PLAP. Didn't notice the sleeping hound until right at the end. I actually like having my animals in the room with me despite the inherent hair and fluff problems they can create.
Marc has a great demeanor and even more importantly gets right into giving useful information.
Another point I’d like to make is it’s like Christmas all year long with Warren and everyone at Produce Like a Pro. Thank you
Thank you Buddy. Nice of you to say.
That MC2 Compressor is magic!
I’ve watched a lot of tutorials .. but with you i see more details . It’s like a new mixing class . In depth with more elaborations .. thank you very much .. love from Africa 🇹🇿..
Love Marc's taste and subtlety. Great stuff. Thanks, guys!
Truly great tutorial and insights here. It felt like a real privilege to have this man explain his process. Thanks so much!
These videos are some of my favourite mixing tutorials... it's got the perfect blend of direction and understanding
used wave's equivalent pis for marc's chain and the vocal sits in its spot, doesn't move, doesn;t fade or surge, stays on point...perfect. now on to the verbs...thank you so much marc. i put a L1 first with barely any limiting and the rest fell into place. yippity do daw day
this guys is killing it in the box, eh?
very smooth
There is always something to learn! Great work guys!
Fabulously insightful as usual, so much to learn from this video. Thanks a bundle Marc & Warren!
Thanks ever so much
Nice approach, it's indeed pretty unique and it's really interesting to watch him make it work that good. Super instructive.
Thanks ever so much
M D Nelson - you are one of the best teachers! Your every move make sense - thanks!
Marvellous!!
Very cool Mika. Thank you
Really Insightful stuff! I have just got into mixing and have learned so much from this channel already. Thank you
First off, I do like the mix and vocal especially - Better yet, Marc Nelson is a great explainer and I learned a lot. I would have been happy with another 30 minutes on just this one track. Thanks Marc! A+
This guy is cool, learning from him makes it feel like a breeze of information. Feels nice and not too heavy
Even with all that gear, he has that awesome SSL 2+ sitting on his desk. Nice :)
Having a great vocalist and having the vibe for a killer take, then Add salt and pepper before serving ;-)
cool video and superb presentation .. thank you more of these please Warren
Marc Daniel Nelson , all kill no fill . You kick ass man WOW ! !!!!
Yeah this before and after can be heard well even on iPhone X speakers! Sounds really good 🤘🏻
Wow, I love this guy. I may have to re-watch this a few times to fully grok what he's doing.
Amazing video. I really enjoy Marc’s videos - I like how he explains why he makes certain decisions and then let’s you hear the different elements at work. I’ve learned a lot from all the videos of Marc you’ve shared. Cheers. This was a really good one.
I literally have my first pop client tomorrow! Perfect timing
This "series" with MDN is really great content! Please keep it going. Cheers!
this guy puts out the best content on YT
Awesome, thanks Warren and Marc! Love the El Rey compressor, so good on vocals!
Thank you so much! This video really helped me turn the corner in mixing.
Wow, One of the best tutorials I've seen on Mixing. Thank You. Subbed.
Thanks ever so much
His setup is so cool and classy
Here's how you do the same chain with free plugins:
- FabFilter Pro Q3: TDR Nova
- Klanghelm MUC: Analog Obsession Varimoon or Klanghelm Muc Jr
- Waves MV2 - Sonic Anomally's VOLA2
- Waves Multiband: Cockos ReaXComp
- Soundtoys Echoboy: Valhalla FreqEcho, Valhalla SuperMassive, Stone Voices Ambient Reverb, Sonic Anomally's Leet Delay, GSi Varispeed...Depends on the type of delay wanted.
- De-Essers: Either use another multiband compressor or something like SleepyTime DSP Lisp or Airwindows DeBess
- Soundtoys Decapitator: Depends on the type of saturation you want. Analog Obsession's PreBox, SGA1155 and so on.
- SoftTube Tube Tech Classic Channel Strip: Analog Obsession's Rare SE + I'd say Analog Obsession's Kolin
- Acustica Audio El Rey: Don't believe there's any free RCA AVC compressor emulations on the market.
You could even make the same chain with stock plug-ins. It depends what you are after :)
Very nice dude, thank you!
You are really into analog obsession.
@@jayjain3821 You can replace some of the AO plugins with Variety of Sound or similar.
@@BrunodeSouzaLino My DAW, Ableton doesn't support 32bit vst. Anyways what i am trying to say is that I don't like AO stuff. I find them buggy and they come with analog looking UI but not the same characteristics as near as analog
More of these please. Marc is awesome.
Thanks ever so much for sharing!
Am now a fan! Great work!!!!
Great Vid! Always something to learn here! Thanks!
Thanks ever so much
Really awesome and knowledgable video Thank you so much Warren for making collabs with great sound producers like Marc!
Thanks Marc for another great video, and Warren for bringing it to us. I love the focus on subtleties that really make the whole work, as opposed to the brute force "hammer" techniques that see every problem as a nail to be smashed. Kudos and salutations, fellas!
Thanks, Brandon. My dudes
Just when i have to record my lead singer! Perfect! 😃🤘
Nice! I was recommended MV2 in the academy only yesterday. When I demo'ed immediately knew it will be great on vocals. Today I've been going back through my mixes and inserting it on all of them along with CLA Epic and Puigchild. You're costing me money Warren 😂 Only kidding. Well worth it. Another great video by Marc!
haha yes, Lukasz! Great plug in!
