4 Nice Moves to Fix Harsh Vocals

Tired of fighting with harsh vocals that could shatter glass? 🔊 We've got your back with 4 game-changing techniques from mixing legends Stuart White, Leslie Brathwaite, Marc Daniel Nelson, and Darrell Thorp. No BS, just pure mixing wisdom to keep your vocals powerful yet smooth. 🎯

Produce Like A Pro

Smooth out a vocal with dynamic EQ and de-essing

Marc Daniel Nelson demonstrates how to smooth out a vocal using dynamic EQ and de-essing, focusing on reducing sibilance and unwanted frequencies. He starts with the Waves DeEsser to tame the harsh sibilance around 5-10kHz, followed by the FabFilter Pro-Q 3 for dynamic EQ to address additional sibilance and honkiness around 500Hz and 100-250Hz. Nelson emphasizes the importance of careful de-essing to avoid making the singer sound unnatural, and uses a wider bell curve on the EQ to subtly reduce low-mid muddiness. By addressing these issues before applying compression and further EQ, Nelson ensures a clean, balanced vocal that integrates smoothly into the mix.

Produce Like A Pro

Smoother vocals with Soothe

Darrell Thorp demonstrates how to achieve smoother, less harsh vocals using the Oeksound Soothe plugin. He highlights the simplicity and effectiveness of Soothe, which can be applied to tracks with harsh frequencies and adjusted for depth and resolution to suit the needs of the mix. Thorp showcases the plugin's ability to target and reduce harshness in the 3k range, resulting in a noticeably smoother vocal sound with minimal effort. By switching to ultra mode, he maximizes the plugin's performance, making the vocal feel more polished and pleasant to the ear.