The Secret Croak - courtesy AudioTechnology magazine.
When it comes to EQing vocals I don’t think so much about
treble and bass. Instead, I’m more interested in the harmonic
structure of the voice that is unique to the individual. Each face
has its own unique architecture, in the same way that each concert
hall has unique acoustics. We can equalise a hall by sending pink
noise into it and adjusting an equaliser to balance this reference
signal. Similarly, before wasting the energy and talent of the vocalist
on the song, it’s wise to have them produce some reference
noises to align your equipment and to allow you to beam-in to their
unique architecture.
The ‘reference tone’ I use in the case of a vocalist
is something a bit out of the ordinary. I ask the vocalist to produce
quiet sounds that do not stress the vocal chords. I ask them to
produce a series of gentle ‘ahs’, a ‘Bo Ba Lou’,
then get them to count to 20, grunt, hiss, produce long croaks and
little buzzing noises.
Of all the strange sounds I get my singers to produce, the most
useful of all is the oddest one to make. It is the sound of vocal
chords slowly clicking together without air or water or pitch.
While they do this peculiar exercise I sweep (that’s right,
usually a ‘no no’ but, in this case, sweep) narrow bands
of EQ searching for the unique resonant cavities in their face and
throat and chest.
So, when sweeping a singer like Jeremy you might listen out for
the frequencies that bring you closer to the back of his throat
or to the cavities behind his eyes, to the flesh of his lips or
other characteristic attributes. These same frequencies will also
bring out the expression in the song he is about to sing. So why
go for the strange reference tone sounds instead of the melody?
If you have the vocalist sing the melody (or any note for that matter)
the note(s) sung will naturally be much louder than their unique
harmonics. Because you’re not actually using a note, per se,
your equaliser can now bring out all the different cavities in the
voice. If you use a sharp EQ curve with significant boost you’ll
hear those unique qualities coming in and out in sharp relief,
at times creating a caricature of the singer’s vocal ‘personality’.
Try it .
Hopefully this will prompt you to have a play with these ideas.
Remember, the key to this stuff is giving it a go – don’t
just take my word for it.
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