MPM014 - The threshold determining the amount that the target Freq gets Attenuated.
Now, because I want to save you the shock and embarrassment of doing this in a session, pull the threshold down waayy too far, say -50 dB. Now, pick yourself up off the floor and try to stop laughing. If you go too nutso with a DeEsser, you’ll find your artist suddenly develops a pretty extreme lisp. Next time you get a real diva in the studio that’s never happy with a take, drop one of these one her voice and just pretend you don’t hear the extreme lisp. Tell her it sounds great and no, she doesn’t sound handicapped. Then start looking for a new job. You’re welcome.
Back to the compressor for a minute, now that we’ve got a sound we like, lets reign her dynamics in just a bit more. Start easing the threshold down until we’re getting 3-4 dB of gain reduction. On this plugin, setting the threshold to -13 seems about right.
MPM015 - New threshold for a bit more gain reduction.
Having just reduced her loud parts just a bit in level, let’s use the trim plugin we put back on her lead vocal channel to push her overall level up about a dB. I think it works at +1.5 dB.
MPM016 - Adding a touch of gain to the Lead Vocal track.
Now, spend a little time just listening to the track and lets use the Lead Vocal fader to find some levels that really lets the vocal sit well in the mix. Use your ears, a good set of monitors, and test it on some headphones to fine tune the level you set her fader at. Depending on how closely you’ve been following what I’ve been doing (and what plugins you’re using, etc.) your vocal likely still feels like it’s pretty dynamic, with an uncomfortable amount of difference between the loudest and softest parts. My vocal still has a lot of that too. One of the longer processes we’ll be getting to will be executing the perfect lead vocal fader ride, which we’ll automate in Chapter XX. For now, just spend some time listening and riding the fader through the song to get a feel for what fader levels you’ll need to use in the vocal ride section.
Some thoughts on Vocal level
In modern mixing, the lead vocal is an incredibly important, dynamic part of any mix. Over the past 20 years or so, the level of lead vocals in an average song have come a lot farther forward, especially depending on the genre. In a typical country or singer songwriter track, the vocal may sit 3-4 dB well over the rest of the instruments. In years past, one way to judge the appropriate amount of lead vocal was to see if, when it came in over the other instruments, it pushed the VU meter any higher. If you could hear it well, but the VU meter didn’t move, you were sitting in the right level. That’s not so much the case any more though, and we’ll be mixing this track according to modern convention as far as lead vocal level. Feel free to make yours as retro as you see fit.