Tips on Tracking/Mixing Rap Vocals, Part 1

The other day, Shane from http://www.platinumgoldstudios.com/ and I started sharing some techniques we use when tracking and mixing rap vocals, and we thought we should make them public so you all could benefit as well. We’re not trying to be comprehensive here. We just want our share of the theoretical millions available for bloggers. :-) In this post we focus on tracking. Part 2 will be dedicated to mixing.

Tracking (in no particular order of importance)

• On the pre-production side, we recommend matching the bpm of the backing tracks to the DAW grid. This will give performers an accurate click as well as make it easier to do on-the-spot things like timing delays, cutting/pasting parts, etc. Also make sure to map your session with markers so you can quickly navigate from one part to another without doing the old where-am-I? routine.


• It’s a given that you have a talented rapper, a decent microphone matched to their voice, and a quiet, acoustically treated tracking environment. Padded closets don’t necessarily sound the best, and could make the performer feel cramped. Used close-backed cans to avoid headphone bleed and don’t crank the playback for the same reason. Also, tell all the hoodlums in the background to keep it down during takes. If the performer has to rely on a lyric sheet (which we highly discourage), affix it somewhere stable as to avoid the crinkly-paper syndrome. You would think cell phones might solve the problem, but a) looking at anything divides focus and could hinder the performance, and b) the mobile might make an old tube mic cranky.


• Use a pop filter. Use two if you have to. Turning the mic slightly off axis will “smooth out” some voices as well. Play with the distance from the mic. You usually want a close, intimate sound, but there are times when you need the artist to back off the mic. Folks that move all over the place can benefit from backing up a little further, as their movements won’t cause as many dramatic fluctuations in volume.


• If you’re working in 24 bit, keep input levels conservative with the average hovering around -18dBFS and peaks hitting -12dBFS every once in a while. (If you’re working in 16-bit, slap yourself and move into the 21st century.) Digital clipping is evil. If you have a hardware compressor, set it to catch any stray peaks when (not if) the artist gets excited and delivers a line 15dB over their average. Keep the ratios on the low side, 2:1 – 4:1.


• Try using a different mic for the leads than the doubles/ad libs. Again, play with mic distance for ad libs, especially for the “in the back” effect. It’s easier to make this sound legit when tracking than tweaking during mixdown.


• Sometimes you gotta ask the performer to over-enunciate with clear projection. “Stylistic” slurring may sound good to the artist inside their heads but the mic could be “hearing” marbles-in-mouth. We’ll let it slide if you’ve been shot in the face like 50 Cent. :-) The point is that clearly articulated, energetic performances usually sound the best.


• Ad libbing is an art. If the performer doesn’t have a clue, it’s easy to make suggestions and capture takes in the name of experimentation (just don’t be annoying). Some styles need a bunch, others need very little. It depends on what’s currently in. If there is a producer, let him make the suggestions.


• For doubles, make them as tight as possible. Tight doubles should be almost identical in delivery, inflection, and length. The editor will hate you if they’re not. If you want that “on purpose” sloppy double for effect, then over stylize the performance. You don’t want it to sound accidentally sloppy.


• After tracking a take of ad libs/doubles, listen to them in solo to make sure they’re clear and confident. Too many times the buried and unprocessed ad lib will sound passable under the lead but is really an incomprehensible garble when soloed. Processing will reveal this fact, so catch it at the tracking stage before it’s too late.


• We recommend having the artist track a double and lots of ad libs. It’s way better to give your mixer options than none at all (just let them know that’s how you tracked). It’s easy to mute an unwanted double or excessive ad libs. It’s harder (and time consuming) to create ad libs or doubles out of the lead vox (not impossible, just annoying).


• Having a different voice on the hook can provide needed contrast to the main rappers on the verses. If one of the rappers is also delivering the hook, consider separating it somehow from the verses. If the artists/producers aren’t open to adjusting the arrangement, talk to them about mixing it up sonically. It could be as simple as changing tracking rooms (verses in small room, choruses in big room). You can wait until mix time to play with effects, but it’s more fun to get creative during the tracking stage when everyone’s in the zone. Experiment.


