thank you so much for the video, Mike. indeed there is a easier way to treat those clip gain automation: first you place mouse cursor at the bottom part of the clip you want to adjust - it will turn into a selection tool, then, you creat a selection of the part you want to change, by draging the mouse around. After creating the selection, move the cursor to the very top part of the clip and it will change again to a "clip line" tool (i really dont know how to call it. hehehehe) then you can clic the mouse button and cakewalk will adjust just the gain inside the selection. hope it helps.
@@pubmgr Can you explain it to me? First go to clip gain automation then moving the cursor to the bottom part but it doesn't change into the selection tool.
Notes for myself Using only stock plugins. The dearest microphone isn't always the best for the job. With cheaper mics you might have to do more work such as EQing to get the sound you want. Try and get the sound you're looking for during the recording process. Chorus and verses recorded onto separate tracks. Both tracks are routed to a bus where the FX are applied. Check the gain levels. For vocals he likes the RMS to be about -18 db. For plugins with saturation effects, it's a good idea to have this RMS level. 4:35 A mock situation where the recording level is out of control. Fixing the Gain level. 5:24 How do we fix a section being too quiet. 6:04 Clips > Clip Automation > Gain. Create 4 nodes, Shift-select the two inside nodes and drag them up to increase the section volume. 7:28 You can fix transients and peaks and it still sounds natural. Mike looks through the waves for anything standing out. Doing this doesn't unnecessarily trigger compression (going to be used later). 8:41 Starting the FX chain with a high pass filter, to get rid of low end rumble. And to fix plosives. 10:01 Open the ProChannel and its EQ. HP (high pass) button. 10:50 It's fixed the plosives. But when altering the sound, you should be listening with the other parts of the music too. 11:43 Apply the high pass filter just before the point where you can hear a difference. You need decent monitors to hear the low end well. 12:22 VX-64 Vocal Strip. Utilities > Cakewalk Plug-in Manager, VST Audio Effects (VST) > Show Excluded > select the plugin > Enable Plug-in, perhaps you'll need to restart Cakewalk to see it. 13:21 VX-64 Vocal Strip is great. Saturation control for warmth, texture and colour. Demo with plugin on then off. It's subtle. Slight grittiness and growl added with plugin. 14:51 De-esser. Listen tool - allows you to only hear what's being removed, demo. 16:09 Compand, an expander and compressor in one. An expander is for getting rid of very quiet noises such as between vocal phrases. An expander has a gradual cutoff. 17:14 Get rid of microphone bleed. 18:06 Compressor. A compressor allows you to turn the peaks down so you can turn everything up without clipping. 19:04 Set a threshold. But this compressor has automatic make-up gain. Bring down the vocal, squashing the dynamic range of the vocal, narrowing the difference between the louder and quieter parts - so it makes the whole thing louder. 20:14 Ratio (how much it squashes the peaks) and Attack control. Attack set low so it grabs the transients quick and squashes them. But remember you should be listening to the vocal along with the rest of the music. 21:07 Tube Equalizer (called that because it has a saturation feature). It's a 3 band EQ. If the track is sparse, such as having just a vocal and guitar, it should have more low end and warmth in there. But with a track with more instruments low end can make it sound muddy. 22:23 Mid frequencies. This is where things can sound harsh and nasally. Demo of it turned down. 23:25 High frequencies. The airiness/breathiness. If you go too far with it it'll sound harsh and piercing. Think about the relationship between the high end and the low end. Sometimes it's worth reducing the low end instead of increasing the high end. 24:04 Can add saturation on individual bands. 24:22 Doubler, demo with it off then on. But Mike tends to double the vocals manually. 25:41 Delay. Mike uses it with a short feedback, demo. Puts the vocalist in a bit of space. 26:48 You can add saturation at the end (right side of the window). In this plugin you can change the routing, you can change the order of the modules. 27:30 Adding next 3 FX using separate busses so the FX can work independently and not feed into eachother. You can ruin the vocals with reverb, they can make the vocals sound further away rather than up front. 28:54. Delay to put the vocals in a bit of space. Slightly different delay time for the left and right but both are very small. Feedback and Crossfeed settings down to 0. Mix turned up to 100% so only the delay FX is heard through the bus - the original sound is sound on the original vocal channel. 30:12 A low cut filter set at about 550 Hz, so the repeats have the low end cut out of them to prevent a muddy low end build-up. Demo without and with delay. Control it with the Send dial or the bus fader. 31:24 Reverb. Using it in a stylised way, mimicking an older style with heavier reverb than more recent stuff. 32:11 Using the ProChannel Berverb 2 module. Wet 100%, Dry 0%, using the Hall preset. Use EQ before it to apply a high pass filter to prevent it sounding muddy. Everything cut below 1k. 33:13 Demo with reverb turned down then up. 34:03 Parallel compression. Keeping the vocal more present than the other instruments. Using the ProChannel's compressor. Input up full, Ratio up high on 20, Attack very quick, Release up pretty high so the compression stays on for a long time, so it crushes everything. Blends the compression in with the bus fader. 35:48 It's effective at keeping the vocal up front without you hearing that anything is going on. Demo with other FX on and in context with the track. 36:27 Doubling. Demo of the vocals doubled. 37:54 He leaves the duplicates dry of delay, reverb, etc, he thinks it helps the presence of the vocals. But experiment with FX on them if you want. 38:22 How he sets the levels of the vocals. Starts with the loudest part of the song, sets the vocal level first then brings up the other instruments underneath it. This way he keeps the vocal prioritised throughout the song easier. 39:43 After setting the levels with the chorus, the other sections of the song will be out of balance, you need automation to fix this. 40:29 Wrap up.
