Before we get started, I have to make it clear that this tutorial will work with whatever DAW you’re using. You could be mixing vocals in Pro Tools, FL Studio, Garageband, Cubase 5, Studio One or using any plugins whether Waves, UAD or stock plugins.
Posted by6 months ago
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This is a concise guide so it doesn’t matter what you’re using and if you have problems applying the knowledge then spend some time learning your software or plugins.
As you may know I did a short post about mixing vocals in 4 easy steps and this time I want to give you something that is more detailed and help you learn how to make vocals stand out in a mix. That means this post is going to be very long so grab a cup of coffee, tea, wine or whatever you prefer and be comfortable.
I’m not going to cover anything related to recording as I’m going to make a post about that in the next coming days.
The key to getting the right vocal mix is to make sure you get it right from the source. What you need to know is that if you put garbage in, you’ll get garbage out. So make sure your vocal recording is proper. Once you’re certain that you have a good recording that is ready for mixing then you’ve won half of the battle.
Now the 1st thing I do is listen to the vocals and try to get a rough picture of the final results in my mind. Once that’s done the next thing is to put all thoughts into practice.
Tip – There’s no right or wrong way for producing great audio mixes, use the rules as a guide and always trust your instinct.
Fl Studio Vocal Mixing Lessons
Gate Processing Tips A gate processor mutes signals with low volume and it only modifies the RMS level of a signal. Most gates mute the signal completely while some allow you to set the compression to be just partial. The use of gates during vocal mixing is to eliminate background noise in parts where the vocalist doesn’t sing/rap.
Most controls found on a gate are similar to the ones on a normal compressor such as the threshold, attack, release and some have a range as well as a ratio parameter.
A gate with most, if not all, controls will help make this dynamic processing a lot smoother as compared to a simple gate that mutes the sound completely. For this to work well, I use an expander instead of a noise gate because it is a lot gradual and it makes it easy to get the right envelope settings (attack and release).
The attack time needs to be fast because a vocal can have parts that are percussive and the noise gate will open late and the word or 1st alphabet of a phrase wont be audible and that will reduce the clarity of the vocal. Another thing is to make sure the attack is not too fast that it ends up causing a click sound.
To get a good threshold, find the part where the vocals are really low in volume. Once you find that lowest point then push the threshold till you start to hear the gate compressing the signal then push it back up till everything fades in and out smoothly (natural). The main aim is to let the gate open when the vocals come in and close when there’s no signal.
The tricky part is getting the right threshold and release time. So if you’re having a problem with the threshold setting then play around with the release. Find a part where the vocalist sings the longest note and make sure you hear the whole note before the gate closes again. If the vocal note cuts then keep increasing the release slowly till you hear the whole note completely fades out. Make sure the settings are working well with the rest of the vocal.
If you’re using an expander and it has a ratio setting then just know that anything above the ratio of 1:10 is no longer an expander it’s now a noise gate. So play around with ratio settings below 1:10 to keep things organic and smooth.
This process can also be done manually by zooming the wav-form and cutting out all the parts where the vocalist is not singing. This can be a lot of work but do this if you don’t know how to use a gate.
Equalizing The Vocal Once you have the backround noise cleaned out then you’re going to equalize the vocals to remove unwanted frequencies that may clash with other sounds in the mix. You can use a frequency analyzer to see which frequencies the singer is dominating.
Make sure that you equalize the vocal while the whole music is playing so that you can hear whether what you’re doing is benefiting the mix or not. Don’t solo the vocals when you’re adding any processing, the listener wont hear the vocals in solo so it doesn’t matter how they sound in solo just as long as they’re working well with the entire mix.
You must use subtractive eq first then boost after compression. You can choose not to follow this rule of thumb by the way. A parametric eq is a good choice because parametric are really transparent and allow you to create big boosts and cuts without messing the timbre.
Vocal Eq Settings Start by cutting out anything below 60Hz, you won’t be needing that. You can push it even further if needed. You can find the fullness of the vocal around 100Hz to 250Hz and this frequancy range is good for cutting in some cases. Another part you need to cut is the muddiness area which can be found around 250Hz to 700Hz.
