Taking vocals to the next level

Editing

Once you’ve got that spine-tingling vocal captured as audio in your DAW, it’s time to start editing it. If you’re working on a rock, pop, dance or R&B/hip-hop track, it’s really important to be precise with your vocal editing, as poorly-timed double tracks or unwanted spill will result in a messy, home-made sound that doesn’t stand up against professional productions. The first thing to do is strip out all headphone spill between vocal lines, either by manually deleting vocal-free sections on the track, or by using your DAW’s silence-stripping tools. This will stop unwanted noise being sent to any reverb or delay FX sends, making the mix cleaner and giving the vocal more impact. Removing the vocalist’s breath before a line can work well in some circumstances, but tends to sound unnatural with fast-paced vocal lines or rapping. If you’re looking to make breath sounds more consistent, try picking your favourite and replacing the others with it. Making sure the timing of multitracked parts is super tight will ensure an end product that sounds like one cohesive take, rather than two separate parts. Very slight variances in timing are fine, as they contribute towards the multitracked effect, but sibilances and plosives that don’t line up can