Hi everyone. After a year hiatus (due to college and other personal issues), I've decided to go back at it again with the singing and mixing. It's just a personal hobby I enjoy most. Anyways, I posted a thread a year ago on how to truly mix vocals into karaoke/full stereo instrumental tracks. The thing is, I love to sing cover songs and I have lots of pretty good high-quality karaoke/full stereo tracks. The problem is just me trying to make the vocal stands out and make it as "studio quality" as possible. Whenever I record and try to mix it (the problem is surely my newbie mixing skills, I'm sure), the vocals seem really mudded by the music, and I know for SURE it's my mixing because I haven't at all mastered it completely.
Equipment I currently use: a good computer, MXL 990 mic, PreSonus Firebox preamp, cables, Adobe Audition 2.0
Anyways, what I do usually is just record the vocals in mono 16 or 24-bit 44.1khz in Audition. I just use compression 1st, then apply some graphic EQ settings, and last add some reverb. Then I am lost from here. I have read in the past several things, but the one I stick with is just duplicate 2 tracks, pan one far left and pan one far right on. So basically I would have 3 tracks sitting on the multitrack interface of Audition: STEREO Karaoke/Instrumental, MONO Vocals w/ effects panned -100, MONO vocals w/ effects panned 100. At the end, I just put them all "Mix to file" where it turns ALL the tracks into the complete mix and I can then save it.
However, when doing this, my vocals doesn't sound like it should. It seems to not sound as sharp enough or as clear enough. I'm a decent singer and I know it's not me. It also doesn't sound like it should be as it is. Y'know, professional songs' vocal is very clear and it seems like as though it's placed directly INTO the center of the music or something. My vocals sound like they're behind the music and uninspiring. My vocals sound like they're just poorly mixed and recorded over the music.. or such.. Well, I don't really know how to explain it. But, I'm pretty sure my mic is able to produce much better results even though it's a budget mic.
Anyways, I was wondering are there a set of instructions or list of things I must always accompany with when recording vocals? Like I should always "do this" or "do that?" in terms of putting vocals ONLY into the karaoke mix? That's what my main concern is, I don't have a full set of instruments--just a full stereo instrument/karaoke piece. How do you guys do it? Like step by step so I can learn. I know there are several ways to do it... but it seems I try to compare with the original and I notice the vocals mix is so crisp and clear, while mine seems to be overshadowed by the music no matter what. Hmm...
Also, is this the "CORRECT" way of putting vocals with music? Like multitrack wise. I have music on 1st track, vocals on 2nd/3rd track (recording mono-wise). Then I just export audio when done, and I can save it via mp3/wav.
Thanks mucho.
Equipment I currently use: a good computer, MXL 990 mic, PreSonus Firebox preamp, cables, Adobe Audition 2.0
Anyways, what I do usually is just record the vocals in mono 16 or 24-bit 44.1khz in Audition. I just use compression 1st, then apply some graphic EQ settings, and last add some reverb. Then I am lost from here. I have read in the past several things, but the one I stick with is just duplicate 2 tracks, pan one far left and pan one far right on. So basically I would have 3 tracks sitting on the multitrack interface of Audition: STEREO Karaoke/Instrumental, MONO Vocals w/ effects panned -100, MONO vocals w/ effects panned 100. At the end, I just put them all "Mix to file" where it turns ALL the tracks into the complete mix and I can then save it.
However, when doing this, my vocals doesn't sound like it should. It seems to not sound as sharp enough or as clear enough. I'm a decent singer and I know it's not me. It also doesn't sound like it should be as it is. Y'know, professional songs' vocal is very clear and it seems like as though it's placed directly INTO the center of the music or something. My vocals sound like they're behind the music and uninspiring. My vocals sound like they're just poorly mixed and recorded over the music.. or such.. Well, I don't really know how to explain it. But, I'm pretty sure my mic is able to produce much better results even though it's a budget mic.
Anyways, I was wondering are there a set of instructions or list of things I must always accompany with when recording vocals? Like I should always "do this" or "do that?" in terms of putting vocals ONLY into the karaoke mix? That's what my main concern is, I don't have a full set of instruments--just a full stereo instrument/karaoke piece. How do you guys do it? Like step by step so I can learn. I know there are several ways to do it... but it seems I try to compare with the original and I notice the vocals mix is so crisp and clear, while mine seems to be overshadowed by the music no matter what. Hmm...
Also, is this the "CORRECT" way of putting vocals with music? Like multitrack wise. I have music on 1st track, vocals on 2nd/3rd track (recording mono-wise). Then I just export audio when done, and I can save it via mp3/wav.
Thanks mucho.
Last edited: