One Step to Your Best Vocals Ever

Do this and you'll be shocked at the vocal presence in your track!
Doc
Plugin used in this video:
Soothe 2
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[@gisellechacon7081]

Super technique! I have a plugin by Wavesfactory called Trackspacer that does this all-in-one. It's pretty amazing how narrow an area you really need to duck in order to pop the vocal. You do have to be careful with it, but even when it doesn't suit the track I'm working on, just hearing the song with the backing tracks ducked helps inform the right mix decisions. I hadn't thought of using Soothe on guitars in that manner, and just happen to have a track that needs it. Thanks Doc, you always deliver solid take-away value here! :)

[@seanemmettfullerton]

Hi Giselle-thanks for the tip! Trackspacer is rather unique... wow, i'm intrigued :)

[@LakewoodAudio]

I heard this somewhere before, but you explained it so that it clicked. I'm doing it on a track right now. Incredible. Perfect. The vocal fits perfect into the track and doesn't have to be over it. Better than Trackspacer, I think, because Soothe is so precise.

[@TimE_5150]

Soothe is a outstanding plugin, I use it on guitars, cymbals, vocals. I never sidechained it yet though. And I get to thank you Bob for recommending it to me. I purchased it right after our one on one conversation and haven't looked back!

[@BobbyHuff]

Great!! It’s a really great technique Tim!

[@Banditman]

Interesting. I picked up a similar technique from somewhere else . . . might have been Warren Huart. I put my own little twist on it in that instead of using Soothe, I'm using Waves F6 dynamic EQ. With the F6, it's got mid-side in addition to sidechain, so I can be very surgical about ducking out exactly what and where. So for lead vocal, just the mid and leave the sides untouched . . . for backgrounds maybe leave the mid alone and just hit the sides, etc. You get the idea. It's definitely helped me out. Regardless of how you get there, using a side chain to duck things out of the way is a great technique that I'm glad I picked up. Very kind of you to share with everyone here.

[@ivywilson6515]

I also use a similar technique with Waves Dynamic EQ. Haven't tried the mid side approach, though. I'll have to give that a go.

[@BobbyHuff]

Very cool!

[@therealjamesmarchant]

I think that the other channel was another Bobby at Frightbox. Another favourite channel of mine.

[@steverosbotham6403]

I’ve actually been doing this recently and the results are amazing. One other thing you could do. As all my lead vocals are up the middle I put soothe into mid/side mode and left the sides alone.

[@BobbyHuff]

Very cool!

[@freez092also]

Man this is crazy.. I will have to go back now and apply this technique to new mixes I'm working on!

[@BobbyHuff]

Go for it!

[@SteveAdamsChannel]

Thank you for sharing this great tip!

[@BobbyHuff]

You are so welcome!

[@studiogorilla]

I've been doing this on the past three projects I've mixed using iZotope Neutron 4's Unmask module. Works great to keep the band out of the way of the vocal. Love your content, Bobby! Thank ya!

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks man!!

[@watsonstudios]

I do something similar between the guitars and vocals. I side chain an eq, (like FabFilter Q3) that's on the guitar buss, with the lead vocal - so when the vocalist is singing, It's dipping the midrange of the guitars in the 2000 - 4000 range. Great technique.

[@samuelbreuer]

you can do this with fuser by mastering the mix - it works perfectly

[@Phonse56]

Love it ! my thanks to all involved,great information for all who dare to mix !

[@BobbyHuff]

Our pleasure!

[@mindslikemine.8789]

Cool advanced frequency masking trick. I do this with pro Q3 most of the time but soothe works great for sure . Pro Q 3 has a bit more flexibility for this task

[@jonathanhammer6437]

This is actually also a big dance/EDM trick to really make vocals pop out of songs that are so slammed that it can be hard to have everything fit in the right space. When I started learning production 6yrs ago or so, doing this with a dynamic EQ was recommended from an EDM producer on an FL Studio-focused channel. Glad to see it permeating outwards!

[@oneminuteleft7345]

Didn’t even knew soothe can be sidechained. I’m doing this with f6 from waves which is similar when you duck the most important frequencies but this might be even better!

[@BobbyHuff]

Try it! I think it’s more detailed than any other technique!

[@oneminuteleft7345]

@@BobbyHuff This actually rocks big time! Thank you! 🙂

[@scottyelstromm881]

That’s a really surgical and quick adjusting plug-in. It’s frequency reduction leaves way more active bands and spaces than a blunt range multiband compressor. Cool idea.

