Music Production Podcast for DIY Music Producers and Artists | Inside The Mix

#110: 3 Tips for Mixing Vocals in a Synthpop Track: Techniques for a Professional Sound

• Marc Matthews • Season 3 • Episode 51

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Ever scratched your head trying to figure out how to mix vocals in a synthpop track, vocal mixing techniques for clarity, achieving balance between vocals and instruments, synthpop vocal processing techniques, balancing synths and vocals for a cohesive mix, avoiding frequency clashes between synths and vocals or even what is vocal mixing? Then check out EP 110 of the Inside The Mix podcast.

Submit a music production or mixing question and feature on the podcast: https://www.speakpipe.com/InsideTheMixPodcast

Unlock the magic of synthpop vocal mixing and music production as I dive into the fascinating world of vocal mixing usually found in modern pop and synthpop music. This episode, born out of a listener's curiosity, promises to deliver three surefire techniques you can immediately implement to give your vocal mix that mesmerizing, professional sheen. 

Discover the power of EQ presence frequency, the mesmerising effect of vocal doubling, and the robustness of vocal distortion in creating a polished vocal sound. This step-by-step guide to vocal mixing, inspired by Beverly Knight's track 'Systematic Overload', will help you elevate your music production skills to new heights. So, tune in, grab a pen, and let's redefine your music-making journey.

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Speaker 1:

You're listening to the Inside the Mix podcast with your host, Mark Matthews.

Speaker 2:

Hello and welcome to the Inside the Mix podcast. I'm Mark Matthews, your host, musician, producer and mix and mastering engineer. You've come to the right place if you want to know more about your favorite synth music artists, music engineering and production, songwriting and the music industry. I've been writing, producing, mixing and mastering music for over 15 years and I want to share what I've learned with you. Hello, folks, and welcome back to the Inside the Mix podcast. If you are a returning listener, a big welcome back. And, of course, if you are a new listener or viewer, please do hit that subscribe button on your podcast player of choice. And if you're watching on YouTube, make sure you hit subscribe and that notification bell so you get notified whenever there are new episodes. I also want to drop in and mention the Inside the Mix podcast Patreon. Now, there was an episode dedicated to this a few episodes back, but if you want to join the Inside the Mix podcast Patreon community and benefit from early release podcast episodes, you can hear or watch the podcast before anybody else does Monthly ask me anything. So you can join me and ask me any questions on a monthly basis. Join the Inside the Mix podcast community on Discord and also get a shout out on the podcast and, of course, you are supporting the podcast in generating this amazing show that we have. Please do hit the link in the episode description and join us on Patreon. So, as always, it is busy times here at the podcast.

Speaker 2:

So you may have noticed, if you follow on Instagram and if you are part of the mailing list as well, that I am, or rather I'm planning, a limited series podcast. So what is that, you might ask. It is basically I have a well, I have mapped out 20 episodes. It's a limited series and it's dedicated to monetizing music production, so how you can monetize your skill set. So it's not focused on music production and mixing, it's actually the monetization side of things. So if you want to take sort of your hobby and start monetizing it, it could be the perfect limited series podcast for you. So it's going to sit aside from the Inside the Mix podcast. It's going to be separate. So it's not going to be an episode of the Inside the Mix podcast. It's going to be an entirely separate podcast and I'm going to release all the episodes in one and, like I said, it's going to be between 20 to 23 and the goal is to give you tips, tools, techniques okay and strategies to monetize music production and your skill set. So do look out for that.

Speaker 2:

So some extremely exciting news. So I have settled on release dates for a single and the actual EP that I've been banging on about now tutorial episodes for the last God knows how many months. So on Friday, november the 10th I'm looking at my notes here, folks via Retro Reaver Records, the single Let you Go will be released, and then Friday, the 8th of December, the EP Lost and Found will be released, also via Retro Reverb Record. So that is an exclusive. I haven't announced that anywhere else. So for those of you who may care about this EP release and the single release, those are the dates, folks. So it's gonna be November the 10th. Friday, november the 10th for the Let you Go single release, and then Friday the 8th of December, four days after my birthday, for the Lost and Found EP, and no doubt you will hear more about that over the coming weeks. So please do, when it does arrive, hit that pre-save button as well.

