How I MIX LEAD VOCALS on Sunday | using "I Speak Jesus"

Compression Cheat Sheet
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Learn how to set gain, compression, EQ, and reverb for a lead vocal as Kade mixes live tracks from a church service on the X32.
Note: This is only part of the video. Watch me create the entire mix from scratch by joining Inner Circle: collaborateworship.com/inner-...
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:23 Setting Gain
1:07 Low-Cut Filter
1:49 Compression
4:15 EQ
6:06 Reverb
8:50 Before & After
9:49 How to watch the entire mix

[@JesusPerez-wp5ks]

As a worship pastor who’s running around trying to train volunteers and forming a team from almost scratch, thank you! This is so helpful for training and makes it understandable to the team. Keep it going!

[@collabworship]

Awesome! Thank you.

[@SteveCreasy]

I so love that you give a live example of the change! This is so helpful!

[@collabworship]

Glad it was helpful!

[@kandissmith1425]

So excited about the Inner Circle!

[@theajbible]

Using the live mix with the before/after is so helpful!

[@collabworship]

Glad it was helpful!

[@richardstephens5347]

How do you have the playback coming thru the soundboard? What software?

[@kevinmerino7432]

@@richardstephens5347you can do it through any daw, i.e. logic, pro tools, ableton, reaper

[@montrelliondakeyz]

Thank you for this my brother. We just purchased the Zoom L20 for our new church launch and this information is so helpful.

[@lifecenter7240]

This is incredibly helpful! Thank you!!

[@matthewmontonen6155]

I love you videos man. Very informative and funny n to apply.

[@ricturtle]

This seems pretty good, very helpful. There are many ways to mix but the ultimate goal is to create a clear mix,

[@yomumu]

Much appreciated for this awesome Awesome tutorial for worship vocal mixing!!😊😊😊

[@collabworship]

Glad it was helpful!

[@original_pokey8896]

Just watched on the Inner Circle. great mix. something to aim to 'replicate'.

[@collabworship]

Thanks for joining! Glad to have ya there. Look forward to talking to you in the exclusive slack channel 🤘🏻

[@d.a.t.4699]

Thank you for sharing...bless you.

[@lesleyscloud97]

very great video!

[@markreyes1866]

thank you for d cheat sheet👍

[@jakerussellaudio]

That’s a great mix!

[@collabworship]

Thanks!

[@manikantaisrael]

Educated really great help ❤ thank God and thank you ❤

[@psalms_for_the_church_to_sing]

Great tutorial. We will use some of your tips and tricks.

[@HeyWorshipLeader]

Thank you!

[@collabworship]

You bet!

[@MrTim7]

Thank you for this video! I want to learn more how to adjust the vocals eq step by step on the x32 because I’m basically winging the eq right now 😂

[@a_maina1]

Great tutorial!! Especially with live demo...showing AND telling!! Side note...those vocals are SOLID!!

[@collabworship]

Glad you liked it!

[@The_AOJ]

Joining inner circle 👍🏽

[@collabworship]

It'll be a good time! Can't wait to see ya there!

[@Montzibankering]

awesome!

[@justinfarrar4019]

GREAT VIDEO

[@collabworship]

Thank you!

[@mannybaah8567]

Thanks for sharing

[@collabworship]

Thanks for watching!

[@shynne3789]

wow❤️❤️

[@ErastusUso]

thank you

[@collabworship]

You're welcome

[@GoTellJesusSaves]

Sounds much nicer!!! i do notice some kind of slight popping sound when the kick drum is hit harder than usual. Any simple way to clean that up? Limiter maybe? Or something with the compression?

[@anotherone9219]

Amazing 08:58

[@pablolec1]

Gran video! no parece mucho 9dB para buscar problemas en el EQ? me da la sensacion que los voy a encontrar por todo el espectro. jaja

[@Japwarrior22]

Hi from Mexico. Tienen subtítulos al español los full videos para suscribirme?

