Kahn's Reggae Production Corner - Ep 5: VOCALS

In this episode of KRPC, Kahn mixes a vocal from Kapena Mokiao. The tune is titled "Jah Music On My Mind."
This video explains how to clean up a vocal track which has input noise, how to EQ and compress each vocal track, de-essing the vocal tracks, mixing background and harmony vocal tracks, and a bussing vocal techniques. Kahn also shows how to utilize two different reverbs to taste on the individual vocal tracks.
Kapena Mokiao's Music:
/ kapena-mokiao
Kahn and Kapena's Collab "Lover's Chune" which is heard in the intro to these videos:
/ kapena-mokiao-lovers-c...
Comment below if you've learned something!
Bless

[@fivom6643]

Bro this entire series has got to be one of the best tutorials I've come across. Thanks heaps for the in depth detail and explanation!

[@DMKahn]

You are very welcome! Thanks for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it very much.

[@DMKahn]

Thanks so much Fly Moody, you rock! thanks for tuning in

[@kapenamokiao6384]

kinda weird to hear my voice all raw lol. I know what you mean now by the lead vocal having to be in the front of the music. Sounds like night and day!! Appreciate you my friend! So much aloha!

[@SokzMusic]

+Kapena Mokiao great vocals! And as always, great music production DM Kahn.

[@woolters]

Awesome work from the both of you! One of the few songs I actually favourited on Soundcloud. Big up from Tweante in the Netherlands.

[@zdogg8]

You sing great...you'll only get better. Great ear, great blend....I though you hired people.

[@j.dorian1785]

Not only the tutorial is super clear, your music is like butter for my ears

[@ADEREZO]

big up Kahn, thank you for spreading the wisdom

[@DMKahn]

ADERS ONE you are welcome! Anything I can do to help, let me know!

[@djantiwar]

Such a cool song !!!!

[@rulingrecords507]

Beautiful riddim. You have a new subscriber mi friend bless up every time

[@rodssatini7601]

Too good bro

[@johnisika1663]

best reggae production ever...love it bro....

[@ChristopheGaucheMusicien]

Oh Jah ! Missing the last episode of the best series in the world, true true

[@jimmylennon3088]

this.is.the.best..ive.seen.thank.you.looking.foward.to.seeing.some.more.great.reggae.sound

[@DMKahn]

Thanks Jimmy, what a kind thing to say! Glad you enjoyed.

[@JustinLeonDev]

What a great tutorial series and great reggae song. Please do more tutorial series like this, your work is much appreciated! I learned so much and really enjoyed this, thank you!

[@DMKahn]

Thanks a lot Justin. Hopefully I'll get a chance to make another one in the future. Bless

[@mamba691]

Boom! loving the vocal arrangement and mix

[@lukeyz8437]

so much informations here man, really appreciate the good work.

[@SayajinKanak]

17:04 That line hit me in so good in my soul!

[@Avo-oh-si]

oh!! hermosas voces!!! y la musica suena increible!!

[@ibonafrenchmontana2626]

wow i like it; its great thank you for showing us

[@mauriciolopes4457]

Nice!

[@tanohaupu2218]

so haaaaaad respect

[@Cooziemell]

I just stumbled upon this video. I'm really enjoying the music and learning new tricks using Logic. Hey Kahn, you have a new subscriber and Kapena sounds great!

[@DMKahn]

Thanks for stopping by and subbing! D👑K

[@davidjolliet23]

Awesome tuto and track !!!

[@DMKahn]

Thank you brother

[@fieldfield5941]

dm khn is the bass live it sound real good 4 real

[@DMKahn]

Bless up. Yes the bass is live. Check out the earlier episode on bass!

[@lme36]

Guidance and Protection, Kahn... you inspired me a lot. wanna play your chunes on the soundsystem. so think about making some dublates for the heavy stuff ;) bless up

[@DMKahn]

Milosh email me at [e-mail] some more information about what you're thinking. Bless

[@outtayardstudio]

Sounds like a katchafire tune..

[@imonictv2736]

bless bro nice mix love it

[@DMKahn]

Imonic Tv big up, thanks for the comment.

[@dillaoniel8624]

Great stuff bro

[@b3rtne]

It also helps when your artist is insanely talented.

[@DMKahn]

Of course! Haha

[@stringflowmusic]

Great insight, thanks! :)

[@mydeserthvac]

I see the level of comfort you have in this program. what program is it? It looks easy to manipulate.

[@DMKahn]

It’s Logic for Mac, yeah not too difficult!

[@mydeserthvac]

Reminds me how much I use to love Garage Band..

[@riversideproductionztv]

Thank you for sharing this great informative video! Would their be a link for the song played in this video on iTunes or Google Play? Nice vibes! Keep rocking..

