How to EQ & Compress a LIVE vocal

How to EQ & Compress a LIVE vocal | Digico SD12

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Күн бұрын

In this video you will learn how to process live vocals. Not only will you learn how to EQ a vocal, but also how to compress a vocal! Specifically how I process a live vocal where the recording environment isn't ideal, like a live stage or recording from a bedroom. For this example I was using a Digico SD12, however these concepts can be transferred to any DAW or audio console. For years of my career I used a very cheap X32 and got fantastic results using this very method.
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00:00 Intro
00:21 Unprocessed Vocal
00:36 EQ
02:31 Compression

Пікірлер: 110

@mikeparting9692 11 ай бұрын

Some really bad techniques here mate. May work for a live stream but certainly will encounter many issues in the live realm, boosting and sweeping vocal channels is a no no. Massive mid cuts in vocal channels like that WILL make it sound nasally, so then you end up cutting more around that frequency to try and balance it out. Let the microphone do the work, HPF and shallower cuts. Keep EQ smooth and broad on vocals. Vocal Compressor settings are proportional to the singers dynamic range, just whacking them into -6dB compression ay 4:1 isnt the way to do it. You need to listen to the vocal and where and if the compression is needed.

@tbowen12 Жыл бұрын

That’s a ton of frequency cuts.

@upnorthhomesteader Жыл бұрын

Cut just a little. Less compression.

@mvwoon 9 ай бұрын

It's basically a high end boost.

@treykeys7232 8 ай бұрын

@@upnorthhomesteader.

@treykeys7232 8 ай бұрын

@@upnorthhomesteader7,😊

@treykeys7232 8 ай бұрын

@@upnorthhomesteaderIIIIII9LK job that. 😅8k4i😅7 2:52

@elaiharamos8236 Жыл бұрын

AWESOME VIDEO! This will be so useful! Thank you!

@VictorEMusique 5 ай бұрын

that is the best explanation of compression I've ever heard - thanks!

@rickparma 7 ай бұрын

Great video bro this is really nice not just the technique, the final product was phenomenal.

@cmacrafton Жыл бұрын

Very well explained.

@Andithewicked Жыл бұрын

Good Explanation! Thank you!

@TrainingJarl2 5 ай бұрын

Love this bro

@jestinmkcvlogs Жыл бұрын

Really its vry useful.plz make more videos😍

@Gladingson1 Жыл бұрын

Wow....always very brief but very intuitive, thanks Sir

@BasseyEbong 8 ай бұрын

The Way you teach is so 'Godly' AMAZING !!! Thanks brother. God bless you

@nkosikhonaginya9034 Жыл бұрын

Nice. Like to see this using x32

@annabeeamputee Жыл бұрын

That’s the SD I believe or the quantum

@kevinlentz7604 Жыл бұрын

Zounds great ❤

@terrydiachun77 6 ай бұрын

finally, clear understanding how to mix live vocals in order of operations. Thank you.

@obong1 4 ай бұрын

It's so clear that, although I'm not using the same mix board-si impact, I ccan still apply these principles into my setup. Thaks Andrew!

@obidavekenobe 9 ай бұрын

Good enough, I’ll fix it in post.

@oswaldjazz 5 ай бұрын

Gracias por tu trabajo, he conseguido el sonido deseado. Lo que me pregunto es ¿por qué agregas tanta MakeUp Gain? y lo otro es ¿ecualizas el sonido en general o solo los micrófonos?

@elvinedmeade9846 Жыл бұрын

do you turn on the make up gain once you've compressed?

@Jjdjentertainment Жыл бұрын

Really enjoyed this video. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

@danielacuna6826 Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much. Im curious on how you do pitch correction and reverb and delay. Im new to all this. Thanx!

@Backtoflying Жыл бұрын

I would also love to see how you accomplish that. I’m using the X-32.

@corybolen7031 Жыл бұрын

Would love to see how you place all instruments and vocals in the mix to keep it from being muddy.

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

I’m sure I’ll make a video on this at some point, but the short answer is basically that I’m not afraid to make pretty dramatic EQ moves to make things fit together. You have to intentionally make space and sacrifice sometimes for things to fit together well.

@israelolumide6916 Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much. I would like you do some videos on voice EQ and gating, Bass EQ using x32 mixer.

