Vocal Mix Breakdown: Today I’ll Mostly Be - Heatwavers
Over the past four years, I’ve had the huge privilege of working with Heatwavers, an indie-rock / indie-pop duo split across the world. One lives in New Zealand, the other in Manchester, and I’m based here in Bournemouth.
Despite the distance, through the wonder of modern technology we’ve managed to write, record, produce, and mix a body of work that’s become very close to my heart.
In this video, I break down the vocal mix for one of my favourite songs of theirs, Today I’ll Mostly Be.
It was a deceptively tricky vocal to get right, but we were all incredibly happy with how it turned out.
What follows is a written walkthrough of exactly what’s happening in the session.
Starting point: a strong performance, still unmixed
The vocal performance itself was already good, expressive, honest, and emotionally clear, but in its raw form it had that familiar demo-like quality:
Dull in the top end
Slightly boxy in the low-mids
Inconsistent in level
Not yet sitting confidently in the track
The goal wasn’t to transform the vocal into something else, but to bring it forward, smooth it out, and help it sit naturally inside the production.
Core vocal processing chain
EQ: cleaning and shaping
The first step is a straightforward EQ move:
High-pass filtering to remove unnecessary low end
Gently pulling out some low-mid buildup
Creating space before any dynamics processing
This immediately reduces boxiness and gives the vocal room to breathe.
From there, a Neve-style EQ is used to add a little more top-end presence while also introducing a subtle amount of saturation. This helps the vocal feel brighter and more alive without sounding harsh.
Compression: control and presence
Next comes the 1176, doing what it does best:
Evening out peaks
Bringing the vocal forward
Making it feel more confident and “in your face”
This is followed by an L2 limiter, used very gently, just catching remaining peaks and squashing things slightly further to keep the vocal stable in the mix.
At this stage, the vocal already feels more even, focused, and intentional.
De-essing and saturation
With dynamics under control, attention turns to tone:
A standard Pro Tools de-esser dips any overly sharp S sounds
Soundtoys Decapitator is added at around 50% mix, bringing warmth, density, and character
This is one of those plugins that just works, not for obvious distortion, but for subtle weight and harmonic interest.
Character compression and vibe
Andrew Scheps’ vocal plugin is then used for a final layer of compression and preamp-style saturation.
This is where the vocal really locks into its aesthetic, giving it that slightly gritty, indie feel reminiscent of bands like The Strokes, without leaning into cliché.
At this point, the vocal has gone from raw and demo-like to controlled, present, and emotionally grounded.
Vocal effects and spatial treatment
The final stage is all about space and width, handled entirely with sends.
Doubler
A subtle doubler adds width and helps the vocal feel larger without distracting from the centre image.
Tape delay
An EP-34 tape delay adds a warm, characterful echo that pushes the vocal into an indie space without washing it out.
Ping-pong delay
An eighth-note ping-pong delay widens the stereo image further and creates movement around the vocal rather than directly on top of it.
Reverb
Finally, a small amount of D-Verb adds room ambience. The reverb is EQ’d to pull back both the low and high extremes, keeping it tucked behind the vocal rather than clouding it.
Before and after: in context
Without any processing, the vocal sits in the track but feels unfinished, flat, slightly buried, and demo-like.
With all the mix moves in place, the vocal:
Sits clearly at the front
Feels emotionally connected to the track
Has space around it without losing intimacy
Supports the song rather than dominating it
That balance is always the goal.
Final thoughts
This vocal mix wasn’t about flashy tricks or extreme processing, it was about small, cumulative decisions, made carefully and always in context.
That’s how we arrived at a vocal that felt right for Today I’ll Mostly Be — honest, present, and fully integrated into the song.
You can watch the full breakdown in the video above to hear each step in real time.