Vocals for new track advice

hi everyone, has anyone got any good tips/advice for getting vocals like on these two tracks?
do you think the vocals are just snippets from acapella’s and then put through some effects and reversed etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBgVZkctLqw

Hi there @Brendy

Yeah, IMO, it sounds more like vocals snippets processed with filtering/EQ to get the kind of mid range Lofi tone and then delay + reverb and some reversed parts perhaps rather than using some other tools like iZotope Vocal Synth or whatever vocoder effect. Removing the Lo & Hi frequencies of vocals and boosting in the mid-range with EQ can drastically change the sound.

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i tried what you said there and it works. i need to find a cool vocal now. thanks for your reply and help!

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No problem, happy if that could help :wink:

And yes, you can do a lot to sound with EQ and a few audio effects, especially interesting on vocals chops IMO.

Another thing to try in order to bring even more effect & interest to it is to add some automation in your Fx chain. And finally doubling the vocals track and process 2 instances slightly differently ( i.e : 1 vocal track more mono & dry & a 2nd one more stereo wide & dleayed + reverbed , taking care of filtering them with a distinctive EQ so that they don’t duel in terms of frequencies ) is a good way to have wider & more powerful vocals ).

You can also re-pitch the vocals up or down on separated tracks, this is also fun to do and can give great results.

If you start to work with several vocal tracks, it can then be good to blend & sum them to a vocal bus to have more easy control over them in the mix.

EQ can be great sound design tools, now something to bear in mind when boosting frequencies with EQ is not pushing the boost to hard, you’ll quickly get resonance, especially is you narrow the Q of the EQ curve.

Izotope also have 2 nice free plugins that can really help for doubling & stereo image :slight_smile:

Cheers & have a nice weekend :wink:

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thanks, looking forward to testing this out now. one quick question and its a different thing this time. is it best to make your tracks in mono? and bounce them down as mono? as club sound system play out on mono. sorry if this is a stupid question

It’s not a stupid question :slight_smile:

I don’t think you have to make all your tracks mono to sound good in clubs, what you have to take care of is that the track is mono-compatible, especially in the low end & for your kick & bass. Working in M/S ( Mid / Side ) mode can help with that, you could for example set a 80Hz frequency amount that will be 100% Mono and have some side & stereo information above that point.

Many producers will make a club ready version of a mix just to be sure it works well on Mono PA systems and a stereo version for anything else like digital distribution or CD, vinyl physical releases but if you work with only one version, then it’s important to check that Mono-Compatibility while mixing the track.

If you have an audio interface with a reachable Mono button, be sure to use & abuse it :slight_smile: , in Live you can stick a utility at the end of your master channel, set it to 100% Mono and link a key command to its ON/OFF function to reach for it easily.

If doing it by ears, you don’t want the track to sound extremely wider & different in Stereo than in Mono, if it’s the case, chances are that the track won’t be Mono friendly in a club, but if the difference is “acceptable” then it should work. Some visual tools & plugins can help too.

But yes, if you want to do it right and avoid issues, making a separate club version of a mix is the way to go IMO, of course it requires more work & time, so that’s also something to consider.

Hope that helps, cheers !

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so just keep my bass and kick in mono then?
thanks

Well, keeping the Kick & Bass in mono can’t hurt of course, it’s a very classic way to do yes.

Now you can also keep a certain safe amount of low end frequency in your kick or bass ( or any other sound ) in mono and spread some the higher range frequency of this sound in stereo, that’s when it comes to use Mid/Sides Equing & plugins with M/S capabilities.

But to be sure your track will play back on a PA system in club, yes, keep a safe amount of Lo-end mono basically.

Have you seen this new tut by Protoculture BTW, it’s titled after the opposite name ( Wide ) but it covers nice things about M/S & mono compatibility too.

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thanks for you help :slight_smile: . no i havin seen that yet, i will take a look thank you!

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