[@michaelparson-mcnamara782]

This will take my mixes UP - thank you!- and my funds down! LOL Very cool!

[@1176hambone]

God tier when lead vocal seems either too soft or too little loud ! Maximizing sense of relative energy between track and LV

[@G-Doggy]

Nice one, Bobby. Definitely going to try that out. Thank you!

[@EntertheAtmosphere]

Great Job BH!!!! Way easier way to do that then I’ve been doing it. Dig it!!!

[@BobbyHuff]

Great!!

[@aawenel1437]

It's always interesting to see what the pros are up to.

[@soundhealer8661]

For that purpose only it's doable with FAST Reveal wich cost less than Soothe 2.

[@NexusLives]

Okay, this is a cool trick. I was doing something like this with a Q3 side chain for conflicting frequencies, but this looks like it's more efficient. Never thought to try this with Soothe2. I wonder if Gullfoss would work similarly? hmmmm.🤔 Awesome video as always! 🤘🤘

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks Nexus!

[@MalcolmHolmesMusic]

Works great with Gulfoss. Top tip from the Dr.

[@elreyabeja4539]

Is this not just Trackspacer with extra steps?

[@MikeL120]

Another great one Bobby! Many Thanks!

[@BobbyHuff]

My pleasure!

[@JaviBello]

Hi BOOOOOOOOOOOOOB!!! Great video as always. I didn't really liked the Soothe all the times that Ive tried. Maybe it's time to give it another shot... Thank you Bobby!!!

[@BobbyHuff]

Give it a shot JAAAAAAAAV!!!

[@guthriejenkins]

Video idea: I would love to hear one of the great country songs from a top vocalist like Jo Dee Messina, Martina McBride, Emmylou Harris, Trisha Yearwood, etc., remixed in the current modern style with every little resonance removed, and super upfront vocals, with like… side chain compressed reverb filling up every little space. It would be an interesting video, wouldn't it?

[@BobbyHuff]

Yes. Hard to get those tracks to remix

[@michaelcottle6270]

That was sort of what Mutt did with Shania's records. He applied modern rock/pop production techniques to what was (at the time) a fairly staid and traditional medium.

[@guthriejenkins]

Yeah, that's really true! And I still listen to his stuff as reference tracks. Like Too Late For Love (Def Leopard). I put that on with my mixing headphones and I'm taken away. And I just used one of his Shania tricks in a mix I just finished.

[@SuperLevelone]

Just curious… Why do I need the dummy track? Why can’t I just send it out from the main vocal I’m asking I’m just wondering am I missing something?

[@strangelet4588]

Probably wants to use the vocals without the fx (delay on them). Punchier I would think.

[@7and5]

Great stuff! Next level sidechaining! I use RESO, have you compared it to Soothe? Different but similar.

[@SeanofAllTrades]

I've been doing this trick with TDR Nova (free dynamic EQ) because I'm too broke for soothe2 yet.

[@panagope]

Excellent Video , very useful. But why do you need to put the vocal to "no bus" (ghost)? Why dont you leave it as it is to sidechain the instrument track ?

[@thelolmighty]

I could be wrong, but this is what I noticed: he doubled the vocal, and then removed a delay from the dupe track. My guess is he didn't want that track doubled, but also didn't want the delay to be removed via sidechain as well -- only the dry vocal. If doing this without in-line effects (like sending to FX busses only), then you could just sidechain the main vocal itself like you suggested.

[@DarrellSt.Blaine]

I'm missing something.... why duplicate the vocal track? Why not just trigger Soothe from the real vocal track? What's the point of making a "dummy" copy which is just an exact duplicate? If you were going to change that dummy track in some way I'd understand it but if it's just a straight duplicate of the vocals why not just use the vocal track as the side chain trigger? What am I missing? 🤔

[@thelolmighty]

He removed the delay plugin from the dummy channel.

[@DarrellSt.Blaine]

@@thelolmighty but that was on a send. The delay would not get bussed to Soothe so he still could have just used the original track to side-chain trigger Soothe.

[@thelolmighty]

@@DarrellSt.Blaine I thought I saw him take it off the channel itself. I'm not super familiar with the DAW, though, and Trackspacer is way less taxing on the CPU with way less latency-- or even FUSER which also does phase correction, or sidechaining proQ3 in dynamic mode-- so if you're right that he only had it on the send, then I wouldn't dupe it either.

