How to Mix Pop R&B Vocals for a Clean, Modern Sound!

[@spinlightstudios]

Don't forget if you want to support this channel - grabbing a sample pack or mixing course is the best way you can do this :) spinlightstudio.com/shop

[@rome8180]

Nice. I feel like the Fairchild is underappreciated by modern mixers. Don't get me wrong. It's a legendary compressor, but I don't see people using it in a lot of mix tutorials. To my ear, it's got a gluey smoothness that works perfectly when something like the 1776 feels too grabby and aggressive. You can't necessarily do 10+ db of compression with it like you can with an 1176, but in this case the vocal already sounded pretty controlled in its raw form.

[@justsomedude5727]

I was letting my friend help me pick between compressor plugins and he said the fairchild sounded better every time haha

[@spinlightstudios]

Definitely don’t sleep on the Fairchild. When it’s right it’s right 🤌🏻

[@DrProgNerd]

Very cool. I liked the idea of a 2nd de-esser. I'm super interested in that Vintage Verb. I keep seeing it come up in other videos. I already have their Shimmer and Super Massive. I went nuts on plugins during the last Black Friday sales, so I'm trying to restrain myself. I've just been rolling with Pro-R 2 ....but dang .... after hearing this, it's kinda hard *not* to cave. Lol !!! Cool vid, Rhys.

[@spinlightstudios]

Haha thanks mate! Yeah vintage verb is a plugin a don’t regret buying - use it alllll the time. Valhalla dsp never do sales either - it’s just always $50 I believe

[@DaftyBoi412]

Sounds wicked man!

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks man!

[@voltmusicstudios5260]

Thank you! You are so right about the Rode NTA1. I've been battling with the top end and I thought it was just me. I suspected it was the mic!

[@spinlightstudios]

The NT1A was my first mic and it was always fairly brittle sounding to my ears. I think the NT1 is a bit better sounding which is what they used in this clip.

[@voltmusicstudios5260]

@@spinlightstudios I'm so glad you said that! I've been going around circles re-recording parts at different levels trying to figure out what it was. I think I'll add a low pass and start saving for a new mic.lol Thanks again, love your channel! It's good to know I'm not just hearing things....other than the voices ha!

[@eddyvilar]

I had the same problem years ago and started hating the mic because of that metallic high end that always sounded harsh. Then a friend of mine used a similar mic on a mic pre that had transformers in it and completely “fixed” that problem. It had a Jensen transformer on the input and output stage of the pre and did a thing. Silky smooth after that’s 🙌🏼🎉 we used a Aphex 1788 mic pre so anything with a similar transformer would will do the trick.

[@voltmusicstudios5260]

​@@eddyvilarthat's awesome I'll have a look into that!

[@jsoul1978]

That fairchild!!! 🔥🔥

[@spinlightstudios]

🔥🔥

[@elisrecordz6211]

Thanks for everything..😊

[@spinlightstudios]

No problem!

[@mikesparks3398]

Sounds good!

[@spinlightstudios]

Cheers!

[@ipek37424]

Awesome video! Keep up the good work man. Learning a lot from u! What’s ur current mastering chain? Do u use gold clip? U had a video of it but i’m wondering

[@spinlightstudios]

Thanks! Yeah I go between gold clip and Kclip3 for clipping on mastering :)

[@alexanderhristov9598]

This vocal sounds pretty good even unprocessed. What kind of preamp did they use with the Rode during recording?

[@spinlightstudios]

I’m not sure, I imagine a scarlet focusrite. Rode NT1 is a pretty clean mic.

[@DozaVybz]

thought the same thing

[@brokenhero6828]

@@spinlightstudiosTHIS WAS A NT1???? No way I might get one the 5th generation

[@3leven]

can you go over your bus set up a bit more please? I got lost where you said you had the effects within the stack. I get why its beneficial I'm just confused on how you set it up for the effect track to be there

[@rockboy360]

What microphone was that? the raw track already sounded beautiful!

[@spinlightstudios]

Rode NT1 - I did mention it in the video 😉

[@billythekid6047]

Can you make templates for sale? I would like country, pop, rock templates with chanell strip also. Can you review the new version of Presonus Studio One( 7 version)?

[@spinlightstudios]

I’ve been thinking about making some templates - it will most likely happen at some point - just when time allows! I don’t use studio one but I think Creative Sauce did a video on the new version if you look them up :)

[@JTFuller]

I have a question, why not the Kirchoff EQ?

[@spinlightstudios]

I don’t own it 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@JTFuller]

@@spinlightstudios Oh my bad. lol. Try the demo.. I would love you hear your perspective of it..

[@garethde-witt6433]

Rythm and Blues it’s definitely not but cool video

[@DrOtumbo]

You said you're sending the delay to rhe reverb?

[@spinlightstudios]

The delay is also being fed to the reverb because it’s part of the vocal bus and I’m sending the vocal bus to the reverb

[@DrOtumbo]

@@spinlightstudios oh you have the delay on the bus as an insert rather than a send?

[@Max10_B]

Need help getting the raw recordings to sound that good 😂

[@spinlightstudios]

Haha just need a condenser mic and record in a room with a bit of treatment to stop it being too “roomy” sounding :)

[@DrOtumbo]

Ironic they call smooth op poor man's soothe. It's way better

[@spinlightstudios]

Smooth operator is great, that’s why I’m using it. It’s just a joke because soothe is like 4 x the price.

[@vendettabout2runup347]

Your exciter should go first

[@spinlightstudios]

Some reasoning behind a statement like this is useful. Just plopping a comment like this is so pointless. Either way I don’t think there is a one size fits all with the order of processing and I know loads of mixers like to use exciters in parallel on a send, which comes after the channel strip processing.

[@brownsnakestudios277]

Mmmmm not poppy and wispy enuff for me…