How to combine vocals and a beat without taking away from one another ?

[Paris Davidson Jr.]

When I'm mixing my music . I always get told I have to turn my beat down . But when I do it just gets quite and bland . And if I crank my vocals loud , you won't be able to hear the beat . How can I get the right mix .

 

[bandcoach]

see these

How To: Mixing vocals to an instrumental - article - started by WeissSound

Article on Mixing Rap Vocals - started by WeissSound

In depth article on mixing for clarity - started by chris carter

and consider putting your backing through M/S processor and dropping the M channel by -2db to sculpt a hole in the center of the mix for your vocals to sit in

 

[Raz Klinghoffer]

Funny you say that, "beats" today can be a lot higher than the vocals, and the vocals would still be clear.
Try eq'ing differently to make space to one another.
Use reverb to creat distance, also tape saturation help me , don't know why. .. It just one of those magics

 

[bandcoach]

except that eq-ing the stereo backing track does not give the same space as dropping the M part of the M/S by a few dB - did it this morning for a track that was otherwise overpowering the main vox and excellent separation and clarity all round as result

 

[Paris Davidson Jr.]

How exactly do I use M/S processing ? Do I need a current plugin ?

 

[bandcoach]

something like Audio mid-side encoder-decoder plugin (AU, VST) - Voxengo MSED - Voxengo both of which are free

 

[Paris Davidson Jr.]

So from what I see on the site , if I put it on my track I would have to drop the mid gain ?

 

[bandcoach]

yes but only marginally - maybe -2dB at most: it is about subtleties but then so is anything to do with mixing

 

[Paris Davidson Jr.]

Okay thanks . I will try that out .

 

[_jcannon]

compression will help a ton, as will vocally riding your leadvox.