Speaker 2:

So let's dig into this episode, episode 110. And it is another bit of excitement it's a new podcast episode format. So this is where you, the listener, submit a music production question or mixing question, and your question will be the foundation, the topic and the answer on the podcast. I want you to be involved in the podcast creation, basically. Plus, you can give yourself a little bit of a shout out too, and it's evergreen content. It's always gonna be up and available, so people are gonna hear that every time they find the episode. All you need to do to do this is submit an audio message via speak pipe detailing your question, your pain point, your challenge, and then, of course, give yourself a little shout out at the end, and you can do that via speak pipe. There is a link in the episode description. Alternatively, if you're not comfortable using audio which is totally fine, I get, it's not for everyone you can send me a message via text on DM, via DM on DM, via DM on Instagram, at insidethemixpodcast, or you can email insidethemixpodcastatgmailcom with your question and also do include a link that you would like me to then shout out, if I'm reading it for you.

Speaker 2:

So in this inaugural episode of this format, our first question was submitted by Andrew Wood, aka RogueFX, and he submitted it via text. So this was via DM on Instagram and you can find him at RogueFX underscore retrowave on Instagram and his question or topic is this it's bugged me for a year. The vocal sound effects you hear regularly on modern pop music and some synth wave, eg the effect in the first seconds of this track, and then he demonstrated the track for me, how to achieve it. Granted, it's used mostly, but not exclusively, on female vocals, but I may have a collab with a female vocalist and it would be good to understand how to achieve that sort of professional sheen. So the song mentioned in Andrew's question RogueFX's question is systematic overload by Beverly Knight, and Beverly Knight is a fantastic UK singer and I listened to it and you've got this really nice pop vocal sound. So I'm going to demonstrate three tips, three techniques that you can use there and that I use to achieve a really nice vocal mix.

Speaker 2:

So here's number one. So your mix is almost there, it's almost finished, but the vocal just isn't stepping forward enough. Now you could boost the level, but you're happy with the automation settings that you have. You just want it to sound like it's taking a step forward and not competing with other instruments in the same frequency spectrum. So this is what I would do.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so what I'm going to do is I want to find the presence frequency of this vocal. So I'm going to sweep through the frequency spectrum until it sounds like the vocal's taking a step forward. So I've got this logic channel EQ here and I'm just going to boost this bell EQ. Here it's about 10 dB. I've got it set to a Q of one. I'm actually going to change it to 1.5. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to play this vocal in isolation and I'm going to sweep around sort of 2K to 5, 6k until it sounds like the vocalist is taking a step forward, and then that is my presence frequency. So I'm just going to start playing it and then I'm going to boost it by 10 dB and then we'll sweep around until we find it.

Speaker 1:

I go watch you forever.

Speaker 2:

So I've boosted it.

Speaker 1:

But under your firelight.

Speaker 2:

And that's 2K.

Speaker 1:

Your secret show. I go watch you forever.

Speaker 2:

The thickets are around three.

Speaker 1:

But under your firelight, your secret show.

Speaker 2:

So that's at 2.8 kilohertz and hopefully what you can hear there is or maybe it now is that it sounds like the vocal is taking a step forward. So I'm just going to turn the EQ off.

Speaker 1:

I go watch you forever.

Speaker 2:

So that's off and that's on. Now, obviously I've boosted it by 10 dB so it's going to sound louder in that particular region, but the idea is that's the presence frequency I want. That's going to make it sound like the vocalist is taking a step forward. So, armed with that presence EQ, frequency information, I would then put an EQ on an instrument where I want to clear space for the vocal to pop through. So, for example, on this kick drum here I've got the TDR Nova EQ and I've got a Bell EQ here at 2.8 kHz minus 3.2 with a 2Q, and that is going to clear some space in that kick drum for that vocal to come through. And I've done the same with the snare. This time I've used the channel EQ and I've got it minus 1.8 dB, 2.8 kHz with a 2.5 Q. And that is that, folks, so clear space in an instrument for your vocal, using that presence frequency information.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so imagine you've got your vocal and it sounds nice, but it's kind of like it's a bit flat, it's not really got a lush, spacious sound to it. Here's what I like to do. So I've got this auxiliary send here and it's called a vocal double or vox double, and I've got the waves doubler on it and if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see that I have disabled the direct, the center channel, because I just want the sides, and I've also used the EQ in it and I've boosted around 5.7 kHz and then I've just rolled off below 200 there as well, using the EQ in the doubler. Now you can use any doubler or stereo width based plug-in, like the Isotope imager for example, but I like using the doubler because you can remove that center frequency. Then after that I've got an EQ.

