From the course: Pro Tools: Mixing and Mastering

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,400 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

A dynamics workflow example: vocal

A dynamics workflow example: vocal - Pro Tools Tutorial

From the course: Pro Tools: Mixing and Mastering

Start my 1-month free trial

A dynamics workflow example: vocal

Did you ever wonder how the lead vocal in your favorite song just sounds larger-than-life: upfront, full, present, sometimes in your face but always in control? Well, let me let you in on a little secret. The proper use of compression is going to be the main component in giving your vocalists that celebrity treatment. Now there's typically two reasons why we need compression on vocals. One is going to be to even out the performance, either word for word or within a word so that no words stick out or hover over the mix, but we don't lose any words of the lyric. Compression is going to effectively restrict the dynamic range of the vocal, allowing us to set it at a level in the mix at any given point in the song and always be able to hear the lyric. The other reason we're going to use compression on vocals will be to firm and strengthen the tone. So especially with character compressors, either vintage or vintage-model compressors, more than just dynamics control, we're going to get a…

Contents