• For the hook, try capturing anywhere from 3-6 tracks to give it that beefy “I’m the chorus” sound. Add a double, possibly a triple. Sing it an octave above or an octave below. Throw in some harmonies and maybe even double the harmonies. Experiment with whispers, spoken lines, and lines delivered with more attitude than the others. Again, it’s easier to hit mute than to try to pull stuff out of thin air.

The strength of these tips depend on what’s currently in style and how “pop” the artist wants to be (if at all). Totally dry spit over a single sampled loop can be just as effective as an over-the-top pop production. Just because something’s possible, doesn’t mean it has to be done. Decide at the pre-production stage what the goals of the track are.

If you've got some tips we've left out, leave 'em below in the comments.

Happy Tracking!

Cory & Shane

Part 2: Tips for Tracking/Mixing Rap Vocals, part 2: Mixing the Lead

Check out Cory on Twitter @CreateMusicPro or online at http://www.createmusicproductions.com/


Check out Shane on Twitter @Gilligan204 or online at http://www.platinumgoldstudios.com/

REALITY CHECK #2: Your Room Sucks

(ATTENTION: This post may seem a little out of context if you haven't already read the REALITY CHECK series Introduction or the first entry, REALITY CHECK #1: You Suck. I recommend reading both before continuing.)

Your room sucks, but I'm sure you've already raised your fists in the air over this frustrating realization. If you're recording with mics, or playing back through speakers (duh), your room puts its sonic imprint on everything you do. If your room doesn't sound good, it's gonna be really hard to make radio-quality recordings.

Your room sucks for two reasons: 1) Space, and 2) Acoustics.

1) Space.
Have you ever been to a real recording studio? The big ones have multiple tracking rooms with matching control rooms, both of which have been designed by acousticians or at least people who know their stuff. The goal of a great tracking room is to sound amazing while offering maximum flexibility in the kind of imprint you want to add to whatever sound source you're capturing. They usually have an open, somewhat reflective "live" room for tracking performances, with portable absorption options (gobos, baffling, acoustic treatment) to help control just how live it sounds. This room is usually flanked by several isolation booths or rooms designed to capture much drier performances and to offer...well...isolation from whatever's going down in the live room.

Your room is probably 10' x 12' (if you're lucky), was designed by an architect for humans to sleep in, offers little or no options as to how dry or wet you want it to sound, and sucks acoustically. Maybe you've slapped up some Auralex foam, have a packing blanket or two, and perhaps even an isolation box. Big whoop. My point is that your room probably sounds bad and gives you zero options as to the kind or amount of room tone you'd like to capture. I bet you can produce a few radio-quality recordings from your room if it sounds halfway decent, but your hands are tied if you need a different sound than what your room is capable of producing.

2) Acoustics.
If you're an electronica or MIDI composer, you probably don't care too much about my first point. But if you're playing back your songs through speakers into a room, then no one is immune to this fact: a room "colors" your sound for good or for evil. If you're playing back into an evil room, how are you supposed to produce radio-quality sounds?

Back to the pro studio for a moment. A sweet control room has been designed or treated by an expert to offer a fairly neutral playback environment. This means that when a song comes out of the speakers, the sounds aren't bouncing around the room in an adverse way. Poor, untreated spaces cause all sorts of frequency dips and peaks at the listening position. This makes the receiver think they're hearing something they're not. If your room misrepresents the audio coming out of the monitors, you're going to have a heck of a time trying to mix a radio-quality track, especially when it comes to getting the low end you desire.

Your room is probably too small, too evenly shaped, and probably has no proper sound absorption. Haphazardly throwing up foam, "egg crates," or -gasp- carpeting the entire space will NOT transform your room into a listening paradise. Think about all the money, thought, and expertise that goes into a major-label control room. Frankly, you just don't have the time, cash, expertise, or space necessary to create an ideal listening environment.

So, what is the outcome of the sucky room double whammy?:

With a crappy tracking and playback environment, it's going to be really difficult to capture, process, and mix radio-quality audio.

