Damn, Colt, I’ve learnt so much more through your videos than all the time I spent in college. Ok, I didn’t go to college for audio, but I’m still learning so much. 😂
This right here!!! This is what I've always needed and never knew how to accomplish it. Thanks for this! Definitely going to sub with notification on. I really appreciate you!!
I love your videos. I make techno and house music here in berlin but the quality of engineering in your videos beats out 95% of other music production videos on RUclips ❤ keep up the good work!!
This is a wonderful tutorial! I was able to immediately use this technique to solve a problem with consistent tonality on a vocal. Thank you so much!! *Subscribed!*
Awesome dude, listening to your words while taking notes and can‘t wait to try out the learnings to my current project. I started to rec&mix without any knowledge and spendt nights to improve. Mixing a new live performance project for a band called Waykoba, who you find on spotify, and really want to take things more then a level up for next release. Guess I will spend the rest of the night watching more stuff on your channel. Keep on doing! I would love to learn how you deal with reverbs in mixes. „Real Roominess“ vs. „Artifical tail extension“ is such a challenge, I‘m facing right now.
Phenomenal tutorial Colt. 🤘Can't wait to implement it. I like the move of adding the lows back. That makes perfect sense. I always felt like I was lacking a bit of lows here and there but always chose reducing the lows overall and never put it back where it was needed. PSYCHED!!!!
Hey, at around 3:16 I noticed you could have just selected all four of the bands by dragging over it and adjust all of them at once since you were doing the same edits on all of them. Just a quick tip, hope this might be new to at least some of you (: As always, great video, great concept, keep it coming, I love it ! ❤
Great tutorial, Colt! I've learned so much on here, thanks! And you've inspired me to step out and do this. I think it was seeing your first studio in Nashville that made me realize I could actually do this too. Much appreciation for all that you give and share! Giselle
Still a killer vid, such a good trick to know ! It would be so great to have video on delays and reverbs and how you manage them to create depth in your mixes
Wow!... I own 3 MB Comp. but never use them ( don't ask...lol) but can't wait to start getting good at using it. ( You explained it very well ) Thank you Colt! George :)
Another Multiband/Dynamic EQ trick is to set very Narrow Qs to grab harsh frequencies. 900, 5000, 7000, 9000 and 11000 Hz sound horrible. If you set up Pro-MB/Pro-Q to smooth those frequencies from the jump you can tackle Ear Fatigue very early on in your Mix. This applies to Spoken Word as well not just Music.
Great Video!!! Funny thing is, I just clocked why your limiting before compression (I think) is to control the hard transients? Giving you more freedom to open up your attack and shorten your release on the comp without it sounding too harsh?
I would imagine so in part yeah, to stop the transient peaks from making the compressors earlier in the chain work too hard whilst only taking off peaks for the first however many DB of compression (basically gives more headroom for him to compress with), as well as sharp transients sneaking past the attack of the slower compressors, but also to not trigger this MB comp too hard and be able to speed up the attack/rel without getting into distortion territory so fast I assume (if there happens to be any big transients left, which if he's using a med/slow attack with earlier compression there very well may still be with out the limiting, infact even more so with the compression but without the limiting than if he went straight into the pro mb without any compression or limiting at all)!
Dude. This is such a great video. I have watched this twice now. The first time I let the info sink in, this time I watched it and just applied the things you said using the waves C6 and wow! The vocal is so much smoother. Excellent teaching and delivery! 🙌🏼 thank you, Colt you champion!
Great stuff again! Great vocals as well!! Did you know when you select all nodes you can adjust the settings for all nodes at the same time? You probably have a preset for this multiband setting. But that function can save some time in certain situations. Thanks for the content man!!
