With this gate I’ll subtly attenuate the vocal whenever it falls below the threshold - with a softer knee, only a little lookahead, and a range of only about 3dB, I increase the dynamic range and reduce background noise.
The effect is subtle but will help the vocal sound a little cleaner.
With an EQ I’ll balance the vocal by attenuating unwanted noise and some of the fundamental with a 6dB slope highpass filter. I’ll rescue nasally tones with a bell at 1200Hz, increase clarity at 2600Hz, and subtly reduce sibilance in the highs.
I’ll reduce resonances to the full frequency range with thisSoothe 2 plugin - I’ve emphasized the low mids, removed the low-pass filter to attenuate highs, and increased the quality to high while blending the effect in with the mix.
To control the vocal’s highs I’ll use this Weiss de-esser and with its high shelf band, compress the sibilance by a few dB. In the settings, I’ll quicken the attack and release, as well as add makeup gain to the frequency range.
Try a stock plugin or this T-De-esser by Techivation if you need a free version.
With a softer knee, 2ms of lookahead, a 4:1 ratio, quick attack and release, and auto-make-up gain we can bring the vocal right to the front and increase details. Try to get between 3 to 6dB of attenuation for the best effect.
A good free alternative is this MCompressor by Zelda Audio.
The best way to add some clarity to a vocal is with a subtle exciter - this free fresh air plugin adds harmonics to the high-frequency ranges, as well as boosts the frequencies with a bell and high shelf filter. I’ll keep the settings low to avoid overusing the effect.
To reduce making in the mid frequencies I’ll use this Gullfoss EQ and isolate the processing between 250Hz and 4kHz. I’ll use solely the recover function to dynamically amplify and attenuate, depending on the incoming signal.
Currently, I don’t know of a free alternative so if you do, please let others know in the comments section.
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