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

I just recently posted a video on how to do bass, so go check it out! Also, EQ, gating, and compression are general tools, so the manufacturer of the console shouldn't change the way you use them pretty much at all. In fact, everything I show in any of these videos could also be used in a DAW with essentially the same results.

@torrancejackson8369 Жыл бұрын

Where do I get the tracks to play with the EQ?

@JeeQuinones Жыл бұрын

Thank you Andrew! It helped me a lot.

@woodrowtremckenzieiii Жыл бұрын

Can you do a video on eq live vocals on x32?

@bencawood Жыл бұрын

So this would work for a song mix to ?

@musiccruztv8821 Жыл бұрын

Amazing bro!! Love to see Advance compressing!!

@ericdavis2367 Жыл бұрын

This is great!

@user-ln5fz6qk5n 3 ай бұрын

Did you use noise gate?

@mark12.31 Жыл бұрын

Not following the "boost wide, cut narrow" principle, I see. Which is fine, more than one way to handle EQ. Just hear boost wide, cut narrow a lot. All of the cut on the EQ is essentially turning the gain down, of course. But, again, more than one way to get to the final result. Always good to see how other people handle different situations and what processing they use. What matters is it sounded great in the end! Thanks for sharing.

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

That's really interesting. I actually find myself tending towards boosting more narrow to find what I don't like, then cutting and widening it. Like you said, more than one way to get to the final result and all that matters is if it sounds good in the end!

@paulos3030 Жыл бұрын

what about the makeup gain of the compressor? if you compress 6db don't you have to add 4-6 db of makeup gain to the compressor to compensate the volume drop?

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

Yes, I would typically use the makeup gain to compensate. You don’t technically have to if you prefer where the fader sits after compressing though. I typically adjust it so the fader sits near unity (-0)

@Lloyd-fx3ve Жыл бұрын

Great, the best so far 👌

@Skryer_old Жыл бұрын

Hi Andrew, what are your thoughts about using a De-esser ?

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

I just released a new video a couple days ago with a full vocal chain including thoughts on De-essing!

@Fogcitycine Жыл бұрын

Great video man!

@alfre945 Жыл бұрын

Wow great tutorial! I’m looking forward to a bass EQ & compression tutorial. 😀

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

I think that will be next. Plus a have a few extra tricks I do that really help out, so keep an eye out for it!

@alfre945 Жыл бұрын

@@andrewlepard 🙌 🔥

@jeffulsh2020 Жыл бұрын

Sounds great dude

@freddieabitona5445 Жыл бұрын

Sir im still in the technologies that you are using. We have a very simple church set up in the phil. How can i determine if the sound im having is muddy... I still dont understand what muddy means and how it sounds. Youre answer will be useful for usin thechurch sir.. thank u.

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

Muddy would be just not very clear and kind of muffled sounding with too much low end

@eriksales8351 Жыл бұрын

THANK YOU ANDREW!

@luckyimo7064 Жыл бұрын

Please how do we get the video of the song you worked on? I want to the name of the Church.

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

Mission Hills Church in Colorado

@timidavid239 Жыл бұрын

Please what's the name of this church?? I'd really love to listen the whole song! It sounds amazing

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

Mission Hills Church in Colorado

@luckyimo7064 Жыл бұрын

Good Morning Sir, please can this process be applied while using Midas M32 Live?

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

Yes! This process works on any console

@luckyimo7064 Жыл бұрын

@@andrewlepard Thank you Sir

@cristiansimon8171 11 ай бұрын

Nice video thanks man!

@davidhoyt4006 4 ай бұрын

Great tutorial and I think the vocals sound good but the rest of the band was so compressed it felt like it was pumping. I’d never compress that much on something like this.

@tobby917 Жыл бұрын

Great tutorial so you ever stack compressors on your lead vocal? Been experimenting with that and love how it brings the vocal to the front.

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

Yes, I do and it's awesome! This was just the simple version of how I process vocals, I'll do an "advanced" version of my vocal chain at some point and I'll show the compressors I like to stack for the best results. I also do a parallel compressed vocal and it makes a HUGE difference in bringing the vocal to the front!

@homeenforcer 11 ай бұрын

Hi. Did you ever do the advanced compression stack and if so, could you please post the link? Thank you.

@JonathanThrift 6 ай бұрын

You shouldn't just boost to find annoying frequencies because most frequencies can sound annoying if you boost them enough. You should boost to hone in on the frequency if you do hear something annoying first.

