Oct 1, 2001 12:00 PM, BY MAUREEN DRONEY

Let's talk about vocals.

Vocals are the most important part of the track. And a lot of times they are not recorded as well as they could be, with the right limiter. You'd be surprised at how much compression you need to put on vocals to make them sit right in the track. Sure, you cannot compress it much and ride it, but it ain't going to have the personality that good old compression is going to give it.

I would rather compress a vocal hard to get some personality out. It's like putting a snazzy jacket on a guy when he goes out at night — it adds attitude. And nothing adds attitude more than 1176s. I have six to choose from. I also like Vac Racs, which you see I have eight channels of.

I've found that these tube Vac limiters are perfect for backgrounds, and a lot of times for rock records they're perfect for the lead vocal. They only have one setting: both knobs all the way to the right. That's the optimum setting.

My vocals are always in the 17-24 bucket, right in the middle, which is important because you also have to send them to a couple of faders to help the level. You don't want the vocal faders to be up too high, where they start to clip and the console is not in that window. So, why not just bus the vocals to two more faders right next to them, just to help the level, and you send your overall effects from those faders.

I generally don't put boatloads of reverb or chorusing on vocals; I just pan them left, right or center. If I have a song where all the backgrounds are mono tracks, I'll pound them up the middle because that blend may work better. Or I may stereoize them with a little harmonizer. I use an old H3000, or I'll use Early Reflection preset on a REV5 to make it a little stereo and not quite as dry-sounding.

The hardest thing to do is to get the vocal to sit right in the track. And then to de-ess them so they don't sound like they have a lisp, but to keep the sibilance under control.

What de-essers do you use?

dbx 902s. But a lot of times if you pick the right compressor, it kind of de-esses by itself. The tube limiters, especially, knock the esses off pretty good.

What do you monitor on?

NS-10s with an Infinity subwoofer that I got at Frys for about 300 bucks.

A subwoofer?

You've gotta have a subwoofer; if you can't hear what's going on down there, you can't get it right. I know, some guys mix with subwoofers, they have it too loud, and their mixes end up with no bottom. But if you set it just right so you can hear that lower octave, you'll sometimes dig for the deeper notes. Especially if you are going to do anything that's R&B- or rap- or hip hop-based, you've got to have the subwoofer so you can get the truck frequency. That low boom that all those guys in the trucks want to hear.

I also have my little Sony blaster. It's rack-mounted, and that's the comparison. My little brother Tommy turned me on to it, and every client who comes in here wants to hear their mixes on it. If it doesn't sound good through 2-inch speakers on your little boom box, what's the point? It's got to sound big on a small speaker. You are trying to make something sound larger than life on the smallest medium possible.

Speaking of your little brother Tommy, when I did an interview with him a few years ago, he spent the first half-hour talking about you.

Well, I did train him! He used to work with me, and I'm glad he's doing great.

On her latest CD, Stevie Nicks called you a “master craftsman.”

That was really nice. A lot of what we do is really crafting. Because sometimes you'll get what's kind of a mess without any real direction or arrangement — everybody playing the whole song. And you've got to weed it out. You try to maximize what they have, and a lot of the time, you're just opening it up where there is too much going on right away.

I do it by instinct. Like a 12-inch; just arrange it, make it slim, make the chorus go bang! Usually, I just do it and the client comes in and goes, “Wow! I like it.” The vocal and the groove are standing out a little bit better now; the verses build, and it seems to go somewhere.

What's your advice to someone who wants to get the most out of hiring you to do a mix?

Let the artist and the producer live with the recording, to make sure that they like the arrangement. You don't want to go into the mixing room and say, “I don't know about that keyboard, or that guitar, I don't know about this or that.” As soon as you start going “I don't know,” you are never going to get done. Indecision shouldn't be in the mixing room. Let me make the record sound good; not try to weed through the arrangement. It's one thing to make a short version or an edit, but if there are parts that you are unsure about, don't even put them on there. Get rid of them. Make a decision.

You're in a place to have a unique perspective of our industry and where it's going. What do you see?

We've experimented with techniques and with sounds; I think that we're going to get back to good songs. I would hope that we get more records with character, and not so much stuff that's cookie-cutter. But, at the end of the day, it's the housewife with a two-year-old, sitting in the kitchen with the radio on, or the guy driving his car at the beach with his girlfriend. A cool song comes on the radio, that's all that matters.

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Maureen Droney is Mix's L.A. editor.

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Dido: “Don't Think of Me” (radio mix)

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Nine Days: “If I Am” and “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)” (off The Madding Crowd)

Green Day: Nimrod

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Macy Gray: “I Try” (special retail mix)

Hole: Celebrity Skin (mixed four tracks)

Fastball: All the Money Pain Can Buy

Savage Garden: Savage Garden

Everclear: “I Will Buy You a New Life” and “Father of Mine” (off So Much For the Afterglow)

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