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I'm pretty excited about my new track, but first I better figure out how to make the vocal chops in my drop stop making the instrumental sounds duck (especially the melody synth). You can really hear this at 1:08 into the song when the vocals say "Soak me in the sun". If you have ever run into this same situation and want to have a listen, what is a simple way to fix this? P.S. I have reverb and light sidechaining with the Kickstart plugin on the vocals channel. I also EQ'd out the sub and some of the bass frequencies with a high pass filter on the vocals. I work in FL Studio.

Here is a link to the unreleased song on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/gideon-grossman-253590505/do-whatever-makes-you-happy/s-BhZzBG9XI4F

I have tried fixing the issue by tweaking the Fruity Parametric EQ settings on my vocal channel and various instrument channels to no avail. I have also tested modifying the Kickstart wetness on my vocal channel. Maybe there is a sweet spot I haven't hit yet or I'm barking up the wrong tree.

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    Your track is overproduced in the wrong way. Don't try using complex techniques if you don't know how. Don't EQ/compress extensively because at this point it seems that you are ruining the material. You can't really mix by following 10 tutorials you found on YouTube (btw, most of them are cookie-cutter nonsense like insert hi-pass filter to everything kinda stuff..). For starters, remove all the mixing you've done (keep the production) and just set the levels. In the genre you're mixing, the kick is king, where's the kick in your mix? Also, follow @Tetsujins advice on referencing your mix.
    – frcake
    Dec 21, 2020 at 10:50

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This isn't my genre at all - but I'd say overall the vocals are way too loud & the track constantly ducks behind them… which is entirely the wrong way round.
This type of music is entirely reliant on a solid beat (far too understated in the example given) which the vox ought to stay well out of the way of.

I'd look at the compression chain differently. Get the groove solid & consistent, then bring the vox up to be subordinate to that, not overpowering it.

If you are comparing to 'radio' (or YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify etc) versions of other tracks for your sound shape… don't.
You need un-comped original tracks as your references, even just mp3s etc, not what 'radio' transmission does to them.

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  • Got it. Thanks. Can you elaborate on what makes those 'radio' (or YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify) versions different? Do you mean after a song is uploaded to those streaming platforms, their platform does some compression?
    – GNG
    Dec 16, 2020 at 19:16
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    Yes, definitely. Different stations do it in different ways. Radio itself has complex compressors to keep their signal strength optimised - called optimods. Streaming services handle it differently… but not the same as each other. I don't know the full details of how the streamers deal with it, beyond a general 'volume control' to keep you within perceived boundaries (that's a whole 'nother topic).
    – Tetsujin
    Dec 16, 2020 at 19:35

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