If you’re vocal has a honky or nasal sound then a cut around 400Hz to 1kHz will do the trick. If the vocals are harsh then use a narrow Q-Factor somewhere from 2.5KHz to around 4KHz. To add more clarity and presence then do a sweep from 4kHz to 9kHz till you find the right spot which is around 6kHz in most cases. Then boost that using a wide Q-Factor (bandwidth).
A narrow cut at around 1kHz to 1.8kHz can add some smoothness to the vocal, try it. To add some sparkle and air then a high-shelf boost at around 10kHz will do the trick. If you’re vocal is sounding too thin then a boost in the low mids can add the thickness or warmth you desire.
Keep it in mind that these eq settings are just a guideline, you’ll have to sweep around the spectrum to find the problem frequencies but at least with these tips you’ll know where to look. Use the frequency guide below if you get stuck:
Fullness (100Hz – 250Hz) Boominess and Muddiness (250Hz – 800Hz) Honky and Nasal (400Hz – 1.1kHz) Presence (5kHz – 8kHz) Sibilance (1.5kHz – 7kHz) Clarity (5kHz – 9kHz) Air or Breath (10kHz – 20kHz)
One last thing that’s worth mentioning is that mud is not always bad on a vocal, and it’s not always necessary to remove the low-mid range when mixing vocals because in some cases it may take away the presence or make it thin.
mixing vocals eq chart
Compression Tips Before you can start adding your favorite compressor. Ask yourself whether compression is needed on the vocals or not, is there a big difference in dynamic range (between the loud and soft parts), can you fix that manually? and so on…
Sometimes you may find that there’s a big difference between the loud and soft parts of the recording. Maybe the vocalist was moving away from the microphone during recording. You may find that some words are hard to hear or they’re mumbled.
If that’s the case then compressing something like that will just ruin it. Your best option is to do gain riding. You must manually adjust those soft parts to merely match the loud parts. You can either use volume automation but I prefer editing the waveform.
It will be easier for you to get the best possible compressor setting that will help the vocals sit well in the mix if the dynamic range is not too large. Compressors work really great if they’re not used as a fixing tool, but instead use them to polish a good vocal recording or any sound.
So how do you know when to compress?
There a lot of reasons to compress but in most cases you’ll find that your vocals are loud in some parts of the mix and sound quiet in some parts. That’s when you’ll need a compressor to even out the volume and keep it constant through out the whole song.
If you’re reading this then I assume you already know what each parameter on the compressor does and if not then take a moment to Google it but it’s really simple to understand.
The threshold determines at what level should the compressor start working and anything below the threshold wont get compressed. The attack and release time parameters are the envelope setting. The attack determines the time it takes for the compressor to kick-in and release determines the time it takes for the compressor to go at rest (zero compression).
How much compression is needed is determined by the ratio setting. That’s just the simple version of what each parameter does.
Vocal Compression Settings I always start by finding the threshold level. The threshold settings will depend on the dynamic range of the vocals you’re working on.
To get a good threshold setting simply use a very fast attack, long release and set the ratio to unlimited then start pushing the threshold parameter till you hear a pumping effect then bring it back up slowly till you find the sweet spot.
With the same setting work on the envelope first then move on to the ratio. Using short attack and release time for a vocal makes it loud and energetic and helps it cut through the mix. Using a long envelope will make your vocals punchy without being loud. It depends on what you’re going for and the style of music you’re mixing.
If your vocals have a large dynamic range then use a small ratio of about 2:1 to 3:1 and a bigger ratio of 4:1 and above for vocal parts that have a small dynamic range. But avoid any pumping effect and make sure the vocals are as natural as possible.
Multiband Compression on Vocals If you’re family with broadband (single-band) compressors then using the multiband wont be a problem. The parameters are mostly the same, the interface may be a bit intimidating at first glance but it wont take long to get familiar with it.
Mutliband compressors are mostly used in mastering but they can also be used for mixing vocals as well. More especially if you have a stack of vocals or just want to compress the high mid frequencies and leave the other frequencies uncompressed or maybe you just want to fix a problem frequency.