I play keyboards in a cover band and downloaded cakewalk last week, I've found your video tutorials soooo so so helpful, I'm a complete noob when it comes to recording and I've managed to create a professional sounding demo just from following your videos. AMAZING, thank you so much.
Oh man, I've been using cw for a couple of years and never knew that level of functionality of the pro channel, vocal strip etc, even existed! You just totally changed the game for me - THANK YOU!
Hey dude, just wanted to leave a quick comment, just wanted to say thanks for this vid and many others, been writing and recording music since the dawn of time and always had issues getting a decent vocal sound, like every time I would play a song to friends they would always be like 'great, that's awesome, not sure about the vocals though', super annoying but this vid has taught me so much and has made my latest track sound amazing, never knew there were so many things involved in getting great sounding vocals so yeah, just wanted to give due praise, legend, peace (-:
This has been a great lesson, not to mention a great reference to which I can return when I'm not exactly certain as to how to work with a certain effect. Thank you for sharing! I truly appreciate your knowledge and wisdom.
Mike, somedays I just like to go to your channel to feel your warm and easy going vibe. Great musician as well as human being. Tank you so much for your work and sharing! Blessings
Thank you Mike for this video. Especially for making us discover the VX-64 plugin which I didn't know yet. Great, indeed, for vocals. It can replace many other plugins I used in vocal chains
There were so many lightbulb moments that it felt like a Christmas tree was over my head! I learned a lot and I have a lot to try on my next mix. What is nice is that all the tips apply with other plugins as well. I love these long tutorial videos! Thanks!
Hi Mike. You probably already know this, or somebody may have pointed it out below, but I noticed that you always select both points of the line segment you want to move up or down and then click and drag on one of those selected points (7:05). At the time of this writing, you can hold down CTRL and hover over the inner line segment itself and the cursor changes to a four-way arrow, with which you can click and drag the segment itself, regardless if either or both points on either side are selected. When doing it this way, the line segment is constrained to its horizontal position, and will only go up or down. The way you do it by using the points actually allows you to move it up/down as well as horizontally. So, if you want to maintain accurate time positioning, using the segment itself might a better approach. Your approach does allow more flexibility with positioning. I only tried this because I knew I could do it in other DAWs I've used, and expected that CW should be able to do it too. Hope that makes sense. Also, the pinned comment by Frederico does in fact work as described, but the change in gain is (or appears to be) instantaneous, not gradual like it is when creating 4 points as you describe (and as used in what I describe above). I don't know if that would cause artifacts in some situations or not, or what CW might be doing behind the scenes to compensate for it. Cheers!
Been a Cakewalk user for 20 years. Butt still learning. Great fun when you actually use the plug ins from the DAW and whats coming with Cakewalk! You got a new fan in Sweden and Godemanstudio :)
It's funny: Even bass male voices--- whose selling point you'd think would be the rich lower frequencies--- nevertheless also have to receive a good bit of High Pass. It seems to be in the high frequencies that we can RECOGNIZE who is singing and identify their unique style. I had to learn this the hard way....
