5 Tips For Better Live Vocal Mixes - Mixing Live Vocals - Live Sound Tutorial - Shown on X32 & XR18

hello and welcome back to the channel. on this  episode i thought we would talk about five tips   to improve your live vocal mixes and there's a few  bonus tips at the end as well so let's get started   number one really listen to the vocal turn off the  compression reset the eq mute any effects and then   set your gain everything starts with good gain  structure starting with a pure solid signal helps   keep you from missing something and from starting  with yourself in a hole on your vocal channels   you don't even really want to do any eq at this  point you just want a solid signal and to really   listen to the voices and to start to think about  what you might want to do with the eq as we move   along through these steps obviously if a vocal  tries to feedback when you first bring that vocal   fader up then you need to address that either with  the system eq or the channel eq and this is where   having your rta engaged on a console like the x32  or the xr18 can be really helpful it will clearly   show you where that feedback is at as for eq'ing  the vocal for sound shaping purposes you ideally   want to hear the vocal in context of the music  to make those decisions what you might try and   what you might think you need to do now with the  eq with the vocal solo and no music could cause   you to do too much you might remove the character  from the voice that would ultimately help it stand   out in the mix and this is how some people get a  little overeager and create problems for their mix   as you gain experience you might be better able  to predict what you'll need to do before you hear   the vocal with music and just tweak from there but  that's because with experience you'll get a better   reference to understand exactly how the vocal will  translate to the full band mix there's no shame in   taking a conservative approach and not digging  yourself into a hole at this early stage of the   sound check and there's little to be gained by  rushing to the eq right now anyway and that brings   us to the next thing we want to address at this  early point in the vocal check number two using   our low cut filter also known as the high pass  filter the low cut can serve a couple of purposes   for one it could be used as a sound shaping tool  to roll lowes up a source and to thin that source in most cases though and in this case we're  going to use this so that the channel isn't   picking up sounds lower than the voice of  our singers this will remove low end stage   watch from the vocal mics you can essentially  think of this as making the mic less sensitive   to things like the low end from the bass  guitar and the drums on stage technically   though the mic is still hearing those things  but the board is fillering those things for us   unless you're dealing with a deep baritone  vocalist generically 100 hertz is a fairly   safe setting if you want to be more precise you  can bring the high pass filter frequency up until   you hear it start negatively impacting the low  end of the voice then just bring it back a bit not only will this help our vocal channel not  sound as muddy but it'll help to reduce if not   eliminate plosives plosies are the p-pops  you sometimes hear on certain consonants   particularly words with a p or a b and has  an aside this technique is also useful for   things like a pulpit or electric mic where  this problem can get both annoying and bad   so now we've got our gain set and we've set  our high pass filter ideally while we were   doing those things we've been listening to the  vocal and analyzing it and thinking about what   we might want to do by eq for the vocal and  that brings us to number three eq'ing the vocal   first let's address a common eq'ing mistake made  by some people one common mistake that gets made   is people will try and boost way too low on the  eq to fatten a voice to try and give it some body   they'll even think it worked but what generally  happens is the operator raised something like 80   hertz several decibels when they really needed  to raise 160 hertz only a few decibels if we   look at the graph you can see how raising 80  hertz eventually does raise 160 hertz as well   all that excess low end was really raised  for nothing except to increase the chances   of picking up low end mud and increasing the  odds of low end feedback you really want to make   sure and strive to do your eq work where it's  centered on the area you want to be working on   that way you get maximum benefit  for minimum eq adjustments   it really pays to learn where instruments and  voices have dominant energies before you reach   for an eq knob i'll post a link to an eq  cheat sheet in the text description below   without warning and advice out of the way ideally  you get your singer to sing now with the band so   that you can address the vocal eq within the  context of the actual mix the first thing you   want to do now is listen for where you can cut cut  first should always be your first consideration   and work in small steps not big bites don't be  surprised that the vocal actually sounds okay   just as it is the high pass filter could have been  enough many a mix has been ruined by too much eq   you definitely don't want to cut and adjust the eq  so much that you suck the life out of your signal   let's talk about some general eq tips if the  vocal sounds harsh that is likely a high mid   region cut that you need to make if the vocal  sounds honky that is likely a 600 hertz range   issue that needs cut if the vocal sounds too  thick maybe look at around 250 hertz and cut there   these probably won't be huge cuts just a few db  when you make these cuts you might sweep left or   right to really listen for the target area that  seems to best pinpoint the area that you don't   like you'll probably only need one or two cuts and  as you do make these cuts it's going to change the   perspective of what you originally heard with  the voice and expected you might need to do for   example a cut at 250 hertz might negate a 2.5 k  slight increase you originally