Adele "Rolling In The Deep" Isolated Vocals

Here's the isolated vocals from one of the major hits of the last few years. It's Adele's "Rolling In The Deep," and it gives you an idea of how vocal mixing has changed over the last few years. Here's what to listen for.

1. The vocal is drenched in a very dark reverb that's very apparent here, but not necessarily in the mix. This is different from about 5 years ago when most vocals were fairly dry or had very short reverbs, and it's a current trend in mixing.

2. The vocal changes at the pre-chorus at :36 as another vocal effect enters (sounds like a very short stereo verb) that makes the vocal larger. It stays like this for the rest of the song.

3. Like many other current pop songs, the background vocals play a large part in the production, even though they may not seem that prominent in the final mix. You can hear as they go from very narrow stereo, to mono, to dropping out completely at 2:08 (which is technically the bridge), to getting more complex towards the end as a low descending part is added.

4. The vocal also has a very dark timed delay on it that's barely perceptible until the very end. Listen to the repeats at 3:39.

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