Multiband compressors are good if you’re fixing a problem like a nasal frequency for example, or to fix a percussive part that keeps jumping in the mix. I wouldn’t recommend it as a go to vocal processor because it can mess up the timbre of the vocal.
But if shaping and controlling the timbre is your goal then go for the multiband, or even if you just want to change the character of the vocal. A multiband compressor can be a great tool to make a “dynamic controlled” boost in the high frequencies for instance.
It’s a good tool for mixing vocals but use it with caution.
Guide For Using The De-Esser Once you have the vocal compression done then you’ll notice there will be some sibilance on the vocals. Even a good recording will have sibilance sounds especially if it’s a female vocalist. Compression can also cause sibilance as well.
These are sounds with “sss” or “ts” and these are caused by words with alphabets like t, k, s and z. They’re are commonly known as hissing sounds.
These are not generally bad for the mix, but in some cases they can be annoying and can sound pretty obvious after adding effects such as delay. A De-esser can also ruin the clarity of the vocal so you want to add it but not remove the hissing sound completely. You need a little bit of sibilance to keep the vocals natural sounding.
A de-esser is also a dynamic processor so you’ll need to add it right after the eq and compressor but before you add any time based effects like reverb. This is just to ensure that the de-esser is only working on the sibilance and not messing with other frequencies.
It’s not really hard to find the sibilance, in most cases a female singer tends to be sibilant in the 5kHz to around 8kHz range and a male vocal tends to be low around 3kHz to 6kHz. You’ll have to search for the sibilant though, there’s no one size fits all setting.
Reverberating The Vox A common mistake people make with reverb is to focus on how it sounds, instead you should focus on how it makes you feel. Reverb doesn’t only add depth or soften the vocals but it also adds emotion.
Choosing a good reverb sound for your vocal is very crucial. Just like a multiband compressor can mess up with the timbre, the same thing will happen if you choose a wrong reverb sound that’s not suitable for the vocalist you’re working on. Try different reverbs till you find one that doesn’t change the character of the sound.
There’s different kinds of reverbs. A room reverb is really short and it will add little depth and space to the vocal. A hall reverb tends to be long, it sounds full and have more reflection.
A plate reverb carries a lot of early reflections and it has a thick sound but for a short period of time as compared to a hall reverb.
Reverb effects are really easy to get familiar with unlike dynamic processors. But the one most important thing is to find the right reverb time settings that will match the tempo of the song. You can do this by using your ear or using a simple formula.
Take 60,000 and divide (÷) it by the tempo of the song. For instance, if you’re mixing a song that’s playing with a tempo of 90BPM then 60,000 divide by 90 = 666.7 milliseconds (0.6 seconds).
One trick I learned in music production school that I don’t see a lot of engineers do is automating the reverb throughout the whole arrangement. For instance, the chorus part will be more reverberated as compared to the verses and other parts.
This can sounds really good especially with delay effects but don’t exaggerate this, it doesn’t have to sound obvious to the listener so use it with caution.
Another great trick, especially if you don’t want the vocals to sound like it’s in a room then remove all the early reflections and only use the tail of the reverb. That way the vocal will sound as if it’s dry and it will be upfront in the mix but the tail will be reverberated.
Don’t forget to use the pre-delay time to determine when does the tail start getting reverberated. This will keep the vocals present even though the attack of the vocal will sound dry the tail will have the reverb.
Delay Effect on Vocals A plugin delay effect basically records the incoming data, which is the vocal in our case, then store it in a buffer. While old school units used to rely on tape or digital sampling technology.
Delay effects can be used in a simple form or complex patches which involve adding effects such as distortion, auto-filter or even an eq to change the character of the delayed signal or just to clean things up. Delay effects can be a great way to make a doubling effect on vocals. Most Rock engineers use the delay effect instead of the reverb to help the vocals to sit well in a mix without pushing it back or making it sound distant.
Most delay effects will have a way to set the timing of the delay effect, which is very crucial. Some will come with a sync tempo button while in some cases you’ll have to use your ear or simply take 60,000 and divide it by the tempo of the song.
The aim of using a delay effect on vocals is not for it to be heard but just enough to support the vocal and make it sound bigger and never make the delayed signal louder than the original signal.
