How To Mix HEAVY Screaming Vocals - Metal Mixing Tips

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Having trouble getting your rock or metal vocal tracks sitting right in your mix?
Here are some tips on getting your screaming vocal tracks sitting right in your metal productions using simple EQ and compression techniques.
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All music in video mixed and mastered @ www.frightboxrecording.com
Song by Voidscape: / voidscape
Intro music by Inventure: / inventureband
Outro Music by Ex Dementia: / @exdementia-official8965

[@FrightboxRecording]

►► Download your FREE Quick EQ Guide: frightboxrecordingacademy.com/free-quick-eq-guide/

[@tylergiraffakakis1539]

I absolutely LOVE your approach and, you are very easy to learn from in my opinion, but please, when you say something like, "if you do X, then sample will sound like Y" can you please show us that? Like, when using the DeEsser, you said if the threshold is set to high that it makes it dark and ugly, can you just slide the threshold down so we can hear that? I believe it would add an excellent demonstration effect to better teach the viewers like me. Thank you for this video, it's awesome and super informative.

[@MichaelSmith-on1ig]

I expected 4+ track overkill - thank you for staying on the ground! I personally prefer single vocal tracks for more clarity and revealing the singer's performance.

[@FrightboxRecording]

I feel the same way Michael!

[@trevorbolin7819]

Dawg, where are the subs at???? You need more recognition.

[@ghostdiaper5927]

All the frequencies in my screams are problem frequencies lol.

[@FrightboxRecording]

lol! I've been there many times. Sometimes it's simply a matter of bypassing all EQ on the vocal tracking, setting the level of the vocal against the guitars in the sweet spot and making small tweaks from there.

[@Deuterium52]

Producing my band’s first song, and this is super helpful, thanks!

[@FrightboxRecording]

My pleasure!

[@FaisalMahmood91]

your mixing sounds really good! Thanks for all the tips

[@Schwaaaang]

This was incredibly clear and super helpful. Thank you my dude

[@HellHathNoFuryAtAll8]

I’m completely new to DAWs, recording vocals, and really every part of what it takes to make music. Honestly some of what you did and talked about went over my head as a result, but I believe it’ll prove to be helpful once I’m closer to being ready to produce my own music. Great job of giving me an idea of the process you use.

[@Lermer07]

Refreshing to see ONE vocal track. Thanks for the insight. Subbed!

[@paulxhammond]

Man, I find your videos so helpful, you need more subs!

[@NoisieBastrdd]

this was really great, mate. Cheers

[@MetalTalk666]

Awesome!! Great technique.

[@Sailor1010]

The send delay was a little distracting when trying to hear the differences but this is probably one of the better tutorials I’ve seen. Thanks, dude!

[@Dave_TheMetalJester]

it helped me a lot! keep up with the good work man!

[@FrightboxRecording]

So glad it helped! Many more on the way.

[@Kyp031]

Good stuff man.

[@scvengeance]

I was mostly doing this right but still picked up a couple of helpful tips from this vid.. eq before comp, bus the delay effect. Thanks \m/

[@DrSMILE-xc1dp]

LOVE THIS !

[@thommysguitarcorner4687]

Damn that Delay trick really makes a difference! thanks!

[@FrightboxRecording]

Glad to hear it helped Thomas!

[@yellowstarthecorekid]

nice video! it helps me a lot😀

[@joshuaallenzurbano3476]

Great help!

[@scottyregn]

you really helped me with the eq, thanks :-)

[@FrightboxRecording]

Glad to hear that! Thanks for watching.

[@LeviJules]

This helps so much, new sub! Cheers!

[@FrightboxRecording]

So happy to have you!

[@NOTMEORYOU69696]

Great tips, the marker thing is something I'm about to start using myself.

[@FrightboxRecording]

Hell yeah dude!

[@ayopinetrees]

Very good video.

[@sammytheman8994]

Your channel is super informative man, props! What were the delay settings for this? Sounds good man!

[@FrightboxRecording]

I'm glad you're digging the vids! Shoot an email over at [e-mail] and I'll gladly send you a screen shot of the delay settings.

[@lhzx]

Very nice tips... and the eq guide lol

[@maxschwarzschmied5744]

Thanks, this helped me a lot. I have a very little experience in mixing vocals and my first attemps were overprocessed.

[@FrightboxRecording]

Glad to hear it helped, Max!

[@mylesclayborne382]

Yoooo that Inventure intro though!!!

[@FrightboxRecording]

Hell yeah..love working with those guys!

