In this excerpt from F. Reid Shippen Mixing Ingrid Michaelson Reid explains a trick to get a bright pop vocal using an EQ, a limiter and the polarity invert button. By using a combination of aggressive high pass filtering, limiting and by blending this processed duplicate out of phase with the original Reid shows his technique for adding presence and brightness to a vocal.

This is a great technique is you want to add some energy to a pop vocal, this ‘fizz track’ adds excitement. Although iZotope’s Nektar is used in this example, similar results can be achieved using other plugins.

To find out more about this technique visit the Puremix Blog where you can find more detail and audio examples, including alternative processing chains to use with this technique. For example using a Maag EQ, iZotope Neutron 3 or Waves’ Abbey Road Saturator and a PuigTec EQ.

In this pureMix.net Exclusive, F. Reid Shippen opens the multitrack of Ingrid Michaelson's "Afterlife" to dissect the choices he and the producers made during production and remix the song in front of you to explain his thought process, workflow, and techniques that have helped him achieve success as a first call mixing engineer.

Learn how Reid:

• Sets up his sessions before he starts mixing

• Adds multiple layers of drum samples to craft powerful tones that cut through the mix

• Blends multiple outboard compressors and eq chains as well as plugins in the box to sculpt the perfect lead vocal tone

• Maintains perspective throughout the mixing process

• Manages headroom

• Explains the collaborative process with Jacquire King for this song

• Checks Mono Compatibility

• Creates contrast between sections of the song

• Uses his pop shine trick on the lead vocal

• Uses 2 bus processing

Once Reid has the mix at a place where he feels it is ready to present, Co-producer, Jacquire King, stops by Robot Lemon to listen and add some final tweaks with Reid.

Equipment & Software

Hardware

• Ampex Mixer

• Aphex 204

• BASE Bedini Audio Spacial Enviroment

• Cooper Time Cube

• D.A.V. Electronics S.I.P.P.

• DBX "Disco" Boom Box

• DBX 160

• Dangerous BAX

• Dangerous Compressor

• Dangerous Liaison

• Distressor

• Dolby Model 365

• Electrodyne Compressor

• Focusrite Red 3 Compressor

• Maag EQ4

• Millennia STT-1

• Mo-FX

• PIE Limiters

• Pultec EQP-1A3

• Retro 1176

• Retro EQ

• Roland Dimension D

• SSL 4K

• Sony DRE 2000

• Teletronix LA-2A

• Teletronix LA-3A

• Universal Audio 1176

• VP28 Classic Preamp

Software

• Avid Dyn3 Compressor/Limiter

• Avid Mod Delay III

• Crowd Chamber

• DMG Audio Essence

• Eiosis AirEQ

• Eventide Ultra Channel

• Fabfilter Pro-Q2

• Fabfilter Timeless 2

• Massey DeEsser

• Oek-Sound Soothe

• PSP MixGate 2

• PSP Mixtreble 2

• PSP Spring Box

• PSP Vintage Warmer

• SPL DrumXChanger

• SPL Transient Designer

• SansAmp PSA-1

• Softube Focusing Equalizer

• Sound Toys Crystallizer

• Sound Toys Decapitator

• Sound Toys Devil-loc

• Sound Toys Radiator

• Sound Toys echoboy

• UAD 1073

• UAD Cooper Time Cube

• UAD EP-34 Tape Echo

• UAD Fatso Jr

• UAD Helios 69

• UAD LA-2A

• UAD Neve 88RS

• UAD Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor

• UAD Trident A-Range

• Waves C1 Compressor

• Waves CLA Drums

• Waves L1 Limiter

• Waves Puigtec EQP1A

• Waves RVox

• Waves s1 Imager

• iZotope Alloy 2

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