Short delay times of about 80ms work well to blend the vocals with the entire mix, especially if the reverb is making your vocals too thick and ruining the clarity then you can use a short delay instead. Be careful with using long delay feedbacks they’ll add some muddiness.
If you’re using the delay effect on a send channel then keep it at 100% wet and if you’re using it as an insert then 30% is a good starting point then play around with it till you find a good spot.
The most commonly used delay is the Ping Pong which is alternating echoes that are panned hard left and right in the stereo image. To achieve this effect you need to make the delay time on the left half of the right side’s delay time. Then the vocal will bounce around the stereo field, from the center (original sound), to the left then to the right channel.
If a stereo delay effect is adding mud on the vocals then go for a mono delay. Alternatively you can use a reverb with a long pre-delay time of over 120ms.
Another great sounding delay trick is the ducking delay effect. To achieve this effect you’ll have to add a compressor on the delay channel then set the side-chain input to be the vocal aux send. Use a fast attack and slow release time then set the threshold and ratio to taste.
Then the compressor will close the delay when the vocals are playing and open as soon as the vocal compression goes to rest, then the last phrase of that vocal part will echo.
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Finally, if you’re using long delay times then don’t add it throughout the whole song, use it in different parts of the mix or in certain phrases.
Quick Panning Tips For Vocals This section is going to be the shortest because it depends on the material you’re working on. But basically you want to keep your lead vocals at the center especially for the verse.
The chorus part needs to be wide that is why it’s recommended to record many takes and pan them left and right. I usually keep everything below 25% pan, I never go to 100%. Panning one vocal part hard left and the other hard right (100%) is like having a single mono channel except that it will be 3dB louder.
Back in the days it was good to pan things hard, especially for background vocals to make them sound like they’re at the edge of the speaker. People are using ear buds, so making your vocals too wide might not sound good on these ear buds. Go for something a little tighter not wide, anything less than 25% pan will do.
Pan the chorus stacked vocals according to taste but make sure non of your vocals disappear when the music is played in mono. If the stacked vocals were recorded like a choir where you have the brass, tenor, soprano and bass section then keep the voices will a low tone in the center and high harmony vocals on the sides and if there’s Adlibs keep them in the center.
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If all the stacked vocals sound the same then pan them according to what you feel sounds good. Things you can pan are mostly the harmony vocals and backing vocals. Experiment with panning and make sure to test your mix in mono.
Mixing Background Vocals Just like the word says – “Backing Vocals” that means they need to be at the back. Your effects and dynamic processor settings for the backings will differ from the lead vocal settings.
For instance the compressor will have a fast attack with a medium to long release because if the release is short then the backing vocals will be energetic and loud. That’s not what you want for the backings and that’s why you must use a long release and fast attack to keep them punchy but never loud.
Don’t allow you’re backing vox to have too much dynamics, use drastic threshold and ratio settings but avoid any pumping effect. You’ll also need to use a lot of reverb to push them at the back of the mix and be careful not to drown them with reverb.
Long reverb and delay times work well because backings don’t play throughout the whole song. Use a stereo image effect to widen-up the backing vocals in the mix, this will make them less direct helping the lead vocal to lead.
Don’t make the mistake of over-processing the backing vox, remember that they have to support the lead vocal so they don’t have to be pushed far back, they also need to be audible and clear.
For the eq settings I normally use a drastic high pass filter at around 150kHz and a big dip in the low-mids. Sometimes a dip around 1kHz does open up some space for the lead then I’ll add some sparkle using a high-shelf. This high-shelf will be a bit more than the lead though.
Push It To The Limit A limiter is another great tool you can use for compression. Unlike a compressor which acts on a sound as it arrives, a limiter has a look ahead feature with tends to make the compression a lot smoother even if it’s pushed hard.
A limiter usually uses a fast attack, mostly a hard knee and unlimited ratio. It’s a special type of compressor that will never allow the input signal to exceed the threshold.
Sometimes using a compressor can squash the vocal too quickly and cause it to distort and in that case the limiter is a good option as it has a look ahead feature which allows the limiter to see a few milliseconds before the compression takes place.
Usually a limiter should be the last thing you add in your vocal chain after all the processing is done. Use it to trim out the loudest peaks or if you want to push your vocals to the front of the mix.
