Hey everyone ! Hope you all doing well.

I am struggling to get the vocals to sound like that:

I know this is a professional mix with expensive hardware etc. but I am wondering: how do they manage to get the voice to sound like it's almost in the back, but at the same time, very present. It is like, they cut some frequencies to get the voice not to detailed. Or maybe it is compression ? I mean, the main difference I see between my mix and this song is that, my voice is too present, almost to detailed.

I do not know if someone understood my feeling


Here is a snippet of my mix :


Thank you guys.

 

I dont think theres a plugin that can translate your vocals into English m8

 

It's all EQ. A lot of Rap and Hip Hop productions have been doing this style of EQ in their productions forever. You'll notice the beat is very scooped in the middle, the snare, cymbals and pads all reside in the upper frequencies and all of the bass lines, kicks and synth remains in the lower registers. Generally if their is something in the beat that falls in the middle it is pushed in the back. But adjusting your beats this way allows you to have a pocket for your vocals to sit in. You then EQ your vocals pretty much the opposite of the beat. Set a high and lowpass filter on your vocals to make them pretty much only reside only in the mid frequencies to fill the pocket you made in the beat. You'll notice in the example that the vocals don't have any "Air" or "Shine" to them because a lot of the high end has been cut out. The vocals in your song sound good, but they sound full. If you want that sound you'll need to carve out some of the higher and lower frequencies in the vocals and adjust your beat to fit the vocals. A lot of EQ's have something along the lines of a "LoFi" or "Telephone" preset. Put that preset on your vocals and it will be an extreme version of what you're after just to give you an idea of what it sounds like and how it relates to the example you gave.
Hope this helps!

 

You need air in you vocals (above 20k, something like AA plug Diamond EQ or from Plugin Alliance Maag eq4, the air band, but be carefull with your esses after, specially in French those become quickly a handfull), also indeed everything is kind of not define enought, make some cuts (mostly you need to remove lower frequencies) and room for each element. It's not just your vocals that are muddy, the rest is also too dark.
Also reverb. Not an oldschool emulation one, but a modern verb type exponential audio either Phoenix verb or R4, something that's there without being obvious.

 

That is actually a very thorough explanation, I am gonna experiment sir!

But the song of Big Sean was just an example (that is, indeed kind of dark), but if you consider this song:

I am having hard time believing they cut out the high frequencies of his voice, because it sounds very natural ! Yet, his voice is well glued to the beat!!


And by the way, I am already using a vocal sidechain on the instrumental's mid range frequencies to let the vocal stand out. Is it a good idea ?

 

Last edited: Jul 26, 2018

I love humour

 

deleted post...

 

? what

 

Channel -
Autotune
Renaissance EQ - cut the lows boost the mid 2-4k somewhere a few db and if it needs a little shine past 8k can boost that
RComp - 3-6 db gain deduction, 3 ratio, fast attack, medium/slow release
C4 - a little compression on all bands with the gains of the band going up a little as the frequency goes up
Rvox - slammed at -9
DeEsser - around 4k

Busses
Soundtoys micro shift
Reverb going into a delay (or whatever the track needs)
76 style comp on all mode (if needed)

The vocal you sent doesn't sound anything special sounds like every rap vocal nowaday. The chain I just gave you is what these guys are doing, this is literally a chain used for meek mill and travis scott. So if it isn't exactly what it is it's gona be very close. Thank me later

 

I am going to try that right away thanks getrich420

 

That 'music' was my idea of hell. wherever the talking is mixed it will still just be that...talking over a more than familiar beat.
Just my two bobs worth.