Mixing Villainous Vocals in Zazz’s “EMACIATE”

"EMACIATE" by Zazz was one of the most rewarding mixes I’ve handled recently. The track is full of ethereal, cinematic drama. It was certainly not a minimalistic exercise in subtlety and it’s fun to be given the permission to push the FX hard every once in a while.

The artist, Zazz, had a deep understanding of the story she was telling. I could immediately hear this in her performances on the track and she was forthcoming and eager to describe her vision. As a mix engineer, that context is the most valuable guidance I can get. The track was skillfully produced by Sebastian Flores (Instagram @basomatikmusic) and already sounded great in the rough mix. This left me open to work with Zazz solely on perfecting the storytelling, atmosphere, and the world the song would immerse you in. No time was spent “fixing” things. We spent every minute telling Zazz’s story in her unique voice.

The most important element to get right in this mix was Zazz’s vocal sound. The character and tone of her dry vocal, the expansive space around her, and the careful balance between the two. The song was meant to feel ethereal. We needed to feel large, sprawling spaces with an eerie or uncanny feeling of discomfort. I was imagining caverns, caves, a cold marble ballroom. A place you’d feel small and powerless in when faced with a giant lead vocal that could fill up and excite every corner of that huge space. Of course this would mean copious amounts of reverb with long tails that trail off into the dark distance. But how this reverb would attach to the vocal itself would be the key.

Zazz is playing a character while delivering this lead vocal and the performance is highly intentional. There is an instability, a wavering rawness in her pitch. There is vocal fry and distortion in her tone. Her timing is relaxed and behind the beat. All of these decisions add up to create a vivid image of a character. She is commanding, confident, and full of ego while at the same time being unstable, unhinged, and on the edge of cracking. This performance is vital to the song and it was essential to put it on full display. It couldn’t be washed out by the reverb.

Pre-delay was a way to have our cake and eat it too. We can have huge, long reverb tails and a clear, detailed, upfront vocal. Pre-delay is a variable time delay inserted between the dry signal and the wet output of the reverb. While most reverb plugins will have the capability baked in you can also implement it yourself by simply placing a delay before the reverb. This can allow for much more control. Setups like mine in the photo below allow for multiple levels of pre-delay feeding into the same reverb.

Think of it in terms of physical distance: If Zazz were singing across a ballroom, the direct sound and the echoes would reach you almost simultaneously, blurring the detail. But if she were standing an inch from your ear in that same room, you’d hear her breath immediately, while the reflections from the far walls would take much longer to return.

By increasing the pre-delay, I brought the vocal "closer" to the listener’s face without sacrificing the size of the room. In my template shown above, I use three preset values that I name Close, Mid, and Far. For "EMACIATE," using a long pre-delay meant the villain felt dangerously close. You don’t get the safety of distance; you feel every menacing nuance of her performance directly against your ear.

The beauty of this setup is that it isn’t static. We used it to move the character through the space as the song progressed and tell a continuous story. After two drafts of the mix we had nailed down almost every detail of the mix except for one. Verse 1 is the first time you hear the lead vocal. It’s the character’s grand entrance into the song, into the vast ballroom. Zazz described it perfectly:

I wanted her voice to immediately fill the space, make her presence known, and turn all the attention in the room to her. She appears at the far end of the ballroom and slowly approaches the listener. She lures you in and anticipation grows. There’s a moment of background vocals and rising tension until finally the drums enter and the character’s full strength and attitude is solidified.

How does this all translate into actual mix moves I can make to create these feelings?

The final effect is a vocal that lures you in from a distance and slowly stalks toward you, becoming more detailed, aggressive, and menacing with every line.