Thanks Mike. The music I create is WAY different than what you do, but the tools and methodology are easily transferable. This video in particular has been extremely helpful, as I've been struggling lately with vocal processing. The music I create is generally epic/aggressive metal, and I have a terrible recording environment to work with... so subtlety has little value to me. What was important here were the things where you talk about crispness, saturation and vocal "space". That's where I've been struggling - not easy to find space when you have super heavy guitars, epic keyboards and blasting drums to compete with. I had this down really well years ago, but took about 10 years off from composing/recording, and am still trying to find my footing again in a whole new technology world (back then I had almost no VSTs, now everything but my guitar and vox is VST!) I've made progress though, and this video has given me some great new ideas to try... especially helpful with you using the same DAW as I do.
Another good vid. Yes! I always start with the star of a track. Usually vocals, but sometimes I'll mix in tandem with a harp solo, guitar solo and other prominent aspect of a song when mixing. Crescendos, deafening silence and other oddities like live feedback, squeaks and rattles in live or mimicking background noises you find in a live song really make great music shine. Peppering a track with imperfects as a whole is an art. Thanks!
havent even finished the halfway point of this video and already had to scramble for paper to take notes, ive been messing around with cakewalk and making my own music here and there, but the sheer amount of helpful information available (that i had no idea how to even start googling) is insane! you've showed me ways to streamline what i DID know and have shown me multiple things that i DIDNT know how to do. you're a lifesaver my man
This fantastic!! Solution to my current song. I thought in the direction you went, but didn't know exactly how to go about it. It has changed my outlook on my newest release!! Thanks Mike!!
This video is just amazing and so helpful! I can't wait to try all the tips I learned to my vocals! I also love your clear and week speaked English! I am italian but I haven't missed a word! Thanks a lot! Love Cakewalk so I'm so happy I found a channel that makes videos about it! 🙏🤘
I learned mixing busses will be helpful in making the vocals smooth. I have felt busses would be complicated to use. Using busses will be new to me but practice, practice, practice. Thanks for these videos Mike.
Thank you. I find it hard to find cakewalk tutorial like your videos. I'm completely beginner at mixing vocal and I don't know how to start. This tutorial is easy to understand for beginner like me.
You are such a cool guy Mike! A true master, both in the pro audio as well as in the communication area. You´re skills are superb man. So thankful for all your work and sharing!
Mike, vocal “doubling” which is actually trebling or tripling as we Americans say it, is THE tried and true way to add a good dose of humanity to the right song ( assuming the singer “has the chops” to carry it off ). And yes, I like them dry too - whether panned as you have for stereo or summed for mono (which may involve a different set of “tricks” for singer and mixer).
great video! i ususally have a hard time sticking around long enough in these kind of videos to actually learn something hahah but this was so nice to follow. thank you so much!!
Again, an excellent and thoroughly useful video. I really enjoyed the runthrough of the VX-64, which I already love. I use the desser and I've used the doubler before to create a fairly extreme tannoy effect and loved the results. I haven't really dabbled with the rest of it so far. Turns out a lot of what I've been doing with other plug ins can be achieved here.
definitely learned a lot from this video, very informative. I use cakewalk because I can't afford paid expensive DAWs but I did not know much about basic music, but after applying all you mentioned in your video, it completely changed by Audio response. Thank you so much. I subscribed to your channel.
Another great vid Mike beautifully explained I have used Cakewalk at times but your vids make me want to go back to it, it really does have a lot to offer. Even an old hand like me can pick up new tips about tackling vocal tracks more effectively good job!!
I just recently found you videos and they have now become my go-tos for learning new ideas. Mike has such a natural teaching style, he makes it really easy for me to learn.
When i watch you video's i really actually learn and feel less overwhelmed thank you sir🎉😅others talk too fast amd overcomplicate and show off instead of teaching a beginner
Thanks a lot for this video, I'm beginning to learn how to record and mix my own songs, and your channel is like a gold mine. Wonderful explanations, and straight to the point. Thank you!
Great stuff Mike! Loved the "long" video. Even though I've been recording for a long time, there were a few "aha" moments (stuff I forgot, stuff I've tried but strayed away from, etc,.). Always love watching.
This was highly educational and motivating. I still need to understand on your flow of routing and busses in this mix. Seems like a lot of busses but not sure of the order, I'd like to simulate this for some of my tracks.
Excellent stuff, Mike. Definitely learned a few things, but also was encouraged to see I'm on the right track with others, like getting into the weeds, if necessary, with the automation. Thanks very much, your the best at this in my book.
I like it when you say " If you don't like this video then hit that dislike👎 botton twice". Nice tutorial though! Very informative! Btw, I hit that 👍like botton once.
Always a great watch for those of us who write and record...but really struggle with all the dynamic elements...and leading on to the mixing. Vocals in particular are extremely important to me and achieving a clear crisp vocal that still contains warmth and can cut through what is often a full production is difficult and often frustrating.