Speaker 2:

I've got the TDR Nova EQ and I've got some high and low pass filtering going on. I sort of sculpted the sound a bit more. So my high pass is approximately 200 Hz and my low pass is approximately 10 kHz, and then this auxiliary send is actually then being sent to my vox reverb as well. So I've got my main vocal going to this auxiliary send for the vocal double and then the vocal double is then going to my vox reverb also. So that's all set up. So I've got my send on my vocal channel here and I'm just going to bring it all the way down and then I'm going to press play and gradually bring it in and what you'll hear, is this lush spaciousness surrounding it. It goes from this sort of like flat mono vocal to this lush, spacious sound, so let's give this a go.

Speaker 1:

We used to be like day and night. I go watch it forever. So this is gonna be my R Playing one, but under what you find in the light, yeah, you'll see a great show.

Speaker 2:

So hopefully you can hear that it's created that sense of space around it. So I'll just A, b, I'll leave the vocal doubler send in and then I'll remove it so you can hear the difference. So this is with the vocal doubler effect.

Speaker 1:

We used to be like the night. I go watch it forever.

Speaker 2:

Now I'm going to remove it.

Speaker 1:

But under what you find in the light, yeah, you'll see a great show.

Speaker 2:

Now I've probably over exaggerated it and used more than I would usually, but I just wanted to make it obvious. Now you might also be asking the question well, why don't I just stick the doubler on the channel? And it's because I like to use auxiliary sends and I like to minimize the amount of reverbs, double or time based processing that I have going on, and also I like to send more than one vocal channel to that doubler effect and then automate that throughout my mix. And that's the reason why I don't like to have all these different spaces and all this weird time based stuff going on. I like to minimize it and keep it nice and clean. So you've got your vocal, but it's just not punching through enough. It's just not there, it's not grabbing you in the mix.

Speaker 2:

So this is what I like to do I've got this vocal distortion auxiliary sent here and I've slapped on it the BX saturator plugin and I really like the preset of distorted vox in mix and I've pretty much left it as it is, to be honest.

Speaker 2:

But what I have done is before it. If you're watching on YouTube, I've rolled off anywhere below one kilohertz, so it's the 6 dB slope, the first order slope, and then I've used a low pass filter and sort of rolled off anything above 1200 hertz Because I just want that mid range frequency content. I don't want any low mids, any lows, I just want that mid range frequency content. So then I've got my send on my lead vox here and I've got it all the way set to zero, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to gradually bring the fader up on this vocal distortion auxiliary send and you should start to hear just a bit more power in that vocal. What it's doing is it's adding that saturation. So it's it's increasing that perceived level using saturation rather than just boosting the level. So let's give it a go.

Speaker 1:

Just your touch is enough.

Speaker 2:

So I'm bringing it up now To bring me back to your love.

Speaker 1:

I want you back in my arms.

Speaker 2:

So I had it there set to about minus 6 dB using the fader on the auxiliary send for the vocal distortion, and it's probably quite over pronounced, but you can definitely hear it. What I'll do is I'll A? B it, so I'll leave it in and then I'll remove it. So this is with the vocal distortion effect.

Speaker 1:

Just your touch is enough.

Speaker 2:

Now I'm going to remove it.

Speaker 1:

To bring me back to your love.

Speaker 2:

So you can hear that it kind of adds a bit more grit, a bit more power to it. Now, in isolation it sounds like too much, but in the full mix let's give it a go.

Speaker 1:

Just your touch is enough To bring me back to your love. I want you back in my arms.

Speaker 2:

There we go, folks. I think it works really well, just adds a bit of grit, a bit more power to that vocal. Now, in isolation, I would say it probably sounded like too much, but in the full context of the mix I think it sounded correct. Now, as with all these tips, they are subjective. It is a creative process. So anything I've shown you today, if you think differently or it could be approved upon, or if you think there is a better way of doing it, please do. Let me know in the comments on YouTube or ping me a DM at Inside the Mix podcast.

Speaker 2:

Let's quickly recap the three techniques we've seen in this episode to help create a more professional sounding vocal. We've got the EQ presence frequency so we can find that presence frequency without vocals taking a step forward. And then we can clear space in an instrument once we have that information. We've got the vocal doubler effect so we can take that boring, flat, mundane vocal and add lush spaciousness to it. And then we've got the vocal distortion so we can have girth and perceived loudness to a vocal using an auxiliary send with a distortion plugin on it. So, folks, if you have a burning question that you want to answer, like my friend Andrew Wood, aka RogueFX. Please do submit an audio message via speak pipe. Remember you can use the link in the episode description or, if audio isn't your thing, because it's not for everyone, send me a DM on Instagram at Inside the Mix podcast, or email me insidethemixpodcast at gmailcom. And remember to include a link to where our audience can find you, and I cannot wait to have more of your questions on the podcast.

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