Many times when I am recording an instrument, the frequencies I have targeted in the past like 1.5k for cutting the mix on a dirty guitar, or 2-2.5k for string noise on a bass are pretty dependable frequencies. But recording a vocalist is a little more difficult.
Depending on the singer, the mic, the tone of their voice during certain sections of the song, and a whole lot of other variables, the same singer can present multiple challenges to the mixer.
KEY FREQUENCIES
There are essentially 6 key frequencies to a vocal. Each of these has their own character, especially the ones lower on the scale.
1.) Body - The body of the voice is the lowest frequencies on the spectrum that the vocalist produces. Typically this is around 50-250hz. Vocalists can produce a lot of gain in this series. Many times I find adding Body to a vocal gives it warmth.
2.) Boxiness - When we use the term Boxiness related to vocals, it is typically in the 250-700hz range. These are the lower Mid frequencies that also add a little body, but not in a musical way. It sounds like a muffled telephone microphone. I will typically target this series for a cut.
3.) Cuts Mix - This series around 1-2.5khz is typically the area I will focus to make the vocal cut through a mix. This is the high Mid series of the voice. It sounds like a megaphone, and if you’ve ever stood too close to a megaphone, you know they are very effective. A vocalist who cuts here already very well may need a cut.
4.) Presence - This series around 2.5-6khz is also quite strong with some vocalists, especially if you are working with a microphone that is already boosted in this range. A boost or cut here may be necessary, especially around the 3k mark.
5.) Brightness - Around the 8k mark, you will find the gain of a voice tends to drop-off, especially with certain microphones. A boost in this are is usually not a bad idea, but if you are employing a deesser, you may find your moves are squashed. I will typically leave this area alone and depend on other techniques to boost my highs.
6.) Air - As with Brightness, the Air series of a vocal, 12-20khz, may also be markedly diminished in gain. This band of frequencies is nearly inaudible to most listeners, and an area I usually employ other plugins to accentuate.
FREQUENCY FINDER FOR SUBTRACTIVE EQ
Before I start working with a vocal performance, and making cuts or boosts, I will employ my Frequency Finder in Pro-Q3 (link at the bottom) and isolate each key frequency series for natural resonance that may need to be cut or areas that require a boost. Generally, this is a good way to identify how the key frequencies I identified above impact the recorded performance.
Notice I have marked each of the key frequency series with a Band Pass Filter or in the case of the Air series, a brick wall filter. In solo, I will turn-on each of these filters and check to see if I hear anything popping-out that may need to be tamed. Since I am boosting the potpie of this EQ by 6dB, this is a very similar to a frequency sweep, which can be somewhat of a risky way to identify resonant frequencies because if you boost too much, everything sounds bad.
In this example, I found some ringing around 330, 490, and 1k that required taming. Using a second EQ instance, placed before the Frequency Finder, I will create a very narrow Q
Notice my bell cuts are very narrow, this allows me to focus on only the frequencies that need to be addressed. I will also generally reduce the gain of these frequencies by thy appear over 0dB as a starting place, but this may be enough to meet your needs.
FREQUENCY FINDER FOR ADDITIVE EQ
I will also use the Frequency Finder (link below) to isolate specific series on the vocal track in an effort to determine if each series requires a boost. Many times, I find if the correct microphone has been employed, generally, very little needs to be boosted, at first.
But after the mix starts to develop, you may notice the vocal needs to cut more in the mix, requires additional body or air, or a combination of these. Whatever needs to be boosted, I am not a big fan of using an EQ to boost these areas. Much of this I already discussed in Mastery in EQ: Additive versus Subtractive, so I won’t repeat myself here. Rather, I will use a Band Pass Filter, the method described in Mastery in EQ: Additive EQ instead.
What a Band Pass Filter (BPF) allows you to do is focus the boost on a single series of frequencies. For example, say my vocal needs more Body. We would typically boost somewhere between 50-250hz to accomplish this on the main EQ assigned to the track. But adding more body to a track may also impact all of the other FX in the chain of that track.
So if I am boosting pretty late in the mixing game, I will create an effect send from my main vocal track and put a Pro-Q3 on it. Then create a BPF dialed-in to the specific frequency band.
Since you are duplicating the original track with this Aux channel, the gain for these frequencies will already boost the vocal track by up to 6dB (see The 6db Rule in Foundation in Stereo and Mono Mixing.
There may be little need to boost the gain on this new Aux track at all. Unity should be a good starting place. If you need to add more gain, I will usually add a gain plugin after the Pro-Q3. I don’t like to adjust gain in my EQs unless it is required.
REFERENCE: Key Vocal Frequency Pro-Q3 Preset
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