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Lowering a vox track's volume without making it sound weak?

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Topic Lowering a vox track's volume without making it sound weak?
I often hear songs where even though the instruments are clearly louder than the vocals, the vocals still have a clear presence and don't sound weak (can't think of any examples now but will post when they come to me).

Sometimes, when I want to have the instrumentals be the key focus, I lower the volume of my vox tracks to where I want them, but they sound very weak. Are there specific techniques/plugins/compressor tweaks/etc that helps quiet vocal tracks still sound strong and present? Thanks.
2
In that case i sometimes use parallel processing ( distortion) which is mixed in very softly.

The distortion is not audiable but it shure cuts through the mix and lifts the vocal out of the mix.

It's not about what you got to use ....    but how you use what you got...

[ Post last edited on 11/20/2014 at 10:43:21 ]

3
I would also recommend going through the vocal track carefully, and using your DAW's volume automation to bring up the level of any words or lines that are significantly softer than others. The reason being that if your vocal is mixed just at the verge of intelligibility, lines that are quieter will not be heard.

[ Post last edited on 11/20/2014 at 11:31:12 ]

4
Quote from angelie:
In that case i sometimes use parallel processing ( distortion) which is mixed in very softly.

The distortion is not audiable but it shure cuts through the mix and lifts the vocal out of the mix.


+1
5
It's also important to make sure you've effectively EQ'ed. EQing really helps give every instrument/track it's own 'seating assignment' in the mix. For example, if your vocals are the only track (or one of the few) with lots of highs, then it'll cut through the mix better than if it shared it's most present frequencies with several other tracks