[@dozicusmaximus]

Fulci lives! Thanks for the vid!

[@FrightboxRecording]

Hell yeah! Stay tuned.

[@BrianWalis-Producer]

Overall great video. I feel like in this case it would have saved time to set up a vocal bus so you didn't have to copy paste those plug ins. I know we all have our own work flows and that's well and good but folks with less powerful processors, it may be good to mention setting up a bus if the settings are the same to save on CPU. All in all I really appreciated this video.

[@FrightboxRecording]

Thanks for watching Brian! The reason I compress individually is because it yields a much different result than compressing a group. Also, the plugins I use are super basic and very old, so they're extremely light on CPU.

[@GregAtlas]

Most metal and rock singers/screamers tend to be higher pitched. For those of us who are natural low bass/bass/baritone range: Do you have any modifications to your mixing process compared to this more normal sounding screaming? I'd assume just boost where it complements the voice pattern.

[@FrightboxRecording]

I rarely boost on scream vocals. For screamers with lower voices that are more in the "yelling" category, my EQ is similar to this but with less high-end removal. Hope that helps!

[@GregAtlas]

@@FrightboxRecording Sounds about the same as what I have already been doing for my EQ. Thanks for the feedback, I was mostly just messing around with the settings to what sounded good to me and to increase clarity.

[@chudchewer2548]

came here for the tips, left with a new playlist

[@FrightboxRecording]

Sick! Happy to hear that...thanks for watching!

[@metalheavencanada]

Gargly vocalist are called False chord and throaty screamer are called Fry screamers :P just an FYI

[@LucasMichalski]

I liked your idea of not bussing vocals and sending them straight to mix bus. What if you have main vocal and backing vocals which is just double (exactly the same, just different take). Do you bus both of them together or process them individually? And why? Thanks

[@FrightboxRecording]

I still prefer to process them separately. It keeps me from overdoing it on a global level....at least for this genre of music.

[@cdhouder]

14:20 "If you overdo this then this en this happens" I think it would be better if you actually overdid the de-essing so you have a good example as how to find the spot/ how it shouldn't sound.

[@Hifcrea]

How do you go about adding distortion to vox like emmure or tony danza 4. Anyone have any ideas. I’m tracking vox and don’t want just simple plain recording la of them. Want to add a little bit aggressiveness to them

[@FrightboxRecording]

I'm a big fan of the Cranesong Phoenix plugin...I don't use it often, but I use it for saturation from time to time. A lot of guys seem to like the Sound Toys Decapitator for distortion. Have you tried either of those?

[@Hifcrea]

Frightbox Recording thanks responding my man appreciate it. And I haven’t heard about those I’ll check them out and give it a try. Thanks for the advice. Also why is there such a lack of KZbin vids about mixing metal vox. You and hardcore metal studio are the only ones that actual explain anything

[@gammat.c.4916]

I know what's a compresor.. But what's a ds'r? 😅

[@durianlegrand]

can i know what app is used for your mixing please ? xD i want every thing but audacity !

[@FrightboxRecording]

Hey man! I'd highly recommend Reaper (www.reaper.fm/) It's demo mode never expires, it's just as good as Pro Tools and is extremely affordable.

[@marcobobadilla3450]

immediately recognized Mike doing vocals XD

[@elmerjarpegard4222]

Thank you! Helped a lot, even though my vocals aren't in the same style, they're more guttural, like Opeths growls.

[@Martiizzer]

what mic are you using for recording ur voice for this video?

[@FrightboxRecording]

Hey man! It's a Shure SM7B. I'd highly recommend it...it's the only vocal mic I use in the studio.

[@Martiizzer]

Frightbox Recording do you think it could handle recording drums as an overhead or a room mike so the whole drum gets recorded with one mic ?

[@FrightboxRecording]

@@Martiizzer It's actually a dynamic mic, so I wouldn't recommend it necessarily for a drum room or overhead. I'd go for a condenser in that case (even a super cheap one is fine). I use the Samson C02 for room mics as well as overheads and they sound great. That being said, the SM7B sounds great on guitar amps, snare drum and especially vocals. It's a great dynamic mic that use for multiple applications.

[@AnkothOfficial]

For some reason my vocals sound like shit without the eq. They sound tinny and harsh. With the EQ they sound like they're coming from a walkie talkie.

[@LXXIV666]

was this recorded on an sm7b?

[@FrightboxRecording]

Yes sir!

[@LXXIV666]

@@FrightboxRecording thank you!