[@marclewism]

Can we have the multitracks. Please?😅

[@sklad_020-3]

Where to see, which is explained, is how to connect the logic pro with the mixer console

[@jwfrench345]

Thank you for your videos. All are informative and easy to follow. Does what you teach apply to the compact version as well?

[@collabworship]

Sure does! We actually use the compact at our church.

[@enricomarasigan2784]

Great video. Could you care to share the multitrack of the song?

[@collabworship]

www.multitracks.com/songs/Charity-Gayle/Endless-Praise/I-Speak-Jesus/

[@josanu3489]

Can i get preset reverb? So cool

[@kwakuadonteng574]

This has been helpful! With regards to the sweep and cut .. do you mostly do that on the low mid?

[@collabworship]

That's where you'll find yourself the most. But it can be used on the whole frequency spectrum.

[@dylanferguson4514]

So good man! Quick question: do you ever use a gate when processing live vocals?

[@collabworship]

I do not use gating on live vocals at our church. They are too close to the drums, which makes it next to impossible to get attack/release times to sound natural. If I was in a more controlled environment, it would probably be a different story.

[@old1hit]

Try the expander on the x32 that can help bring a more natural cutoff for gating

[@garygunter4578]

Ya as oldtime analog sound man gating live vocals can be a nightmare. Good gain setup and judicial use of eq works better in my case

[@mrovi789]

To achieve this you need good vocals and a good band. No good mixing will fix bad vocals and band.

[@collabworship]

If your band or vocals are struggling, you can at least help them sound a little better than they would with a bad mix 🤷‍♂️ We understand that it can def be a struggle when your band is comprised of volunteers, all at different skill levels. Sometimes you have to do your best with the mix and pray that they start practicing their musicianship a little more 😅

[@crayfish3629]

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Very true I’m a sound here

[@McrawfRecords]

A mix is only as good as the source. Learn to get good sources first. An audio engineer (especially in a church setting) is not a producer. Your job is to take everything that is given to you and make it all heard and understood. No matter if it’s good or bad.

[@Resounded]

The old saying... A Sound Eengineer can Make or Break a Band... There is enough process gear to fix a lot of things... Not knowing how to use them .... Well... You see my point..

[@kidcupid07]

😂literally just about to say that. Much respect to the video but I have helped churches with live sound it’s wayyy more toooo it then this. Unfortunately they watch KZbin and don’t talk about hey man we can’t sound like Hillsong because are singers are horrible and we have uncommitted band members smh 🤦🏾‍♂️. Excellent video though love the content!

[@WorshipMinistryTraining]

Great vid!! Band sounds great too!! Your team?

[@collabworship]

Yep! That's the team at our church @churchnolimits. They are great!

[@WorshipMinistryTraining]

@@collabworship Nice! Great job training em up!

[@scottfahy5468]

Very Interesting, liked all the things you did to the mix. One comment- the snare drum sounds really dull with no snap.

[@collabworship]

Agree that the snare can be better.

[@josepadilla6028]

Having trouble with vocal sound or vocal clear I can say for my band

[@okokuvictory5896]

Thanks for the videos... how do you get a multitrack from the x32? And what are the settings to consider to get a clean multitrack for soundcheck?

[@collabworship]

The USB audio interface on the back of the mixers outputs 32 channels of raw audio. Configure your DAW accordingly to record tracks. As long as gain is correct on each channel, you'll get clean tracks.

[@okokuvictory5896]

@@collabworship thanks alot

[@TimmyP1955]

I put the compressor after the EQ, so the mic's proximity effect doesn't cause compression when it's not needed. I like to use the Combinator on vocal.

[@anotherone9219]

How you do that

[@TimmyP1955]

@@anotherone9219 IIRC this is done in the config tab.

[@user-rr5nn8fg8k]

I watched a lot of useful videos. I'm in charge of sound at a church. I have a question, do I have to set the fader value to "0" and set the overall mixing with the gain value when mixing the volume of the vocals during the field service?