Thanks for this, Mike -- for me this was less about lightbulb moments and more about getting a better sense of priorities. You inject a note of sanity and clarity into an inherently confusing process. And best of all (for me), you often do it using Cakewalk, so I don't have to do any translation.
I'm certainly struggling with what seems to be a basic issue. I can't get rid of this "tunnel" sound when singing. It's as if I have the 'doubling' effect of the vx-64 on, but I literally have no fx on. Tried multiple mics, headphones, cables. Using a scarlet solo for mic input. Anyone with some tips?
This is such a good tutorial thanks! Please advise in the sonitus delay the delay times in left and right channels are not highlighted, cant increase/decrease...
Thanks for your videos Mike, very helpful. I am wondering though if there is anyway to print a software plugin effect as you're recording, for instance adding a TRacks or Sonitus compression to a vocal as it's recorded. You may already have a video on that but I haven't found it if you do. So far I haven't been able to find a way to do it, I tried busses, auxs and even tried using a patch point but either I'm not doing it right or it can't be done that way. Thanks again for all your videos.
Hi, I normally struggle with overloading my computers CPU because I have around ten or more vocal tracks and put the processing effects (eq, copressions, etc.) on every single track seperately. How do I go about it? I've also tried using Aux tracks but then it sounds off and if I send it to a bus and then I wanna add effects (reverb, delay) I want to send my processed vocals through the effects and not my unprocessed ones...in my mind I think that the bus comes as the very last link in the chain so will my worry happen?
@creative sauce : would you mind doing a tutorial about sidechain compressed reverb by/on vocals? can`t figure out how to do it with an FX/reverb bus in cakewalk.
Thanks for the video. I have found a lot of your videos to be very helpful, and this one is no exception. I'm wondering if there is a less expensive version of melodyne out there.
Very informative video with so many great tricks to mix vocals. Brilliant starting point for vocal mixing. Cakewalk has indeed very good stock plugins. There is even Saturation Knob built in on the pro channel. However I still found Cakewalks EQ somewhat uncomfortable to use.
thank you so much for the video, Mike. indeed there is a easier way to treat those clip gain automation: first you place mouse cursor at the bottom part of the clip you want to adjust - it will turn into a selection tool, then, you creat a selection of the part you want to change, by draging the mouse around. After creating the selection, move the cursor to the very top part of the clip and it will change again to a "clip line" tool (i really dont know how to call it. hehehehe) then you can clic the mouse button and cakewalk will adjust just the gain inside the selection. hope it helps.
Thank you! I knew there was an easier way!
@@CreativeSauce you are an inspiration!!!!
Your an amazing human being for this
Excellent tip!!!! (And to think of all those nodes I've noodled in the past. LOL.)
@@pubmgr Can you explain it to me? First go to clip gain automation then moving the cursor to the bottom part but it doesn't change into the selection tool.
Notes for myself
Using only stock plugins.
The dearest microphone isn't always the best for the job. With cheaper mics you might have to do more work such as EQing to get the sound you want. Try and get the sound you're looking for during the recording process.
Chorus and verses recorded onto separate tracks. Both tracks are routed to a bus where the FX are applied.
Check the gain levels. For vocals he likes the RMS to be about -18 db. For plugins with saturation effects, it's a good idea to have this RMS level.
4:35 A mock situation where the recording level is out of control. Fixing the Gain level.
5:24 How do we fix a section being too quiet. 6:04 Clips > Clip Automation > Gain. Create 4 nodes, Shift-select the two inside nodes and drag them up to increase the section volume.
7:28 You can fix transients and peaks and it still sounds natural. Mike looks through the waves for anything standing out. Doing this doesn't unnecessarily trigger compression (going to be used later).
8:41 Starting the FX chain with a high pass filter, to get rid of low end rumble. And to fix plosives.
10:01 Open the ProChannel and its EQ. HP (high pass) button.
10:50 It's fixed the plosives. But when altering the sound, you should be listening with the other parts of the music too. 11:43 Apply the high pass filter just before the point where you can hear a difference. You need decent monitors to hear the low end well.
12:22 VX-64 Vocal Strip. Utilities > Cakewalk Plug-in Manager, VST Audio Effects (VST) > Show Excluded > select the plugin > Enable Plug-in, perhaps you'll need to restart Cakewalk to see it.
13:21 VX-64 Vocal Strip is great. Saturation control for warmth, texture and colour. Demo with plugin on then off. It's subtle. Slight grittiness and growl added with plugin.
