i LOVE that you said you aren't concerned with what the gain reduction meter is doing. it's far too often that people get really squeamish when they see nearly any compressor reducing more than 3-4db of gain. you were really helpful in teaching me not to give a shit about that, to simply focus on what sounds good.
I love tutorials like this. Straight to the point and it immediately made my first vocal recording tests sit perfectly in the mix while still giving me room to reverse engineer each effect in the chain so I can more closely learn how they work as needed. Thank you so much for this!
Thank you thank you thank you! I just spent the entire night in my studio and finally gave up in frustration. I watched a bunch of your videos and they are so simple and make so much sense. I literally cannot wait to get back in there tomorrow and try some of the stuff I learned here. Amazing.
Another daring statement from this good man, I am not looking the meter to see how much conpression is taking place, I am listening. Everybody else keeps telling to check for an average of 3db to maximum 5db of compression. I need these advices to mix my rap vocals but being often dynamic, screamy and harsh, this channel seems to be a goldmine of accuracy and knowledge.
There is so much content out here. I decided I'm just watching you and imitating your workflow, finding what works for me, and implement other things as I understand this foundation. It's helped me so much in terms of where to start. I love it. Hope to join your courses!
I find it really helpful for the compressor to do some form of automation before going in to it, then do further broader automation after any other processing.
I am wondering if you could do a similar video about compressing using a vocal that is not screaming--- an "east listening" vocal. I noticed in many of your videos the vocals are yelling.
Not sure if you can find time to answer this, but what do you think about placing the limiter before compression to catch the spikes and then compress? vs compressing then limiting at the end? Just curious what you think..or anyone out there that has an opinion? Appreciate it!
I’d use a clipper for that personally. One of the main purposes of compression is to bring the loud and quiet closer together. Your idea is executed basically the same just in a different order. I highly recommend using a limiter toward the very end because it’s good for finishing off and bringing down remaining peaks. There’s not really a point in using it beforehand as far as I’m aware, (Anyone correct me if I’m wrong). Learning to hear compression is incredibly important and you should be using a couple different means of compressing the signal before just sandwiching with a limiter. I hope this somewhat helps man! Good luck. Also, UA-cam is great for a while, and you’ll still find good tips years down the road with some niches you want to learn about, however after a while UA-camrs will begin to contradict one another bc at the end of the day, it’s up to you. You gotta learn how to take executive control and gauge what it is you need and how much. Focus on making fire music rather than a fire mix though also keep in mind that a mix will make a good song OUTSTANDING! Trust your instincts once you feel you know at least enough mixing to keep your flow going my friend 💯
Do you recommend writing the vocal automation after the compression and other steps you've outlined here? Usually I've seen it described as a first step, before any EQ or compression. Very useful insights btw.
Good stuff. I have a question ,was this vocal previously equalized?or did you recorded this vocal with some high pass filter to not use equo? Greetings
What attack/release settings do you find using the most when tracking vocals? On the manual they suggest starting at 5 but when mixing I often find myself setting the release on 3 and attack at 6/7
I have a burning question, if your available to answer at all… I’ve noticed in a few of your videos that I don’t really see you high passing anything. Do you do that on the way in, or not at all? Also, more generally … whether you do or don’t, what are your opinions on high passing things? I know for a lot of people it’s like… automatic to high pass anything that isn’t a low end dominant source (bass and kick and stuff). What are your thoughts on this? Do you already have a video about this that I just haven’t seen!? 😂
My only issue with the fader riding (have the same artist mix as you) is with the playback buffer, we're most likely reacting too late with the moves, if that makes sense
If you automate the vocals, or the vocals bus, isn't that going to just get compressed by the master channel compressor and eliminate the lows/highs you automated?
Once I threw the 1176 on a vocal I instantly heard the magic sauce I hear on every record. My vocals never sounded bad but I just couldn’t get the presence of modern records
1:45 My good sir, why oh why is your "analog 60hz" button switched ON? It adds some annoying humming noise to the signal. Years ago i stopped using H-Delay because of the humming it was making all te time, until i found out that if you just switch "analog" off. Real question, asking for myself! Thanks.