[@collabworship]

Great question. No, you do not have to set the fader at 0. However, if everything is configured correctly, you'll find your lead vocal hanging out around 0. But don't adjust channel gain to get there. If it is not hanging around 0, you need to adjust amp levels. Here's a video on that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXPRZmCdrZ2ApKs

[@user-rr5nn8fg8k]

@@collabworship Thank you for answer. I'll try it during worship on Sunday

[@fadel1254]

Thank you for sheet numbers.. if you can for reverb 😢😢😢

[@collabworship]

Here's my reverb tips: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2GvpHitd51gd5Y

[@johnjim8902]

Question? Compression cheat sheet is applicable to Allen&heath SQ-5 series or specifically only on your mixer?

[@collabworship]

Applicable to any mixer.

[@lethuy4589]

Loa full LR cắt từ dải bao nhiêu tới bao nhiêu và sub cắt bao nhiêu đến bao nhiêu v ạ

[@vuha5000]

Could you explain me why u set the attack so fast on the kick and slow at release? By my knowledge slower and faster release creates more punch

[@collabworship]

Adjust the settings based on the sound you are looking for. No hard and fast rule on attack/release times.

[@Octayusa92]

can u tell me how to playback all that tracks into each chanel? so I can set everything up without having to wait for sunday service. thankyou

[@collabworship]

Do you have a computer with a DAW on it?

[@richhenrie3383]

Since you won’t always have the same lead vocal on every song in a set in a typical church service, how do you handle switching the reverb settings to ensure that your lead has more plate reverb and the backgrounds have more hall reverb? I have been setting them all roughly the same since the lead vocal changes so often. Is there a better way? I also use the x32, so it should translate well to my setup.

[@collabworship]

Hey Rich - In your case, I'd just set them all the same for simplicity sake.

[@granttbrown]

Another option, though more complicated, is using the assignable button to call up "snippets" you set that change which is the "lead" vocal for that song. We use the (4) user assignable buttons below the encoders to initiate Vocal 1, 2, 3, or 4 as the lead. The only parameters the snippet changes is the respective sends per FX bus.

[@richhenrie3383]

We discussed doing this a while back, but ultimately decided not too. My thought was that it was too complicated for volunteers to remember to select it before each song and also to know which one to select. We have specific EQ and compression settings for each singer that we save in the library and assign it to that mic channel (along with their name) each week depending on who is singing. To then assign those to a snippet for someone to select before each song was more than we wanted to introduce for volunteers. Personally, I liked the idea, but doubt it would get used, so we have been setting the FX the same across all vocals.

[@medivalone]

You could sends-on-fader with the lead vocal selected and adjust both reverb sends at once.

[@grayancyagra5334]

How do you deal with bleach on vocal mic? Specialty when need to do a post mixing on DAW

[@collabworship]

In a situation like ours, where the drums are so close to the vocalists, there really is no post-production method that works very well. Gating is next to impossible to get right without sound unnatural. So we just do our best to minimize the bleed (e.g. no stage monitors, partial drum shields, etc).

[@dhaggy1980]

Hey bud, I know this was a year ago. How are you mixing without the band live? This may be a dumb question. Also, if it's a recorded track is the recorded track flat in EQ? Sorry so many dumb questions.

[@collabworship]

Recorded the live band into individual tracks using a DAW (Ableton Live specifically). Yes, they were recorded without any processing (Raw).

[@karlodingle4906]

Hi. May i know if low cut filter would work for vocal even though we do not have a subwoofer? Our church only has 2 12”speakers. Still praying for sub 😊

[@karlodingle4906]

Or may i know what’s the suggested low cut filter hz? I guess the 120-180hz is for vocal with subs? Sorry im new and still learning a lot from your video :)

[@collabworship]

The low-cut filter would be the same even if you don't have subs. Your speakers are still trying to push out the low frequencies even though they hardly can. So it's wasting potential power from the speakers to be sending it low frequencies that don't matter.

