Identifying the subtle effects used on your favorite records can be near impossible, everything is already blended together. You know there’s something in the mix that’s helping the vocal stand out but you can’t put your finger on it.
It’s probably one of these audio magic tricks, some unique blend of special effects.
In this tutorial Fab Dupont shows you how to make your vocal tracks special with these classic special effects. Explore the tricks that professional engineers use to give vocals body, depth, width and magic.
Learn several classic tricks and get inspired to find your own unique combinations of effects:
00:00:08 Good morning children! Today,
we're going to learn cosmetic surgery.
00:00:11 Namely, we're going to learn tricks
to use on your vocal tracks
to make them sound better, bigger,
wider than they really are.
00:00:19 Here we go!
In modern pop production,
most vocals are heavily tweaked,
tuned, edited,
compressed and EQ'ed to death,
but also enhanced with grit tricks,
widening tricks, doubles,
and other stuff that I'm gonna
show you right now,
because that's the kind of people I am!
First, most singers don't know
how to double themselves,
because it's really, really hard to do.
Unison is the hardest interval to sing.
00:00:45 So there are electronic ways
to make doubles.
00:00:48 For example, this little trick,
with Auto-Tune EFX.
00:00:51 Here's Pam from The Arrows
singing the verse to 'Prisoner'.
00:01:04 Let me assign my Auto-Tune EFX,
and put too much of it.
00:01:17 Instant magic!
The first thing I do is mute
the direct sound, the input sound,
because I'm using this on a send,
I don't want twice of the direct sound.
00:01:26 Then, I put everybody at unison.
00:01:30 Like this... And like this.
00:01:39 Then I make sure everything is panned.
00:01:42 So we have -50, 50, -100, and 100.
00:01:45 Then, EFX has a cool Formant section,
called 'Throat Length'.
00:01:49 For example,
I'm gonna mute my direct sound,
and make sure that
my Aux send is in Pre.
00:01:55 That way, I hear only the effect,
and it sounds like this.
00:01:58 Just one.
00:02:03 Now I can change the Throat Length.
00:02:14 I'm gonna change the Throat Length on
each and everyone of them a little bit.
00:02:20 This one I'll be a little more overt.
00:02:24 And this one I'll be seriously crazy
on the other side.
00:02:29 Now the four of them together.
00:02:35 It sounds like four people singing
the same line, but perfectly in tune,
in perfect timing, which is key too.
00:02:41 If I turn the lead back on, and I lower
the effect, it sounds like this.
00:02:53 Very nice and natural!
Without...
00:03:01 With...
00:03:10 So why do this? Well...
00:03:13 The fact that several people are singing
the same line the same way
is not new, it's thousands of years old,
it makes it more powerful.
00:03:20 The question is how much
of that double do you want?
Second, the panning makes it wider,
and more omni-ous in the stereo field.
00:03:27 So you'll be able to get your vocal
more present without making it louder.
00:03:31 If you listen to it with the track,
it sounds like this.
00:03:34 Without the effect...
00:03:42 With the effect...
00:03:54 It's a very practical way to give
presence and bigger than life size
to your vocal, without adding
harmonies and distracting stuff.
00:04:01 It's just the melody,
it's the right pocket,
and you don't have to beg your singer
to do it 800 times to nail it.
00:04:06 It's a good way to do this.
00:04:09 Another trick that has been used
for a long time
to enhance the width of vocals is
to slightly detune the vocal
a little bit on the left,
a little bit on the right,
pan those two things,
and let them widen the central track.
00:04:21 Let me show you. I use this...
Waves Doubler to do the pitch effect.
00:04:25 Check it out.
This is a great plug-in, very simple.
00:04:29 Here's the default setting.
If you send your vocal to it...
00:04:32 I'm gonna mute the direct signal again
so we can focus on just the effect.
00:04:36 Here we go! It sounds like this.
Don't forget to turn the direct off.
00:04:44 That's the default.
