The Beatles' engineers would put a 10db boost at the 1K mark. That's so extreme but it sounded great and gave incredible clarity. It's cool to play it safe by keeping db changes within a 5db limit. But go crazy on a track or two and see if extreme things work.
Dude you have helped me so much! It's like you're the only one online that actually knows how to do this and how to address common home recording issues. Thanks!
When you start by saying to get the sound right at the source, then I know the rest of the tutorial will be filled with great info. Nothing worse then people skipping over the fundamentals. Great job on this video. Cheers
Very helpful and easy to understand. Your tutorials are extremely well made. Recording vocals can be tricky depending on how many instruments there are. It's definitely the part I have the most trouble with. The human voice is the most unique instrument and unpredictable instrument. I'm going to watch some more of your tutorials because I got a few good nuggets of information here. Thanks man!
This is the first time that i ve been told about vocal's EQ by a simple but absolutely useful way. Thank you Rob i will be keep waiting for your updates.
Take a listen to Neil Sedaka's, "Laughing In The Rain" The mix engineer left the entire low end of the lead vocals in. And there's a lot of low boom there and yet the mix sounds great and it was a big hit.
I’m so grateful I ran into your video . Been watching other videos about EQ but couldn’t see the difference in my sound . But the subtractive EQ is definitely a game changer for me . I like my voice now on the track ! Lol ! Thank you so much 😊
I'm a fan of the channel, and have commented on a couple vids here. Agree with 4 of the tips entirely, not so much with the 300hz cut one. That's akin to thinning the fundamental so that the overtones stick out, it can work if you mess up with proximity effect, but if you do this on properly recorded vocals you run the risk of making them sound hollow :)
You're using absolutely blessed preamps to record this video. I'm a minute in and noticing how perfectly dead quiet every pause in your speech is, and thinking about how hard that is to do with nothing but a noise gate.
dude ur a god sent this is towards what i want thank you ill try to find what my sound sounds like. thank you for opening up and enlightening all of us by opening up.
yeah for sure after adding that 2.6k up to 3.5 i definitely need some of that it makes your "let it rain" more... uhhh tonality a subtle umhp but clearer yes
Oh wow I was gonna say it sounds like when 2.6k goes to 3.5 like u did your high got a bit higher and crisper and when you dropped your 200hz to 150 hz your lowest flucuation got lower and a bit basser so adding the two hmmmm givnig me a good start point.. idk really understand 80hz but thanks again dont wanna copy you 100 percent but for just sharing this w me and giving me a good start point on where can i improve my self expression. keep it up
Yes struggling with cut as prior always boosted 2 to 4, will go back to boosting as I am losing depth or a vital part of the sound with the cut, the bass cut I do use, my desk bass cut plus a bit on the knob sounds good, good video thanks
you are the best! very simple explanation! and most useful for people like me, just a beginner!, guitar player but not an music engineer , god bless you!
Thanks for the tips was a great help. How do you EQ two tonal voice style in speaking ? One is normal speaking and other style is high intensity or loud speaking style ? How do you maintain considerable level by not sounding pierce even a person is loud.
No shade on this video but I'm so glad I never learned ProTools and had to endure this skeumorphic skittles spaceship phase of their UI. Would've been better had they just stayed looking like a grayscale spreadsheet.
Thanks. I having problems with harness. I looking for a little warm roundness in the vocals. I see a lot of today music are getting recorded without the large mixing consoles like the ssl. Not sure if it’s all my eq or maybe I need U87 ( or similar) and some tubes pres and compressors.
Hey thanks for sharing this! Just to be clear though, by cut you mean lower the gain on that frequency? I looked "cut" up online and had a hard time finding it in the same context you were talking about. I was able to remix my EQ based on your tips and it helped a lot!