[@karlodingle4906]

@@collabworship ohhhh good point, i learned something new. Thank you :)

[@tonylancer7367]

Hey Kade, thanks for the video! I have a question regarding mixing with headphones, excuse the length of my question. 😅 I worry that mixing with headphones might mean that it doesn't translate well over onto the PA (I use Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones, great earphones but they are not flat), so I wonder how do you manage that (with the headphones you have)? To try and workaround the frequency response graph of the ATH-M50x, I've thought of mixing through Ableton using Sonarworks SoundID (so the master EQ going out of the heaphone is flat) but I don't have the frequency response graph of the PA speakers we use (old Leem NTX-15 speakers), and because setup and breakdown every Sunday, I'd have to prepare (and ask relevant people) in advance to use the PA speakers so I can try to see if the mix translates well. I mean I could get a measurement microphone and measure it but I'd need a treated room for that, no? Perhaps you've been in that situation of "use what you have", so I wonder what your thoughts are regarding and handling such a situation?

[@collabworship]

Hey Tony - I do not use headphones to mix live, only in a studio environment. In a live setting, I still have headphones available, but only to occasional solo something out and hear what is going on with that specific channel. On your other questions, a treated room is ideal, but not reality for many. Either way - treated or untreated - EQing your room is still of benefit. More on that here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXevc2VtlsSnY7c

[@caleconrad2332]

Wait, why did you say compress at 6db to get a perfect vocal, and then get as high as 12db of compression? is that a better choice in this instant?

[@collabworship]

You want to be averaging -6dB. Likely to go over -6 if they really belt it.

[@moca4783]

How are you EQ sound? Like where is the audio inputs coming from? Looks like you have a recording somewhere.

[@collabworship]

Tracks recorded from a Sunday service using Ableton Live.

[@moca4783]

@@collabworshipthanks! Haha

[@telosxian]

How does adding 6dB of compressor makeup gain differ from adding 6dB of gain with the primary gain setting?

[@chadt5584]

The channel gain affects everything afterwards including what threshold you end up setting on a compressor. The compressor makeup gain is post compression.

[@collabworship]

^^ what Chad said

[@fredd2248]

Can you help me understand the need for adding compressor gain? If you are compressing by 6db and adding 6db it makes me think they cancel each other out.

[@chadt5584]

@@fredd2248 remember that the goal is to reduce the peaks and intentionally “compress” the dynamic range of the signal. So when the compressor reduces the peaks (how aggressively depends on the other compressor settings), that lowers the level of the signal since those peaks are now at a reduced level. The makeup gain raises the signal back to where it was, but with the peaks reduced….and the other parts of the signal are now at a higher level, resulting in a more manageable signal. . By the way, I personally prefer to turn the compressor off and on during rehearsal and get the makeup gain set that way.

[@larteydavid6383]

Do you ever make use of stereo delay and you didn't say anything on the drum preset you use

[@collabworship]

I do not use delay for simplicity sake. Not opposed to it though. The drum reverb preset I use is "Drum Treat" on the X32.

[@bubba90]

Hey! Is this for your stream mix or live FOH?

[@collabworship]

Given that it's being mixed in headphones, you could say stream mix. But we use a bus mix of our FOH mix for our live stream, so they're pretty similar. You can apply principles in this to both.

[@bubba90]

@@collabworship Ok cool! I’d like to be able to sound check virtually if it would help FOH. Thanks!

[@88omarz]

What would cause me to not hear anything coming through my effects when setting them up like this. They worked fine before then someone else ran sound then now I can’t hear anything through my reverb channels. They aren’t muted and see dialed in fine.

[@collabworship]

If using the X32, did you make sure your FX Returns are unmuted and turned up?

[@88omarz]

@@collabworship yea this was what it was and resolved. Thanks.

[@selectamicmike7701]

Please where can I get the sound track

[@collabworship]

www.multitracks.com/songs/Charity-Gayle/Endless-Praise/I-Speak-Jesus/

[@eugenesidelnyk4600]

What does the hold parameter of compressor do?