First, keep the delays minimum.
00:04:47 We don't want to hear any delays,
this is a pitch trick.
00:04:49 Then make sure that
the gains are at max,
so you don't have too much
level difference to think about.
00:04:55 Then you have the Detune.
The default here is kind of perfect:
+6 on the left, -6 on the right.
00:04:59 You can go up to 9 or 10,
depending on your threshold for pain
as regarding to pitch.
This is what it sounds like right now.
00:05:12 And with the direct signal, but without
the doubling trick we did earlier,
it sounds like this...
00:05:21 I'm gonna start from Infinity, and
raise it until I feel it's pretty cool.
00:05:33 Of course, you could tweak the effect.
00:05:35 For example, if you want less of
that shine, you could use the built-in EQ
or an external EQ,
whatever you like, to darken it,
so you won't have as much of a shine,
so you can use more of it.
00:05:51 Also, if that little mask bothers you,
you can do the same thing at the bottom.
00:05:54 Like this.
00:06:01 We started here...
00:06:06 With...
00:06:13 And in the track...
00:06:23 You've heard that sound a lot
on pop records.
00:06:26 The cool thing about
this particular plug-in is that
it has a modulation system
for the pitch.
00:06:32 So instead of having perfectly -6, +6,
or -9, +9, whatever you choose,
and be steady all the time,
it lets you modulate the pitch,
left and right,
creating that kind of fuzzy pitch,
which is fun, which is what we're
looking for in this particular case.
00:06:47 So I'm gonna modulate it
by +2, or 4 -ish, on the left and right,
in different directions,
and it sound like this...
00:07:04 As opposed to the steady sound,
which is like this.
00:07:15 So... steady is a little more tame,
although it's pretty wild,
depending on how naked your track is.
00:07:21 With the modulation,
it's a little more overt.
00:07:25 With the track, it sounds like this.
00:07:36 Of course, if you add the doubles
that we did earlier,
then it becomes
really, really, really thick.
00:07:54 As a reminder, without
any of the tricks, it sounds like this.
00:08:05 A little more documentary-like.
With the effects...
00:08:16 A lot of this stuff is used to enhance
vocals and make them more magical,
and more in sync
with electronic productions.
00:08:23 Another thing that can be tricky
is to marry a very clean vocal
with a very heavy track,
or distorted track,
which happens quite a bit these days.
So... How do you do that?
One of the easy way is to make the vocal
as heavy as the track
by adding distortion of its own.
00:08:39 It's done a lot. Let me show you.
00:08:41 I have here the Devil-Lock,
which is a plug-in from Soundtoys,
which is fierce sounding.
00:08:47 And I have it on an Aux called Grit.
00:08:49 Because... Well...
You'll see in a second. Here we go!
Grit. Full-on. Pre.
Let's mute the direct sound.
00:08:56 Let's listen to this.
00:09:01 Not bad. But let's use the plug-in
to its full extend.
00:09:03 Let's go on Fast Release.
Let's crush it.
00:09:10 Let's crunch it.
00:09:15 Make it a little darker, maybe?
Now, because I'm using
compression and grit,
I can't lower my send into the effect,
because it would change the sound
of the effect, and I'm happy with it.
00:09:34 So I'm gonna lower
the return of the effect,
turn the direct sound back on,
and add more effect until I'm happy.
00:09:41 Here's how it sounds.
00:09:50 Maybe a little darker.
00:09:58 In the track...
00:10:12 Of course, it's your prerogative
to tweak the results to match your track.
00:10:15 For example right now, it's crazy,
over-the-top and muddy.
00:10:18 So maybe I'm gonna use a little EQ
to guarantee that it'll fit better.
00:10:24 Ok. It's this one.
00:10:42 I'm high-passing my distorted track
so that it fits better
with the rest of the song.
00:10:47 If I add reverbs and delays,
I could send the distortion
in the reverbs and delays,
and fit it more,
and soften it, within the context
of being aggressive.