Sometimes you might find yourself using heavy compression with lots of gain reduction, a fast attack, high ratio and a lot of make-up gain. In that case, technically you might be using the compressor as a limiter. So try a limiter instead and see how it sounds. You might find that the limiter is working better because you were using the compressor for what it’s not designed to do (if that makes sense).
Using a limiter is much faster and easier especially if you’re not familiar with compressors. The vocals will be right in your face without fluctuating.
Use a limiter to help the vocal sit on top if it’s getting lost in some parts of the mix. It’s little things like this that make a big difference in the mastering stage as non of the peaks will keep jumping in the mix. Which will make it a lot easier for the mastering engineer to polish the mix.
Remember, less is more so don’t squash the vocal.
Wrapping Up Producing great sounding vocal mixes is all about experimenting. Things like tuning your vocals can also help the vocal blend well with the entire mix. I would advise you to get the timing and correct vocal pitch from the source instead of relying on tools.
There are a lot of great tools out there for fixing vocal pitch and timing issues but the most popular ones are Melodyne, Waves Tune, Cubase VariAudio and AutoTune. Another great tool that can add some sparkle to your vocal mix is the Exciter. I don’t use an exciter on the lead I usually use it on the backing vocals.
Also use modulation tools like chorus to double up sounds. Effects such as phaser and flanger can add drama to a song when used in places such as the breakdown of a mix. Modulation plugins work really well on background vocals as well.
What comes 1st between compressor and eq really depends on the vocal recording. If you’re going to cut then use the eq 1st and if you’re going to boost then use the compressor 1st. You can use 2 equalizers, one to cut and one after the compressor to boost.
Parallel compression is another great technique you can use for producing good dynamics for your vocal mix.
I think that’s it ?
For once I thought I should write a more detailed blog post instead of the short ones. Hope you found it useful and if you guys prefer short posts then let me know. Long posts like this one tend to take long to write but if that’s what you guys want then I really don’t mind at all.
If you would like to add something I might have missed then do so by leaving a comment below.
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FL Studio is the complete package for recording, arranging, DJing and mixing! To celebrate how much we love FL Studio, Gary Hiebner presents his top 10 tips to help get the most out of your mix.
FL Studio is very flexible in the way you can work with it when mixing. With its channels and mixer insert tracks, you can build up quite complex mixes. Let’s look at some tips and tricks on how to get the most out of FL Studio when you mix your tracks.
Tip 1 - Route Your Channels to Dedicated Mixer Insert Tracks
With FL Studio you can route any channel to any insert track in the mixer. This is nice in that you can customize your channel layout in the mixer by determining which channels go to which track. With each channel going to a dedicated mixer insert track, you can apply individual effects to each track.
To see what track a channel is routed to, first select the track by clicking on it in the Step Sequencer window. This will open up the Channel Settings window for that track and in the top right-hand corner you’ll see a box labeled FX. This shows which insert track the channel is routed to. You can change the routing by dragging up or down. Notice how the track selection of that channel changes in the Mixer window.
Tip 2 - Summing Channels to Mixer Insert Tracks
You can use this channel/track flexibility to your advantage. Let’s say in your song you’ve added three different types of bass instruments to three channels. But it’s getting a bit tedious jumping between each track to process and edit the bass sounds. Route the different bass tracks to the same mixer insert track. So you’ll be summing these bass channels to one insert track. This way you can apply processing to this one mixer track, and it’ll be applied to all the bass instruments as a whole. This is a great way to gel similar instruments together and simplify your mixer window.
Tip 3 - Setting Up a Reverb Send
Send effects are great in that it allows you to apply an amount of one effect across all the tracks. Let’s see how this is done. First insert a Reverb effect on one of the Sends. Insert an instance of Reeverb 2 on Send 1 and make sure the Wet signal is set to 100% and the Dry to 0.
Now select the track you want to apply the reverb on, then jump back to the Send track. Turn up the rotary knob just under the volume fader. This will increase the amount of signal that is sent from the track to this send.