Absolutely magical :-) - I am an opera singer and battle a lot with getting the vocal right. This tip is truly amazing. A question, I compose orchestra and then add my vocal. Often the vocal doesn’t sound free in the mix which is caused by instruments that are fighting the vocal. Would you direct all the instrument orchestral groups to a separate bus to have the music duck when the vocal comes in. I now use izotope which has a masking feature. Love to learn more about this masking for vocals so I can get that vocal sound free in the mix instead of lying on top of the music or get buried on certain places. I also do recordings only with piano but struggle with the same issue :-)
EQ placement is useful here. When mixing the other instrument(s) you want them ideally to have their own spot in the spectrum where their most important frequencies lay, and boost that for each instrument a little (or duck what's not important with eq, or a mix of both), being mindful to *NOT* pick frequencies that are the most important for vocals (for intelligibility) when boosting the instruments, and leave a "pocket" if you like where the vocals can sit. This is an oversimplification, but I think this is what is the main issue for you from what you have said. If you are working with just a stereo recording of the whole orchestra, you'll have to create this pocket after everything's already put together. You'll probably have to do a few eq cuts where the important frequencies of the vocal lay, but be careful to not destroy the sound of the orchestra in the process. Side chained Multi-band ducking in these specific frequencies, only when there is a vocal, can also help with that, but it needs to be very subtle, and ideally invisible to the listener. There are tools that can detect what frequencies are in a signal and create a negative imprint of that in an EQ or multi-band compression curve, this kind of thing also used subtlety may help (I think that's what that Izotopes plug in does if my memory serves me correct, I've never used it tho so may be wrong about that). Unfortunately you'll always be at a disadvantage when trying to fit vocals into a stereo mix, as opposed to mixing everything from scratch with the vocals in mind and the ability to change individual instrument tracks with EQ as you go to accommodate the vocals. Also automation of volume is your friend. If you have balanced levels (enough compression) and made space (with EQ) for the average level parts of your vocals (however with opera you probably want a reallly wide dynamic range, so am not sure how much compression you can actually get away with tbh), but your vocal still gets buried in the loud parts of the song, turn the vocals up a bit with automation for the loud musical parts (or at any point they are buried really)! Automation is one of the main ways of getting a dynamic (moving) mix, if volumes of the instruments are changing all the time the vocal will need to do so too, to keep up. I automate both as a first step in mixing for anything that immediately sticks out as really quiet or too loud (so my compression isn't doing unnecessary work), and again near the end on my groups once everything is leveled and balanced with compression/eq etc. to get the final dynamics of each part correct, if it isn't already in the performance (I work with synths a lot, so it rarely is already there in the performance for me). Also if it's only a part of your vocals, say the low end of your vocals, that dips behind the other sounds, then this tip from colt is exactly designed for that by the sounds of what colt is saying in the vid. ;)
I'm so happy to see that right now, I'm working in a radio and I started to do exactly this on every voice a few weeks back and it's crazy how well it works (I'm doing it with TDR nova)
Damn bro, your vocals already sound better even before processing. Are there any other tricks? My recorded vocals sound harsh af even after sound proofing
can i ask from where this strange lowend in your voice comes from at the beginning of this video? strange mic position? eq? or table reflections maybe?
DUDE IM LIKE AT MY 6TH MIX DOING THIS AND I CANT EVEN EXPLAIN HOW MUCH THIS HELPS, THANK YOU FOR THIS KNOWLEDGE SO MUCH!
One of your best. Clear explanations of what you are trying accomplish and why what you do works for accomplish that.
Thank you, I've watched a lot of vids and this one finally got the point off multiband across
I use this vocal magic for my Hip Hop & Spoken Word Vocals. Made em sound bigger, even, and wider.
This is solid gold!
it's crazy that I was just having the same problem, this just solved it. Thanks Colt!
Stellar video on multiband compression!
That's really amazingly informative. I feel like I understand multiband compressors for the first time.
Best vocal multiband compression video ! Thank you so much
You can _really_ hear the change in the chorus. The bottom-end re-appears. That's a nice way to do things.
Clear, concise and simple and also 'friendly' communication. Thank you 😊
This is great Colt, Thank you for sharing!
Damn, Colt, I’ve learnt so much more through your videos than all the time I spent in college. Ok, I didn’t go to college for audio, but I’m still learning so much. 😂
This was a great tutorial. Never really knew how to approach using a multiband comp on vocals before.
Thank you!
This right here!!! This is what I've always needed and never knew how to accomplish it. Thanks for this! Definitely going to sub with notification on. I really appreciate you!!
Never would’ve thought to use a pro L2 w/ fast attack on a vocal! So cool!
Watching your titorials my mixing level sky rocketed😊
Great explanation of the context when using an MB!
The way you explained everything was perfect.
Great explanation and definitely learned something useful. Thank you for the great content.
I love your videos. I make techno and house music here in berlin but the quality of engineering in your videos beats out 95% of other music production videos on RUclips ❤ keep up the good work!!
Ohhhhhhh....thanks Colt!
One of the best you've done, thank you!
good insight and explanation of usage and technique, nicely done
That was probably the best explanation so far on how to use the plug sensibly. Short and concise but very understandable. thanks for that
This is a wonderful tutorial! I was able to immediately use this technique to solve a problem with consistent tonality on a vocal. Thank you so much!!
*Subscribed!*
this the best mb explanation I ever seen and I watch every video on RUclips now I know what to do thanks
SIMPLE CHOICE OF WORDS MAKE LIFE EASY
Thank you🎉
Great tips! Especially the part about bumping the level on the lows. Really makes it sound more consistent and plainly better :)
Niiiiice! I have this plugin and was not using it… I will definitely be implementing this in my mix
Explained so perfectly!! This is what i needed !
