Complete Vocal Processing Tutorial 2020

well done! Excellent presentation... clear concise and to the point .. much appreciated!!

im using sonar x3, when i use clip gain automation the waveform size doesnt change. where i can configure this?

Great vid, good info. Just want to make the point that dynamic vs condenser mic is a complex issue! Personally, I absolutely love my Beyerdynamic M99 large dynamic (broadly similar to a Sure SM7). However to say a dynamic will pick up less of the room is a little misleading --- this is true to some extent if you're right up close to the mic (although with a dynamic this might give you far too much bottom end) -- but, in the end a dynamic's signal level is lower, which means you will have to give it more gain to achieve the same db level as a condenser... which effectively puts you back to square one with room sound! Treat the room as best you can, the smaller the space the better (up to a point), fill it with cushions, blankets.. do what you have to to break up the reflections and reduce bass re-inforcement in corners.

Very informative and well done video (and instruction). I'm enjoying all of your videos. Binging, currently. New to Cakewalk, and you've explained it well. Thanks! Oh, and I like your music too!

Hard not to make it all the way through. Very interesting and useful video. I'm still kind of new to this, and am absorbing all I can find. Keep coming back to your channel, because of all the practical tips. Many thanks! Cheers.

Im full of get up n go after that, gained a lot, just need to put in the mileage with it now. Cheers Mike 😎

Thx Mike.

Turns out I have soooo much to learn. Not quite back to square one, but certainly need to sharpen my pencil... Excellent tutorial...as always.

Thanks!!!

Thank you for this video. So clear and straight forward

As always, I hope you're well. Great stuff, it's a lot! Remind people that this might take a while to digest, try out all the different steps and give it time. Thanks again, Mike

doesnt the gain and automation pretty much do the same thing? so confused now lol just when i thought i was understanding everything

Great tutorial! Going to try it on a new female vocal today!
Thank you!

Thanks so much

Excellent and Helpful!

hi I have a question, I’m a beginner who loves to make covers and I’m working on my first project. But.. I recorded everything and I’ve watched the tutorial about vocal comping and I have flatten all my vocals. But now I literally can do nothing with the recordings, I can’t split and am not able to clip gain (I haven’t tried the other things yet). and splitting is essential because I have to fix something in the middle of one of the leads but Cakewalk won’t let me :(
sorry if my english is bad, but I hope you can help me because I am lost

I have my own "band"... it's just me doing everything... and I have a pretty terrible voice and mediocre recording room. That said, I needed some serious help to move my music further into more creative areas, and found this tutorial INCREDIBLY helpful. Thank you!!

Excellent tutorials
I really enjoy your tutorials because you make them easy for me to understand.
Thanks

Thank you for this Mike!!

Great tutorial and complete for beginners!

Brilliant video. Your explanations are so clear and professional. Thank you.
My ears/headphones couldn’t pick up on much of the subtle changes you were making.

Thank you, Mr. Sauce!

Hi Mike, thanks for the video, very clear and useful as usual. Just one question... Once you get the track as desired, Do you Solo export Vocal track within the project including all the FX (and then mute the original track with automation, FXs, etc.) or keep using the original track for the whole mix ? Many thanks, All the best !

Mike, awesome work here and in the Studio One Project vid. I'm on my 3rd pass of this vid, taking notes. I'm in a master class! For your vocal routine, can you give me a run down of your favorite plugins for Studio One? I have pro as well as the Waves Gold bundle... I'm sure you too have at least that. What are your favorite gems there?

Thank you very much for this video. I have used Cakewalk since 1995. But have struggled to get anything to sound good. The poor misguided folks who produced the official instructional videos (particularly when under the control of Gibson), absolutely failed at offering anything useful. They were too fast, too vague, and tried to make it sound so easy, they would simply gloss over exactly how to do it. The result was predictably unhelpful.
Conversely, you have explained very clearly how to set up and use Cakewalk features plainly. Brilliant 😎 I will try this out tomorrow in my home studio on a current project.
I will also be sure to watch more of your content.. Thanks again.

Hi there which machine you are using. I want to buy new machine for my DAW. please suggest. Happy new year in advance.

Mike: not to be critical but for bussed/aux reverb (around the 34 min mark), you'll want to make it 100% wet (0 of the dry) -you'll notice funky phasing otherwise. That said, I love your vids.

I had to stop using cakewalk as it just refused to accept midi input (really annoying) and had loads of crackle while playing back. Moved to Studio One Artist edition as I got that with my audio interface and have to say I prefer it

Hi there don't you have a CPU performance issue with T-Racks plugins? Thank's in advance for response.

Mike thanks for all the great info . My question is I know how to set the gain on my channels . But my bus seems to be a little hotter than i want when the channel is where i would like it .. It seems i need to turn down my channel input gain to get the bus down but it puts the gain on the channel lower than I would like . How do I get both to ideal gain levels . I shoot for -12db on my channel and -10 on my bus . Thanks .

great tutorial

Hey Mike check out waves vocal rider. That'll solve 95% of your gain automation!

