Words changing in the mix?

easlern

Boredom artist
Hey guys, I'm not really worried about "solving" this problem, but I'm just curious if anyone else has words change sometimes in their mix. It's happened to me more than once now and I've had to re-record to fix it. Like in a current song I sing "baby" and you can hear it that way soloed, but when you put it in the mix, it sounds like "mary". It works either way luckily but I thought it was kind of funny/curious. I'm guessing it has something to do with sound from other instruments getting into the vocal so-to-speak, pretty interesting how it works.
 
Try nudging the word in the track...just to break it away a little from whatever else is happening on that beat.
It might be enough to change that perception.
 
Maybe it's something to do with living in Grand Rapids, imagine how an Irishman would sing it or a Scotsman :facepalm::D

Seriously the B in Baby would have a little more low than the M in Mary, maybe it's a small eq thing? Maybe not even adding could be a eq subtraction?

Alan.




Sorry for taking this off track, I am in one of those moods this morning.
 
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It sounds to me like you have some instruments competing in the same frequency area that need to be notched out a bit.
 
I would suggest clearing out more space for the vocal. Turn something down, pan it out, thin it with EQ if you must. The lead vocal is lord of the manor; all the other instruments are serfs. It's not a bad idea to start the mix with vocals, kick and bass. Get them sounding the way they should, then add the other elements step by step, making sure that your vocals remain clear.
 
Simple way to find the problem is to set a loop on that section of the mix, and then mute each track in turn and see if you can find the one that is masking the vocal the most...and then, I would try moving that note, word, beat whatever works best, just a few sample forward or back, to just separate the two and see if that clears the problem before you do do any processing to try and fix it.

I've used that approach man times to change tonal perceptions...not just with vocals, but any track relative to another track(s).
It's amazing how much of a difference even a few samples can make...I mean like less than 1-2 milliseconds...so you don't really notice a timing difference, just the frequency and transient interaction between the track changes.
 
Or you could just eliminate from your lyrical library the word baby. It has no place in any song :D

Sorry couldn't resist.
 
Now the word 'maybe' has my full blessing.
Nice, vague, noncommittal and exactly what females have come to expect from us. Much better than 'baby' with fewer mix problems.
:)

Example : "I think i love you, maybe". Isn't that better than baby?
:D
 
Ha I can live with it, just thought it was interesting. :)

I can see how so many songs get misinterpreted lyrics though, get a compressor setting just so and it changes the word you hear.

I'll try using a scottish accent next time.
 
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