[@collabworship]

Keeps the compressor active for that period of time before releasing it according to the release time.

[@robintanj]

multitrack of the song used in it?

[@collabworship]

www.multitracks.com/songs/Charity-Gayle/Endless-Praise/I-Speak-Jesus/

[@maksrej5082]

What is that song on which you listen to your mix?

[@collabworship]

I Speak Jesus by Charity Gayle

[@dgmixvlog7480]

1 question. should we use automix in vocals? or no?

[@collabworship]

What do you mean by "automix"?

[@dgmixvlog7480]

@@collabworship what i mean is when you have multiple vocals singing at the same time, should i turn on the "automixer" function of each vocal's channels? which means they will have an auto gain dynamics depending on who has more emphasis of the voice so that the total decibel output wil be zero

[@collabworship]

@@dgmixvlog7480 Wouldn't recommend that.

[@maxhammerum7705]

6dB’s of makeup gain on compression and you’re playing a dangerous game in regards to both feedback and placebo

[@collabworship]

I've never experienced a problem with either at 6dB of makeup gain. However, I am not opposed to a more conservative approach of 3dB of makeup gain.

[@lowcivicman99]

How much would it cost for you to come to my church and help train our team and clean up our soundboard?

[@collabworship]

Hey Joe - I am not currently able to do site visits (although I wish I could). -Kade

[@obidavekenobe]

Mix (paint) by numbers… and die by the numbers. Compression is more of an art and more fun when you understand what its doing to the shape of the sound over time. Your vocal just flatlined (technical term here)

[@collabworship]

*Starting Points*

[@obidavekenobe]

I get that. I was more interested how YOU are going to place that into the context of a mix. Thats the art. Turn this up or turn this down a prescribe value before listening? Now what hasn’t been shown in this clip is any context of the song, so I don’t know. But the first thing in live mixing, either online or before a live congregation , is to establish a relative baseline mix before turning knobs. Who knows you may not even need a compressor or compress the vocal as much…. The most powerful control on your console is the fader.

[@collabworship]

Sounds like you have some great ideas! I bet there’s a group of people that would love your teaching style. Would love to see you start a KZbin channel and create some content to help folks that are at the same point in the journey as you!

[@albertobetofrias]

how do you use the recorded song to EQ it?

[@collabworship]

Record multitracks to a DAW via the USB card on the X32. We used Ableton Live. Then you just play tracks back from Ableton Live.

[@danikmunteanu5557]

I think that you had set the attack on dyn vox soo fast and threshold soo much and sound is „compressed“ And this Is only my opinion. How I personally do: set the attack in region of 39-55 ms , depends of what vocal and how he works with mic, and release 70-90 ms). 4:07 P.s. and out gain set 3-4.5 db

[@collabworship]

Thanks for the tip! I'll try this out next time and A/B the difference.

[@edewaal97]

That's funny, our starting point is 10-20ms with a release of 200-250ms. With a gain reduction (or output gain) of 4-6db depended on the vocal.

[@jimsuber6784]

Honky works

[@collabworship]

Lol. Good to hear.

[@DMarrettTV]

I can't even mix with reverb. the acoustics are sooooooo bad . 😢

[@collabworship]

So sad!

[@jaypickard]

Boosting 10k can sound awful in untreated spaces and with less quality mics which is a situation I think many people watching will be in

[@collabworship]

I've never run into a problem boosting at 10k, but I'm sure there are situations where it may not be a good idea.

[@cobrasound]

I honestly can't stand the HF hype/boost added to most live worship vocals--it's very fatiguing for sensitive ears.

[@collabworship]

Sounds like some are putting the boost too low. Anything 10kHz+ is not known to cause listening fatigue. But if you are boosting too much and affecting the 7kHz area, that would definitely cause fatigue.

[@Stressreallitychock]

Never mix with a sheet again plz

[@collabworship]

Templates can serve as a great starting point to speed up the process. Then simply use your ear to dial it in.