Should i Stop Putting Compression on My Beats ?

[Paris Davidson Jr.]

I Was looking at tutorials yesterday , and a engineer said its hard to put vocals on a track that's compressed or mastered . which explains why I have trouble with my vocals . so should I stop mastering and compressing my beats prior to recording ?

 

[JV72]

It is not hard and you can use mastered backing tracks and add vocal to them. Is kinda tricky but it is possible if you are careful how the vocal is blending with the rest. I wouldn't be worried. More compression on the vocal track, little, (very little and careful) multiband compression on the sub and you'll be fine!

 

[The Funk Junkie]

You should mix the vocals in at the same time as the beat mixdown. If you're doing the engineering yourself, it's easy to do it all at the same time. If somebody else is doing the final mixes, you'll have to send them a tracked out version of your beat with all the separate parts.

 

[IPM Music]

Treat the instrumental and the vocals as one song, not separately.

 

[bandcoach]

if you have the original uncompressed backing tracks then add the vocal to that project and mix the whole thing together

if not then read these guides on how to do it with minimal crud accruing to your mix

mixing-clarity

mixing-vocals-instrumental

mixing-rap-vocals

compression-eq-while-tracking-vox

 

[futuremehr]

Any limiting must be done after mixing and while mastering, if you crush your instrumental/drum track the vocals wont sit in the mix properly, and afterwards you will have problems mastering it, any limiter used before mastering will make it harder to master a track.

 

[chris carter]

don't mix your vocals to a two-track of the music. Do them at the same time.

 

[Free Spirit]

I Was looking at tutorials yesterday , and a engineer said its hard to put vocals on a track that's compressed or mastered . which explains why I have trouble with my vocals . so should I stop mastering and compressing my beats prior to recording ?

You'll want the beat compressed and mastered before showing it off to others but it really is counterproductive if you plan on turning it into a song.

Mix buss compression acts as "mix glue" and really ties everything in together and makes it sound cohesive. So when that's done without the most important track involved (the vocals), it can be tough to come back from.

You don't have to stop mastering and compressing your beats prior to recording but definitely keep a version that's uncompressed and unmastered for when you want to add the vocals in. It'll save a lot of time and will sound much better w/ the vocals included in those 2 steps

 

[mark1234]

I only use Compression on my drums.
Vocals i don't know.

 

[Coleman1]

You should mix the vocals with everything else simultaneously. Not master it, get it as loud as possible and then try to put the vocals in. It'll probably end up distorting. Compression will help glue your track together so it's a super useful tool, especially on vocals.

 

[Paschalis I.]

I Was looking at tutorials yesterday , and a engineer said its hard to put vocals on a track that's compressed or mastered . which explains why I have trouble with my vocals . so should I stop mastering and compressing my beats prior to recording ?

What do you mean by "stop mastering prior to recording"?
You're mixing instruments, master them export them and THEN you record?

No my friend, the vocals must be recorded with the instruments.
If you're selling beats then that's a lot of different story, but similar compression should be applied to vocals like the instruments.

In modern genres vocals are compressed a lot, but with compressors in series which helps not making over-compression audible.

 

[Coleman1]

+1 ^. It should always been done simultaneously to the rest of your mix. And vocals are the one thing that you can use moderate compression and it actually sounds nice. But still - don't overdo it.

 

[Paschalis I.]

+1 ^. It should always been done simultaneously to the rest of your mix. And vocals are the one thing that you can use moderate compression and it actually sounds nice. But still - don't overdo it.

Yeap! Also lots of automation and compression in series works so well on vocals, you can make them sound compressed without driving them crazy

 

[Guest]

I Was looking at tutorials yesterday , and a engineer said its hard to put vocals on a track that's compressed or mastered . which explains why I have trouble with my vocals . so should I stop mastering and compressing my beats prior to recording ?

All the information provided is great. A lot of producers send beats that are overhyped when it comes to mastering, which makes it less convenient to add vox on top of them. If you are using beats from other producers and they only send a two-track record, ask for a non-limited version. Hopefully, this will allow some breathing room and more dynamic range when adding in vocals.


Artists seem to think a beat that isn't loud isn't good. This is a foolish way to think. If it isn't loud to your liking, turn up your monitors.

 

[Coleman1]

Sometimes having an extremely over-compressed vocal like "one more time" by daft punk can be what you want too.

 

[Paschalis I.]

Sometimes having an extremely over-compressed vocal like "one more time" by daft punk can be what you want too.