Good afternoon, I'm just asking how to eq a bass vocals in a choir. Coz I am a bass 2 singer. And when we used to learn a new piece, I just want to follow someone as a reference. So I want to hear bass more. Thankyouuu
great tips thank you! =D i dont think when you put -10db that it sounds too unnatural but i seen alot of videos and they are in majority where people over do it and they sing under clear sky and sound like its been heavily mixed in a studio and way too much at that... depends on microphones but some effects are usually neccessary but all in good limit... people seem to like that over the top editing though these are some of the most viewed covers on yt so i guess it works on people i dont know lol
Hi! I have a question, what if the vocals need a lot more than 5 db boost in the 2-6 kHz range? Should I go for more db's or is there a way to get around this?
Great question! Sometimes you just have to do some crazy EQ moves to get something to sound right. With that said, our ears our very sensitive to vocals and them not sounding natural. If you're finding you have to boost that much on a vocal, I would consider trying to re-record that part and focusing on what you're missing sonically to capture it in your new recording! With that said, if you're going for a really bright unrealistic sound, then boost away! Hope that helps! Best of luck!
you have only one vocal track? I' ve doubled mine in recording phase so do i group the tracks and put the mixing chain in the bus or mix every track individually?
I only use doubles creatively like put it on choruses.. but put a double performance take every time sounds unnatural for me because human timing differences is very apparent.. better use a doubler effect if I want it on all the time..
Hey dude , i have problems with my vocal. they sound like u but not the exemple in protools, like your voice when you explain how eq in the video, full of Bass and resonance. I have a tlm 103 and apollo twin and a vocal booth. i record at 20centimeters of my mic but it sound not clear. Please help me :'(
Karthik Nair ikr, thats why i listen to the video by lyrical limonade and not the official audio, they have cut those freq just so you can listen to it lol 😂
Zines I think it’s the same engineer that mixed polo g vocals on first place and finer things They got the same cut at the high mids and a brittle high end
I have a buddy who EQ's EVERYTHING really bassy and muddy. We're currently using on a little Behringer Xenyx X2222USB mixer, which uses 3-band "British EQ's". (Fun fact: The "British EQ" changed the music industry in the 1960's and 70's.) We also have Behringer [sumpthin', sumpthin'] powered 15"s with basic 2-band EQ's built-in. My buddy, who has more than 45 years of experience in the music industry, boosts the bass on the house speakers and boosts the mid-bass (about 250 Hz) on the mics and EVERYTHING else. Plus, he uses a TON of compression. So, needless to say, everything sounds muddy even though he tells me it sounds great. Because I have a higher voice for a guy and we sing with 3 girls, I EQ the mics to my vocal. I boost the highs (12 kHz) to between 9-10 dB, boost the mids (~1.6 kHz, because it really pulls out the brightness in our girls voices) to about 8-9 dB and boost the lows (80 Hz) to about 9-10 dB to add warmth. After I do that, my buddy eff's it all up because he says it sounds "harsh" and "tinny". Are there any suggestions or am I fighting a losing battle? (Note: I haven't yet used the LPF because it cuts at 75 Hz and I never though it would make such a HUGE difference.)
Kevbox2008 those are some heavy ass boosts, bro. Lol try 3-5 db. remember, a lot of what we hear is percieved. you can "boost" the high by cutting some lows or vice versa.
Kevbox...I'm cringing at the explanation of your situation (sorry, I mean no offense)! There are many different factors working against you here. And I'm assuming you're talking about a live sound situation... for sake of not getting to deep on a comment feed, feel free to PM my page, and I'll try to give you some pointers to straighten out your problem....cheers ;)
Very good point Joe. No two pairs of ears perceive sound the same. Once, in a touring band we had a sound man who had a mid range hearing drop. As a result, left unchecked, our PA would sound like a bingo hall as he boosted mids to an annoying level. I would sometimes call out "under the B....7" just to get his attention. LOL. His tenure as our sound man was brief.
my vocals are not sounding in the mix..... like it sounds like another track alltogether no matter what i do... not the problem of the vocals..... please helh
@@Hennessyham i guess i meant do we mostly eq down the master and compress it for boosts or just eq? I said the question in a confusing way but i appreciate the attempt to help
Chris Devine this what I mentor told me hope this helps: “And EQ the master because A) you cut out small amounts of signal that is building up to make it more even throughout your bands, B) You can clean up the low end with a Mid/Side EQ, C) I shave off parts of the signal with it that I make up with the 2 saturators afterwards”
(0:45) Why would I need to use a dynamic mic for my vocal to sound warm? Most any condenser mic presents 'proximity effect' that makes you sound 'warm'.