I do automate guitars up and down as required throughout a song... but I don't do any sidechaining or make it a habit to duck the guitars when vocals hit.
Riding the volume after the compressor? I thought it's meat to be done before so the compressor doesnt work too hard. Unless you're talking just the final stage of making sure every word sits ok.
3:00 real question: why Deesser AFTER Compressor? Wouldn`t it make more sense to first deess the vocals, so you don`t make harsh siblances oeven harsher by compressing?
4:16 so I'm NOT crazy! "We can get spikes in the level because of the compression" I get these a lot on guitars not just vocals, and it drives me nuts. I never understood it because compression is supposed to reduce spikes in level. Yet there are instances when I apply it and it almost does the opposite.
@@hardcoremusicstudio Slowly been realizing this. That's been a big hurdle for me as a beginner, I always want to "preserve the sacred transient" but no sometimes that sucker's gotta go!
My guitars always obstruct the vocals, yours seems perfectly separated as if no frequencies clash each other between the two. Someone has an idea how to do that ?
Aside from eq-ing some of the conflicting frequencies, you can sidechain the vocals to the guitars. Don't go too hard on them that the guitars just disappear, but a couple of dB can really seperate those vocals from the gats. Better yet, use a multiband compressor that supports sidechain and just duck out the conflicting frequencies. Again, don't go too hard. One thing you will find by sidechaining the vocals is that even though the vocal level isn't changing, they will feel louder and more up front due to the contrast of vox to guitars
With me, it's almost like the vocal is coming through a megaphone or a walkie-talkie. It sounds tinny and compressed. There is like a crap ton of overtones in the mids, and I am running out of eq bands, trying to desperately level out these vocals, which just pops up in different places as it pleases. The best way to describe it is that it sounds like I'm cupping the mic, which I never do, obviously, but it sounds so bad from the get-go, and so annoying and just completely doesn't sit in the mix, almost sounding like I'm just talking/singing over the music from a radio. It just sounds so fucking bad it's unbelievable. The worst part is that I've applied compression, but that does barely anything - the compressor is clipping and showing the vocals is too loud. Even with no makeup or anything dialled in, and is too quiet in the mix or clipping, or I can get it to cut through by overloading the compressor and applying a limiter. Honestly I hate the sound of my voice, it's so fucking twangy, annoying and ringy sounding, with brittle and tinny overtones. Regardless of what I do with the EQ, it sounds poor.
Over compression. In heavy distorted music it can make sense but I kinda think you are being a bit misleading with how much compression you are selling
@@hardcoremusicstudio Lie? Mislead. Sure. Lots of vocals are super compressed but many vocalists don't over compress with. Adele is a great example of a pop artist that uses very little compression. Going back into 70s music, maybe artists just hit the comprssor for colour and allowed the tape to do most of the gluing
i LOVE that you said you aren't concerned with what the gain reduction meter is doing. it's far too often that people get really squeamish when they see nearly any compressor reducing more than 3-4db of gain. you were really helpful in teaching me not to give a shit about that, to simply focus on what sounds good.
Yeah, easy to forget that it is all about focusing on what sounds good and what doesn't. Jordan is always here to remember us that fact :)
Yeah some compressors like this CLA76 sound very good with very high gain reductions, some other sound quite hard and make the track squashed
I love tutorials like this. Straight to the point and it immediately made my first vocal recording tests sit perfectly in the mix while still giving me room to reverse engineer each effect in the chain so I can more closely learn how they work as needed. Thank you so much for this!
Bro why not all tutorials on yt are like this. You clearly know your shit and you set everything straight, thanks for that
Thank you thank you thank you! I just spent the entire night in my studio and finally gave up in frustration. I watched a bunch of your videos and they are so simple and make so much sense. I literally cannot wait to get back in there tomorrow and try some of the stuff I learned here. Amazing.