Now select another track, and then go back to the Send reverb track. You’ll see that the rotary knob is at zero again. Increase this to apply the send reverb to this track. This is where it can get a bit confusing. In other DAWs, there is a dedicated send level on each track. In FL Studio, each time you select a track the dedicated knob for that track is found on the Send track. Sends work really well as it’s less taxing on your CPU because you don’t have to insert an instance of the same plug-in on each track.
Another thing to point out is that in FL Studio any track can actually be a send. You don’t have to just use the assigned send tracks. This is achieved through FL Studio’s inter-track routing. Simply route a track to another track, and this becomes the send track. The labeled send tracks are there for backward compatibility with older FL Studio projects. In the next step let’s take a look at how to route tracks around.
Tip 4 - Creating Sub MixesFl Studio Vocal Mixing Presets
In the Mixer you can also route track to other tracks. By default each track is routed to the Master track. When you select a track, you’ll see an orange arrow under the fader on the Master Track, indicating that this track is going out to the master track. If you click on this arrow it’ll bypass the track going to the output and you’ll no longer hear it on the master output. Click it again and you’ll hear the track through the master output.
But what if you wanted this to go out to another track. For example, let’s say you wanted to route your drums to another track so that you can adjust the volume of all the drums with just one fader. First select one of your drum tracks and click on the orange arrow on the master track. This will bypass that track being routed to the master track output. Then go to an empty insert track and click the arrow under the volume fader. Now this drum track is routed here. Do the same with your other drums tracks. Rename this new submix track to Drums. Right-click the track and choose Rename, or use the shortcut F2. Now you can control the volume of all your drum elements with just one track.
You can even add other effects on this track to process all the drums. Maybe you want to add a compressor to compress all the drums, and then maybe an EQ which will alter the drums as a whole. This way you can add individual effects to each drum, plus add effects on the submix track where they’re all routed to. Giving you much more possibilities on how to mix your songs. Group similar elements together and then route then to an insert track so that you can edit and process those elements with one single track.
Tip 5 - EQs and Frequency Analyzers
For EQs I’d highly recommend using the Fruity Parametric EQ2 to your tracks. It’s a 7-band parametric EQ. You can choose different EQ curve shapes for these bands, and it has a great frequency analyzer that is very handy when you want to see what frequency areas that particular track is taking up. There is increased activity in the bands that are colored orange/red/ and less in the areas that are purple/blue in color.
To get a higher quality spectrum view on the Parametric EQ2, make sure to click on the HQ button to active this.
Another great spectrum plug-in is Wave Candy. This has Oscilloscope, Spectrum, Meter, and Vectorscope views to help you analyze your audio.
Tip 6 - Parallel Processing
Parallel processing is where you mix a dry signal with a wet signal. This way you get the original audio blended with the processed audio. And this can be done very easily in FL Studio. Next to each insert there is a dry/wet dial. Tweak this to change the amount of dry versus wet signal. This works very well with drums. On your drums, add a compressor and dial in a very heavy compression setting like a ratio of 20.1:1, have a very short attack and release, and drop the threshold down to about -40. This will be heavily compressing your drums. Now balance the dry with the wet. There you go that’s how easy it is to do parallel compression in FL Studio.
Tip 7 - Add Interest with Automation
Automation can really bring your tracks to life, and this can be done very easily in FL. You can automate any parameter. Simply right-click on a parameter, and then choose create automation clip.
Now when you jump across to the Pattern Editor. You’ll see a new Clip lane for that automation. So go in and do some volume automations, or reverb send automation to add some variance in your tracks.
Tip 8 - Limiting Your Audio
If you want to add extra loudness to your audio so that it compares with other commercial releases, then add the Fruity Limiter last on the Master Inserts chain. This will allow you to increase the level of your audio, and at the same time you can set a ceiling so that it doesn’t clip. Set the Ceil to -0.3 dB, and increase the Gain to somewhere between 3-5 dB to give you that much more loudness. What’s also good is to add the Fruity dB Meter after the limiter just to check how this has pushed up your audio. But no matter how hard you push it, if you have the ceiling set at -0.3 dB it’ll never go over that.
