#169: Mastering Vocal Dynamics with Gain Automation and Why You Need This One Mixing Technique

I've been writing , producing , mixing and mastering music for over 15 years and I want to share what I've learnt with you . Hello , folks , and welcome to the Inside the Mix podcast .

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In episode 164 , I demonstrate the use of a classic combination of compressors the 1176 going into an LA-2A on a vocal recording .

So it transpires that episode 164 is one of the most popular episodes of the podcast in 2024 , certainly on YouTube and definitely in terms of downloads , lots of engagement , interaction with you , the listeners , and also comments on YouTube .

However , there are a number of perfectly valid comments on the YouTube video for episode 164 , where viewers mentioned the use of clip gain , gain automation or even something like the waves vocal rider to control the dynamic performance of the recording before it hits the compressor to take the load off the compressor .

Now , I did mention that at the end of the video . However , I only mentioned it briefly , so I thought you know what . I'll record a follow-up video where I go through the process of using clip gain to control the dynamics in a performance before we hit the compressor . So let's give that a go .

So here we are in Logic Pro and I'm using the same vocal recording that I used in episode 164 . It is a vocal recording from my track you and I , which was released I think it was 2022 now's quite a while ago anyway .

So this is the original recording no processing whatsoever this is the same audio , but this time I'm using clip gain to control the dynamics of the performance . So let's give that a listen . It's more even in terms of dynamic range , but it still fluctuates a fair bit and it will need compression .

But this initial stage is going to take the load off the compressor . I'm not going to need so much gain reduction . So let's go through this process . So , listening to this audio recording , I've sort of identified the areas where I need to control these dynamics and it's sort of around this area here . So this is around bar 85 on beat three , this first one .

So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna use the marquee tool just to select this audio region , if you will , this portion of audio , up until just about bar 86 or just after , and then click .

And then I'm going to use the right mouse button , because that's my third tool and I've got that assigned to the gain tool and what I'm going to do is I'm just going to drop it by . Let's do 3db to begin with and let's see how that sounds .

What I want to do is , from that phrase before this section that I've marqueed using the marquee tool , I want it to flow nicely from one section to the other . It's not such a jump in volume , so let's see how that sounds . So I'm going to go from bar 85 and let's give it a go . Let's play that again . So it's that fighting word .

So I'm going to go back to the original , to zero dB and let's have a listen to that . Probably should have done that before to be fair , but let's play that . So this is without clip game , so it's quite a bit louder , isn't it ? So let's drop it by 3db again . There we go . I think that sounds better , so I've settled on 3dB there .

So I'm gonna play it from just before bar 85 , through that new clip gained region , then into the final part , and let's give that a go . I'm not fighting , I'm still lying . But you can hear that's around bar 86 or just after . It really does jump up in volume there . So I'm gonna marquee that out as well .

Let's get the marquee tool on here and done that , so you can just click and drag with the marquee tool then , then left click and it will cut it , I guess , or section it , whatever word you want to use . Basically , I'm going to drop this by about four dB . So let's give that a go and 4db . There we are and I'm gonna play it .

Let's play it before this time I'm just gonna solo the original . I don't know why I didn't do that to begin with . But I'm gonna play the original . Okay , and this is with clip gain , just clip gain , just clip gain . I'm not fighting , I'm still lying .

It sounds much better Still around bar 88 , you've got it where the vocal does rise in volume there quite a bit , but obviously there's only a certain amount of clip gain I want to do in terms of controlling dynamics and I'll leave the rest to the compressor . I mean , it's up to you how you want to do it .

Really , I'm just adjusting the marquee , the region I've set up here . It's up to you how much you want to do it and how much you want to control the dynamics using clip gain . I like to do it quite subtly .

So here , just to recap all I've done , I've sectioned I say sectioned , segmented , I don't know what you call it Minus three on this section here in terms of dB , and then after that it's minus four . I mean I could , let's try minus five . So I'm going to play all the way through now . This is with clip gain . Okay , and then this is the original .

It does get you at the end there , that vocal when it rises . It does need controlling , doesn't it ? But this is one way to do it . There is a frequency in there that probably needs a bit of taming as well , and there was a comment on the YouTube video which was to use dynamic EQ around 2.4k just to control that sort of really quite harsh frequency .

