music.tutsplus.com

1. V O C A L C O M P I N G
R O B M A Y Z E S A N D M U S I C . T U T S P L U S . C O M

2. “ C O M P I N G I S V E RY M U C H S TA N D A R D
P R A C T I C E I N P R O F E S S I O N A L
P R O D U C T I O N S ”
M I K E S E N I O R ( M I X I N G S E C R E T S F O R T H E S M A L L
S T U D I O , S O U N D O N S O U N D )

3. The degree to which you comp your vocal will have an impact
on the vibe of your track:
• Heavily comped vocals can sounded more polished and
professional.
• Lightly comped vocals can sound more emotional and
natural.
The sweet spot is somewhere between these two extremes.
The degree to which you comp the vocal will also depend on
the style.

4. There are three main ways to approach comping:
1 Heavily comp the vocal by cherry picking the best take
for every syllable, word or phrase
2 Lightly comp the vocal by choosing the best whole
take and only replacing the very worst few phrases
3 Chose the best whole take as a guide track and
replace any phrases that aren’t marked as ‘VG’ or over ‘8’

5. T H E C O M P I N G P R O C E S S
When choosing the best take to use, consider each of the
following:
• Noise/Pops/Errors
• Timing
• Tone
• Emotion
• Tuning
• Context
• Gut Instinct

6. P R O C E D U R E
1 Listen to best take (check your comp sheet)
2 When you get to a bit that doesn’t sound great, loop it and try other takes
3 Good take? Awesome, highlight it or move it up to the main take
4 No good take? See if you can combine words/phrases from several takes.
5 Add short crossfades if there are any audible clicks or edits
6 Turn off loop, listen back from a few bars before to check it sounds natural
7 Adjust boundaries and crossfades if necessary