Tip 9 - Changing Effects Order
This is a very quick tip, but super helpful. If you want to change the order of your effect, place your mouse over the effect you want to move, and then use the scroll wheel to move the effect either up or down the inserts chain. Maybe you want your EQ to be placed after your compressor. Different effects chaining orders can have different results on your audio, so keep this in mind.
Tip 10 - Handy Export Options
There’s some very handy export options. You can choose to zip your project. If you want to collaborate with another FL user, zip up your project, copy this onto a hard drive, then take it to their setup and load up your zipped project.
You can also choose to export out your mixer tracks as separate tracks. This is handy if you're going to be moving your project to another DAW. Maybe you’re getting someone else to mix your song. Split up the tracks, and then bring then into the other DAW to mix.
Conclusion
So there's 10 helpful tips you can use to make the most of FL Studio when you get into mixing your songs. The Mixer window is very flexible with its channels and insert routing, and the FL plug-in can really help beef up your mix.
For further FL Studio Tips and Tricks check out this video course:
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Vocals can add an organic touch to any track, and can really drive home the idea and message your song sends. Some tracks will sound empty without them, like something is missing. Vocal samples are one solution, but sometimes spending hours finding the right fit or the right lyrics just isn’t practical. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to record vocals in FL Studio to give your track a unique sound.
Note: You must have FL Studio Producer Edition or higher to record audio and vocals.
Step 1: Buy a Microphone & Accessories
If you already have all the hardware you need, just skip to Step 2. If not, there are tons of great microphones and accessories online. Much of your selection will depend on how much you can afford, and how much you’re willing to pay for high-quality recordings.
Full Disclosure: The following links are affiliate links. Buying from any of these links will earn me sales commission.
Mic Selection
For those of us on a budget and wanting versatility for use in and out of the studio, the Digital Reference DRV200 or Behringer Ultravoice Xm8500 are both solid choices. If you’re looking to spend a little more, a cardioid condenser mic like the Audio Technica AT2020, MXL 770, or MXL 990 are also good options. If you have a few hundred bucks laying around that you can devote to an entry-level condenser, check out our list of the best condenser mics for under $300. Just be considerate of whether or not your selection will require a phantom power source. Most modern audio interfaces include phantom power.
Boom & Stand Selection
Next, you’ll need a boom or stand to hold your mic. Again, there are loads of selections online. I purchased a pretty cheap mic boom from Neewer. It clamps to my desk and is very easy to set up and adjust. There are also some high-end models out there like the RODE PSA1. Make sure that your desk thickness is less than the maximum clamp opening depth, or the boom clamp won’t fit.
My gear for recording vocals. This is the MXL 990 Blizzard Edition, scissor boom mic stand from Neewer, and pop filter from Auphonix.
Headphone Selection
A set of headphones may also be necessary for the vocalist to wear during recording. If you’re recording and monitoring in the same room, these will allow the vocalist to hear the track during recording while preventing the track from being recorded by the mic. The Sony MDR7506 is my personal choice, but cheaper alternatives will also do if you’ll just be using these to record vocals.
Other Accessories
You will need an XLR cable to connect your mic to your audio interface, unless your mic uses a USB connection or you have an XLR to USB adapter. It is also worth investing in a pop filter. Pop filters stop pops in your recordings that are caused by fast-moving air running into your mics internal components. All of these decisions will depend on what degree of quality you’re willing to pay for for your vocals.
OK, now that we’ve covered everything we need, lets look at Step 2.
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Step 2: Audio Driver Settings
To record vocals in FL Studio 12, we need to make sure we are using an ASIO driver. To access your driver settings, just go to Options, then Audio settings, and under Input/Output devices, choose an ASIO driver. If you don’t have an ASIO driver, you can download one here.
Latency
Latency is the time it takes for the live voice coming from your mic input and/or the data coming from FL Studio to be processed by your computer. You want to make sure that latency is as low as possible. A very high latency will lead to vocals that are out of sync with the rest of the track, and can make recording difficult for the vocalist when recording over a live mix.
You can reduce latency by reducing the audio device buffer size. A rule of thumb is under 11 ms for latency. If you cannot achieve this without buffer underruns, it may be time for a faster processor.