[@krimzonnebula9341]

well, i wasnt able to mix from this video, but only because i realized that my mic is completly subpar (its a shitty camera mic). learned something at least thanks man

[@jasonorme3500]

Random, but.. what movie is playing on the tv?

[@FrightboxRecording]

Night Of The Living Dead

[@AB-vl6et]

well mate you got a really good vocalist. That's why you don't need a lot of plug ins. But not all the vocalists are extremely good... That's why we use lotta tracks and tries and effects

[@FrightboxRecording]

I've recorded some questionable vocalists in my day. Outside of pitch correction, I use the exact same chain as in this video.

[@Yanthungbemo]

For some reason I feel like the opening riff should lead into Gangster's Paradise.

[@0svvan0]

that particular vocalist is very Tomas Lindberg.

[@phenix8514]

I'd recommend anyone a Superlux E205 as a cheap microphone, I compared it to my AKG C414, and it did astonishingly well. It's 40 bucks and sounds a lot better than a 58. (Just bear in mind it's not a good solution for live vocals, as it's a condenser microphone, it's not as robust as a 58 and far more sensitive to feedback)

[@FrightboxRecording]

Thanks for the info! I gotta check that mic out.

[@phenix8514]

@@FrightboxRecording Here's a quick take I did with a singer friend, 1 is the AKG, 2 is the Superlux, I made a small cut at 180 hz on both mics for room resonance, thats all the editing thats on this comparison :P soundcloud.com/phenixdj/sets/superlux-e205-vs-akg-c414-xlii/s-JqfJfF0brFI

[@FrightboxRecording]

@@phenix8514 Thanks for sending! I'll check it out at the studio next week.

[@TheAxisjim]

What band/song is this?

[@FrightboxRecording]

voidscapenj.bandcamp.com/. Thanks for watching, James!

[@NoisieBastrdd]

PD: that band is fire

[@Adammwilliams15]

this really sounds like neckrogoblicon

[@FrightboxRecording]

I have no idea what that is, but I gotta check it out!

[@Adammwilliams15]

FrightboxRecording it’s actually spelt like nekrogoblikon.

[@FrightboxRecording]

I checked it out...all I have to say is that I'm forever grateful that introduced me to that band. It's amazing.

[@Kyp031]

Brandon from dethklok help produce their latest album. It's amazing

[@SheaRecordmetal]

"I digress" - famous BOBBY TORRES quote Fancy way Bobby tells that you his ADHD just kicked in and he's gonna move back to topic of the video.

[@zoch_music]

where's the distortion

[@prestonh4348]

im convinced the singer is jared dines lmao

[@jcthavibe]

we just gonna pretend like he dident scream that demon out of his soul

[@FrightboxRecording]

He'd love that!

[@billbradleymusic]

You didn't even double check that mid cut.

[@thespacecrib5750]

tv is a green screen

[@bluestreak5172]

So what I'm hearing is.....you don't need to go crazy with distortion on screams😆😆😆😆

[@deadheadliving]

I could have sworn this vocal track was Alissa white from Arch Enemy.

[@FrightboxRecording]

Nope, it's the dude in the thumbnail.

[@deadheadliving]

@@FrightboxRecording yea mate thanks😀 ..I actually realised later when you referring 'him'..their screaming style/tone and the chord progression etc though kindda sound very close which is awesome..

[@brandonxjames25]

No reverb... blud r u mad, jus dip low end on send channel plus without reverb reggae wud not sound the same

[@FrightboxRecording]

I was referring to the genre of extreme metal and more specifically my own personal taste for the overuse of verb on vocals. A common mistake beginners often make is using a bunch of verb on metal vocals when they want them to sound bigger. I know this from my own experience. I utilize reverb all of the time when working within other genres. The beauty of mixing (or any art form for that matter) is that we all have our own vision and unique tastes.

[@eh5665]

Is it even possible to actually learn mixing? For fuck's sake, I try hard to understand mix mastering. Anyway, thanks man it's a nice tutorial.

[@richardpell]

10:45 you're making these EQ moves in solo, and I really have no idea if the moves you're making are actually doing anything meaningful in the context of the mix

[@FrightboxRecording]

I can assure you that it is definitely making a difference. The vocals only needed subtle subtractive EQ to tame problem frequencies in this case. I played it back in solo in order for it to be more obvious. Also, I only EQ in solo when I'm looking to eliminate subtle problems. Most of the time I'm EQing in context. Thanks for watching!

[@Knucklesmd]

That’s some seriously lazy vocal mixing