I believe he meant 'warm' as opposed to 'bright'. A condenser mic will have a much more detailed high end response. A dynamic doesn't. Or at least, not as much, therefore a warmer sound (albeit I'd use 'dark' instead of 'warm', as I understand warm as a tad bump in the 200-500 hz area)
Andres hit on some good points about the tonal differences in mic types. Dynamics tend to have a narrower frequency response, and thus, are less detailed. They also operate without external power, and as such are less sensitive overall than mics that use external power. That said, the other characteristic that tends to be very prominent in dynamic mics is referred to as the "proximity effect." It's essentially a natural/in-mic boost through the low end that increases relative to distance from the mic, which adds warmth. In other words, the closer to the mic you are, the more pronounced the low end is going to be (likely in that sub-500Hz range Andres mentioned). The Proximity Effect is a double-edged sword; a little proximity effect can be useful if you want to thicken up a vocal (especially if you're looking to do a voice over with that super boomy, basey radio DJ sound or are dealing with someone who has a very light/thin/nasally voice), but too much and things get very artificially boomy and muddy very quickly. It also can result in issues in the mix if it turns out you need a less-bassy sound, so... use it sparingly and subtly. And if you do choose to take advantage of it, stay the same distance from the mic the WHOLE track; small adjustments with mics can make HUGE differences.
The Beatles' engineers would put a 10db boost at the 1K mark. That's so extreme but it sounded great and gave incredible clarity. It's cool to play it safe by keeping db changes within a 5db limit. But go crazy on a track or two and see if extreme things work.
Dude you have helped me so much! It's like you're the only one online that actually knows how to do this and how to address common home recording issues. Thanks!
When you start by saying to get the sound right at the source, then I know the rest of the tutorial will be filled with great info. Nothing worse then people skipping over the fundamentals. Great job on this video. Cheers
One of the best tutorials I've seen on working with cleaning up vocal tracks! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Very helpful and easy to understand. Your tutorials are extremely well made. Recording vocals can be tricky depending on how many instruments there are. It's definitely the part I have the most trouble with. The human voice is the most unique instrument and unpredictable instrument.
I'm going to watch some more of your tutorials because I got a few good nuggets of information here. Thanks man!
Great teachers are clear, honest, concise and knowledgeable. Everything this is! Thanks!
Thanks for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed!
Subtractive eq provides phase cohesion and relaxes speaker output also
THE BEST VIDEO ON UA-cam THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR SIMPLE TO THE POINT AND INFORMATIVE
You're a very good instructor, clear and concise. I also like how you have a breakdown of your lesson in the description.
Thanks the kind words!
I agree 2 years later
GOD BLESS YOU MAN! The most clever explanation I've ever seen. Respect from cold ass Russia, brother! :D
lol i came to the comments just to bless him too.
This is the first time that i ve been told about vocal's EQ by a simple but absolutely useful way. Thank you Rob i will be keep waiting for your updates.
Take a listen to Neil Sedaka's, "Laughing In The Rain" The mix engineer left the entire low end of the lead vocals in. And there's a lot of low boom there and yet the mix sounds great and it was a big hit.
You are very clear in explaining each tips. I really need to step up my game on EQ, this video helped so much. Thanks!👌
I’m so grateful I ran into your video . Been watching other videos about EQ but couldn’t see the difference in my sound . But the subtractive EQ is definitely a game changer for me . I like my voice now on the track ! Lol ! Thank you so much 😊
Great to hear!
Great video man. Could hear all of the differences quite clearly. Thanks for putting this vid out there.
I'm a fan of the channel, and have commented on a couple vids here. Agree with 4 of the tips entirely, not so much with the 300hz cut one. That's akin to thinning the fundamental so that the overtones stick out, it can work if you mess up with proximity effect, but if you do this on properly recorded vocals you run the risk of making them sound hollow :)
Excellent tutorial, as always. You are an outstanding teacher.