00:10:54 Something else that you may notice
is once I have this on...
00:11:01 There are a lot of problems
with breaths and stuff like that.
00:11:04 It is in good taste when you're doing
parallel processing,
because this is what this is, to
actually prepare the track a little bit
by tweaking
what you send into the effect.
00:11:13 So If I'm gonna use for example
an expander and a gate,
to make sure that only the really
loud stuff gets distorted,
I'm just gonna do it this way.
Check it out.
00:11:22 I'm gonna make the Attack pretty fast
so that everything catches,
and the Release pretty fast too,
so that it goes down really quickly.
00:11:29 With just the gate, it sounds like this.
00:11:37 Notice that the breaths are gone.
00:11:42 Without.
00:11:50 With.
00:11:59 It's a little choppy, but I like that.
00:12:01 The compression will take care of
that problem, smooth it out,
and then the EQ will high-pass
the whole thing. Check it out.
00:12:19 Without the gate...
00:12:29 Less useable. With, it's pretty cool,
especially with the direct signal.
00:12:32 Check it out.
00:12:45 With the stereo pitch...
00:12:52 And the doubles...
00:13:16 As a reminder, we started here.
00:13:45 Add some reverb, you get yourself
a pretty vibey vocal,
with not a lot of work.
00:13:49 Speaking of reverb,
there's a lot more to reverbs
than just letting them hang out
and wet your track.
00:13:55 You can make cool things with them too.
00:13:58 I have here this long reverb
from our 'How to use
Reverb on Vocal Tracks' video.
00:14:14 It's long!
So... What can we do with this?
It's really interesting
to create textures using effects,
textures you haven't heard before.
00:14:24 For example,
since we're in a special FX vibe,
what if the reverb were only present
when the vocal is singing,
but not when it's not singing?
So what I do for that is
I set up a basic compressor.
00:14:38 Here... That's fine.
00:14:41 And I use what's called a key.
00:14:44 So if you notice here,
in my Send, I have a vocal key,
which is a send that's dedicated
to just teaching the compressor
what to compress!
For example,
if I select my vocal key here
and I tell the compressor:
only compress when the key is on,
which means:
only compress when the key is active,
which means,
since the key is coming from the vocal,
only compress when the vocal is
singing, not at other times.
00:15:11 Since that compressor is
on my reverb track,
what's gonna happen is whenever
the vocal is singing,
the reverb is gonna get compressed.
Pretty heavily if I want to.
00:15:19 But when she stops singing,
it's no longer gonna get compressed,
which means the reverb is gonna bloom.
Check it out.
00:15:25 I'm gonna set it up pretty heavy.
00:15:37 Let's tweak it so it's fun!
If I slow the release down,
instead of the reverb coming like this,
it'll just bloom back through.
00:15:45 Also, if I speed up the Attack,
it'll make sure that it get caught
really quickly.
00:15:51 Let's check it out.
00:16:11 If you tie this to tempo,
you get some pretty cool effect.
00:16:35 It adds life in the holes of the vocal,
making a special effect that takes care
of itself, that you can process further
by putting phasers
or whatever you want onto it,
or automating, just using it
once or twice in the song
to do that cool blooming thing, say
at the end of the verse, or something.
00:16:51 So this is a lot of fun,
and it's original
even though it's definitely
in the air of times.
00:16:56 We made it so this reverb is
no reverb while she's singing,
and then have the reverb bloom
when she's done.
00:17:03 Or loud and clear
when the singer is singing,
but totally silent when she's not.
00:17:08 Let me show you how to do that.
00:17:10 Here's our standard edition gate.
00:17:13 And this is how it sounds in Pre
without the direct sound,
so I can work on just the gate.
00:17:22 The key is active,
I have to select it here,
and then it sounds like this.
00:17:47 With the direct sound...
00:18:00 Totally wild!
Check it out with the track.
00:18:23 Now this is a good start.
You have to tweak this.