[@DarrellSt.Blaine]

@@thelolmighty Yeah, I'm a fan of TrackSpacer as well but always looking for new and possibly better ways of doing things. I don't see any advantage to this approach so I think I'll continue on doing things as I have been. 👍

[@jack_konte]

Very good idea. Thanks.

[@antcall6779]

Great as always Bobby! 🤘

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks Ant!

[@matthewchavezm.b.s5503]

If you want to get this even cleaner, than you need to sidechain each instrument individually to the vocal rather than putting them in a group. Its more work but pays off in the end. And when doing any kind of sidechaining, its always best to flip to mono first to set the correct sidechain, then flip back to stereo.

[@michaelarthurmusic307]

Works great with Gullfoss as well. Thanks Bobby.

[@BobbyHuff]

Thanks Michael!

[@therealjamesmarchant]

I don't have soothe (black Friday is approaching though) but I'll try this with dynamic EQ first.

[@BobbyHuff]

I left a link for Soothe 2 at Sweetwater!😊

[@connect-audioproductionstudio]

What is the advantage of the dummy track? Couldn't you just use a send on the lead vocal track to trigger the sidechain? 🤔

[@KnoxvilleTN]

Is there a reason you have to use a dummy vocal and not just send the signal from the main vocal?

[@thelolmighty]

My guess is because he was using a delay on the channel and didn't want that to be included in the sidechain.

[@jaybeebabyStudios]

I have been using this technique for awhile now. I don't create a dummy track though, I just use the original vocal track. can you enlighten me on why you use a dummy vocal track. thanks

[@thelolmighty]

I think he did this because he had a delay on the main vocal track, and didn't want that included in what was being sidechained out.

[@aemaury]

this technique has everyone convinced they are a genius

[@MrSelvamgana]

tq sirr!!!

[@bluematrix5001]

Cool, , now would not be better to send the vocal to Soothe (via a send/bus ) as a SC instead of creating a Dummy Track?

[@jonathancrowell4648]

Only if you’re specifically trying to reduce resonances in the vocal itself, what he’s doing here is dipping resonances in the TRACK to make room for the vocal, RATHER than reducing resonant spikes in the vocal itself.

[@bluematrix5001]

@@jonathancrowell4648 why? actually if you use a send from the Vocal (that is a bus) you use that as a Sidechain for Soothe in the Music Track... this way you do not need a duplicate, Dummy Bus and all that ....

[@FredDeMassiveAlambic]

What I never understood with this kind of techniques is that, most of the time, we actually try to blend the vocals into the track, not to separate them even more... Still a great technique, that works very well too with Trackspacer, Pro MB or even Pro Q3 (or OTT ahah), but that I almost never use. Probably related to your mixing approach

[@BobbyHuff]

Hey Fred. Think of it as blending the vocal in with the track…creating a nice little cushion in the track to rest in.

[@FredDeMassiveAlambic]

@@BobbyHuff Blending bananas and apple would be putting them all in the mixer. If you begin using tools to create a cushion in bananas for apple to rest in, you're actually separating them.. This is a technique to make the vocal more present, not to blend it.. This can be the right option for a mix, don't het me wrong ! There are many ways to "blend" a vocals (slapback delay, dimension D chorus, multiband compression, ambience reverb..etc) but I wouldn't call this sidechaining technique a blending one

[@chasehaggard161]

I see Eric Valentine in a thumbnail I click the video. I’m a simple man.

[@BobbyHuff]

Same here! I have a lot of respect for him!

[@chasehaggard161]

@@BobbyHuff he helped me change my approach from being gentle and delicate all the time in mix moves, as well as (most importantly) encouraged me to approach using straight room mics more often (his breakdown of “Vagabond” is pretty incredible. Have a good one Dr Bob thanks for the education!

[@johnvcougar]

Why is Eric Valentine in your thumbnail? CLICKBAIT?

[@BobbyHuff]

Because he is a huge Soothe fan and uses it in many instances!

[@officialWWM]

I know what Soothe is. It’s expensive!

[@yogeshrajkumar490]

negan????

[@mihkeljurima1007]

The real question is how to do this without Soothe?

[@BobbyHuff]

Hey Mihkel....You could use a multiband compressor instead. That would work but Soothe is more precise.

[@robshrock-shirakbari1862]

Wavesfactory Trackspacer is another choice for this type thing.

[@viol8rmusic]

You could sidechain a dynamic EQ