Double-click the desktop icon for your preferred digital audio workstation, or DAW. Examples of DAWs include Reason, Pro Tools and Cubase.
Launch the techno song session. The method for opening a song varies slightly depending on which DAW you use, but you typically open the “File” menu, click “Recent” or “Open Recent” then select the work in progress. This opens all of the session files.
Open the mixer interface if it doesn’t open automatically. If there is a virtual fader dial for each piece of audio, you already have the mixer interface open. Typical DAWs have two main interfaces, a mixer interface and an arrangement interface. The latter is for editing.
Click the “S” icon on every vocal channel. This presents the vocals as a solo and mutes all the other sounds.
Hit “Play” so you can hear your mix adjustments in real-time.
Raise the volume of the lead vocal to approximately 80 percent of its maximum volume. Slide it up until the red volume units meter warning light flashes. This is the maximum volume. Bring the fader down by 20 percent. Although you’d aim to mix the vocal as loudly as possible in most genres, in techno you should mix it a little lower. This gives the other instrumentation room to breathe.
Set the volume of any other vocal channels to 70 percent of the volume of the lead vocal.
Click the lead vocal to highlight it. Click the “Send” tab and select “Bus 1.” Typical DAWs approximate the layout of a real mixing desk. The “Send” tab emulates the routing function of a hardware desk. By selecting “Bus 1” you route the vocal channel to a bus channel. In audio, a bus is an auxiliary channel, rather than an audio channel.
Route the remaining vocals to “Bus 1.” This renders all of the vocals to a single channel, enabling you to control the volume and effects to the vocals collectively.
Click on “Bus 1” to highlight it. This assigns subsequent edits to this channel specifically, rather than to the mix as a whole.
Open the “Effects” menu and select “Reverb.” This is an ambient effect that softens the sound of audio and creates the illusion of rich acoustics.
Adjust the “Depth” setting to approximately 60 percent. The “Depth” setting governs the intensity of the reverb. The sound of reverb can range from a “tiled-room” effect to a “cave” effect. By adding reverb to the vocals, you add ambiance and space.