00:18:26 The tweaking is the part that keeps you
in the studio until 4 in the morning.
00:18:29 But that's the fun part too!
What would I do with this?
I think I would compress
the hell out of it.
00:18:38 This is no longer
the land of taste and reserve.
00:18:43 This is the land of obnoxiousness.
00:19:22 So that's cool!
As a reminder, we started here...
00:19:34 Without the effects.
00:20:00 Season to taste!
Et voilà!
Once logged in, you will be able to read all the transcripts jump around in the video.
Fab Dupont is an award-winning NYC based record producer, mixing/mastering engineer and co-founder of pureMix.net.
Fab has been playing, writing, producing and mixing music both live and in studios all over the world. He's worked in cities like Paris, Boston, Brussels, Stockholm, London and New York just to name a few.
He has his own studio called FLUX Studios in the East Village of New York City.
Fab has received many accolades around the world, including wins at the Victoires de la Musique, South African Music awards, Pan African Music Awards, US independent music awards. He also has received Latin Grammy nominations and has worked on many Latin Grammy and Grammy-nominated albums.
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Is it possible to get the dub- effect without buying the Harmonizer plugin? I have cubase 9 and native komplete ultimate.
Fusiblestudio
2017 Jan 14
Thank u . You are the Boss
soundspace2001
2016 Dec 15
This trick with the compressor and the VOX KEY is AWESOME!!! So cool!!!
viccieleaks
2016 Dec 14
Wonderful tekkers!
aitanlevy
2016 Jun 06
I always learn so much more than what I expected to learn.
Fab is so good at giving you the Hows and Whys; that you really get it and can apply what you've learned to so many other situations.
Thank you!
xav
2016 Jan 09
What do you think about this for live performance ?
Harmony EFX + Waves Doubler (+ Soundtoys Microshift ?)
Is it often used ? Efficient ?
Thanks
djbrimlo
2016 Jan 01
GREAT! Appreciate the insight! Great tricks to have in the toolbox.
odrybenj
2015 Dec 30
Nice one Fab.
@Trovadormusic, you can send your signal to a bus and select the bus with side chain on your plug-in. Not all plugins have side chain though
trovadormusic
2015 Dec 06
Great video, does the "key" exist in Logic Pro X? Or how would you do that trick in Logic?
mghecea
2015 Oct 14
FAB is a great teacher! Entertaining and extremely knowledgeable treats the audio mixing topics like a true artisan and craft master of sound! This video was a pleasure to watch. Finally, learned how to put a subtle harmony effect together without it sounding stringent of weird! The waves doubler is explained in great detail on setting it up to give better results! It gives detailed examples and he repeats the process for the slower observer, which is probably me! The sections on gating are worth the price of admission! I'm a Pensado fan and now I think I just became a FAB fan...Good job!
davekeys158
2015 Sep 19
Oh Yea. You are hero.
davekeys158
2015 Sep 19
Excellent Fab Thank You
Spudmuffin
2015 Aug 25
Hip tips for hot hits! :) This is a killer set of tips and instructions. Thank you!
rmoreno
2015 Jul 20
Nice!
davpla
2015 Jun 17
This is a great tutorial,
Have you planed to do a "part 2"?
I'm really interested in producing/mixing pop vocals, so I'd like more more more
Thank you very mucho
Prezstone
2015 May 27
Wow! Good! Good! Fabulousus! Thanks Fab!
bigjoon12
2015 May 25
very nice just what i been looking for
jalaelsing
2015 May 11
im not going to lie i dont know where you got the vocal key from or how you set it up
rogeranthony
2015 May 05
Once I saw the video, I knew exactly what I needed to do for my next mix.
mr.florian
2015 Apr 23
This kind of things will make the difference between a sound engineer and music director/producer for ever...
bdunn315
2015 Apr 21
One of the best yet. Thanks Fab...I am learning so much from your site. It was really opened up my understanding and I'm looking at each of my plugs and hardware in a new light. Thanks again.