@ryanmaurer2630 Жыл бұрын

Anything you'd do differently with a male vocal?

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

Ehhh, not really. For EQ I do the same system of boosting to find stuff I don’t like and then cutting that. The overall EQ will probably end up looking differently, but the system to get there is the same. I compress them both exactly the same way though.

@audityaishak985 10 ай бұрын

Very helpful. Thank u..bro

@niceventure1179 10 ай бұрын

thank you

@Richardmix_Doctor Жыл бұрын

please can you share the church livestream link

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

If you search Mission Hills Church Colorado it should show up right away!

@michaelakin766 9 ай бұрын

This was a really great video and will help a lot with the compression. I has a speaker recently with a lot of dynamic range and I could not seem get his compression right where it was attacking the audience. Any tips for live speaking?

@andrewlepard 9 ай бұрын

Typically with a speaker I will just use one compressor, set the attack to either 7 or 13ms and then the release will vary a lot depending on how "far" away I want the voice to sound. I typically go between 50-200ms release, but I've gone as fast a 5ms and as slow as 400ms. A slower release can sometimes also help with feedback if that's an issue you're running into, and a really fast one can make the speaker feel really in your face. Hope that helps!

@michaelakin766 9 ай бұрын

@@andrewlepard I will give these tips a try. Thanks for the great explanations of the slow and fast release times.

@analizaservera6847 Жыл бұрын

clean. wow..

@jesterraj 11 ай бұрын

what freq u were adjusting????

@zachstout7747 4 күн бұрын

Exactly!

@lkdiane5162 Жыл бұрын

We don't have an numeric mixeur😭😭😭

@obidavekenobe 9 ай бұрын

I’d like to see a shoot out between this method and using a dynamic EQ👍

@andrewlepard 9 ай бұрын

Agreed! I've recently been incorporating more dynamic EQ into the chain and I've been loving it. I've been starting with an F6 doing normal EQ, then dynamic EQ all in one and it's been pretty great. I'll probably do a video about using dynamic EQ on vocals. It's an odd one because sometimes you don't need it at all, and sometimes IMO there is literally no way to get the vocal to sound correct without it.

@obidavekenobe 9 ай бұрын

I find that dynamic EQ has a much smoother reponse than compression which is nice for lady singers. Compression tends to leave a harshness behind. That might work for some vocalist but not others. However dynamic EQ i found i don’t need as many plugins in the chain and if i want to add bit if of gritty compression sound ill go for good ol’ RVox on the end.

@jimohadeola3056 11 ай бұрын

Hello, can I get the title of the song?

@BSP1822 4 ай бұрын

Run to the Father

@tomazklancnik7760 Жыл бұрын

Ok. You cut a lot, what about gain structure now, did you rematch gain (to get back volume)?

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

Honestly, I typically just set the output gain of the compressor so that the fader can be around -0 most of the time. Sometimes that means adding back some output gain to the compressor, sometimes it doesn't.

@luiscoronel7872 Жыл бұрын

Hola hermano Dios te bendiga sigue adelante con los videos que haces son de mucha ayuda al menos para mi son de mucha ayuda soy Luis de ecuador quería pedir un gran favor si puedes hacer videos sobre como tratar la batería acústica con el gate y compresor y tambien como aplicar el gate en voces actualmente tengo una mixer studiolive 32 de presonus y estoy aprendiendo en este campo del sonido y me apasiona ....muchas gracias saludos y bendiciones.

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

Hello! I just recently posted a full video explaining how I gate, compress, eq, and even parallel process a snare drum so that might be helpful! I will eventually do the full drum kit, but snare is the hardest one by far. For vocals, I do a fast attack, slow release, and then only let it close like 5-10db. I also prefer expanders over gates for vocals.

@luiscoronel7872 Жыл бұрын

Hola !!!.......Muchas gracias hermano Dios bendiga su vida., familia y ministerio por favor siga adelante con más vídeos instructivos son de mucha bendicion....

@luiscoronel7872 Жыл бұрын

El gate o expansor como se lo aplica a las voces.