thought the vocal   might need to cut through the music always listen  at each step and make sure what you just did   actually helped before going forward put it back  if it didn't help don't dig a hole and then make   it deeper for vocal eq the lower end is one  thing but the high mids and highs can be tricky   for one thing cut that area too much and  the vocal quickly gets lifeless boosting   those areas too much and the mic becomes more  susceptible to feedback and it can also make the   voice sound harsh or brittle therefore a little  usually goes a long way always use your ears   a high mid lift can really help a vocal cut  through a mix especially a guitar heavy mid-range   filled mix a 10k lift can really help give the  vocals a bit of air some vocalists might have a   problem with sibilance that's a problem where  you'll notice their esses stand out too much   that is generally a 5k to 8k problem  and a small cut here can help this is also a place a de-esser can be used  and inserted on a vocal channel to help you   instead of attacking it with eq whatever  you do with your eq typically a conservative   approach will pay dividends within the mix  and that brings us to number four compression   this is another area where a light touch can pay  dividends generally you'll just want to take some   peaks off and narrow the dynamic range a bit  you don't want to squeeze all the life out of   the vocal also if you're doing monitors from front  of house your singers aren't likely to want to be   singing into high levels of compression the video  link above talks about this monitor issue in more   detail so if you're doing monitors from front  of house you might want to check that link out   even if you're using a different mixer regardless  of the mixer the concepts will remain the same   for vocal compression generally a ratio of  two to one or three to one are fairly safe   settings especially if you pay attention to your  threshold setting and your gain reduction meter   you won't want all or even most gain reduction  lights to light up for typical vocal compression   settings flickering the top couple or three  of the gain reduction lights can be sufficient   especially if you're not really confident about  compression we are more interested in smoothing   the peaks here if your compressor has a setting  for auto time or auto attack and release then   vocals are a perfect place to use that setting  once you set a light ratio like i mentioned   you can then adjust the threshold control to  get the meters reading like i just described   in a recording situation you can get away with  being more aggressive with the gain reduction   live you need to tread a little bit more carefully  if you have a singer that's inconsistent or overly   dynamic you could certainly try sliding up to a  four to one ratio but that said live shows have   live dynamics it's part of the excitement  of a live performance always be willing to   take a step back for a moment and try and listen  to the performance both from the perspective of   an audience member and from the perspective  of the band and on to our fifth tip effects   reverb can really enhance and lift a vocal  or it can bury it literally i have a few   general rules i use as bass lines faster  songs i typically go with a shorter decay   slower songs like ballads i usually go with  a longer decay i consider 1.5 seconds as a   baseline decay setting for vocals and then adjust  their up or down for the actual song tempos   standing on my own standing on my own standing on my own hold your body and exhale  we're into the realm of subjectivity here   and you have to use your ears and you  have to consider the band and the music   really just remember most times the effects are  to enhance the vocal not overwhelm the vocal   rarely is the effect something that's at the  forefront of a song always try and be tasteful   if you wonder if it's too much the odds are  greater you can reduce the effect and not hurt   anything versus maybe it actually is too much  there's another situation you might find yourself   in you can't just consider the effect you want to  hear you also have to consider the venue you're in   if you're in some large overly reflective  room you might be better off just muting   the effects for that gig if you're outdoors  with nothing for the sound to reflect off of   you might need to mix wetter than you're used to  in either of those cases you need to use your ears   and understand your surroundings physics has a way  of winning these type of situations alright that's   our five tips but here are some bonus things to  consider it's probably important to point out that   you should never forget to let the mix breathe  don't get caught into thinking you constantly   need to be changing things on the console sit  back and listen to your mix listen to the band   don't get caught up fighting the natural dynamics  of the band thinking that it's always bad if   something stands out maybe it's supposed to stand  out maybe you're just being hypersensitive and   listening too critically rather than artistically  you don't always want to try too hard to put   things in a neat and tidy box sometimes  you just need to let the band be the band   let me know of any tips and tricks you use for  your vocal mixes in the comments section below   please like and subscribe to the channel and  click the affiliate links to support the channel   follow these links to check out some of the  other channel videos and i will see you next time

Channel: Alan Hamilton Audio

Views: 55,597

Keywords: XR18 vocals, MR18 vocals, mixing live vocals, eq live vocals, vocal eq live, how to mix live vocals, live vocal tips, live vocals, Live vocal eq, vocal eq live sound, x32 vocals, m32 vocals, vocal mixing tips, mixing Praise band vocals, Vocal eq, live sound tutorial, live sound mixing, vocal compression, mixing vocals, how to mix vocals, How to eq vocals, vocal reverb, vocal mixing techniques, Female vocal EQ, eq male vocal, vocal mixing, church sound, Live audio, m32

Id: oP4sdpkkNhY

Length: 12min 22sec (742 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 17 2021