Placing Vocals In The Mix

“How do I get my vocals to sit right in the mix?”

A common question to hear, but one that always has very contextual answers. The answer will depend on individual song/mix/style/artistic preference variables that change on every song, so there’s not a single answer that will apply in every situation. Often, this kind of thing comes down to engineering expertise, combined with a specific personal artistic style that varies by artist.

It’s important to keep in mind that, like most items in the musical arts, we’re looking for something intentional sounding, which may not always be the same thing as the cleanest and clearest sounding.

A lot of vocal balance in mixing is genre and artist dependent. Pop music, for example, tends to have a very clear production style that’s vocal forward, while other genres like shoegaze, metal, and various indie styles can often have deliberately effected or even deliberately obscured vocals.

Here’s some general items to think about, to give you more control over your vocal balance when mixing your music.

Use vocal effects wisely

Adding lots of vocal effects, especially reverb, can muddy the vocal, or make it harder to hear. Reverb also tends to push the presence of the vocal back in the mix. If you like a very effected vocal (shoegaze or Beach House style), be sure to use EQ on your reverbs, and balance the ratio of effected sound to dry sound in a way that prioritizes maintaining clarity. Using sends and groups is a great way to have more control over this kind of effect blending.

Also! Pre-delay settings on reverb for vocals are very important. The pre-delay determines the amount of time it takes for the reverb effect to kick in; you usually want at least some pre-delay on a reverb to help maintain clarity in your mix. Longer pre-delay settings will sound like a stadium or other large space, shorter pre-delay settings will sound like a smaller bedroom or living room.

EQ techniques in the presence zone

In the audible spectrum, there’s an area called the presence zone, around 3-10kHz. Anything in that area will naturally appear louder to our ears.

If you want the vocal to pop, you need to minimize conflicts in this zone, and leave the presence area clear for the vocal. Use cutting EQ in other conflicting instruments rather than boosting EQ in this area, to avoid harshness. Be gentle, and judicious in your use of the presence zone: small changes lead to very apparent effects here. It is easy to overdo it, and end up with a harsh sounding mix.

Be aware of monitoring challenges

If you’re only using a single pair of headphones to mix, you’re not getting an accurate picture of what your music actually sounds like. Headphones (and especially earbuds) often overemphasize the vocal area. So, if you’re mixing on them as your only means of hearing your work, you will notice your vocals will usually sound far softer than intended, when played back on a different pair of headphones or speakers.

Use variety in your monitoring systems, mixed between both speakers and headphones, and invest in both high quality monitors and room acoustics in your music production area early on.

We generally want a neutral sounding speaker to make music on, rather than a hyped or colored sounding speaker. A lot of mainstream, popular speakers tend to be quite colored: Rokit speakers and Beats headphones both come to mind. The reason these brands offer a more colored sound is because that’s what sells more units, not because they’re a good fit for making music in the studio.

For the same price, with a little research you can do much better. Yamaha and Audio-Technica in particular have some very affordable studio monitors and headphones, that are more neutral sounding for a very reasonable price. I’ve collected all my own recommendations on studio gear that’s affordable, but also doesn’t sacrifice quality, in my Home Studio Gear Guide.

I always recommending testing potential speakers out in person, if you can. A large part of the decision on what studio speaker to buy comes down to personal preference, so you’ll want to try a few different brands out to see what you like, before purchase.