@jamieturnbull617 Жыл бұрын

Surely an 18db boost in the high mids and highs, through a loud PA system, is gonna hurt your ears badly

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

Yes, definitely use common sense and don't do an 18db boost if it's in a loud PA. You will almost certainly create feedback if you do that. I exaggerated the process in this video so that you might be able to hear what I'm looking for even through a phone speaker or some other non-ideal listening source. When it comes to mixing on PA in a room things should respond a lot more dramatically and will make things much more obvious with much smaller EQ moves.

@user-me6sj9qe2o Жыл бұрын

Not convinced that boosting that wide and that much to find "annoying frequencies" is a good strategy - Nearly everything you boost to that degree will sound annoying!

@pswim62 Жыл бұрын

No disrespect to Andrew, as I am a complete amateur. I also realize that demonstration was the purpose of the video, and I understand EQ sweep, but this amount of freq boost seems like looking for a problem that isn't there, or wouldn't be noticeable.

@user-me6sj9qe2o Жыл бұрын

@@pswim62 Spot on, a much better approach is to listen carefully and thoughtfully to the source and just analyse it. Think about what you'd like it to sound like and how it could sound better. Is it too nasal? Too harsh? Too boomy? Then take out what you don't like with minimal necessary force. A wild 12db 1.1q sweep is a bad/misleading idea (imo) for the reasons you mentioned.

@davebassP5 Жыл бұрын

I dont understand your thinking. You’re boosting Freq’s to make them sound horrible, and then cutting them. But before you boosted them they didnt seem to be a problem. Surely you would lower the problem freqs when set flat first?

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

On big PA it’s a lot easier to hear the frequencies that are less pleasant. With headphones or smaller speakers I intentionally boosted to try to make it more obvious what needed adjustment. On big PA I rarely need to boost to be able to tell where problematic frequencies are and just go right to cutting.

@davebassP5 Жыл бұрын

@@andrewlepard ah ok. Yes, that makes sense i guess.

@chuckfriebe843 7 ай бұрын

Assuming, of course, that you have a digital mixer. And, if she has pitch correction on, it's not working! These videos are nothing more than an opportunity to preach to people.

@JumpStop1 4 ай бұрын

Most people watching these videos want knowledge, a good deal do have access to a digital console and want to learn. You can still do this with an analog console it is just a little different. Take it as it is.

@dighawaii1 Жыл бұрын

140hz HPF seems a tad high, especially for women, but ok.

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

Do you mean it seems too low? You often get away with a higher HPF for women since their voices are generally higher. If anything 140 is considered low for the live music industry. I have friends who are very successful audio engineers who will high pass vocals at 200-250. It seems a bit extreme to me, but it's clearly working fine for them.

@dighawaii1 Жыл бұрын

@@andrewlepard no, it seems high, exactly how I said it. Because it is high. And 200hz must be a joke, you're joking right? Because (in general) a woman produces less bass, and a man more, you can afford to roll off more low end from the male, and less from the female. There's a reason that toggle-able HPFs are preset to 80-100hz on mixing desks. The C3 note, a commonly sung note, is 131hz. How the heck couod you, unless you're mixing children, ever possibly high pass above that, and especially above 200hz? That's insanity, unless you're mixing mickey mouse or children. Hell, G3 is 200hz. Anyway, totally insane to me to see a 140hz HPF on a human voice. I mean, I get it. But it's lazy.

@andrewlepard Жыл бұрын

@@dighawaii1 I'm definitely not joking... I watched a video of the main engineer for Red Rocks church just yesterday where he said he had the HPF of their lead female vocal at 250. I've also talked with the engineers for Bethel, Elevation, Bayside, and Hillsong and they all like their HPF for vocals to be around 200. Again, I don't necessarily agree with a HPF that high, but it's VERY much common practice to HPF a live vocal mic much higher than 80-100 and I really don't think it has anything to do with laziness.

@rhaelee 11 ай бұрын

@@dighawaii1 140 roll off is actually low to me, I typically roll off 153 or higher for females. I wouldn’t cut that much on the other frequency bands, but a female vocal doesn’t even resonate in those lower frequencies. If you have an RTA meter you can see where every vocal sits. Unless you’re mixing Barry white, this is a typical roll off point. I would suggest on the higher bands narrowing the Q a bit because that is pulling a lot of surrounding frequencies that make a vocal clear and warm, your frequency points are spot on but in my opinion you’re definitely taking too much out. I would give some back and narrow the bands a bit to make the vocal a little more clear instead of quiet and hollow.