14:51 De-esser. Listen tool - allows you to only hear what's being removed, demo.
16:09 Compand, an expander and compressor in one. An expander is for getting rid of very quiet noises such as between vocal phrases. An expander has a gradual cutoff.
17:14 Get rid of microphone bleed.
18:06 Compressor. A compressor allows you to turn the peaks down so you can turn everything up without clipping.
19:04 Set a threshold. But this compressor has automatic make-up gain. Bring down the vocal, squashing the dynamic range of the vocal, narrowing the difference between the louder and quieter parts - so it makes the whole thing louder.
20:14 Ratio (how much it squashes the peaks) and Attack control. Attack set low so it grabs the transients quick and squashes them. But remember you should be listening to the vocal along with the rest of the music.
21:07 Tube Equalizer (called that because it has a saturation feature). It's a 3 band EQ. If the track is sparse, such as having just a vocal and guitar, it should have more low end and warmth in there. But with a track with more instruments low end can make it sound muddy.
22:23 Mid frequencies. This is where things can sound harsh and nasally. Demo of it turned down.
23:25 High frequencies. The airiness/breathiness. If you go too far with it it'll sound harsh and piercing. Think about the relationship between the high end and the low end. Sometimes it's worth reducing the low end instead of increasing the high end.
24:04 Can add saturation on individual bands.
24:22 Doubler, demo with it off then on. But Mike tends to double the vocals manually.
25:41 Delay. Mike uses it with a short feedback, demo. Puts the vocalist in a bit of space.
26:48 You can add saturation at the end (right side of the window). In this plugin you can change the routing, you can change the order of the modules.
27:30 Adding next 3 FX using separate busses so the FX can work independently and not feed into eachother. You can ruin the vocals with reverb, they can make the vocals sound further away rather than up front.
28:54. Delay to put the vocals in a bit of space. Slightly different delay time for the left and right but both are very small. Feedback and Crossfeed settings down to 0. Mix turned up to 100% so only the delay FX is heard through the bus - the original sound is sound on the original vocal channel.
30:12 A low cut filter set at about 550 Hz, so the repeats have the low end cut out of them to prevent a muddy low end build-up. Demo without and with delay. Control it with the Send dial or the bus fader.
31:24 Reverb. Using it in a stylised way, mimicking an older style with heavier reverb than more recent stuff.
32:11 Using the ProChannel Berverb 2 module. Wet 100%, Dry 0%, using the Hall preset. Use EQ before it to apply a high pass filter to prevent it sounding muddy. Everything cut below 1k.
33:13 Demo with reverb turned down then up.
34:03 Parallel compression. Keeping the vocal more present than the other instruments. Using the ProChannel's compressor. Input up full, Ratio up high on 20, Attack very quick, Release up pretty high so the compression stays on for a long time, so it crushes everything. Blends the compression in with the bus fader.
35:48 It's effective at keeping the vocal up front without you hearing that anything is going on. Demo with other FX on and in context with the track.
36:27 Doubling. Demo of the vocals doubled.
37:54 He leaves the duplicates dry of delay, reverb, etc, he thinks it helps the presence of the vocals. But experiment with FX on them if you want.
38:22 How he sets the levels of the vocals. Starts with the loudest part of the song, sets the vocal level first then brings up the other instruments underneath it. This way he keeps the vocal prioritised throughout the song easier.
39:43 After setting the levels with the chorus, the other sections of the song will be out of balance, you need automation to fix this.
40:29 Wrap up.
How dare you be so kind and helpful +1 Like
I plan to go back to my mixes and use the VX-64!
I play keyboards in a cover band and downloaded cakewalk last week, I've found your video tutorials soooo so so helpful, I'm a complete noob when it comes to recording and I've managed to create a professional sounding demo just from following your videos. AMAZING, thank you so much.
Oh man, I've been using cw for a couple of years and never knew that level of functionality of the pro channel, vocal strip etc, even existed! You just totally changed the game for me - THANK YOU!
Hey dude, just wanted to leave a quick comment, just wanted to say thanks for this vid and many others, been writing and recording music since the dawn of time and always had issues getting a decent vocal sound, like every time I would play a song to friends they would always be like 'great, that's awesome, not sure about the vocals though', super annoying but this vid has taught me so much and has made my latest track sound amazing, never knew there were so many things involved in getting great sounding vocals so yeah, just wanted to give due praise, legend, peace (-:
This has been a great lesson, not to mention a great reference to which I can return when I'm not exactly certain as to how to work with a certain effect. Thank you for sharing! I truly appreciate your knowledge and wisdom.