You changed my life , nobody cared... Tks .. I really mean it...
I'm so thankful for finding this tutorial and start to learn in detail on your website! I'll never forget this.
You're using absolutely blessed preamps to record this video. I'm a minute in and noticing how perfectly dead quiet every pause in your speech is, and thinking about how hard that is to do with nothing but a noise gate.
Very helpful indeed. Shout out from Namibia, Africa.. My vocals sound really good and clear
dude ur a god sent this is towards what i want thank you ill try to find what my sound sounds like. thank you for opening up and enlightening all of us by opening up.
yeah for sure after adding that 2.6k up to 3.5 i definitely need some of that it makes your "let it rain" more... uhhh tonality a subtle umhp but clearer yes
Oh wow I was gonna say it sounds like when 2.6k goes to 3.5 like u did your high got a bit higher and crisper and when you dropped your 200hz to 150 hz your lowest flucuation got lower and a bit basser so adding the two hmmmm givnig me a good start point.. idk really understand 80hz but thanks again dont wanna copy you 100 percent but for just sharing this w me and giving me a good start point on where can i improve my self expression. keep it up
This whole channel is EXACTLY what I've been looking for! #SubbedImmediately
Great tips! was looking for help for EQing a female house vocal and some of these tips were very useful. thank you
Your voice is very relaxing
The fact that Amber Bain was the thumbnail.... makes me respect you so much automatically 😂
Yes struggling with cut as prior always boosted 2 to 4, will go back to boosting as I am losing depth or a vital part of the sound with the cut, the bass cut I do use, my desk bass cut plus a bit on the knob sounds good, good video thanks
this is very helpful for tuning my EQ for vocals like a pro and mastering it! thanks for this video :)
very nice. very practical. very effective. thanks!
Very helpful ! Thanks !
you are the best! very simple explanation! and most useful for people like me, just a beginner!, guitar player but not an music engineer , god bless you!
Glad we could help!
thanks alot pro , greets from egypt
Great video, very informative and superbly well made!
Way to end the vid with a sales pitch and winning smile. My man 😂
I am way more improved than before. Thanx rob. ❤️
Glad to help!
Not crazy about high pass filter at 80Hz but that's a matter of taste. I also like boosting around 10-12Khz for sizzle.
Thank you very much! This was exactly the information I was looking for!
Glad we could help!
wow..thanks so much. I did learn a lot from this video.
simple ,clear and efficient ,thanks for your tips
This was very helpful, thank you! :)
Thanks for the tips was a great help.
How do you EQ two tonal voice style in speaking ? One is normal speaking and other style is high intensity or loud speaking style ? How do you maintain considerable level by not sounding pierce even a person is loud.
Very great video. I needed this. Cheers
Glad to hear it!
Excellent video! Were you using the stock Protools EQ?
brillant! I love your tutorials. So helpful!
best explanation on eq eveerrrr thx man
This was extremely helpful, thank you very much!
So glad we could help!
Great Video Thank You
Very, very, helpful. Thank you! X A X
No problem!
Thanks for sharing this awesome video! This helps alot! Take care and have a nice day.
No shade on this video but I'm so glad I never learned ProTools and had to endure this skeumorphic skittles spaceship phase of their UI. Would've been better had they just stayed looking like a grayscale spreadsheet.
Thanks. I having problems with harness. I looking for a little warm roundness in the vocals. I see a lot of today music are getting recorded without the large mixing consoles like the ssl. Not sure if it’s all my eq or maybe I need U87 ( or similar) and some tubes pres and compressors.
Does any of this change if you’re adding delays, saturation, and a whisper track? Specifically for heavy rock vocals.
My vocals don't sound bad, but I will try this out on my next mix. I am lucky however to have the right mic for my voice...seems to work anyway
Great job, mate. Thanks very much. Very useful.
Thanks! Glad we could help.
Hey thanks for sharing this! Just to be clear though, by cut you mean lower the gain on that frequency? I looked "cut" up online and had a hard time finding it in the same context you were talking about. I was able to remix my EQ based on your tips and it helped a lot!
