Good rap vocals are two things: clear and up front in the mix. This overview on how to mix rap vocals will cover how to do both to get them sounding their best on top of the mix.
How to Mix Rap Vocals
Use EQ to Keep Rap Vocal Clean
When it comes to the tone of the rap vocal itself, it’s not just about keeping it clean, meaning removing all the background noise, it’s about adding presence to the voice, as well.
My rap vocal EQ cheat sheet covers the major frequency points to cut or boost:
High Pass at 100Hz
High passing your vocals is essential for clearing out low end noise which isn’t part of the vocal as well as non-musical frequencies on the vocal itself.
While the exact point will vary from vocal to vocal, 100Hz is generally a good place to start. Use a 12-24dB/oct slope and sweep as high as you can before you hear the vocal audibly change, then back it off 10Hz or so.
It can help to wear headphones with a good low end response to more accurately hear the vocal here.
With male and lower range vocalists, you likely don’t want to high pass quite as high and may favor below 100Hz to ensure you’re not thinning the body.
Boost/Cut at 150Hz
Speaking of the body, this is one of the most important ranges on most vocals but particularly in how to mix rap vocals.
I talked about this briefly in my overview on the proximity effect, but this range is where a lot of the deepness and power of the voice stems from. The closer the vocalist is to the microphone, the more of this fullness is captured.
This range carries a lot of gravitas when it comes to communicating verbally, so a strong 150Hz anchor on the vocal is essential for subconsciously keeping your listener’s attention.
I like to do a small static boost here on rap vocals in particular to keep them sounding full and powerful. Sometimes you may not need to do anything, or in rare cases when the vocal was recorded poorly and you’ve got a lot of vocal pops, you may need to cut here.
Specifically in the case of vocal plosives, a dynamic cut works best because the pops cause rare surges in the 150Hz region which a dynamic cut can proportionately bring down and only activate when an extreme threshold is met via that pop (see how to use dynamic EQ).
Dynamic Cut at 500Hz
Boxiness can be more or less of a problem depending on how the vocal was recorded, with some rooms or microphone placements lending themselves to bad reflections.
The 400-600Hz region is typically unflattering on a lot of instruments, and the vocal is no different in general.
While you can do a static cut here, this is more of an issue on certain notes than others, so I like a dynamic cut around 500Hz to attenuate 2dB on average when that threshold is triggering.
By the way, I’ve mentioned dynamic EQ a couple times now. If your EQ doesn’t allow you to make dynamic cuts, while my favorite plugin OVERALL is the FabFilter Pro-Q 3, also check out the FREE TDR Nova (see the best free EQ plugin).
Boost/Cut at 1-2k
1-2k can be controlled to correct a hollow or nasal sounding vocal with a boost or cut, respectively.
In other words, if you find that your vocal is sounding a bit hollow (usually the product of recording conditions again), try a small boost here to add some fullness.
If the vocal is sounding nasally, try a small dynamic cut here as this is another characteristic which asserts itself on certain notes more than others (see my guide to fixing a nasally voice).
High Shelf at 5k
I mentioned in opening that an important aspect of how to mix rap vocals is keeping them up front in the mix.
While we’ll be addressing most of that via compression in just a moment, part of that is ensuring the vocal has plenty of mix punch, as well.
We can do this by boosting via a high shelf around 5k to bring out more of those high end transients to draw the listener’s attention to every syllable that vocal delivers.
This also adds a touch of clarity and crispness to the vocal which helps to keep it sounding closer and more immediate to the listener which is essential in mixing rap vocals.
Low Pass Around 15k
You can generally low pass your rap vocals around 15k without worrying about losing any of that crisp “air”. This is more about adding mixing headroom so that you can achieve a (better sounding) louder master in the end.
Now let’s move on to the other half of the equation in how to mix rap vocals like the pros: up front vocal compression.
Use Compression to Keep That Vocal Up Front
The lyrics themselves are arguably more important in rap than any other genre; the entire mix revolves around every syllable the vocalist is delivering into the microphone.
As such, these up front vocal compression settings are what I dial into the initial compressor on virtually every rap mix I work on:
Let’s do a rundown of each of the compression settings to better convey why we’re setting each where we are and the impact they have on the rap vocal.
Threshold
The threshold is the level which the vocal needs to meet before compression will occur.
The threshold should ultimately be set alongside the rest of the parameters but I like to aim for at least 10dB in gain reduction on the rap vocal.
The more gain reduction, the less dynamic range we’re leaving, meaning there’s less of a disparity between the loudest and quietest practical moments on the vocal.
With a more consistent volume on the rap vocal, not a single syllable is lost or disappearing underneath the instrumental or beat.
Ratio
Arguably the most important parameter on a compressor is the ratio as this drives the amount of compression.
8:1 is an aggressive ratio, but I find it’s perfect on that initial compressor on the rap vocal to seriously tame any peaks and abundance of dynamic range.
This means that every 8dB which exceed the threshold will be output as 1dB over.
Essentially this is an aggressive ratio which gives you a very consistent level from your vocal which makes rap vocals sit perfectly up front in the mix.
Attack
Attack allows you to delay the compression for a split second so that the initial sound of that vocal which is that high end frequency punch can come through before the compression engages and smooths out the peak.
It doesn’t take much time at all to keep the vocal punchy, but setting it instantly or at the minimum time in other words will compress the life out of your vocal.
I like a very responsive compression on my rap vocals, so I typically aim for 1-3ms.
This means that the compressor will delay 1-3ms before any compression occurs, allowing that transient punch (the first thing we hear on that vocal) we helped to bring out in the EQ phase a moment ago to still assert itself.
Release
The release determines how long it takes after the threshold is no longer met for the compressor to no longer affect the vocal.
Setting this too long or too short will sound unnatural or choke the life out of the rap vocal.
I like a release time of 50ms on most vocals for a transparent return to its uncompressed state, and rap vocals are no different.
Output Gain
Lastly, make sure you set the output gain to match the level of the vocal pre-compression. This helps to maintain gain staging and keeps the vocal sounding its best during subsequent stages in the vocal chain.
A Second (Opto) Compressor for a Touch More Control
I love a second compressor in how to mix rap vocals for the extra control you get out of it.
A second compressor (see how many compressors on vocals) helps to really cement that vocal’s place at the front of the mix where it belongs.
The Waves CLA-2A or the alternative free LALA by Analog Obsession (see the best free vocal plugins)
Optical compressors are great for transparent small peak smoothing making them ideal for the second plugin in a chain.
They’re also dirt simple to use; you simply turn the peak reduction dial to achieve the amount of gain reduction you want, then adjust the output makeup gain to keep that gain staging intact.
Unlike the 10+dB in gain reduction I wanted with that up front compressor from before, I like to go for the much lighter 2-3dB in additional compression here to simply smooth out any remaining peaks.
After EQ and compression, the exact best formula can vary from rap vocal to vocal. Check out my complete vocal chain for more suggestions on what to add to your chain to get your rap vocal sounding its best:
Some rap mixes will benefit from delay or reverb, so check out my vocal delay or vocal reverb cheat sheet guides for in depth tutorials on adding some depth to your rap vocals if the situation calls for them to give your rap vocal a little more real estate in the mix.
Speaking of size, one thing I will mention which is pretty consistent every time I sit down to mix rap vocals is that I like supplementing the width of my rap vocals.
With that in mind, check out my overview on wider vocals for 6 different techniques for getting your rap vocals to take up more dominance in the mix and keep them as the focal point they are.