Very interesting video, I'm a bit surprised by two things:
1 - The vox delay is very subtle here (listening on headphones); does it work well in mono without chorusing effects anyway?
2 - I would have expected at least a small pre-delay in the reverb, have you tried to see ("hear") how it worked with it?
Thanks!

Hello Mike,sorry been away for abit but im back... Yet another GREAT VIDEO man...GOOD STUFF!!! Happy Holidays and a safe and Happy New Year to ya mate!! Cheers and lets hope 2021 is BETTER than 2020 with this COVID stuff going on!! Stay Safe... By the way man,Cakewalk has released an update (yes im behind LOL) Now,do i need to download and install a whole new Cakewalk,or does it just Update it for ya???? Just wondering before i jump in and end up wih 2 DAW's of Cakewalk ...hopefully it'll Update it for ya and NOT HAVE TO REINSTALL,Then delete(hopefully the right one) LOL,,and if ya do gotta delete...What about all your work in it??? Dont laugh at me too hard now ok mate...my Dad always said the only dumb questions are the ones that never get asked LOL LOL...PEACE MATE!!!

For the reverb, I tend to have a fairly lush reverb and have a very aggressive compressor right after it with the vocal feeding it as a sidechain. What it does is compress the reverb so we don't (or almost don't) hear it during the main vocal and it does come on with the lush tail after the vocal is finished. It's "ducking" behind the vocal. So, a ratio of 20:1 (or more if possible), the fastest attack possible, and then I play with the threshold and the release. After that, I add it to taste to the mix. It's not a typical setup, but I find it works in many situations to have a nice reverb while avoiding washing the vocal away and burying it in the mix.

For the delay, I set it to 1/8 the song's BPM (sometimes more, sometimes less) and usually feed it into the reverb. And then I see if I also need it dry or only through the reverb.

Great video as always! Very well explained. I have always compressed the vocals first to help even out the levels and aid in easier mixing. I will of course try your method to experiment. Superb content as always especially for us cakewalk users. Thank you from a grateful subscriber!

That was really usefull. Thank you.

Merry Christmas Eve and Happy Holiday!
I'd just like to echo or add to the suggestions at the beginning of the video..
The biggest step toward a great track is to start with a great recording of a good performance.
You don't want to start out fixing problems with levels, tone, plosives, mistakes, etc..
Take the time to get it right at the source! If the raw tracks are good takes and recorded well, you'll be able to bring up levels and find a balanced mix quickly. Now you can use your tools to create and polish a great finished mix instead of fixing all kinds of issues. That's the end goal. Make it easy to get there from the start!

Great video as always. Quick question for you. Do you know of a good online DAW. I want to use it to collaborate with my team. An online DAW that has at least the following: EQ, Compression, Reverb. And the usual: gain, volume, solo, automation, etc.

By Far This Iz My Favorite DAW Channel!!! Mike I've Used Cakewalk For Years (started with like 3.0 waaayy back when)..., But Until I Watched UR Channel I Never Dug Deep Into It Or Unlocked All The Creative Things You Could Do With It!!! I Was Basically MIDI Driven & Never Used Live Audio Clips. I Was Using Sonar X1 Producer & Immediately Switched Over To The Bandlab Version You Use So I Could Follow Along!!! In My Haste I Released My 1st Solo Project, But I Sure Could've Benefited From Utilizing All The Tips I've Now Learned Along The Way!!!
I Can Hear All The Warts & Mis-Steps I Made Along The Way..., So I Know My Next Project Will Be Soooooo Much More Thought Out As I Hear UR Voice Ringing In My Head!!! I Love The Way You Teach As Itz Thoughtful, Well Laid Out, & You Xplain Why You Make The Decisions You Use!!! Where Were You 10 Years Ago My Man??? I Wudda Been That Much Further Along!!! LOL!!! I Watch UR Videos Like I'm In The Theater Watching A Mega Block Buster Release!!! Keep Up The Great Work, You Have A Big Fan Man!!!

Long video but worth it. Thanks alot Mike.

Good video thanks Mike. I assume the Arturia is based on the old Trident A series? Grew up using them back in the Uk, great sounding desks.

Great video as always Mike, one thing I would like to mention, you were using a reverb with built in EQ. For those that don't have this plugin or prefer another one, you can achieve the same effect by placing an eq something like the Nova for example before the reverb on the buss. I often use it for reverb on acoustic guitars to get rid of that boxing boominess that tries to creep in sometimes.

Can we set that loud transient low in the cakewalk process tab through the clip gain function ? You had showed that trick couple of months ago in your vocal recording tutorial in cakewalk.

I get frustrated with automation. Sometimes I want to undo all automation on a track or bus. How do you do that in one click? BTW I bought Melodyne because of your tutorials. Merry Christmas

Thanks Mike, made it all the way to the end. As ever 5his is a great video.