Your videos have drastically improved my mixes over the years! Thank you everything!
Another daring statement from this good man, I am not looking the meter to see how much conpression is taking place, I am listening. Everybody else keeps telling to check for an average of 3db to maximum 5db of compression. I need these advices to mix my rap vocals but being often dynamic, screamy and harsh, this channel seems to be a goldmine of accuracy and knowledge.
Thanks so much!
Sir, you just opened my eyes in regards to vocal mixing!
Thanks 🙏
i love how upfront this is, i learned a lot about vocal compression
and limiters and also the order of those plugins, thanks a lot!
No concerning about the gain reduction is a great and important statement, well done, thanx for the video!!
There is so much content out here. I decided I'm just watching you and imitating your workflow, finding what works for me, and implement other things as I understand this foundation. It's helped me so much in terms of where to start. I love it. Hope to join your courses!
One of the best videos on how to mix vocals i've seen so far. Thank you for the masterclass!
Wow, I've been watching vocal mixing tutorials a lot on this platform, this is the best so far!
Right to the point and with very helpful tips. Thank you, Jordan!
What a great vocal chain...simple yet effective..thanks for posting.
You’re the real deal .. you’re feeling the music .. yeah that’s the way … I just subscribed ..
Thanks for all these terrific tips Jordan 🤘
Makes a lot of sense, especially for this genre. Thank you!
You just summed it up perfectly. As always, thank you Jordan!
Thank you.
This video came into my algorithm just in time. Right when I need it. Thanks for this video!
You're the man. Some of the best explanations on UA-cam.
BRAVO!
I find it really helpful for the compressor to do some form of automation before going in to it, then do further broader automation after any other processing.
best mix channel on youtube
Great vocal performance. Awesome video all round
Great video Jordan!
NICE!!!! Thnx!
super lesson thanks
More great advice, thank you
my congratulations for your work i learn a lot from you
whats the song
Erode by Auras
Thank you SO much!
Learned a lot from this guy. Thank you sir.
☛ Grab your FREE mixing cheatsheet and get on my list for the best audio training on the web: hardcoremusicstudio.com/mixcheatsheet
This song is really good, dang
Amazing! Any chance we get some old school power metal stuff any day?
I am wondering if you could do a similar video about compressing using a vocal that is not screaming--- an "east listening" vocal. I noticed in many of your videos the vocals are yelling.
Love this video dude. Cheers!
You are the best ..
really nice video, do you prefer the g channel or the new ev2, i really like how clean the ev2 is
Really good info here! 👏
Not sure if you can find time to answer this, but what do you think about placing the limiter before compression to catch the spikes and then compress? vs compressing then limiting at the end? Just curious what you think..or anyone out there that has an opinion? Appreciate it!
I’d use a clipper for that personally. One of the main purposes of compression is to bring the loud and quiet closer together. Your idea is executed basically the same just in a different order. I highly recommend using a limiter toward the very end because it’s good for finishing off and bringing down remaining peaks. There’s not really a point in using it beforehand as far as I’m aware, (Anyone correct me if I’m wrong).
Learning to hear compression is incredibly important and you should be using a couple different means of compressing the signal before just sandwiching with a limiter. I hope this somewhat helps man! Good luck.
Also, UA-cam is great for a while, and you’ll still find good tips years down the road with some niches you want to learn about, however after a while UA-camrs will begin to contradict one another bc at the end of the day, it’s up to you. You gotta learn how to take executive control and gauge what it is you need and how much. Focus on making fire music rather than a fire mix though also keep in mind that a mix will make a good song OUTSTANDING! Trust your instincts once you feel you know at least enough mixing to keep your flow going my friend 💯
Wow Jordan, that shot is **crispy**
Is that good? haha
@@hardcoremusicstudio absolutely, the image looks super sharp and crisp, have you upgraded your camera?