So you could add that to it as well to add a bit more control . So another thing you could do . So I've got the 1176 loaded on both tracks with the exact same settings and let's compare gain reduction here . So I'm going to play the original and let's have a look and keep an eye on that gain reduction meter .

So let's give it a go Looking at the gain reduction meter , the word fighting about 2 dB of gain reduction and then that loud section at the end between minus 4 and minus 5 dB of gain reduction . If you want to know how I set the compressor , check out episode 164 .

So now , let's have a listen to the original , and and again , we'll keep an eye on the gain reduction meter . Yeah , so the word fighting about minus 3 dB of gain reduction and then it goes up just above minus 7 dB of gain reduction for that phrasing at the end .

So you can see how , using clip gain , we can take the load off the compressor and control the dynamics before we even do any processing . So we've used clip gain , but we can also use gain automation , which probably gives us more control over the dynamic performance , kind of similar to the Waves Vocal Rider . But obviously this is a manual process .

So let's have a look at using gain automation . So here I am . I'm in the gain automation lane for this track and you can just get there by pressing A in Logic Pro . It takes you to the gain automation lane .

Then you need to select the gain tool from the drop-down list and what I'm going to do is this I'm gonna identify the same area we did before , so I'm gonna create some nodes and then I'm gonna drop it down . It was three DB , wasn't it ? We did about three DB . There we go , and then I'm gonna drop down this final section here .

I think it was by about four DB , if I remember rightly , something like that . Let's make this a bit bigger so you can press command and down arrow and you can expand the view here minus four . So what we could do here which we can't do with the clip gain is have more discrete control over the overall gain of this audio .

So during that section , at the end of the phrase here , where it gets really loud , I can have the gain automation just pulling it down a touch more to control that end phrasing . So I've got it set like I did with the clip gain .

But this time what I'm going to do is I'm just gonna adjust it slightly so I'm gonna , as it gets towards the end of that phrasing , at the end of that really loud section , I'm gonna have it come down to sort of minus 6 dB . I don't want it to fluctuate too much because I don't want it to sound weird .

Obviously I haven't tried it yet so I don't know how it's gonna sound . So let's play it with the gain automation . So here we go . And this is the original . So you can see it's much more controlled . Again , like with the clip gain , I might actually just bring it down to minus seven and let's see how that's minus 6.9 , we'll leave it there .

Let's play it now and see how that sounds . Yeah , cool , sounds much better . Obviously you could take more time doing this , but you get the idea . Using gain automation , you have much more discrete control over the level of the audio , the gain , if you will , of the audio . So two ways you could do it .

You could use click gain or you could use gain automation or , again , like I said earlier , you could use something like the waves vocal rider . If you want to save a bit of time , personally I like to go in and either use clip gain or use gain automation . I won't lie , clip gain seems to be my favorite of late , but there's a use case for both .

Depends on what you're working on . So before we wrap this up , let's do a quick AB comparison with the 1176s . I've got them loaded here , same settings again and let's play the gain automation track and keep an eye on this gain reduction meter .

Yes , indeed , I'll describe it to those listening on your podcast player of choice that we've got about minus one to minus two dB of gain reduction for that initial fighting .

However , because we're using gain automation , as that vocal gets louder and we're automating the level down , we've only got about three dB of gain reduction , compared to minus 4 or minus 5 using clip gain . So , once again , you can see the benefit of gain automation in that we've got more discrete control .

Now , if you wanted to speed up this process , you could use something like the Waves Vocal Rider , which will do it for you , but I prefer to do it manually . So let's have a quick listen to the original . We know how it's going to sound , but we'll do it anyway . Yeah , there we go . So two options for you there , folks Clip gain or gain automation .

There's a use case for both . Depends on what you want to do ultimately . There we go , folks . I hope that was of use , and thank you to everybody who commented on episode 164 . Your comments were the inspiration for this video and there were some great comments on there , so please do keep them coming . Some really really good tips and tricks and advice .

So go check out episode 164 on YouTube and the comments , and there's some great stuff in there . If you've enjoyed this episode , I want to hear from you .

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