Notice I didn't say impossible. Most of us will discover workarounds for our room limitations...really annoying workarounds. With the advent of fairly decent portable recording devices, it's theoretically possible to capture any sound source in any environment. (In fact, @RonanCMurphy just spoke on this subject at the HRBC Recording Fest, 2011.) And, actually, you can improve a bad playback environment somewhat with a little knowledge and some cash. Resources like the monthly "Studio S.O.S" series in Sound on Sound magazine can help you get a grasp on some of the most common issues and how to address them. There are tons of book-type reference materials on studio acoustics. I'm excited about @BobbyOwsinski's newly released Studio Builder's Handbook. The bummer is that no amount of DIY knowledge is going to trump expert knowledge. It's not uncommon for the Sound on Sound team to pull out old acoustic treatment because it was doing more harm than good.

For those of us who cannot afford a roam overhaul, the most common workaround for a bad tracking environment is to...well...make the best of a bad situation. Realistically, though, accepting that a bad tracking room could keep you from contending with radio tracks may be the only "solution" until you can change/improve your room situation.

The poor man's workaround for a bad playback environment is to check mixes on multiple systems: iPods, computer speakers, car systems, home entertainment systems, boom boxes, etc. Make notes on your impressions from each environment and then go back and try to implement the needed changes into your mix. Repeat until you have a decent mix. The problem is that by Mix #11 you're ready to set fire to your studio. Can you imagine being in a room that you could trust? Well, that's the advantage that the hit makers have over you.

If you're frustrated about working in a crappy room, you have one of four options: 1) Violent takeover a major label studio, 2) Expensive overhaul of your existing space, 3) Quit recording forever, or 4) Accept that the less-than-stellar room you're working in is a contributing factor to you not being able to produce radio-quality music.

Choosing 4) is not as bad as you think. You're probably doing a decent job of recording/mixing despite a bad room situation. Yes, the drums you captured in a 10' x 10' carpeted space are gonna sound lifeless compared to the sweet ambiance of a professional live room. No, adding reverb will never compare the authentic vibe of a great-sounding natural space. Yes, getting an accurate image of your low end is going to be darn near impossible in a walk-in-closet. But option 1) is illegal, option 2) is expensive, and option 3) is stupid. My advice: choose 4), deal with it, and enjoy the ride!

REALITY CHECK #3: Your Monitors Suck

Follow Create Music Productions on Twitter for daily tips and links to all things recording, songwriting, and music production: @CreateMusicPro

The Top Ten Mistakes of Newbie Pro Tools Users

During the day I work at a school where I teach teens music creation using Pro Tools. I also meet with people privately (in their homes) and online (via video chat) doing the same thing. In my instructional journeys, I’ve noticed that complete newbies to both recording and Pro Tools have the same kinds of problems. Fortunately for you, their pain is your gain. In the following post, I list the top 10 mistakes that Pro Tools newbies usually make either before or after purchasing Pro Tools…then I tell you how to remedy those problems. Simple as that.

1) No External Hard-Drive
People…use an external hard drive! When you save your session to your host computer’s hard drive, it has to work twice as hard to simultaneously run ProTools, access/capture audio files, AND run instrument and/or effects plug-ins. So, here’s what you do: save your session files to an external drive. Put your audio loops and samples on that drive. Love that drive. Back-up that drive. Whatever you do, just use one. Just make sure it's an AVID-approved drive spinning at least 7,200 rpm. Evil things can happen if it's too slow (like most of the "tiny 'n' cute" drives running at 5,200 rpm) or is running an incompatible chipset.

(@ObediaTutor correctly pointed out that AVID actually recommends using an internal drive that's separate from your host drive (partitioned drives don't count). My advice is geared toward laptop users, people who can't add an internal drive, or users who plan on transferring projects between studios.)

2) No Filing System
Unless “cluttered-mess” qualifies as a filing system, most newbies scatter their saved session folders all over the place. Or worse, they just save sessions to whatever black hole the default save-to window suggests. Both bad news when you need to find a session you were working on last month. My advice: Come up with a filing system and stick to it. That way you’ll always know where to locate your sessions.

3) No Mouse (For Laptop Users)
Using the trackpad on your laptop is a recipe for frustration and insanity. Using that confounded device will drastically hinder your ability to navigate your session quickly and efficiently. Just get a fricken mouse and stop saying, “Ooops…ooops…ooops.”

