Episode 3

Scott committed his lead vocal and acoustic guitar to a single track during recording, and Matt loves him for it. In this episode, Matt shows how he mixes a vocal he can never solo away from its guitar: surgical EQ to control foot stomps without killing the vibe, a de-esser aimed at the acoustic's metallic strings rather than the singer, a Schepps Omni Channel for saturation and tone, and a blue-stripe 1176 doing heavy compression blended in at a whisper. He breaks down his parallel vocal chains, including the Andrew Schepps "vocal air" trick that makes a lead cut through without brightening the whole track, a tight tape echo slap from his Echoplex, and the one-mic background vocals the band committed themselves. He closes with a look at his live chamber, its 90 milliseconds of post-delay, and the automation rides that make the mix breathe.