>Step by step

1. Fun with formants

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Step one is selecting your vocal takes to work from and doing any comping (editing) if there are better parts in other takes. Once you have your main vocal track set, then do the same with your backing vocals or double tracks. Then repeat the process again to select your adlibs. 2

Once your vocal tracks are lined up correctly on your DAW timeline, it’s time to make any corrections. Some things to look out for are: sharp intakes of breath, dips in the volume of the vocal delivery or sudden peaks.

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Edit loud breaths by selecting the parts of the waveform and reducing the volume. Cutting the breaths altogether would make the vocal sound unnatural. The idea is just to tame the breaths so that they’re far less noticeable. I’ve found that with faster rappers in particular, the breaths are louder and deeper.

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You can also use volume control in the same way to balance out the vocal waveform where you see any volume peaks or dips. The compression step (still to come) will help too, but before that happens we need to get a decent balance in place on the timeline so we can be less intensive with the compression settings.

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EQ your vocals to help them cut through the rest of the track. Think about your vocalist’s range and then use parametric bands to remove any unwanted frequencies. Cut where necessary so that the vocal isn’t fighting against the low end or the snap of a snare for example.

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I really recommend using a multiband compressor. It fulfils a similar function to an EQ but with a level of control across each frequency band that an EQ tool can’t offer. If you are unhappy with any harsh frequencies, use multiband compression to fix each part but keep the sound of the whole vocal track glued.

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Every hip-hop song and its qualities will be different, but there are still fundamentals. The low end for the kick drum and the bass need to stand out in their own right. So find the space for your vocals in the frequency spectrum. There’ll be places you can boost while not affecting your other components.

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The human ear is most sensitive to sounds around 2.5-5kHz so this section of the equalisation can be boosted to improve vocal clarity while the middle frequencies can be used to give the vocal timbre.

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EQing to bring out clarity also, unfortunately, means increasing sibilance, ie, making ‘s’ and ‘t’ sounds harsh. Use a de-esser tool to counteract this. See my pro tips above for my expert recommendation for tackling this problem.

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Create a rough balance for the vocal components. Then use compression on your vocal mix bus to help glue them together. You want your adlibs to sound tight with your lead vocals, and for the lead vocal to be balanced and strong against the other components of your mix.

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A trick I like to use for getting a clean reverb is a double track of the lead vocal. I make this duplicate track a reverb ‘wet’ track, meaning that the main lead vocal stays sharp and ‘dry’. The duplicated track is just an enhancement tool providing subtle reverb for the main vocal.

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Add some further enhancements to help the vocal really pop. There are plenty of exciters and saturation plugins to just deepen the sound of the vocal and make it really rich based on your taste and the mood of the track. Widening the stereo image of the vocal bus will also give the track that little bit more zest.