4) Crappy Headphones
Ear buds or $20 headphones won’t let you hear what you need to hear. Invest $100 or more on a decent pair of closed-back headphones and you’ll actually be able to hear what you’re doing. A good place to start is with the Sennheiser HD-280 Professional Headphones .

5) Template Fear
If you click “Create blank session” every time you create a new session, it will take you 10+ minutes to set it up the way you like it. There’s nothing that will kill an inspirational burst of creative energy more than setting up your session or creating tracks. The solution?: Make a simple template with all your favorite track types and settings so you don’t have to pull a Sisyphus and start from scratch every time you open a new session. It’s not hard, and there are tons of video tutorials on how to set up and create a template on youtube. In an upcoming screencast, I also intend on showing you all my favorite session settings.

6) Keyboard Shortcut Fear
Even with a mouse, you can waste a lot of valuable time clicking around everywhere in the middle of your session. For example, why would you drag your mouse over to the transport and click the play button if you could just hit the spacebar to start/stop playback? Exactly. I’m not talking about memorizing all 40 pages of shortcuts. But learning a few time-saving shortcuts could really make your Pro Tools experience more enjoyable. Here are a few common ones to get you started:

• Start/stop playback: spacebar
• Turn click track on/off: 7 on numeric keypad
• Arm transport and start recording: F12 or 3 on the numeric keypad
• Create new track: Shift + cmd + N (Mac); Shift + cntrl + N (PC)
• Activate the smart tool: cmd + 7 (Mac) or cntrl + 7 (PC) on the qwerty
keyboard
• Bypass a plug-in: cmd + click (Mac) or cntrl + click (PC) on plug-in
name in the insert section
• Undo: cmd + Z (Mac); cntrl + Z (PC)

(@CreateMusicPro posts daily tips about using Pro Tools, and many of those tips include useful keyboard shortcuts)

7) Using Too Much Reverb/Delay
I know it’s exciting…look at all the cool plug-ins you can use now! Yea! But here’s the thing: just because Pro Tools allows you to easily work with plug-ins doesn’t mean you have to drench your tracks in reverb, delay, and/or distortion. “But I’m embarrassed of my voice,” you say, “I have to use a lot of reverb.” I know, I’ve heard all the reasons. If you want to continue sounding like you’re making amateur home recordings in your bedroom then keep drowning your vocals in large cathedral reverberations. If you’re trying to out-fuzz all the stoner rock that’s ever been made, go ahead. But if you’d like to up the commercial viability of your music and improve the quality of your tracks, add reverb, delay, and distortion like you would add pepper to food. A little bit goes a long way.
In a related note, I’ve seen a lot of people use reverb as an insert. If you do this, skip to 9) really quick and read it…I’ll wait. Okay, thanks, I can now let you in on standard operating procedure for time-based effects: Learn to set up a send and put your reverbs and delays on aux tracks instead of inserts. Learn why from my book recommendation in 9).

8) Magic Bullet Mindset
Many excited musicians buy Pro Tools with the expectation that it’s gonna be the audio equivalent of a robot vacuum. New users soon discover that Pro Tools won’t do a damn thing on your behalf. There is no “set-it-and-forget-it” button. It’s a tool, and like most tools, it’s as only good as its operator. In a similar vein, many folks buy amazing plug-ins with a parallel mindset. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve helped that have Pro Tools M-Powered, a M-Audio Fast Track interface, AND have also somehow acquired the Waves Mercury Bundle (I’m assuming through “alternatively-legal” means). What’s the point of having the best plug-ins if you don’t know how to use them? Yes, their presets will sound better than your stock Pro Tools plug-ins, but presets generally suck. There is no “magic” setting that will work for every recording/mixing situation. Pro Tools and plug-ins are tools, not dust-sprinkling fairies. Sorry, but you’re gonna have to study daily and work hard to record/mix great music…just like every other mortal out there.