The fact that this video is free blows my mind
Mike, somedays I just like to go to your channel to feel your warm and easy going vibe. Great musician as well as human being. Tank you so much for your work and sharing! Blessings
Thank you so much. Such a nice comment, and very much appreciated.
simply love your video's Mike clear and understandable with a little humour, your a natural. Subscribed!
Thank you Mike for this video. Especially for making us discover the VX-64 plugin which I didn't know yet. Great, indeed, for vocals. It can replace many other plugins I used in vocal chains
I'm finding it difficult to use that plugin delay it's creating echo in my vocal..if I put it on.. echo..off no echo..what should I do?🤦🏽🤦🏽
There were so many lightbulb moments that it felt like a Christmas tree was over my head! I learned a lot and I have a lot to try on my next mix. What is nice is that all the tips apply with other plugins as well. I love these long tutorial videos! Thanks!
Thank you. You have long been a great supporter of the channel, and its much appreciated:)
Hi Mike. You probably already know this, or somebody may have pointed it out below, but I noticed that you always select both points of the line segment you want to move up or down and then click and drag on one of those selected points (7:05). At the time of this writing, you can hold down CTRL and hover over the inner line segment itself and the cursor changes to a four-way arrow, with which you can click and drag the segment itself, regardless if either or both points on either side are selected. When doing it this way, the line segment is constrained to its horizontal position, and will only go up or down. The way you do it by using the points actually allows you to move it up/down as well as horizontally. So, if you want to maintain accurate time positioning, using the segment itself might a better approach. Your approach does allow more flexibility with positioning. I only tried this because I knew I could do it in other DAWs I've used, and expected that CW should be able to do it too. Hope that makes sense.
Also, the pinned comment by Frederico does in fact work as described, but the change in gain is (or appears to be) instantaneous, not gradual like it is when creating 4 points as you describe (and as used in what I describe above). I don't know if that would cause artifacts in some situations or not, or what CW might be doing behind the scenes to compensate for it. Cheers!
Been a Cakewalk user for 20 years. Butt still learning. Great fun when you actually use the plug ins from the DAW and whats coming with Cakewalk! You got a new fan in Sweden and Godemanstudio :)
I've tried with separate busses for delay and reverb. Really less muddy vocals with more natural sound. Thank you mr. Mike.
I'm happy it helped thank you!
It's funny: Even bass male voices--- whose selling point you'd think would be the rich lower frequencies--- nevertheless also have to receive a good bit of High Pass. It seems to be in the high frequencies that we can RECOGNIZE who is singing and identify their unique style. I had to learn this the hard way....
I turned to Cakewalk from Reaper because of you and have never looked back. Thanks for the guide and nice tee by the way
Thats awesome! Thank you :)
Man brother! Just getting started into recording at home in the digital age. This was VERY helpful. Going to be referencing quite a bit.
Thanks Mike. The music I create is WAY different than what you do, but the tools and methodology are easily transferable. This video in particular has been extremely helpful, as I've been struggling lately with vocal processing. The music I create is generally epic/aggressive metal, and I have a terrible recording environment to work with... so subtlety has little value to me. What was important here were the things where you talk about crispness, saturation and vocal "space". That's where I've been struggling - not easy to find space when you have super heavy guitars, epic keyboards and blasting drums to compete with. I had this down really well years ago, but took about 10 years off from composing/recording, and am still trying to find my footing again in a whole new technology world (back then I had almost no VSTs, now everything but my guitar and vox is VST!) I've made progress though, and this video has given me some great new ideas to try... especially helpful with you using the same DAW as I do.
Another good vid. Yes! I always start with the star of a track. Usually vocals, but sometimes I'll mix in tandem with a harp solo, guitar solo and other prominent aspect of a song when mixing. Crescendos, deafening silence and other oddities like live feedback, squeaks and rattles in live or mimicking background noises you find in a live song really make great music shine. Peppering a track with imperfects as a whole is an art. Thanks!
havent even finished the halfway point of this video and already had to scramble for paper to take notes, ive been messing around with cakewalk and making my own music here and there, but the sheer amount of helpful information available (that i had no idea how to even start googling) is insane! you've showed me ways to streamline what i DID know and have shown me multiple things that i DIDNT know how to do. you're a lifesaver my man
realized by the end that i didnt have enough paper, but computer's take notes too lol. thanks so much man
See you in the next video 😀, tnx for sharing. Everything comes in very handy👌🏾. I’m going to try it out ✌🏽
Every time i watch your videos i Learn something new Thanks
Thats awesome thanks!
