This was going to be a reply to the fella who post about edm vocals however it something i get asked about frequently on here. I wanted everyone to be able to see it and contribute. This is the basics of how to get a vocal in your bedroom to sound like you know what your doing. Maybe well do another one later, of how to set up fx and pitch correct but this is the basics of any vocal not just edm. Edm is slightly different because of the volume of certain genres however its all the same methods as any other genre. Starts with a good tracking! I track with a dash of compression usually waves r comp, i like to track the vocal around -8 -10ish db, run a tester first and look at the waveform. You want a mid to small size waveform that doesnt have massive peaks. You dont want a super big waveform, this results in peaks, cracks, pops just all bad. If you dont track with this, here is how i usually do vocals. CLAvocals can also be a really good place to start, find a preset and adjust it to your liking substitute cla for the R comp if you go this route.
WAVES R COMP - vocal preset or pensado vocal 1, im going to take off enough to see that its barely working, dont be alarmed if its -12 or - 20 before you see it start to work, this is fine.
WAVES VEQ 4 - Is next up, i really like this eq on vocals, you prob have it and have never used it. I start with the vocal preset and sometimes its just a few adjustments until you are good to go. Maybe a slight learning curve with this guy however its worth it because it sounds amazing on a vocal.
LIVE EQ8 - EQ8 is my go to STOCK eq and i am very comfortable in it. In this second Eq, i will do an additional soft hi pass, and make adjustments accordingly. This is where you want to do the surgical if you have to, however you dont always have to. I find that by the time it gets to this eq, the amount you have to eq is minimal. Hopefully.
LIVE SATURATOR - This is an excellent way to add grit to a vocal. Will sound like hell when you first add drive, so you want to make sure you pull off on the output, what you put on drive (or close to it) say you added 16 on drive, pull -12 to -16 off on the output. Also, i rarely like to use this at 100% wet. 50 - 70ish is usually a good place to start.
CLA LA2a - This is what takes the vocal to the next level. By now the vocal is sounding damn good, so we apply this guy and start with the vocal preset. First thing i do is switch the analog button at the bottom to off, i dont like this hissing from that. The saturator we applied earlier will be dirty enough. There is only 2 options with this compressor so its hard to mess up. If you tracked the vocal good volume like -8ish, gain should be around 40ish. We are going to get our volume from the gain and the highest i go is around 50 on the gain. The peak reduction is up to you and this is an opto compressor so its quite different than something with attack and release. You can pull off as high as -7 if you want a super compressed sounding vocal and it will still sound good. I personally like -3 to -7 if i tracked the vocal, otherwise i use my ears to determine whats good. This is a must on vocals for me, i really love the way it makes vocals sound.
LIVE GATE - This is going to get rid of any hissing and noise that happens when the vocal is playing. Simply put the gate on and adjust the threshold to somewhere prob around -45 to - 55 so when you press stop on your track, you dont hear a loud hissing coming from the gain you used. This is also a key element is a g eazy, drake, partynextdoor type vocal. When you have a rapper or singer who is quiet and likes to go hard on the saturation sometimes the gate can become a subtle effect that makes the vocal VERY present, and VERY abrupt when they stop talking. Sounding like there is a tremendous amount of pressure behind the vocal when it comes in, however it shuts right off. This works on effects too that might be in the chain.
WAVES DeESSER- Last thing is the deEsser, and your going to have to play with this one however the preset like male ess is a good place to start. You can adjust the frequency but 4500 is most likely the area you will find the essses in a male singer. You dont want to go crazy on this because it will change the sound of the vocal. Drop the threshold down enough to see that you have some attenuation happening and your happy with the sound.
Hope this helps.
Submitted October 13, 2016 at 04:42PM by TurntReynolds https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/57c7ur/how_to_get_professional_sounding_vocals_using/?utm_source=ifttt