Air, part II: the finishing touches

Yesterday we talked about adding a boost at 10000Hz to add “air” to a vocal. And here are a couple of great finishing touches to really make your vocal air sparkle in a smooth, finished-sounding way!

You’ll sometimes find that, after your air boost is in a generally good place, you’ll have some artifacts that need to be dealt with. I like to do two things after my air boost:

1. Pair the 10000 Hz air boost with a 13000 Hz 12dB/oct lowpass filter (LPF). That combination rounds off the top end in a lovely way, and gets rid of all the supersonic garbage that inevitably lives at the top of a vocal, particularly one recorded with a condenser (ew).

2. Add a de-esser. Pushing a bunch of 10k into a de-esser is such a power move; shine and control. There are lots of great de-essers out there now for not a lot of money; here’s a fantastic one for $50.

Yesterday, I suggested, as I always do, that you “use your ears and stop when it feels good.” Today, I would like to give you the power version of that suggestion: go to where it feels good, and then go a little further — and then do steps 1 and 2 above. You will find that the LPF and the de-esser pull back all the bits that are one step over the line, resulting in a very “finished” sounding vocal.

Indeed, after I add the LPF and the de-esser, I often find myself adding another dB or two to the 10000 Hz air boost, and you should definitely try that too! The de-esser will keep the esses and tees in check, and you’ll be able to get even more of that lovely sheen. By going back and forth between the 10k boost amount and the de-esser threshold, you can dial in the top end of your vocal precisely.

High-gloss — jamie