BEST PRACTICES

I AM CHOIR BEST PRACTICES

What our team keeps coming back to: how to prepare a vocal, which choir and microphone to start with, how to stack, and how to mix the result.

Preparation

Remove large silence gaps. The less silence, the better the conversion.
Keep it dry. Remove all reverb, delay and distortion before importing.
Single singer only. No harmonies, no doubles, no overlapping singers, no backing tracks or instruments.
No hard tuning. The models sound best with natural pitch variations.
Pre-EQ and compression. Clearer vocals process better. A light boost somewhere between 1k and 4k and light compression can help.
Length. Consolidate regions to under 45 seconds.
Level. Use healthy input gain and avoid really quiet files. Aim for peaks around -12 to -6 dBFS. If the file is quiet, add clean gain before processing. Avoid clipping or anything smashed with a compressor or limiter.

Model selection

Gospel: best for powerful, melodic choruses or standalone parts. Start with the U67.
Kids: best for high range and adding air or brightness. The iconic kids choir sound for a feature moment. Start with the U67.
Shout: strictly for gang vocals; melodic singing will sound inconsistent. The C24 is very clean and the U67 is very dirty.
Mic pairing: U67 for balance, C24 for brightness, Schoeps or Telefunken for dark, roomy textures.

Sound design

Stack. Always try stacking an Octave Up and Octave Down. Audition and mute to taste.
Safe harmonies. Use Fifths for a layer that is always in key.
Hybrid blending. Process the same vocal through both Gospel and Kids and combine them.

Technical safeguards

Avoid popping. Input audio that is too low or too high may cause popping or less optimal results.
Range limit. The Kids Choir cannot sing as low as the Gospel Choir.
Stereo imports. When importing a stereo file, make sure the left and right channels are unique takes panned hard left and right.
Phasing. Avoid processing the same part through the same choir twice with different microphones.

Mixing and production

Clean choirs: we lean on EQ and reverb rather than heavy compression or distortion. A high-pass filter into a vocal channel strip with some top end and reverb goes a long way on its own.

Dirty choirs: two treatments we love. Light saturation to add grit and glue. Aggressive filtering, a tight band-pass in particular, to push the choir back and make it feel like a texture rather than a lead.

Need help with a specific problem? Search the support hub.