9) Clueless About Recording
Many people I work with haven’t a clue about basic recording principals. I know this isn’t directly Pro Tools related, but it definitely affects your ability to accomplish what you’d like to do. You bought ProTools so you could record, right? Then you need to become educated about how recording works. For example, it’s not uncommon for beginners to invest a decent amount of money on a great mic. Good move, if you ask me. But then they take that great mic and place it on a table (no mic stand or pop filter) in the middle of a large, tile-floored room. No joke. If you read Jeff Strong’s “Home Recording for Musicians for Dummies” then you would know that capturing vocals is best done with a mic on a mic stand with a pop filter that’s sitting in some kind of “dead” space. A walk-in closet with lots of clothes works way better as a tracking booth than in the middle of your tiled kitchen. But, I digress. My point is that you’re gonna need to acquire a basic understanding of how the recording process works before you can best use your software to produce the kind of results you expected when you first purchased Pro Tools in the first place. If we were all living in the Matrix, then I’d recommend the “Comprehensive Recording Skills” mental download, but we’re not, so I guess I just have to recommend a lot of book reading, online tutorial study (AudioTuts+ is good), and youtube searching (try WinkSound for ProTools specific recording tricks). I also suggest subscribing to Recording Magazine . Even if you can’t decipher what you’re reading initially, it’s a great way to gradually become acclimated to the weird world of recording. (In fact, I highly recommend reading through their "Beginners' Series." If you're brand new to all of this, most of the content might go over your head. But it's chock full of newbie goodness.)

10) Manual? What Manual?
Whenever I ask my Dad for help with a complex electronic device his reply is always the same: “Read the Damn Manual!” Let’s face it, to figure out how-the-hell Pro Tools works, at some point you’re going to have to read portions of that 1,000+ page document Avid calls the “Reference Guide.” Ignoring it like it doesn’t exist will just cause you pain in the long run. So, let me walk you through the “creative person’s way” to use any manual. First of all, always at least read through the quick start guide. That should get you up and running as well as introduce you to the terminology of the program. From there, treat the Reference Guide like any other reference: read it when you need it. If you can remember the correct terminology for what it is you’d like to do, then just enter that term into the “Find” box of Adobe Reader or look it up in the index. Search this way until you find the correct portion of the Reference Guide and then only read the applicable information in that section. Solve one problem at a time. You’ll be tempted to follow the many labyrinthine paths that lead off into the nether regions of the document, but beware… before you know it you’ll forget the original reason you turned to the Reference Guide in the first place. I’m assuming you’d rather be creating music, no? If so, then troubleshoot one issue at a time. Or, just hire me to solve your problems for you. Which method sounds cheaper?

11) Unrealistic Expectations
Hey, if Spinal Tap’s amps went up to eleven, then I’m allowed to make an eleventh point in a top ten list! Unrealistic expectations, while not Pro Tools specific, can hamper your progress toward recording enlightenment. Recording with Pro Tools will seem like a magic voodoo art for a while, especially if you took 9) and 10) seriously. I’ll be frank: at first you will not be able to hear the effects of some basic but crucial recording procedures. For example, when I teach clients about leveling out a vocal recording with a compressor, many cannot hear the difference when I toggle the bypass. Same with EQ. Subtle EQ moves are hard to hear. I’ve even had people struggle to hear a high-pass filter totally eliminating everything below 300Hz on a mid-range instrument. When this happens to you, you might find yourself saying, “Well, if X effect makes a barely audible difference, I don’t see why I have to use it…no one’s gonna notice.” Ooooooooo…bad idea. Subtle effects build up. Compare your dry vocal to a vocal that’s been processed with tasteful amounts of EQ, compression, reverb, and delay, and then you’ll hear the difference. Even when you can hear subtle effects at work, you may question whether it’s really worth all the effort it takes to add ‘em. Trust me on this one: processing audio with effects will take your recordings to the next level, just like basic “developing” and sharpening techniques in Photoshop will turn a cool picture into an amazing photograph. The hard truth is that it’s gonna take a while to hear like mix engineers hear. Then it takes double that time to be able to apply effects judiciously. Be patient. That dog-eared kind of hearing and knowhow will come through study and experimentation. Again, Pro Tools won’t do it for you. But once you get the skills, Pro Tools will allow you to execute most of your recording tasks quickly and easily.

Happy ProTooling!

For daily tips and links on recording, songwriting, music production, and Pro Tools, follow Create Music Productions on Twitter @CreateMusicPro