Awesome video Marc!!!! You’re amazing at what you do. So inspiring!!
Vocal inserts and their settings were awesome.
It´s insane such valuable information! :) And positive vibe!
Sir , you are adding Deasser on almost everything , like guitar, Synth, brass ,, great ❤️😀
I track with an AKG The Tube (414 with a tube), usually, if it works for the voice. Into a Gains MP2 (discrete transformer balanced pre) and a Tube Tech CL1A and hit it hard. The Tube Tech CL1A can squash the crap out of anything and you only hear a beautiful sound coming out, never any audible side effects. The CL1A is amazing. I rarely compress during the mix if it was tracked with the CL1A. I used to have a Tube Tech MP1A mic pre at my previous studio with a former partner. It was hands down the best piece of gear I've ever used. Everything that went through it sounded great and sat in the mix with no effort. I'm only doing music on the side now but still want a Tube Tech pre, it's god like.
Thank you man, literally used this in my session today!!!
That's amazing to hear!
You can do the multi-compression trick on other things too, like acoustic guitar, which sometimes gets buried in the mix.
I treat my acoustic guitars very much like vocals.
You can really be the greatest mixer, if you "only" watch this channel.
Great voice and great minded engineering to take it to the roof!
Very helpful 🙏😊
Thanks ever so much
i would love to hear the dry take on this prior to all processing including volume leveling just to mentally calibrate expectations with the tracks that i usually receive.
For some reason, I have a feeling that if your suggestion was the case, he would explain how the sound changes instead of just demonstrating, defeating the purpose.
@@BrunodeSouzaLino i can understand that.
That 2k-3k can really be Painfully frequencies... especially on high pitch vocals... smart move to dip it out with the fab filter q3....
Quite sophisticated isn’t it 👍🤯
Marc Daniel Nelson for me is the best mixer ,producer , I really enjoy his videos
Beautiful mix. Great tutorial!
Thanks again guys my fav mixer
Thanks, Jason. Nice of you to share and say
Marc is honestly brilliant
KUL! Cant wait to try
Marvellous
absolute killer vocal sound!
wow, vocals to smooth and creamy .... i use a Rode NT2A Mic and my vocals are always bright and harsh ... please help with any tip .
Marc is awesome!
Great mixing
Thanks Joel! Glad you like it! Marc Rules!
When it comes to pushing the vocals on front I like using parallel compression too and tend to use an api 2500 as this thing seems to like being cranked up
Excellent. Thank you.
hi, and thanks Marc for sharing your time and knowledge, really appreciate. kind of a nerdy question here: when shaping the sound do you still always grab the Air EQ first, and the Fabfilter is for more precise notching job afterwards and possible band comp.. ? The Air EQ wouldn't do the 1k dip good? or the Fabfilter wouldn't do the shaping good in 'Natural phase' you think? for the Tube tech comp, since you're also a user of the Titanium, what's your call on those 2? when do you think it's better to use 1 over the other? (or is it because of CPU use here..?). thanks for your time.
That’s a killer mix!
We are waiting for Marc's predelay trick to learn perfect Reverb 😊 , I send my mixes to Marc sir, and he also replies
Hey! Wonderful video again! Do you think i could swap the tubetech compressor with an la2a? Or do they work completely different. Thank you!
Great tips. And this is the first tutorial video I've seen in which the example is actual a well produced song and not from some terrible rock band 😅
More than pro tools we were seeing Marc Daniel nelson 😅😂 in video !
Wow, lead voc send to AUX loaded with bunch of plugins, pretty good result
Love the video, and love the content from Marc!
I went to Spotify to check out this tune and the choruses are full of some major errors. They sound digital to me, perhaps from some transfer or upload process, but someone involved with the artist might want to let her or mgmt know. All the best!
hi Marc, great video thank you. interested to see that you put a delay inline in the middle of that chain. what type of delay are you using there and what's the thinking of putting that inline there as opposed to sends? to have it more 'baked in'?
re the whole chain, I've used a very similar chain and approach for some time as well, with a couple different units interchanged versus yours, doing the same jobs: Harrison ava deesser in place of waves, an 1176 (current favourite arturia or slate blue) in place of the mjuc, and softube 100a in place of the tubetech compressor. that final compressor often fuse labs 373 these days.
Don't forget it's on a stereo lead vox buss, it's kinda like mixing into master buss fx, it has it's uses and can be very effective like this. I'm guessing he's done it like this because he likes the effect it gives doing it this way. Similar to compressing after a reverb, which i sometimes do on my returns. And delays for that matter, especially when you want a small amount of feedback but you want the levels of the delays to not tail off in volume so much. Cheers! :-)
Yeah; it sounds different than using a buss. Clamp more with the chain.. and pumps a bit. Try it 🤙🏻
@@marcdanielnelson317 will do. are you using like a slap there? or something longer? this is on a mono vocal track or is the channel stereo there?
Thank you. Working real hard to get my game up 💥
Can you explain the reasoning for deciding to put the delay inline vs a bus? I'm assuming it's a slap back thing to mimic a double and to add thickness and width but what's the thought process