Thank you so much for sharing your professional knowledge! Great video
beautiful
Amazing video! Very well explained and showed! Thank you super duper much Colt!
Amazing video! Much easier to see this. Thank you
This helps tremendously! Thanks Colt!
This is gold
so much help i appreciated this already doin my work outs 💯
Wow, is this the new standard for vox? It’s like the Andy Sneap method for gtr mutes. Noice! Glad I subscribed and was alerted to this sick tip!
Dude, GREAT video on multiband compression! You have a new Patreon subscriber. Thank you for sharing your expertise.
Brilliant. Thank you!
Ooooh, good one Colt, thanks man!
Thank you for the gem
Awesome dude, listening to your words while taking notes and can‘t wait to try out the learnings to my current project. I started to rec&mix without any knowledge and spendt nights to improve. Mixing a new live performance project for a band called Waykoba, who you find on spotify, and really want to take things more then a level up for next release. Guess I will spend the rest of the night watching more stuff on your channel. Keep on doing! I would love to learn how you deal with reverbs in mixes. „Real Roominess“ vs. „Artifical tail extension“ is such a challenge, I‘m facing right now.
Hey bro!! This was a great explanation , with a target in mind. this is what sets u apart from a joe smoe.. Respect.
Really interesting and useful, thanks so much for posting.
Excellent straightforward tutorial 👍👍
Thanks you. You explain very well
wow love this
Phenomenal tutorial Colt. 🤘Can't wait to implement it. I like the move of adding the lows back. That makes perfect sense. I always felt like I was lacking a bit of lows here and there but always chose reducing the lows overall and never put it back where it was needed. PSYCHED!!!!
That's some sauce. Crazy 😊
Thank you!
Excellent!
Thank you!!! This is awesome
Thanks for watching!
You are THE MAN Colt!
Awesome video! Thanks
Hey, at around 3:16 I noticed you could have just selected all four of the bands by dragging over it and adjust all of them at once since you were doing the same edits on all of them.
Just a quick tip, hope this might be new to at least some of you (:
As always, great video, great concept, keep it coming, I love it ! ❤
Nice catch! But then, let's go one step further, and after the inital setup is done, why not save as a preset?
Wow thank you so much
Great tutorial, Colt! I've learned so much on here, thanks! And you've inspired me to step out and do this. I think it was seeing your first studio in Nashville that made me realize I could actually do this too. Much appreciation for all that you give and share! Giselle
Brilliant explanation. thanks 🙂
Still a killer vid, such a good trick to know ! It would be so great to have video on delays and reverbs and how you manage them to create depth in your mixes
i second this
Wow!... I own 3 MB Comp. but never use them ( don't ask...lol) but can't wait to start getting good at using it. ( You explained it very well ) Thank you Colt! George :)
Vocal eq video with the worst eq'd vocals guiding us through it lol
Thanks man!
Great vid
Another Multiband/Dynamic EQ trick is to set very Narrow Qs to grab harsh frequencies. 900, 5000, 7000, 9000 and 11000 Hz sound horrible. If you set up Pro-MB/Pro-Q to smooth those frequencies from the jump you can tackle Ear Fatigue very early on in your Mix. This applies to Spoken Word as well not just Music.
Thanks bro!
Thanks a lot 🙏
Thank you for watching!
so good video
very good. 12 mins in. Wondered about EXPAND button there, when would YOU use it?
Great Video Bro !
Great tutorial ! Thank You
Great video!
Awesome video man! QUESTION: Would Soothe 2 be a replacement for this process? Cheers!
Nice 👍 Colt
Great stuff bro!!
Great tutorial! Made it nice and simple so I might even be able to apply this! 😂
Awesome! This helps a lot!
4:32...just use raw vocal while doing this .. Remove the hall reverb .. So we can figure out what are those bad frequencies 😊
Bro you are the goat
This is a great video. Subbed.
I love the way you mix King, always learning something!
Awesome content thanks 🙏
Great Video!!! Funny thing is, I just clocked why your limiting before compression (I think) is to control the hard transients? Giving you more freedom to open up your attack and shorten your release on the comp without it sounding too harsh?
I would imagine so in part yeah, to stop the transient peaks from making the compressors earlier in the chain work too hard whilst only taking off peaks for the first however many DB of compression (basically gives more headroom for him to compress with), as well as sharp transients sneaking past the attack of the slower compressors, but also to not trigger this MB comp too hard and be able to speed up the attack/rel without getting into distortion territory so fast I assume (if there happens to be any big transients left, which if he's using a med/slow attack with earlier compression there very well may still be with out the limiting, infact even more so with the compression but without the limiting than if he went straight into the pro mb without any compression or limiting at all)!