Do you recommend writing the vocal automation after the compression and other steps you've outlined here? Usually I've seen it described as a first step, before any EQ or compression. Very useful insights btw.
Good stuff.
I have a question ,was this vocal previously equalized?or did you recorded this vocal with some high pass filter to not use equo?
Greetings
I think I might have found my favourite UA-camr
Awesome content 👍🏻 can you please show us the full mix from nick johnston's album
There's a full drum mix walkthrough for that on my channel here. The complete mix walkthrough is inside my program!
nice mixing tips
I love the distressor for tracking. I also slam it pretty hard. It’s a joy to sing into it.
Do you use the opto mode?
Great vid
The hum setting on the cla76 you've got bothers me so much lmao. good video!
Just turn it off!
Great video. Would you recommend using Vocal Rider by Waves for automation?
For me personally running the EL8X on the way in while recording vocals is essential and has been an absolute game-changer for vocals.
What attack/release settings do you find using the most when tracking vocals? On the manual they suggest starting at 5 but when mixing I often find myself setting the release on 3 and attack at 6/7
Thank you for this video
why not use vocal rider for automate?
You use a lot of waves plugin, just wondering (instead of doing it through automation) what you think about using Waves Vocal Rider?
I have a burning question, if your available to answer at all… I’ve noticed in a few of your videos that I don’t really see you high passing anything. Do you do that on the way in, or not at all? Also, more generally … whether you do or don’t, what are your opinions on high passing things? I know for a lot of people it’s like… automatic to high pass anything that isn’t a low end dominant source (bass and kick and stuff). What are your thoughts on this? Do you already have a video about this that I just haven’t seen!? 😂
My only issue with the fader riding (have the same artist mix as you) is with the playback buffer, we're most likely reacting too late with the moves, if that makes sense
Throw waves vocal rider on there
@@TheAzurefang after all these years, I've never tried that plug! lol I wind up zooming in with a mouse and drawing it all in (where need be)
If you automate the vocals, or the vocals bus, isn't that going to just get compressed by the master channel compressor and eliminate the lows/highs you automated?
No, not unless you're mixing into a brickwall limiter which is already at the ceiling.
What attack/release settings do you find you’re using the most on the Distressor when tracking screaming artists like the one from the video?
Attack 4, release 3
Once I threw the 1176 on a vocal I instantly heard the magic sauce I hear on every record. My vocals never sounded bad but I just couldn’t get the presence of modern records
What kind of EQ curve is on the 8k boost? Is that a high shelf?
yes
I have one question.
Why do you automate at the end and make things quieter when before our goal was to make all present in the mix?
What song is playing ? What song is playing ? help me find please
I'm actually trying to buy your BSA clipper and your website isn't working on safari or chrome...
1:45 My good sir, why oh why is your "analog 60hz" button switched ON? It adds some annoying humming noise to the signal. Years ago i stopped using H-Delay because of the humming it was making all te time, until i found out that if you just switch "analog" off. Real question, asking for myself! Thanks.
Please tell me what's the name of the song in compression part，it's so nice but i can't find where to listen to it.
Is it good to automate guitars down when lead vocals hit? Or side chaining?
I do automate guitars up and down as required throughout a song... but I don't do any sidechaining or make it a habit to duck the guitars when vocals hit.
@@hardcoremusicstudio thanks Jordan !
Man all these other guys are all talking about keeping the compressor from going over 3-5
Do these step’s apply to Neo soul RnB and hiphop vocals ????
What if you don't have a compressor to track with??
just serial compress more in the box
I really like the song who is it?
Great reminder it doesn't take fantastic plugin chains to get a solid sitting lead vocal!
Are there any consoles that have de-esser? Using a Behringer c32
Please tell me what is the name of the song from the video?
Riding the volume after the compressor? I thought it's meat to be done before so the compressor doesnt work too hard. Unless you're talking just the final stage of making sure every word sits ok.
Who is that band?
you just helped me make my bulshit song sound so much better thank youuuu
Nice song is it out ?
