Looking to Improve My Mixing

[John David Ross]

I'm trying to make better demos at home but my vocal tracks always sound so dry and dull. Are there any suggestions that you can give with the default plugins for Cakewalk? 

As a bonus, is there a way that you can export a song template with settings that work well for you?

 

[msmcleod]

For vocals, you probably want some compression, EQ and either delay or reverb (or both if you want!).  Generic settings are unlikely to be of any use as every vocal is different.

As far as stock plugins go, you have the choice of using the ProChannel compression / EQ / reverb,  or using the Sonitus plugins in the FX rack.  You can also use the Sonitus plugins in the ProChannel if you add them into an FX Chain.

Here's a couple of guides that will help:
 

 

[Misha]

Good videos above

I am just a hobbyist, but some years ago I got couple of tips from a gentleman who I admire as a mixing engineer.  I understand, that likely I would get some stones thrown at me, but... what worked for me is a light use of common FX, such as mentioned above (reverb, compression, etc) as individual (per track) and common FX (on a master bus) simultaneously to blend in vocals and other instruments to sit better in the mix.  

Here is a very basic, non scientific example.  If lets say  "just" for vocals  FX mix dial somewhere is set at ~12-13% to gets desired ambience,  I would use only about 8% on actual vocal track  and about 5% on master bus, which includes vocal track so it blends better. Same idea with compression.  

You have to experiment. You can save the presets as templates or FX  chains,  but don't settle as you will find better ways as you go.  It's a never ending learning process

[Sock Monkey]

I don't thing anybody puts reverb on a bass or kick drum so putting it on the master would seem to be a bad idea for pop music at least. 

And there's no reason to be stuck using just Cakewalks built in effects. There are hundreds of real good freebies. Check out this thread- its just down below here a little bit.