This fantastic!! Solution to my current song. I thought in the direction you went, but didn't know exactly how to go about it. It has changed my outlook on my newest release!! Thanks Mike!!
Thank you
This video is just amazing and so helpful! I can't wait to try all the tips I learned to my vocals! I also love your clear and week speaked English! I am italian but I haven't missed a word! Thanks a lot! Love Cakewalk so I'm so happy I found a channel that makes videos about it! 🙏🤘
I learned mixing busses will be helpful in making the vocals smooth. I have felt busses would be complicated to use. Using busses will be new to me but practice, practice, practice. Thanks for these videos Mike.
Thank you for making these videos! They are very helpful for me and my friend making our first country song.
Thank you. I find it hard to find cakewalk tutorial like your videos. I'm completely beginner at mixing vocal and I don't know how to start. This tutorial is easy to understand for beginner like me.
Mike is doing exactly what i've been doing since analog days. Then with ears and fingers now visual and ears ha ha ha !
I'm glad you reminded me about the parallel compression, I've seen that before but forgot to ever try it.
thank you so much for all this valuable info. I now have a little more understanding of how to use some of these things and why to use them.
You are such a cool guy Mike! A true master, both in the pro audio as well as in the communication area. You´re skills are superb man.
So thankful for all your work and sharing!
Mike, vocal “doubling” which is actually trebling or tripling as we Americans say it, is THE tried and true way to add a good dose of humanity to the right song ( assuming the singer “has the chops” to carry it off ). And yes, I like them dry too - whether panned as you have for stereo or summed for mono (which may involve a different set of “tricks” for singer and mixer).
I should have been a bit clearer. “doubling” which, per your excellent example, is……
great video! i ususally have a hard time sticking around long enough in these kind of videos to actually learn something hahah but this was so nice to follow. thank you so much!!
I didn't know about that gain tool until now. Thank you Mike
Wow you just changed the game for me thank you I look forward to re ord my next project
Again, an excellent and thoroughly useful video. I really enjoyed the runthrough of the VX-64, which I already love. I use the desser and I've used the doubler before to create a fairly extreme tannoy effect and loved the results. I haven't really dabbled with the rest of it so far. Turns out a lot of what I've been doing with other plug ins can be achieved here.
I love the part where you suggest your listeners 'Hit the dislike button, twice.' Nicely done. I won't give your secret away, about that.
Thanks ! Paralell FX - thats so new to me !
You're just the funniest guy, love your sense of humor
Lol, well I'm glad someone gets it!
i DO agree
Another winner, Mike. Profuse thanks! Greatly appreciated as always!
Thank you Mike, you're such a genius and experienced.
Thank you, Mike. This was really helpful.
Thank you for this amazing tutorial on mixing vocals. I have learned a lot from this video and the other ones as well.
Great tut, thank you ,Mike!
My pleasure, thanks :)
definitely learned a lot from this video, very informative. I use cakewalk because I can't afford paid expensive DAWs but I did not know much about basic music, but after applying all you mentioned in your video, it completely changed by Audio response. Thank you so much. I subscribed to your channel.
New to Cakewalk really enjoy your videos!
Right at the time I needed this as I started to work on a very vocal heavy song. Thanks Mike.
Fantastic Mike I will have to study this many times thanks so much
Bonjour. Merci beaucoup jeune homme, je deviendrai célèbre grace à vous :).
Another great vid Mike beautifully explained I have used Cakewalk at times but your vids make me want to go back to it, it really does have a lot to offer. Even an old hand like me can pick up new tips about tackling vocal tracks more effectively good job!!
Thanks Ricky!
thanks man. you helped me more then I can express. respect!
I just recently found you videos and they have now become my go-tos for learning new ideas. Mike has such a natural teaching style, he makes it really easy for me to learn.
When i watch you video's i really actually learn and feel less overwhelmed thank you sir🎉😅others talk too fast amd overcomplicate and show off instead of teaching a beginner
Thanks a lot for this video, I'm beginning to learn how to record and mix my own songs, and your channel is like a gold mine.
Wonderful explanations, and straight to the point. Thank you!
Great explanation sir, thank you so much
Great stuff Mike! Loved the "long" video. Even though I've been recording for a long time, there were a few "aha" moments (stuff I forgot, stuff I've tried but strayed away from, etc,.). Always love watching.
