how do i make my vocals sound more airy without being harsh

[rowdypartner]

every time i try to get my vocals to sound more bright and clear by boosting the higher frequencies with an EQ, they end up sounding too harsh

[soundmodel]

Frequency-dependent compression (e.g. Waves C1, de-essers) and/or light mono reverb (adds spark but can reduce harshness due to phase cancellations)

https://www.eventideaudio.com/plug-ins/equivocate/ might also be useful. It's not entirely typical EQ, because the bands have Q and the location of bands may give you a better hint regarding where to boost and cut.

You could also try a mild distortion instead of an EQ. E.g. tube distortion is often used for this. You can also chain multiple mild distortions, if the effect of one is not enough. But chain them rather than turn one louder, because the algorithms are often non-linear, so the lowest settings give you cleanest sound.

For a general guess, rather than having to think yourself, get some vocal compressor, like Waves RVox.

[rowdypartner]

Thanks soundmodel! I will give those a try and let you know how it goes. I appreciate your help.

[Synthman2000]

A very good condenser mic, a very low distortion high bandwidth pre amp. A good vocal take without too much sibilance, do some EQ cuts to rid the vocal of anything you do not welcome, mud and upper mids possibly - it's a fine line so do not overly suppress body and presence. Whatever is right no frequency is out of bounds. Then add some super smooth EQ to 16kHz +

Good reverb choices sculpted very carefully for effect and EQ'd well can make a difference as well.

[soundmodel]

Well yes ultimately you would want to fix this at the source by using the microphone appropriately and picking an appropriate mic depending on the singer. And you could record through a vocal compressor. Once the errors are in the track, they're possibly harder to fix, rather than if they would have been filtered out by the microphone already. Or well, they can be fixed, but this is a compromise between what you remove and what you get.

[osiris]

Maybe run your vocal through an EQ with a Telephone preset and mix that with your original.

[soundmodel]

Maybe run your vocal through an EQ with a Telephone preset and mix that with your original.

Can work, but often causes more issues via incoherent phases.

Is also identical to just EQing the original track.

I've worked with harsh speech. It's impossible to fix with EQs, because all EQs will do is exchange another bad to another bad, because the audio is bad. The audio is possibly ruined, but you can attempt to find a balance where it does not stick out so much (while something else does).

A good quality vocal recording will take the "high-shelf" and brighten. A bad quality will not. Sometimes an almost good vocal is fixed by the shelf combined with a small dip around the cutoff point of the shelf (where it often brings in harshness). If you need to use a 6dB low-pass filter to reduce the harshness, then that's a quite clear indication that the recording has flawed harmonic content.

[lingyai]

Try the 40k air band on the free Luftikus Eq. Little boost goes a long way

[donkey tugger]

Maybe run your vocal through an EQ with a Telephone preset and mix that with your original.

Full on distortion ()gated naturally..) and mixed very low is a classic trick I use a lot. If you get it right you don't hear it as a separate distorted vocal, but notice if you mute it. Adds a nice presence.

[thecontrolcentre]

https://bertomaudio.com/air-shelf.html to get it free

https://youtu.be/FJGoZzBd6LU

[Gernburgs]

I feel like the harshest frequency is 3k.

[abrasivesounds]

So many good tips in here. I've always wondered how this work, and how to mix guitar with it.

[karx25]

You could try using a plugin like morphoder by waves to emulate whispered singing. Or simply sing the melody in a quiet or whispered manner and blend that in with the actual vocal sound!