How To Mix Vocals Like The Pros! (Step-By-Step Vocal Mixing Tutorial) | Make Pop Music

In this video, Austin shows you how to mix clean, punchy pop vocals! Austin dives into some tips and techniques to use when mixing a vocal, things to look for, things to avoid, and his checkpoints and benchmarks he keeps in mind every time he mixes a vocal!

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My Gear:
DAW: Cubase 11 Pro
Desk: AZ Studio Workstations
Main Microphone: Lewitt LCT1040
Monitors: Focal Shape 65s with Focal Sub6
Interface: UAD Apollo Twin USB
MIDI Keyboard: M-Audio Code 61
Keyboards: Roland Juno DS88, Roland Juno 106, Arturia PolyBrute
Guitars: Fender American Professional Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul Studio, Taylor 214 CE Plus
Preamps: Heritage Audio HA81A & Audient ASP800
Microphones: Advanced Audio 251, Slate ML-1, Shure SM7B, JZ BH-1, JZ V67, Lauten Audio LA-320, Lauten Audio LA-220, Lauten Audio LA-120, AKG P170, Sterling ST59
Camera: Panasonic G7
Lens: Rokinon 12mm f2
Camera Lights: Neewer LED Light Panels

Timestamps:
Preview 0:00
Intro 0:17
First Step To A Good Vocal Mix 1:31
Getting A Good Raw Vocal 2:25
Adding Tuning 3:30
Tone Shaping With EQ 4:46
Vocal Compression 7:18
Using Slow Compression 9:07
Adding EQ For Character 10:07
Checking VU Meters After Compression and EQ 11:34
De-essing For SH Sounds 12:42
De-essing for ESS Sounds 14:40
Final Compression To Get The Vocal Up Front 15:38
Final EQ For Control 16:08
Parallel Chains 18:55
Vocal Widening 19:00
Short Room Reverb 19:50
Delay Send 20:50
Long Plate Reverb 23:00
Creative Mixing Additions 24:18
Slap Delays 24:28
Adding Chorus, Doubling, Modulation 25:10
Adding Saturation 25:45
Overview 26:42
Outro 28:21

[Remu-]

The untreated vocal already sounds better than anything I've ever mixed.

[xBobO]

Holy shit, thank you so much. This might be the best mixing start to finish I’ve seen. Your raw vocal is ACTUALLY raw. I’m having such a hard time mixing my vocal for live stream. I’m a pretty dynamic singer so it’s getting a little complicated doing it in real time, but this was a good reminder of the follow up and that doing too much is probably hurting. Thanks!

[PeterBarber]

Wow, this is a gold mine -- I realized I don't have a clue what I'm doing with vocal processing. Amazing work man

[BettersAthletesOnly]

Love the video about vocal mixing, I would love to see you do a video when the beats drops with all the instruments and drums explaining how to keep the vocal
Upfront when evrything is going, not only when it’s a more quiet part

[nicearley]

This man is nice af. You’ve really mastered the craft of mixing. Will be running this video back over and over.

[GuiasMaurelChile]

Definitely the hardest part as a mixing engineer is wondering if your client is gonna send you a good recording of the vocals

[bangrah]

I'm becoming better at putting more care to my vocal thanks to you

[maeleigh]

You're the man! I replayed so many sections of this to fine tune some vocals. I compared the same exact vocal, and your setup sounded sooo much cleaner. I'm using an SM7B so I had to adjust a little bit for the lack of high end. I should probably grab the Virtual Mix Rack since the plugin spaces fill up so fast in Cubase! I'm also glad to hear that a pro is using VariAudio (I personally love it). Thank you for all you do.

[LautenAudio]

Amazingly informative as always, Austin. Thanks for including us!😄

[BrendanMiranda]

Man I really wish I could get that transparency lol. Been watching you for years and still struggle to get vocals this clean. That band passed distorition was just smooth as butter

[riharrds]

You're the best - love the attention nd care you put into your music and ur videos!! LOVE!!

[SamNicolosiOfficial]

Great video! It would be interesting to hear you mix something that is intentionally dark, like Billie Eilish’s albums for instance. Where there’s no Autotune, a lot of “tubbiness”, and very attenuated high frequencies in the vocal, prominent harmonies, etc. Recently had to mix this opposite style and it’s a whole different beast to get right

[TSUNAMIBEATSONE]

Always love watching your new videos, Austin. Good content!🔥

[diegooliveirabenjamin]

No irony, I’m a pro, and this vocals sound extremely good. Well well done Sir

[polrogi]

Thank you! I always struggle to make my vocals sound clean and finished.

[thatcostavo]

Hey man sick video! btw can you make a tutorial on how to make electronic darkwave like mareux, mr kitty, crystal castles? 🙏

[JHVH]

God these vocals sound SO good!! Goals AF :')

[haraldfrostad]

Just LOVE your voice and productions Austin ~ Peace, Love & MUSIC 👍😎

[lukeblackham]

your videos always help me and I appreciate you for it!!!!

[OneChoiceMusic]

this is what i need and want thanks bro
BRO LOVE THE Podcast