3 Tricks to Make Pop Vocals POP | Reverb Mixing Techniques

Want Grammy-worthy pop vocal tracks without renting out a big-budget studio? Engineer/producer/mixer extraordinaire Jay Maas is here with three tips to get you there.
Read more on Reverb: bit.ly/2zqrg2L
More from Jay Maas: www.jaymaas.com/
Song by Emily Rubico: bit.ly/3445Vu8

[@lepanzon]

So happy to see Jay Maas here. He is so awesome, loved him in Defeater, he was so good in that band. And his studio work as an engineer/producer is top notch.

[@lepanzon]

Also, can we get a video like this but for other genres, like rock, hip hop, etc.?

[@JayMaasRecording]

thisisruben thank you so much! :) very glad to be here

[@josuezacahua8331]

Cheers for being so straight to the point!

[@TauntingGlaciers]

great tips, amazing song. thanks for that! keep em coming

[@whatarewaves]

Tldr: use reverb and echo, maybe a little pitch modulation like a chorus effect

[@catface101]

If you want your vocals to pop then don't use a windscreen...

[@RyanBlaske]

ayyyyyyyyyye

[@cjruckus]

5/5

[@JayMaasRecording]

Catface nailed it

[@Reverb]

All those high school principals taking the mic at the school assemblies had it right all along! 😮

[@bradferguson9840]

Genius!

[@gbaren]

Nice job..Simple & direct tips.

[@demofactory]

Were you using the 1176 plugin on each vocal separately, or across a vocal buss at 5:02? Sounded great. Thanks for sharing with us.

[@oliverbrunncarstens4215]

Thank you! Very helpful.

[@LuciensMusic]

Very good video, I cant wait to experiment!

[@noahofficialmusic]

For the short vocals with Microshift did you add it only to 3 harmonies (center, left and right) OR also to the left and right doubles of the main lead? the much

Heey, great video, lots of useful tips. Can you give me the settings for the delay?

[@rosyniiangsuum]

Hey Guys good tip, and what kind of piano vst was used in this project. I've been looking for really good piano sounds.

[@JakeAdams27]

One of the best mix videos i've enjoyed. Do you have any sm7b specific tips? Thanks guys.

[@rowegardner9673]

More Jay Maas!

[@JohnLawrieTWS]

I was going to buy an SM7B because I've been struggling to record my vocals with my current mic. Good to know it's not going to help my issues of recording bass/ baritone!

[@kazunaribenson]

Hi John 😂

[@WesElder]

Dollar for dollar, the Sure SM7 is the best vocal mic. If you need a large condenser, I recommend the Townsend Lab L22. Hands down, it is the most versatile modern condenser on the market. Just include a mic line booster for the SM7 or a preamp for the condenser. The 1176 is a phenomenal compressor and is widely available across a number of plug-in manufacturers. However, if you ever get a chance to use a Fairchild limiter (it's a compressor too), please do. The results are mind blowing. As far as textures and effects go, don't be afraid to try something new. Just remember to keep the vocals tight and on point. Finally, while autotune has been widely adopted across pop music, we're quickly reaching the saturation point. If you're working with a phenomenal artist, don't be afraid to let their personality shine through their art.

[@gbaren]

Kudos Wes. Autotune will be the 80's gated snare of the 2000's. Please let the Vocals breathe, be imperfect and real. Autotuning great singers is just f'n abysmal. IMO :)

[@taiyabkamaal681]

I've used the SM-57 to record vocals and just about everything including the puffing chug chug of a ceiling fan. It's truly a very useful mike.

[@RubyRupendar]

very unusual settings on the 1176 compressor (Attack and release times) on Vocals! But it worked out for him! The reason it worked out for him is because he used a very high ratio (8:1), the threshold is set high ( input is cranked less) this input setting enables the compressor to detect(capture) only the peaks of the audio. This Input and ratio settings made the compression work a lot better ! When she sings "Bother you" I can hear the volume of the word bother going down drastically. I wouldn't advise anyone to use these compression settings on Vocals. I bet these vocal compression settings will not work for 90% of the situations.

[@UltimateDiscoBear]

nah man; he is most likely parallel compressing; but i've used these settings before and they are fine.

[@CaughtInTheLoop]

I am honestly more interested in the beat than the vocals. That deep bass kick sounds amazing

[@chrisfinster1346]

Good shit Jay!

[@JayMaasRecording]

Chris Finster love ya buddy

[@telecaster9988]

How to mix vocal in the style of tame impala?(wet)

[@illy2066]

This sounds really good. I just purchased the song !!

