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Hey all. I am getting ready to master a project (I'm a newbie) by a trio. As I was listening, I noticed the vocals just didn't seem to come out and "slap me in the face" like I like. Are there any good tips for bringing these out?

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joe lambert Tue, 12/09/2003 - 10:48

If you don't want to go back to the tracks or if it doesn't fix the problem try some upper mids to get them "above" the rest of the track. Conversely you may have too much low mids that is making them muddy.

I can't say without hearing the song.

Do they seem loud enough in general? If sometimes they are loud and sometimes there not you may need some compression to hold them in place better.

A proper combo of EQ and Comp. can work wonders for vocals.

anonymous Wed, 12/17/2003 - 06:00

Assuming the vocals are centrally placed you might try MS EQing if you can get access to something that'll do this - I have an original dbx Quantum that works very well, and it'll do MS compression as well.

MS EQ works by providing separately EQable access to the Mid (M or central) and Side (S or outside edge) components of your mix, so looking at the kind of areas Joe suggested and adjusting them in the M component only might give a significant lift to the vox at the expense of as little else as possible.

With the right material the effect can appear almost miraculous, as I discovered recently when sent some heavy rock stuff which was fine except for over-loud and dull rhythm guitars panned fairly hard left and right: MS EQ 'presenced up' the guitars nicely, and then an overall MS level rebalance enabled me to dip the guitars sufficiently to allow the track to shine through much better. Result: a happy band and studio.

MS EQ is not a 'magic bullet' (what is?) but intelligently applied with your other tools it can help you achieve good results in difficult circumstances.