Another way to help with latency issues is by turning on Latency compensation in your Mixer options under Disc recording. This removes your audio input device’s buffer latency time from the beginning your recorded audio clips so your vocals sync up with the rest of your track.
![]() Step 3: Set Recording Filter to Record Audio
Right-click on the Record button in your top toolbar and make sure the Audio option is checked. This will allow you to record directly into the Playlist.
Step 4: Connect Your Mic & Choose a Mixer Track
Once your mic is connected, you need to tell FL Studio where the mic input is coming from and what to do with it. Choose any Mixer track for your audio to come from, just not the Master track. At the top of the signal processing chain, set your Audio input source to the device your mic is connected to.
There should be two sections, one for stereo and one for mono. Stereo will record in one stereo track (left or right) unless you’re using a stereo mic, and both mono options will just record copies of the same signal in mono for both left and right.
In the vocoder setup below, the modulator is the mic input panned hard left, and the carrier is a synth preset panned hard right.
Step 5: Record Into the Playlist
There are actually two ways to record vocals in FL Studio. The first way is into the Playlist as an audio clip. The clip will also be present in the Channel rack. This method saves a file of the recording on your computer in the Recorded folder in the Browser/plugin picker by default.
Arm the Mixer Track & Set the Save Path
First, we want to make sure the Mixer track that you have your mic input routed to is armed for recording. When you chose your mic input, FL Studio should have auto-armed the Mixer track. You can check by looking at the Mixer track and making sure the red Arm disk recording button is lit up. Just click it to toggle on and off. You can also right-click to choose a different folder directory to save your audio clips to.
Adjust Mic Input Gain
This is where we adjust the mic input peak level to -10 dBFS. We can do this by adding a Fruity Balance to the top of the mic input Mixer track signal processing chain. We’ll run through this same process in the next section on recording with Edison.
Start Recording
Next, click the Record audio button at the top main toolbar, and hit Play. You can now start recording your vocals!
When you’re done, just click Pause or Stop and the recorded audio clip will appear in your Channel rack and Playlist too, if you’ve recorded in Song mode.
Alternative Step 5: Record Into Edison
The second way we can record vocals in FL Studio is with Edison in the Mixer. Edison is an audio editing and recording plugin by Image-Line, and comes with FL Studio Producer Edition and up. It allows for more control when recording and is better suited for sampling than recording into the Playlist.
Add Edison to Mic Input Track
First, add an Edison to your mic input Mixer track. Make sure it appears above any effects you have added on to the track. This will ensure that you have a “dry” recording, which will allow for more control and flexibility in your mix later on.
Edison should appear above effects in your signal processing chain. To reorder, hover over a slot and scroll with your mouse wheel.
Adjust Mic Input Gain
Next, you want to make sure the mic input signal coming into Edison is a maximum of -10 dBFS. You can achieve this by having your vocalist do a few test runs with proper distance from the mic and the loudness of their voice taken into consideration. Adjust your mic input gain so that the loudest parts of the test run are around -10 dBFS.
As mentioned earlier, you can do this by adding a Fruity Balance and a Wave Candy above Edison in the Mixer track. Adjust the gain on Fruity Balance as your vocalist is performing while simultaneously monitoring the Wave Candy meter until the loudest parts are around -10 dBFS. Start Recording
Next, hit the Record button in Edison. If you have the trigger set to On Input, Edison will automatically start recording once it senses an input signal. Click the Record button again to stop recording.
Edit & Send to Playlist/Channel Rack
From here, you can edit the recorded waveform, it’s volume, panning, and stereo separation envelopes (bottom left), normalize, add EQ, slice, etc. Once you have the waveform sounding the way you want, just click the Send to playlist as audio clip/to channel button at the top right in the Edison toolbar. Now, your clip is in the Playlist and Channel rack.
More Vocal Recording Tips
And that wraps it up for this one. If you liked this 100% free FL Studio tutorial, let me know what else you’d like me to cover in the comments, on the Synaptic Sound Facebook page, or YouTube channel! I use FL studio for making beats and mixing beats and I'm very familiar with the DAW and get good mixes out of it. But now I'm getting into mixing vocals as well and I was wondering if any of you mix your vocals in there or track it out to another DAW for vocals? Comments are closed.
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