[@DMKahn]

Bless up riversideproductionz. Check out the song here on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/dm-kahn/kapena-mokiao-music-on-my-mind-2016-dm-kahn-production

[@antoniodalombajr9169]

Damn Kahn...what made you want to produce reggae? just wonderin cuz your beats sound better than most reggae songs I hear..100% Def Subbed

[@DMKahn]

Antonio DaLomba, Jr thanks for the question! My good mom always listened to Bobs "Legend" album since I was a young child, and I always liked it, then in high school my good friend Ahmed Aziz encouraged me to learn the bass after we went and saw the Wailer's play live (Family man was playing bass that night), so we started a reggae band, and it just began my journey into listening critically to some great reggae that Ahmed taught me. Then I later played in the Lloyd Street Rockers band and opened up for people like Mighty Diamonds, and Half Pint. After that band fizzled out because our drummer stepped down, I decided that I would just learn how to produce my own reggae and I have since spent lots of time trying to hone my craft and make it sound as good as the music that comes into my head. Lol long winded but there ya go! Bless

[@ryanposod2374]

In my opinion, it sounds better when you speed it up a little in the KZbin settings.

[@DMKahn]

Ryan Posod fair enough! I totally dig what you're saying. The tempo choice of a song is crucial, and in this case it could've maybe been a few BPM faster for sure. I do like it how it is though, it's kind of that classic old school vibe.

[@Jbeatz876]

great!

[@Ulibert]

Man.... What do you do for living?

[@DMKahn]

Project manager for a mechanical contractor

[@Ulibert]

@@DMKahn wow .... I thought you do music for a living...

[@BestAudiovisualTricks]

Can I buy this song in iTunes?

[@DMKahn]

Sorry it has never been officially released

[@humansoundfamily7480]

god job

[@MrLynxTv]

How can I contact you concerning production?

[@DMKahn]

[e-mail] (careful spelling K A H N)

[@esahm373]

Can you recommend any free organ plugin or library?

[@DMKahn]

I don’t know any good free ones

[@nandoblondemobydick5438]

sound good but better do compression in various stage, put a 1176 i.e. to fast attack then a few db of gain reduction followed by an optical compressor to recover a bit the transients in a more controlled way as you equalize the overall vocal levels get again another 3 dbs of gain reduction, from her to a prralell bus where you compress again other 3 dbs i.e. and add saturation, this way you can get a great average level and finish having a very loud dinamique vocal, with your same very good sound you already have and getting better RMS and dinamique i guess

[@DMKahn]

Thanks for the critiques! Much appreciated and thanks for tuning in!

[@worldwidemusicpremier8681]

On a modern song would you put the small verb on the buses as you did in these videos?

[@worldwidemusicpremier8681]

Do you also have an all vocals bus with a small room?

[@DMKahn]

Worldwide Music Premier there’s lots of ways to do reverb. There’s no rules. If it sounds good it is! And yes modern reverb typically uses smaller reverbs and less long decay stuff

[@worldwidemusicpremier8681]

What is the purpose of the spring reverb on the instruments?

[@DMKahn]

Worldwide Music Premier gives a vintage sound. Bless

[@K1ngw1n]

What is that black and white material in the beginning of the video? Is that for sound acoustics?

[@DMKahn]

KING WIN lol, that's just a thin blanket. I thought it looked cool... I hardly doubt it does anything :)

[@K1ngw1n]

DM Kahn oh ok😂

[@zac1002]

vocals remind me of Katchafire

[@Tbizzz42]

Absolutely.

[@apavisiniajr.6904]

Do you have someone else do a final mix and master or do you do it all yourself?

[@DMKahn]

Apa Visinia thanks for the comment! I do it all myself. I just try to get to sound as good as possible. There's a lot of loudness plugins out there that can help bring the volume up to "acceptable", but you have to be super careful you don't sacrifice all your dynamics and make it super loud (squashed). That being said, I have not officially released anything.. and if I were, I would definitely consider a professional master.

[@apavisiniajr.6904]

Yeah for sure! Logic can be sometimes deceiving. The levels will all sound great when I'm in Logic and I'll feel pretty decent about the mix, but when I do a final bounce it's either to loud or not loud enough. Another thing to that I was wondering if you knew how to fix the latency lag? I thought I didn't have any rhythm until I found out there was a thing called latency that existed. lol Love your work though bro! We need to collab!

[@DMKahn]

Apa Visinia I hear you. If you are using Logic's Adaptive Limiter as your brick wall limiter, as a general rule don't let the gain reduction be more than 5dB and that should be a good ballpark for loudness... of course the louder you push it the more artifacts you'll get and the more squashed it'll sound. As far as latency goes, it's always a balance. Try changing your buffer to 32 or 64 for recording. Then set it back to 64 or 128 while mixing. Also it's helpful to bounce your midi tracks to audio tracks, thus alleviating the CPU from processing the midi. Hope that helps!

[@apavisiniajr.6904]

Thank you for your insight boss! All the best! God bless brother!

[@GarthStewart]

What happened to the mixing part??

[@DMKahn]

Garth Stewart my apologies... I never had the time to make it. And it's been so long now that the feel would be different if I tried to remix it now! Hopefully one day I'll make another video soon regarding mixing. I basically explained a lot about how i mix along the way in this video anyways

[@GarthStewart]

DM Kahn no problem. Keep up the good work.

[@dillaoniel8624]

Hey bro what you use for drums

[@DMKahn]

As I stated in episode 1, I use various drum samples that I have pieced together throughout the years. Some I found for free online, some I purchased, and some I sampled myself from real drums. Cheers

[@dillaoniel8624]

Ok Kool

[@ling6701]

Thanks, again. I was able to follow the whole tutorial serie and produce this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5rIknWnot5lpKc. (it took me a while, but it was worth it, and thanks to you).