A pro don’t have lip sync problems in videos.
What is the name of the song or vocal you used in the example?
Man you saved my life ,clearly .
Cheers. Great insight to EQ. Thanks
Intelligent approach. Subscribed.👍🏻
Thanks! Glad we could help!
Good afternoon, I'm just asking how to eq a bass vocals in a choir. Coz I am a bass 2 singer. And when we used to learn a new piece, I just want to follow someone as a reference. So I want to hear bass more. Thankyouuu
Thank you for this!! Very helpful!
Our pleasure!
Thank you
No problem!
With -18db sweetspot, do you mean it peaks at that level or it sits at that level with peaks higher than that
Good solid stuff. .. more than just tips. .. kinda rule of thumb stuff . .. cheers
Great Tip !
Can you share any tutorial how to use EQ & Compression for Voice Over. because my work mostly on Voice overs
great tips thank you! =D i dont think when you put -10db that it sounds too unnatural but i seen alot of videos and they are in majority where people over do it and they sing under clear sky and sound like its been heavily mixed in a studio and way too much at that... depends on microphones but some effects are usually neccessary but all in good limit... people seem to like that over the top editing though these are some of the most viewed covers on yt so i guess it works on people i dont know lol
Hi! I have a question, what if the vocals need a lot more than 5 db boost in the 2-6 kHz range? Should I go for more db's or is there a way to get around this?
Great question! Sometimes you just have to do some crazy EQ moves to get something to sound right. With that said, our ears our very sensitive to vocals and them not sounding natural. If you're finding you have to boost that much on a vocal, I would consider trying to re-record that part and focusing on what you're missing sonically to capture it in your new recording! With that said, if you're going for a really bright unrealistic sound, then boost away! Hope that helps! Best of luck!
@@masteringcom Very good insights, thank you!
I would like to know what free software is suitable for mixing vocals and instruments?
Good video Ron :)
Thank you for this video. Very clear.
Glad we could help!
The Japanese house/Amber in the thumbnail made me hope you would be eqing her vocals
you have only one vocal track? I' ve doubled mine in recording phase so do i group the tracks and put the mixing chain in the bus or mix every track individually?
I only use doubles creatively like put it on choruses.. but put a double performance take every time sounds unnatural for me because human timing differences is very apparent.. better use a doubler effect if I want it on all the time..
Thanks
great video , well explained.
Hey dude , i have problems with my vocal.
they sound like u but not the exemple in protools, like your voice when you explain how eq in the video, full of Bass and resonance.
I have a tlm 103 and apollo twin and a vocal booth. i record at 20centimeters of my mic but it sound not clear.
Please help me :'(
This video is probably everything you need to know abt EQ! Thanks man!!
awesome tips you are the best ... thanks for sharing
yo great vid. you ever making more?
Is that work similar for other languages? I think we need to boost and cut differently rite?
Please mixing vocal mic dynamic
You could have picked a happier sample. I recommend a visit to the MD and possibly a Prozac regimen.
wow, i thought in the same way about 5 db. thx for the video
cheers man, thats really clever and simple )
What happens if I need to high shelf? Should it be max 5 or 10?
amazing . thank you
very nice,thanks, k
what mic is being used for this video?
nice stuff!
Thanks buddy!
Tnks dear
Thank you!
"Stay below 5db while boosting"
lil Mosey: *ok let's boost +18db on the 15k range to destroy ears*
blueberry faygo right lmao
Karthik Nair ikr, thats why i listen to the video by lyrical limonade and not the official audio, they have cut those freq just so you can listen to it lol 😂
Zines I think it’s the same engineer that mixed polo g vocals on first place and finer things They got the same cut at the high mids and a brittle high end
Very interesting!
Glad you think so!
