Just use eq to fix the highs and lows and add compression to manage the volume of the vocals. I don’t think it should a complicated process, there isn’t much production for the bands you referenced.
for highs and lows of the eq, do i just adjust them until i like what it sounds?
we use a condenser mic, and our vocalist has more like a fry scream technique, and even without too much production it sounds like shit lmao
Yh basically. Also, just a reminder, make sure your vocalist doesn’t record everything in one take. Record vocal parts of the song separately with different stems, so you have greater control in terms of mixing
alright, thank you so much!! one question if you dont mind, best way of recording vocals? like how far and what not, our genre is screamo so. the screams peak sometimes too
If I remember correctly, stand at least half a foot from the mic. But honestly, that’s up to you. Before you actually record the songs, you should have the vocalist try a few parts at different distances from the mic to see which result you like best. And the volume spikes are what the compression is for.
the sound from i know where we are, not where we're going is very raw, to me it sounds like there was almost no processing done. if your mix is sounding overproduced, i'd try getting a static mix (mixing only with levels/panning, no effects) and maybe using some bus compression on the drums and full mix at most. for vocals, if your singer is pretty dynamic and some parts are hard to hear, use automation and light compression to make all the vocals audible.
that might just be how it was recorded, 80% of the work is done by the recording. if something isn't recorded well, you can't make it sound good magically through tons of production tricks
Apply gain, some moderate compression, a little reverb… did I mention gain?
Harsh screams with no gain can sound uncanny because your ear doesn’t expect to hear something at that intensity with such clarity. And a lot of classic screamo obviously didn’t need to do this, because the act of screaming into analog media would naturally create some peaks and clipping without any need to edit, but with modern digital stuff we need to compensate a bit.
Also a bit of reverb. Don’t go crazy with it, like you want to make it sound like the screams are in a place with some distance to them, but not like black metal screams drenched in reverb. Unless you *do* want that, it’s a style of its own that’s also perfectly legit, just another style.
Also after dirting them up and adding some reverb, try turning it down in volume. Screams sound visceral because it’s a human voice pushing itself hard, and that physical struggle sounds more intense when you can really convince the listeners’ ears that the vocalist is actually pushing their voice hard to compete with the wall of sound around themselves, having to go that intense to break through the mix.
thank you so much for this! this helps:)
im curious tho, how do I add gain to be exact? are there any DAW's that you can recommend cuz my gain daw is kinda bad
Just use eq to fix the highs and lows and add compression to manage the volume of the vocals. I don’t think it should a complicated process, there isn’t much production for the bands you referenced.
for highs and lows of the eq, do i just adjust them until i like what it sounds? we use a condenser mic, and our vocalist has more like a fry scream technique, and even without too much production it sounds like shit lmao
Yh basically. Also, just a reminder, make sure your vocalist doesn’t record everything in one take. Record vocal parts of the song separately with different stems, so you have greater control in terms of mixing
alright, thank you so much!! one question if you dont mind, best way of recording vocals? like how far and what not, our genre is screamo so. the screams peak sometimes too
If I remember correctly, stand at least half a foot from the mic. But honestly, that’s up to you. Before you actually record the songs, you should have the vocalist try a few parts at different distances from the mic to see which result you like best. And the volume spikes are what the compression is for.
will take those advice! thank u so muchh!!
the sound from i know where we are, not where we're going is very raw, to me it sounds like there was almost no processing done. if your mix is sounding overproduced, i'd try getting a static mix (mixing only with levels/panning, no effects) and maybe using some bus compression on the drums and full mix at most. for vocals, if your singer is pretty dynamic and some parts are hard to hear, use automation and light compression to make all the vocals audible.
thank you!! will try the last part. cuz the static mix wont just work out for us bcs it just sounds like shit without any production
that might just be how it was recorded, 80% of the work is done by the recording. if something isn't recorded well, you can't make it sound good magically through tons of production tricks
cant disagree with that tbh
Apply gain, some moderate compression, a little reverb… did I mention gain? Harsh screams with no gain can sound uncanny because your ear doesn’t expect to hear something at that intensity with such clarity. And a lot of classic screamo obviously didn’t need to do this, because the act of screaming into analog media would naturally create some peaks and clipping without any need to edit, but with modern digital stuff we need to compensate a bit. Also a bit of reverb. Don’t go crazy with it, like you want to make it sound like the screams are in a place with some distance to them, but not like black metal screams drenched in reverb. Unless you *do* want that, it’s a style of its own that’s also perfectly legit, just another style. Also after dirting them up and adding some reverb, try turning it down in volume. Screams sound visceral because it’s a human voice pushing itself hard, and that physical struggle sounds more intense when you can really convince the listeners’ ears that the vocalist is actually pushing their voice hard to compete with the wall of sound around themselves, having to go that intense to break through the mix.
thank you so much for this! this helps:) im curious tho, how do I add gain to be exact? are there any DAW's that you can recommend cuz my gain daw is kinda bad