Hi Guys and Gals of thataudioguy.net

I recieved a rather interesting call today with an all too common a problem, how to get live vocals over a small DJ system in a club, but doubly so Live Female vocals.

Now the scenario was, a DJ for a few tracks was going to have a female vocalist singing over his DJing, this is not essentially the problem. The problem consistes of the mentality of a lot of DJ's wanting to push the system hard, which is all fine and dandy until headroom becomes valuable because you have a channel with more dynamic content coming through, which unchecked will either a) get lost as the DJ is hitting the limiters and the comp/limiter is pushing down the signal b) the comp/limiters have not been correctly configured or sound checked as they are not in a lot of clubs, therefore you induce distortion (and not nice distortion at that)

The best way in my opinion to handle this scenario is to run this signal chain. a) Run the vocals into a mixer, and more precisely NOT a DJ Mixer (a proper band mixer for you DJ types, not a line level DJ mixer), and preferably have a compressor inserted over the channel to reduce the dynamic range of those breathy female vocals. b) run the DJ mixer into a compressor limiter, THEN into the desk the vocals are on *(Pad the channels coming in 10 - 20DB depending on how hard you are pushing the outputs of the comp/limiter) set your compression to a short attack and a long release (attack or 0.75 to 1 and release of 1 - 2 IMHO) run a compression ratio of approx 1.5 or 2:1 depending on sound (USE YOUR EARS!) and set your brick wall limiter to approx +3 to +6 IMHO (depending on the limiter) and make up gain to taste.

Bring your channels up on the DJ Mixer so you are JUST touching the red, and adjust your brick wall if you wish to have that "sucking" compression sound that DJ's seem to love so much. Now bring up your vocal channel to match it; and EQ and compress or not compress to taste (IMHO a 2.5:1 compression ration works, but again use your ears, and be wary of your attack and release times, and be wary of vocalists that "choke" the mike, like hardcore singers)

make up gain in your main mixer and hey presto, club mix with live vocals. Now I am sure I have missed a few things here, such as monitoring the audio coming out for the singer (run an aux, into an EQ, into a powered speaker or power amp and speaker) however this in my opinion is the best way to get live vocals over a DJ.

Do not however, run the mic straight into the DJ mixer with talk over function enabled, as this is a side chain compressor. It will push down your level of music so that the vocalist can be heard, but more than likely, to use an analagy, it would sound like a turd dropped on wet concrete, i.e: awful.

If anyone has any other opinions or ideas on this, and you wish to add to this article, please e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Cheers

Cam