[@slickcross]

When you're a guitarist watching this video and only care about that Soldano and tele in the back lol

[@reddmusiclab]

Not a guitarist but I also noticed the same thing. Haha!

[@slickcross]

@Return of the Native Ha. Cheers buddy. I have a G&L ASAT tele that I had to put major work on it. New bridge, new stainless steel frets, new electronics, new pickups (dimarzio area t and hot T in the bridge. Amazing pickups by the way) and bone not. Now it plays amazing.

[@danielkavanagh1994]

4:40 surely if you're attack is on 7 that would be the slowest attack.. the fastest attack would be 0.1 or whatever is anticlockwise.. similar to your release? Or is that compressor just backwards??

[@Two0owT]

danielkavanagh1994 it’s backwards for some reason

[@gourabmahata]

Thank You So Much , Btw Should I Route My All Vocals In One Bus ? Then Add A Stereo Compressor Like 1176

[@gourabmahata]

@Debjit Roy Chowdhury Thank you so much for the information 😉

[@seanfoley7323]

Gourab Mahata Also, it’s just practical for any kind of work that will touch each track, such as automation. Much easier to automate all the vocals via a vocal buss than riding the faders on 8 different tracks, one after the other. I do tend to put backing vocals on a separate buss, since they may need separate treatment, but any variations to the main vocal, like harmonies, doubling, etc. I would def. put on one buss.

[@gourabmahata]

@@seanfoley7323 thanks brother for your reply 🙂

[@mramir1238]

Loud background hiss. Slightly ironic. Good video either way.

[@JSteph]

yassss!

[@heartrebelx6380]

Lemme have that microphone already 😱😱 mine just damaged guess my sound card was shit

[@loome]

'Super'

[@comment.highlighted]

🙂

[@arunmusic26]

i've been using the classic RodeNT1 for quite an year and i must say pretty good results.only thing i find annoying is it does accentuate the ssshh sounds of mine,so need heavy dessing every time otherwise you can check out my music and judge for yourself:-)

[@bhaveshtochabbra6853]

Nice music

[@TheSecondC2]

Gues imma spend 2k on a mic lol

[@PatrickStefan]

Wow I never put my 1176 on max attack... In fact I do the opposite so that it sounds natural

[@bboymac84]

Paddy Groenland use it in parallel

[@UltimateDiscoBear]

Pop vocals arent that natural; listen to all the top 40's they heavily compress their vocals like hell.

[@0d0d0d]

Generally with compressors wouldn't you prefer to have a fast attack with a reasonably quick release so it's not waiting to compress from the signal and let it continuously compress somewhat fast so it sounds clean? (very loaded question but, just wondering your opinion)

[@markushassel2737]

Man the artists/writers in these types of videos... great mixing tips though

[@apollotwin]

i am not sure you aligned your backG vocals.

[@bboymac84]

Hmmmm... that microshift...

[@fcardenas184]

Stop doing cool shit Reverb. I need to not spend everything I have in your page.

[@ELI-fw1ry]

modern pop vocals- just use EQ and OTT

[@blancmull3886]

Elijah Cruz shit I didn’t realise OTT was a meme in pop producing as well lol

[@matan40]

Tnx foe the video but Slowest release time is like turning the volume down its not what u want. to make vocals stable and pop as far as i know you want fast release so the loudest part become quiter so every thing become more even. Will be happy to learn otherwise

[@manocchs9369]

Having a slow release smooths the whole signal out so its more transparent and sounds less "grabby" or less "pumping" I wouldnt recommend fastest attack and slowest release on all vocals but if your using an 1176 you probably want a fast-ish attack (because thats what these were designed to do) and for release I would play with somewhere between medium and slow so it doesnt sound like its just grabbing initial peaks and sounds smooth and transparent.

[@modelcitizen1977]

So, use a good, mic, compress the shit out of it, and use a super short stereo delay? This is like telling photographers to use a good camera, make sure the shot is in focus, and shoot in RAW. This has been standard advice for 20 years.

[@gpr4eva]

I thought the same thing at 1st but then I figured there are inexperienced people that are still learning how to get a decent sound. This video is aimed at the novice.

[@xXValomatXx]

Haha, Grammy worth tips. I love them... when they come from Grammy winners... so what have you won with your "tips"?

[@veerchasm1]

Too much jibber jab. Follow the rules of a good movie: Show it, don’t say it

[@jeffsimslmt]

I have no idea what this dude is saying. oR maybe I despise pop music as his is defining it.

[@manocchs9369]

Regardless of the song, these are production techniques that can be used across any genre.

[@BarnacleButtock]

"how to make your vocals pop" First step: don't plug into a computer? Hello?