3:00 real question: why Deesser AFTER Compressor? Wouldn`t it make more sense to first deess the vocals, so you don`t make harsh siblances oeven harsher by compressing?
Why not just vocal rider?
Compression is key. Took me years to learn this. So many videos tell you 3db GR is enough. More like 30😂
4:16 so I'm NOT crazy! "We can get spikes in the level because of the compression"
I get these a lot on guitars not just vocals, and it drives me nuts. I never understood it because compression is supposed to reduce spikes in level. Yet there are instances when I apply it and it almost does the opposite.
It's because of the attack time. Some signal gets through before the compressor clamps the level down.
@@hardcoremusicstudio Slowly been realizing this. That's been a big hurdle for me as a beginner, I always want to "preserve the sacred transient" but no sometimes that sucker's gotta go!
What song is this?
Auras -Erode
*high pass filter missing noise* XD
My guitars always obstruct the vocals, yours seems perfectly separated as if no frequencies clash each other between the two. Someone has an idea how to do that ?
Are you panning your guitars hard left and hard right?
@@AdriSkynet Absolutely but i think my tone have too much ~1000Hz and it obstruct where the voice sit.
Aside from eq-ing some of the conflicting frequencies, you can sidechain the vocals to the guitars. Don't go too hard on them that the guitars just disappear, but a couple of dB can really seperate those vocals from the gats.
Better yet, use a multiband compressor that supports sidechain and just duck out the conflicting frequencies. Again, don't go too hard.
One thing you will find by sidechaining the vocals is that even though the vocal level isn't changing, they will feel louder and more up front due to the contrast of vox to guitars
@@Mukna132 Great idea ! Thanks
Damn look at all that gain reduction on the bluey. Y the F do they tell us not to do that but it sounds great ?
Why de ess after boosting treble? Isn’t that counterintuitive? Doesn’t it make more sense to de ess first and then boost treble?
Not for me. I want to get the overall vocal sound as bright as I want, then take care of the S's as needed.
I can’t get a good vocal chain. I’m a live streamer and I’m using the sm7b. I think this mic hates me. I have Apollo twin
Comment for you
Can't vocal Rider fix that that automation
My problem is when y'all talk about plug- ins I have to relate it to my tascam. Like how much compression
The song makes me think of Breaking Benjamin, especially the Guitars.
What about mixing other genres that are not rock or metal? Like our African genres for example...
With me, it's almost like the vocal is coming through a megaphone or a walkie-talkie. It sounds tinny and compressed. There is like a crap ton of overtones in the mids, and I am running out of eq bands, trying to desperately level out these vocals, which just pops up in different places as it pleases. The best way to describe it is that it sounds like I'm cupping the mic, which I never do, obviously, but it sounds so bad from the get-go, and so annoying and just completely doesn't sit in the mix, almost sounding like I'm just talking/singing over the music from a radio. It just sounds so fucking bad it's unbelievable. The worst part is that I've applied compression, but that does barely anything - the compressor is clipping and showing the vocals is too loud. Even with no makeup or anything dialled in, and is too quiet in the mix or clipping, or I can get it to cut through by overloading the compressor and applying a limiter. Honestly I hate the sound of my voice, it's so fucking twangy, annoying and ringy sounding, with brittle and tinny overtones. Regardless of what I do with the EQ, it sounds poor.
Kind of a bummer when you don't list the artist we're hearing in your videos
Please don't keep recommending Waves plugins. Waves' underhand methods of getting people onto its WUP subscription hurts users
Why do tou always got sime shittiy rock song
Over compression. In heavy distorted music it can make sense but I kinda think you are being a bit misleading with how much compression you are selling
Why would I lie about that?
@@hardcoremusicstudio Lie? Mislead. Sure. Lots of vocals are super compressed but many vocalists don't over compress with. Adele is a great example of a pop artist that uses very little compression. Going back into 70s music, maybe artists just hit the comprssor for colour and allowed the tape to do most of the gluing
Nice! Thanks!