Before beginning this mix, and before I begin any mix really, I did some research on different techniques that I may want to use regarding the track, its instrumentation and its genre. I also got a couple of reference tracks together that have elements in them that I'd like to use as inspiration.
So I'm going to take you through a few techniques that I've picked up from previous experiences, and even some that I learnt in the process of this acoustic mix!
Acoustic Guitar!
Mid/Side Processing:
We recorded the acoustic guitar with a mid/side configuration using a Rode K2 and a AKG C414 respectively. So ofcourse we need to process that signal for the mix!
I processed the MS signals as follows:
Mid: Panned in the centre
Side: Duplicate track, pan one left and one right while placing a phase flip plug-in on one of those side tracks.
Youtuber and home studio owner Bob Sell takes us through the mid/side technique really well in this video:
I really love that I gained control over the stereo image depth here using this technique, having this stereo effect on the guitar also left more room for the vocal frequencies to become clearer in the centre of the mix, yay!
EQ and Signal Chain:
I really enjoyed what Dave Pensado said about mixing acoustic in this video regarding rhythmic and melodic sounds. With reference to his video, I decided to make this guitar more rhythmic, so that is clashes less with he vocal and focuses a little more on that nice picking sound. I've used some light compression to achieve this, as well as a couple of EQ's, check out my main EQ here below. Also that yellow band cut around 1.5kHz is there to make room for the vocals, something to always have in mind no matter what kind of genre you're mixing is this:
"Start with the most important part of the track" - Greg Simmons
For me on this track, while I didn't begin properly mixing on the vocals, the first thing I thought of was making room for the vocals within the guitar.
While Daves' video focused on a strummed guitar rather than the picked guitar in Patsy Lou's 'Shortbread Creams', I still think that the result I achieved using my signal chain is quite comparable!
The 'iZoVinyl' plug-in you see here I've used in a very subtle way, I found that it has 'smoothed' out the high frequencies and again shifts the focus slightly more onto Patsy Lou's beautiful vocals.
Vocals!
Compression:
Having a critical listen to the vocals, I actually think that it needs minimal compression, she has articulately pronounced and there are only a couple of noticeable roll offs in volume on a word or two. Even the waveform looks quite regular with a solid structure to the vocals.
Not only that but I actively chose to keep the vocals a little 'rawer', as the feel I'm going for is very real, natural and a kind of imperfect cuteness.
That said, I still had a good read of this article that helped me choose to implement two successive compressors in series and even do a lil' bit of parallel compression!
You can see here I've got the first compressor in the chain (left) having a very short release time to cut off the initial harsh transient by only a dB or so. This then feeds into the second compressor with a slightly slower attack time (It's still pretty fast to get the more chill feeling I'm going for) which compresses around 2.5dB max, not working as hard to compress those big transients! This created a smoother sound in general for the lead vocals, without having to drive those compressors very hard.
Alrighty so parallel compression! I took a big hint from Justin Colletti who runs a mixing and mastering studio and youtube channel 'SonicScoop'. Justin shares two 'secrets' to parallel compression.
1. Use a very fast attack time!
This is important, chop off all of those transients, destroy the dynamics and mix this crazily compressed signal in with the original to add some presence
2. Use a lot of bass and treble boost!
This helps add 'boom', air and sparkle to this hugely compressed signal, without adding harshness.
Now by lightly mixing this signal in with the original, I can really notice the breath and life that it brings the vocals, as well as a nice presence and clarity. For me though the big boost you see above on the low end was a bit much for the vocals, so I brought that right down to +2dB. Perhaps the large bass boost Justin describes would be great for other instruments, but for vocals I really enjoy the treble boost!
EQ:
I've used two equalisers in series here, the first one the stock EQ from ProTools, cutting out a few 'boxy' frequencies and bringing the vocals a little bit into that area we cut out of the guitar. Followed by TDR's Slick EQ that brings a warm tone that I enjoy, I am giving a hefty boost to the high mids and also an even heftier shelf bringing up 5.5kHz and above. This really brings out the breath and lovely highs that are present in her voice.
SM7b:
I found that something was a bit off with the vocals after adding that high end boost, they sounded quite brittle. I had done some reading in the past in this article about Kenny Gioia's (Multi-platinum engineer) experience with the Shure SM7b sounding unpleasant when boosting the high freq's. So I played around and wow! What a wonderful difference when I applied this brainworx LPF to that specific mic, that brightness and breath I was after came to the mix as soon as it was applied, and was accentuated when I also applied this 'Elysia Filter' to the SM7b with a 4.5dB cut at 265Hz. Again placing more emphasis on the breath and removing some boomyness at the same time.
Thanks for the tips Kenny! really helped me out on this one =P
Thanks for checking this out and reading this far, I'll be uploading the finished tracks to the projects section of this website soon!
References:
1. Pensado, D. (2016). Mixing Acoustic Guitars - Into The Lair #140. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHLBoGW6Vo0 [Accessed 24 Oct. 2018].
2. AudioSkills. (2017). How to Compress Vocals Like a Pro | AudioSkills. [online] Available at: https://audioskills.com/post/4677/ [Accessed 24 Oct. 2018].
3. YouTube. (2012). Into The Lair #50 - Mixing Pro Lead Vocal Tracks. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snSVt5qJU1E [Accessed 24 Oct. 2018].
4. YouTube. (2015). Two "Secrets" to Effective Parallel Compression. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i-cY4EQMoU&t=4s [Accessed 24 Oct. 2018].
5. Gioia, K. (2018). Why I Hate The Shure SM7b!!!. [online] Groove3 Blog. Available at: https://blog.groove3.com/articles/why-i-hate-the-shure-sm7b [Accessed 24 Oct. 2018].
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