I have a buddy who EQ's EVERYTHING really bassy and muddy. We're currently using on a little Behringer Xenyx X2222USB mixer, which uses 3-band "British EQ's". (Fun fact: The "British EQ" changed the music industry in the 1960's and 70's.) We also have Behringer [sumpthin', sumpthin'] powered 15"s with basic 2-band EQ's built-in. My buddy, who has more than 45 years of experience in the music industry, boosts the bass on the house speakers and boosts the mid-bass (about 250 Hz) on the mics and EVERYTHING else. Plus, he uses a TON of compression. So, needless to say, everything sounds muddy even though he tells me it sounds great. Because I have a higher voice for a guy and we sing with 3 girls, I EQ the mics to my vocal. I boost the highs (12 kHz) to between 9-10 dB, boost the mids (~1.6 kHz, because it really pulls out the brightness in our girls voices) to about 8-9 dB and boost the lows (80 Hz) to about 9-10 dB to add warmth. After I do that, my buddy eff's it all up because he says it sounds "harsh" and "tinny". Are there any suggestions or am I fighting a losing battle? (Note: I haven't yet used the LPF because it cuts at 75 Hz and I never though it would make such a HUGE difference.)
Kevbox2008 those are some heavy ass boosts, bro. Lol try 3-5 db. remember, a lot of what we hear is percieved. you can "boost" the high by cutting some lows or vice versa.
Kevbox...I'm cringing at the explanation of your situation (sorry, I mean no offense)! There are many different factors working against you here. And I'm assuming you're talking about a live sound situation... for sake of not getting to deep on a comment feed, feel free to PM my page, and I'll try to give you some pointers to straighten out your problem....cheers ;)
Very good point Joe. No two pairs of ears perceive sound the same. Once, in a touring band we had a sound man who had a mid range hearing drop. As a result, left unchecked, our PA would sound like a bingo hall as he boosted mids to an annoying level. I would sometimes call out "under the B....7" just to get his attention. LOL. His tenure as our sound man was brief.
great vid
Thanks Nick!
how can we reduce singer voice.that means how to make clean karaoke.pls tell me sir
my vocals are not sounding in the mix..... like it sounds like another track alltogether no matter what i do... not the problem of the vocals..... please helh
So we should generally cut with EQ and boost with compression then?
How does this apply to the master, if at all? IE should we EQ the master as well
Chris Devine I was told u EQ the master
@@Hennessyham i guess i meant do we mostly eq down the master and compress it for boosts or just eq? I said the question in a confusing way but i appreciate the attempt to help
Chris Devine this what I mentor told me hope this helps: “And EQ the master because A) you cut out small amounts of signal that is building up to make it more even throughout your bands, B) You can clean up the low end with a Mid/Side EQ, C) I shave off parts of the signal with it that I make up with the 2 saturators afterwards”
(0:45) Why would I need to use a dynamic mic for my vocal to sound warm?
Most any condenser mic presents 'proximity effect' that makes you sound 'warm'.
I believe he meant 'warm' as opposed to 'bright'. A condenser mic will have a much more detailed high end response. A dynamic doesn't. Or at least, not as much, therefore a warmer sound (albeit I'd use 'dark' instead of 'warm', as I understand warm as a tad bump in the 200-500 hz area)
Andres hit on some good points about the tonal differences in mic types. Dynamics tend to have a narrower frequency response, and thus, are less detailed. They also operate without external power, and as such are less sensitive overall than mics that use external power. That said, the other characteristic that tends to be very prominent in dynamic mics is referred to as the "proximity effect." It's essentially a natural/in-mic boost through the low end that increases relative to distance from the mic, which adds warmth. In other words, the closer to the mic you are, the more pronounced the low end is going to be (likely in that sub-500Hz range Andres mentioned). The Proximity Effect is a double-edged sword; a little proximity effect can be useful if you want to thicken up a vocal (especially if you're looking to do a voice over with that super boomy, basey radio DJ sound or are dealing with someone who has a very light/thin/nasally voice), but too much and things get very artificially boomy and muddy very quickly. It also can result in issues in the mix if it turns out you need a less-bassy sound, so... use it sparingly and subtly. And if you do choose to take advantage of it, stay the same distance from the mic the WHOLE track; small adjustments with mics can make HUGE differences.
Free hundred! Haha. Great video, very helpful
Thanks!