This was highly educational and motivating. I still need to understand on your flow of routing and busses in this mix. Seems like a lot of busses but not sure of the order, I'd like to simulate this for some of my tracks.
Another superb video from you. Lots of thing learned. Thanks a lot Mike.
Excellent stuff, Mike. Definitely learned a few things, but also was encouraged to see I'm on the right track with others, like getting into the weeds, if necessary, with the automation. Thanks very much, your the best at this in my book.
Thank you very much Mike, excellent tuitions.
I like it when you say " If you don't like this video then hit that dislike👎 botton twice". Nice tutorial though! Very informative! Btw, I hit that 👍like botton once.
Such a good channel, i learn so much on each and every! Keep it up! 🤗🤘
Very informative, I like this, thanks Mike.
Learnt so much from this video. Thank Mike.
Thanks Mike, found this very helpful
My pleasure :)
Always a great watch for those of us who write and record...but really struggle with all the dynamic elements...and leading on to the mixing. Vocals in particular are extremely important to me and achieving a clear crisp vocal that still contains warmth and can cut through what is often a full production is difficult and often frustrating.
Thanks for this, Mike -- for me this was less about lightbulb moments and more about getting a better sense of priorities. You inject a note of sanity and clarity into an inherently confusing process. And best of all (for me), you often do it using Cakewalk, so I don't have to do any translation.
Mike, great video. Thanks.
Greatest channel on Planet 🌎.
Yet another excellent video. Thanks, Mike!
Another brilliant video Mike, thanks
Great information in your videos 👍
I'm certainly struggling with what seems to be a basic issue. I can't get rid of this "tunnel" sound when singing. It's as if I have the 'doubling' effect of the vx-64 on, but I literally have no fx on. Tried multiple mics, headphones, cables. Using a scarlet solo for mic input. Anyone with some tips?
Thank you so much! I needed this!
You're so welcome!
Excellent stuff yet again
Thanks, I keep learning thanks to your as-it-is approach! i.e. no bull...
Hi Mike! Thanks for the video, soooo useful. Is there a cheatsheet about it? Thanks
Excellent! Thank you!!!
Thank You SIr ! I love your Videos :)
My pleasure!
Hi,
Regarding vocal editing, Using cakewalk stock plugins or a free extra plugin, is there a way to create a hoarse and raspy bluesy voice?
This is such a good tutorial thanks! Please advise in the sonitus delay the delay times in left and right channels are not highlighted, cant increase/decrease...
There should be a button on the bottom left of the plug-in interface, it allows you to tweak the delay time manually
Hi Mike, I joined your classes for Cakewalk...but never got a reply mail for the classes? Are they still being offered? Thx
Thanks for your videos Mike, very helpful. I am wondering though if there is anyway to print a software plugin effect as you're recording, for instance adding a TRacks or Sonitus compression to a vocal as it's recorded. You may already have a video on that but I haven't found it if you do. So far I haven't been able to find a way to do it, I tried busses, auxs and even tried using a patch point but either I'm not doing it right or it can't be done that way. Thanks again for all your videos.
Hi, I normally struggle with overloading my computers CPU because I have around ten or more vocal tracks and put the processing effects (eq, copressions, etc.) on every single track seperately. How do I go about it?
I've also tried using Aux tracks but then it sounds off and if I send it to a bus and then I wanna add effects (reverb, delay) I want to send my processed vocals through the effects and not my unprocessed ones...in my mind I think that the bus comes as the very last link in the chain so will my worry happen?
helps a lot!! thank you
Please make more vdeo giving tips and tricks on mixing
Dude you’re the best
@creative sauce : would you mind doing a tutorial about sidechain compressed reverb by/on vocals? can`t figure out how to do it with an FX/reverb bus in cakewalk.
Thank you so much!!!
had to say how appreciative I am for your channel Mike! Watching ur videos is like buying new plugins.
also if i could add a question: in this video did u record the double vox twice or once and assigned it to left and to the right? thanks in advance
thank you for the good videos
Thanks for the video. I have found a lot of your videos to be very helpful, and this one is no exception. I'm wondering if there is a less expensive version of melodyne out there.
Very informative video with so many great tricks to mix vocals. Brilliant starting point for vocal mixing. Cakewalk has indeed very good stock plugins. There is even Saturation Knob built in on the pro channel. However I still found Cakewalks EQ somewhat uncomfortable to use.
thank you!
love this tutorial
Excellent video. Question, do you mix the chorus vocals and harmony the same way
How can you make the aux track stereo in cakewalk
Your voice reminds me of the meditation guy from Netflix