Dude. This is such a great video. I have watched this twice now. The first time I let the info sink in, this time I watched it and just applied the things you said using the waves C6 and wow! The vocal is so much smoother. Excellent teaching and delivery! 🙌🏼 thank you, Colt you champion!
Great stuff again! Great vocals as well!! Did you know when you select all nodes you can adjust the settings for all nodes at the same time? You probably have a preset for this multiband setting. But that function can save some time in certain situations. Thanks for the content man!!
FREAKING GOATED
Absolutely magical :-) - I am an opera singer and battle a lot with getting the vocal right. This tip is truly amazing. A question, I compose orchestra and then add my vocal. Often the vocal doesn’t sound free in the mix which is caused by instruments that are fighting the vocal. Would you direct all the instrument orchestral groups to a separate bus to have the music duck when the vocal comes in. I now use izotope which has a masking feature. Love to learn more about this masking for vocals so I can get that vocal sound free in the mix instead of lying on top of the music or get buried on certain places. I also do recordings only with piano but struggle with the same issue :-)
I'd love to see your take on this too, Colt!
EQ placement is useful here. When mixing the other instrument(s) you want them ideally to have their own spot in the spectrum where their most important frequencies lay, and boost that for each instrument a little (or duck what's not important with eq, or a mix of both), being mindful to *NOT* pick frequencies that are the most important for vocals (for intelligibility) when boosting the instruments, and leave a "pocket" if you like where the vocals can sit. This is an oversimplification, but I think this is what is the main issue for you from what you have said.
If you are working with just a stereo recording of the whole orchestra, you'll have to create this pocket after everything's already put together. You'll probably have to do a few eq cuts where the important frequencies of the vocal lay, but be careful to not destroy the sound of the orchestra in the process. Side chained Multi-band ducking in these specific frequencies, only when there is a vocal, can also help with that, but it needs to be very subtle, and ideally invisible to the listener. There are tools that can detect what frequencies are in a signal and create a negative imprint of that in an EQ or multi-band compression curve, this kind of thing also used subtlety may help (I think that's what that Izotopes plug in does if my memory serves me correct, I've never used it tho so may be wrong about that).
Unfortunately you'll always be at a disadvantage when trying to fit vocals into a stereo mix, as opposed to mixing everything from scratch with the vocals in mind and the ability to change individual instrument tracks with EQ as you go to accommodate the vocals.
Also automation of volume is your friend. If you have balanced levels (enough compression) and made space (with EQ) for the average level parts of your vocals (however with opera you probably want a reallly wide dynamic range, so am not sure how much compression you can actually get away with tbh), but your vocal still gets buried in the loud parts of the song, turn the vocals up a bit with automation for the loud musical parts (or at any point they are buried really)! Automation is one of the main ways of getting a dynamic (moving) mix, if volumes of the instruments are changing all the time the vocal will need to do so too, to keep up. I automate both as a first step in mixing for anything that immediately sticks out as really quiet or too loud (so my compression isn't doing unnecessary work), and again near the end on my groups once everything is leveled and balanced with compression/eq etc. to get the final dynamics of each part correct, if it isn't already in the performance (I work with synths a lot, so it rarely is already there in the performance for me).
Also if it's only a part of your vocals, say the low end of your vocals, that dips behind the other sounds, then this tip from colt is exactly designed for that by the sounds of what colt is saying in the vid. ;)
I'd suggest to start with the audio example and comparison first, and I also suggest to focus the balance of the 2nd goal of contrast in music as well
I'm so happy to see that right now, I'm working in a radio and I started to do exactly this on every voice a few weeks back and it's crazy how well it works (I'm doing it with TDR nova)
TDR Nova is killer for the $
how about those focal headphones for mixing and mastering
Good video
Thanks man thats a great tip!
singer is dooooope
Damn bro, your vocals already sound better even before processing. Are there any other tricks? My recorded vocals sound harsh af even after sound proofing
Great video! One note: timbre is pronounced “tamber” when used in music. Not trying to be a bit picky jerk, your videos are awesome!
Hey Colt, do you use this in conjunction with outboard compressors? Great vid man.
Yeah he lists his analog chain in the video, this goes before the Pro MB the way he works.
can i ask from where this strange lowend in your voice comes from at the beginning of this video? strange mic position? eq? or table reflections maybe?
i love videos like this, where i can just casually watch someone mixing stuff and explaining the musical intention a bit, while i do laundry lol