Recording April 2022 - 18

Vocal
Production
with
Andrew
Bolooki
simultaneously. When people get inspired and reach for a keyboard,
I want it to work and be instantly recordable so ideas
don't vaporize into the air. I'm trying to get from the demo to
the finished song as quick as possible.
What is your vocal chain?
I'm using a Chandler Limited REDD mic, which I love. There's
actually a preamp built into the microphone, which I like because
it's just one less piece of gear to worry about. I run that directly
into a Tube-Tech CL 1B optical compressor. I set it so moderately
that it's hardly doing a thing. If I see the needle move, I get a little
worried. That goes straight into the Symphony I/O.
I also just bought the Apogee Symphony Desktop, so I can
go to any studio and bring the sound I know with me. As long
as you don't over-compress and over-saturate on the way in,
everything's captured in incredibly high fidelity.
Fidelity is critical to your workflow.
I rely on a lot of wave file manipulation, processing and effects.
Most of the tuning plugins and the processing you put on afterward,
in my opinion, work best on very clean signals. It's more
accurate when what you're presenting to those plugins is basically
like the cleanest ones and zeros you could possibly capture. It's
not to say that you shouldn't commit to things on the way in, but if
you overdo it, you could technically be stepping on your own feet.
Have you played with any of the DSPbased
plugins from Apogee?
The ECS Channel Strip has quickly become one of my favorites.
The drive knob in particular is incredibly musical, and
it's kind of a secret weapon. It sounds great on vocals, and it
sounds phenomenal on acoustic instruments.
We reviewed the Apogee Duet 3 just this
month. David Blascoe loved the drive
and compression on his drums.
There are like a zillion saturation plugins, and some are too
complicated. You gotta really appreciate it when somebody
boils saturation down to just one knob that sounds great.
Are you printing through the DSP channel
strip or just monitoring with it?
Just monitoring, again, when I'm putting something in Melodyne
or the warping features in Ableton, there are a lot of
complicated algorithms that you're heavily relying on to make
something stay natural sounding. But I like that the artist can
perform through it at a writing or tracking session. It can help
them feel more comfortable hearing themselves fully blasted
and compressed. It'll inspire them.
18 RECORDING April 2022
What are you using for monitors?
Right now, I'm using the Adam A7X with a sub, but I actually
just ordered a pair of the new PMC 6-2 monitors. I just demoed
them, and they sound mind-blowing. Then for travel, I have a
pair of the small Genelec 8010A 3 " monitors.
They sound scary good for their size.
Those are some of the best traveling speakers I think money can
buy; just the fact that you can throw them in a little gig bag, and
they're good to go. I've brought them with me on trips overseas.
What advice do you have for remote mixing
and production for people sending you files?
If you're going to pass files along to somebody, it's best to
give them something that is not super processed, so you can
allow them to do what they need to do. Things like compression
just turn up the room noise and highlight the environment they
recorded in. Also, you don't want to commit to any tuning. It's
very hard to un-auto tune. I'd rather somebody focus on their
performance and not the technical nuances. And often, a dynamic
mic works better than a cheap condenser.
What is your usual vocal plugin chain?
My first plugin is almost always the FabFilter Pro-Q3, just
for filtering. Everything 180 or 200 Hz and below, I'll cut out.
Then I'll use a de-esser.
I see a lot of debate over where you should put the de-esser, but
I keep going back to, tools made to fix things should be first before
you start adding compression and turning things up. So, I'll usually
do the high pass filter followed by the FabFilter Pro-DS plugin. For
compression, the Waves CLA 76 is my default. I can get that thing
up and running very quickly, and I really appreciate how you can
switch between the Blue and Black flavors. Then after that, I'll do
any vocal tuning because my thought is that I want to clean the signal
up and even out the level and then present it to the vocal tuner.
Then all of that might go to a vocal bus with another filter on it,
just in case there are any problematic frequencies, followed by
a less aggressive, slower compressor like Waves Renaissance
Vox. Then I usually have all of that going to a multi-band compressor
like the Waves C6 instead of surgically EQing things.
I feel like it sounds a little bit more natural and can hype and
change the energy of frequencies without just boosting them.
Lastly, I have been using the Mäag Audio EQ4 plugin. I'll
usually crank the airband at 12 o'clock and then just choose 20
or 40 kHz. It makes the vocals sound a little more expensive.
What do you turn to for effects?
I'll use Valhalla Reverb and Waves H-Delay. I don't even put
that stuff on until after I make sure all the recording, comping
and everything else is done.
Another plugin I have been using lately is Waves Vocal Bender
for pitch and doubling effects. I still also use Soundtoys Little
AlterBoy, but this has more options that can be applied, especially
the formant shifting.
I'm used to the seamless formant and pitch shifting in Ableton
Live, and Vocal Bender gives me a similar workflow in Pro Tools.
So much great stuff, thanks, Andrew!
Thank you.
Recording April 2022

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