Vocal Mixing

[PonE-Sharp]

I've (finally) started to use my mic to record vocals, but now, I don't know what to do with them! I don't even know if I sing good. I recorded a sample of Hooves Up High as a test.

https://soundcloud.com/pone-sharp/hooves-up-high-cover-sample/s-OFJU3

What do you generally do to mix this thing? To make it sound professional? I'd also like some critique on my singing. I know I'm not great, but that's why I'm here now

[itroitnyah]

Use some soft autotuning to put your vocals more into the A minor (the key that HUH is in), but the tuning should just be minor, enough to sound natural without distorting the vocals. Then, use some light EQing. If you've read 4thImpulse's amazing frequency chart thingy, there are a few parts that mention vocals, so you can boost or lower those parts. But not overly EQing, of course. It follows the same rule as the auto tuning. Add in a compressor and lightly compress to make the volume levels more in unison with each other, giving you more headroom. But not too much, otherwise you'll distort it. Then add on some light reverb, enough to make your vocals really shine and sound amazing. Maybe some delay for cool effect points. The reverb isn't necessarily essential, but it's a good tool to use. Anything beyond the reverb, such as delay, are purely optional. If you add on a chorus effect, it does just that and it sounds like you're your own personal choir.

[PonE-Sharp]

Use some soft autotuning to put your vocals more into the A minor (the key that HUH is in), but the tuning should just be minor, enough to sound natural without distorting the vocals. Then, use some light EQing. If you've read 4thImpulse's amazing frequency chart thingy, there are a few parts that mention vocals, so you can boost or lower those parts. But not overly EQing, of course. It follows the same rule as the auto tuning. Add in a compressor and lightly compress to make the volume levels more in unison with each other, giving you more headroom. But not too much, otherwise you'll distort it. Then add on some light reverb, enough to make your vocals really shine and sound amazing. Maybe some delay for cool effect points. The reverb isn't necessarily essential, but it's a good tool to use. Anything beyond the reverb, such as delay, are purely optional. If you add on a chorus effect, it does just that and it sounds like you're your own personal choir.

What program should I use to do all that?

[Motivfs]

Use some soft autotuning to put your vocals more into the A minor (the key that HUH is in), but the tuning should just be minor, enough to sound natural without distorting the vocals. Then, use some light EQing. If you've read 4thImpulse's amazing frequency chart thingy, there are a few parts that mention vocals, so you can boost or lower those parts. But not overly EQing, of course. It follows the same rule as the auto tuning. Add in a compressor and lightly compress to make the volume levels more in unison with each other, giving you more headroom. But not too much, otherwise you'll distort it. Then add on some light reverb, enough to make your vocals really shine and sound amazing. Maybe some delay for cool effect points. The reverb isn't necessarily essential, but it's a good tool to use. Anything beyond the reverb, such as delay, are purely optional. If you add on a chorus effect, it does just that and it sounds like you're your own personal choir.

I might be wrong, but in the competition I believe it said it was in C major.

[ChocolateChicken]

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5770

and

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1326

For all my vocals, the first thing I do is use a low cut filter at around 170Hz to get rid of all that unnecessary bass material. That space should be reserved for your bass instruments and your kick drum. I hear a lot of popular music nowadays, as well as EDM, in which the producers cut out everything below 230Hz, which I'm not quite sure about. But I would always make sure you low cut at least 150Hz.

Then you might want to compress the vocals slightly.

[itroitnyah]

What program should I use to do all that?

Any program you want. It doesn't matter whether you're using Ableton, FL, Logic, or Cubase, as long as you can access the effects that you need

[bartekko]

I might be wrong, but in the competition I believe it said it was in C major.

Same thing, different tonic. If you know what you're doing, you can even remix Hooves Up High into E Phrygian

[Motivfs]

I might be wrong, but in the competition I believe it said it was in C major.

Same thing, different tonic. If you know what you're doing, you can even remix Hooves Up High into E Phrygian

This is why I need to take more interest in music theory. I don't even know what E Phrygian is, haha.

[cplbradley]

My good friend f3nning did a tutorial on the matter:

[Alycs]

I might be wrong, but in the competition I believe it said it was in C major.

Same thing, different tonic. If you know what you're doing, you can even remix Hooves Up High into E Phrygian

This is why I need to take more interest in music theory. I don't even know what E Phrygian is, haha.

Its the C Major Scale, but starting on the third tone (the E); the Phrygian is used a lot by Bach because it sounds like a really exaggerated minor. I wouldn't recommend it for Hooves up High, through; stay in either C Major or A minor to keep the key right. If you want to mess with it, use something like F Lydian or G Mixolydian (C Major staring on the fourth or fifth)

[FIMprov]

My good friend f3nning did a tutorial on the matter:

Dude this is the best thing I've seen in a long time.

Uh, let's see, on topic, on topic...

OK, right, what I usually do is throw a compressor on there. The threshold is how loud it can get before the compressor kicks in, and the ratio is how much compression you get. You generally only want to compress it just enough to even out the volume across the board without distorting it (make sure you have a decent attack time set to ensure an organic sound) and turn up the gain until you get the volume to the level you want. It is insanely helpful to know how to sing with a mic, and there's tutorials on that all over the place. And then EQ'ing is fairly straightforward when you use the4thimpulse's frequency chart (or use the Cubase presets uvu), plus effects to get the sound you want. And a little bit of autotuning is also all but expected of you these days.