Hey guys, new here. I've been producing for about a year now and haven't looked too much into vocals. I was wondering if y'all could help me figure out what J Cole did to his vocals in his song, Killers. Thanks in advance.

 

J cole/the mix engineer probably did very little to the vocal in that song. The vocal sounds pretty dry and un-processed, nothing special.

To get that sound you just need a decent mic going through a good preamp, and some very basic eq/compression to keep the level of the vocal consistent. Another overlooked factor is having a well treated acoustic space, or booth to record in. it makes it easier to get that focused dry sound.

Below I've attached an article where J cole mentions some of his recording chains that he's used: http://www.emusician.com/artists/1333/j-cole-shares-production-secrets/45993

He said he uses a Neumann u87 thru and Avalon 737 on a lot of records, he also uses the Sony c800g into a 1073 from time to time as well, but sometimes he uses other equipment as well such as the apogee duet. I own all of the equipment mentioned above, and I can tell you just by listening, the vocal in the song you posted was most likely cut with the u87/Avalon 737 combo.

I don't know what your budget is, but much of the equipment above may be a bit expensive if your just getting started with recording. But the reality is that you don't need a u87, c800g, Avalon 737, or 1073 in order to get a vocal sound like that. There are TONS of great pieces of gear that can get you a similar sound in a cheaper price range. Given that I own a ton of that gear (highend and lowend) I can tell you that more expensive gear is not always necessarily better, so don't get caught in the hype of highend name dropping. For example, I have owned 2 u87's and its one of my LEAST favorite microphones to use, and It's very over priced imo. There are many mics I consider much better in cheaper price ranges.

But ultimately I can tell you that the vocal you posted above is sonically a very BASIC vocal, not hard to achieve with good basic recording techniques.

 

Yea, that is the 87/Avalon and definitely not the Sony c800g, it's not all smooth high end but rather gritty mids of the Neumann. There is also a significant amount of compression, maybe two or three different to smooth the vocal out. It could be a $10,000 vocal chain, easy.

Hey Brah, can you lend me a hundert?
Hey Boy, I only have a grand, take a walk!
Dats ok, I got change!

 

This is basically the same question that started it all for me. Just substitute J-Cole for "mainstream hip hop quality". From that point, it was a couple of months of hardcore research, due to not knowing the right questions, and skepticism, due to there being A LOT of bad information out there. After that, it was all just a matter of practice. With that being said, Starkid gave you a great response. One of the most important things a new engineer can be told is that there is no magical move in post (mixing, mastering) that will make your tracks sound professional. Once you go through the tracking process and dial in the levels, you pretty much know how good your track will sound, because it is mostly finished and you will mostly be dealing in subtleties going forward.

As far as getting good at tracking, I suggest sticking to a single, solid microphone, like an SM58. Learn to use it. Learn how it sounds. Learn to move it and learn what it does when you do it. Try different environments. Look into what a good recording environment is. Too many newbies think that plastering walls with foam is the thing to do, when that is a horrible thing to do. To be clear, I am talking about covering the walls with too much foam. It will kill the room. Your vocals will sound like crap, which they don't need to. You can get good recordings without being rich. If you stick to it, you unquestioningly will, but buying different equipment and looking for a magical processor will not help.

Ethan Winer is a great source on tracking environments. There is a lot to know.

 

Im here for J. Cole.
I hope him and Logic, A-F-R-O, Dizzy Wright, (and the rest I forgot to mention that have a spotlight on them right now) can kick down the door that Kendrick opened up and change what is popular in hiphop these days. We need to take it back to the real, away from these young thug, lil yatchy, 21 savage, desiigner idiots.

 

Thanks for the reply guys! I have a a Yeti Pro usb mic. I think its good enough but for a area to record in, I was thinking my closet which is about 4 x 8 big. I feel its a ok place to get dry vocals lol. Every where else always some sort of sound the mic picks up.

 

Look for bang for the buck mic's like the Stellar CM6 where a smaller amount of cash goes a long way.
IMHO, a Stellar CM6 or Warm Audio's new 87 mic, Audient iD22 with a Warm Audio WA76 will get you a lot of mileage for under 1.5K.

Talent on the artist side is vital too,
I cut Tech N9ne's "Now It's On" on an AKG 535eb into an original Mackie 1604 with great results in my closet full of clothes, lol.
I cut "Sinister Tech" with an AKG Solidtube into a Focursite Green pre to an Art Pro VLA, in a mattress foam box.
I cut "It's Alive" and "This Ring" with a Rode NT1 to Brent Averill 1272 to Focusrite Green comp in another mattress foam box, lol.

So you can make anything work if you work hard, learn your gear, use proper wiring and gain staging, and have talented artist to record.

 

@WillTheWeirdo
Good info there.
A $200 Aurelex foam kit, closets, spare throw rugs, moving blankets, and mattress foam. That's me all day.
Thanks for the reinforcement that it doesn't have to be a "pro" isolation booth to make a hit.