"Love & Abuse" - a pop/rock song from The Summer Project

S

SummerProject

New member
Critique this pop/rock original please :)

The song is our upcoming album's title track, "Love & Abuse". We do all of our recording, mixing and mastering in our home studio. If you have any questions about our music or our setup/techniques, let me know. I'm more than willing to help anyone with anything they may need, and I can't wait to continue learning from all you guys as we further our music passion.

I welcome ALL feedback (positive and negative alike). Just trying to get other people's perspectives on all aspects of the mix! Thanks!

Revised version (backed off top end slightly, lowered hihat, natural vocals)



Cheers,
Matt
The Summer Project
http://www.facebook.com/thesummerproject
 
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Autotune ruined what otherwise would have been a well-produced and catchy pop tune. What would have been a Barenaked Ladies-type vocal just sounds lifeless and lacks wit and humanity. Sorry.
 
I'm with DavidK. Cool tune squashed by Autotune. Did the vocals need that much help? Maybe you could post a mix without Autotune--and let us hear what that sounds like.
 
Ok guys, revised version up. I blended a non-corrected vocal track with a corrected one. Let me know your thoughts -- still too lifeless pitch-wise? About right? Thanks for giving me your ears!
 
The one thing I definitely wouldn't do is blend a corrected vocal with an uncorrected one. I'm sure someone on here can explain exactly what happens, but the combination of an in tune note, and a slightly out of tune note will produce all sorts of nasties. You can kinda hear it if you listen closely. I bet if you solo the vocal that way, it will be pretty obvious. There should be a control (depending on which plugin you're using) where you can turn down the speed with which the autotune reacts. That way, you can go with a 100% processed vocal, but it won't be as hard tuned as it was in the first one.

Also, I like a pretty in your face vocal sound (as I think you commented on my track), so I'm not a huge fan of that delay. I think it makes the vocal a little bit muddy to be honest. If your delay plug has a low pass filter, try bringing that down to knock some high end off of the delay return, or just put a LPF or an EQ on the return. That should push the delay behind the main vocal a bit.

The drums in this track (especially the hats) are a little bit crispy for my taste. I might back off the treble a hair.

Overall though, I think this is a pretty cool track. I'm definitely getting an SR-71 vibe from it.. hope thats a compliment haha.
 
Live42 is right. There's a warbly dissonance when the autotuned track varies from the raw track--and that is fairly distracting. However, even with that, I can hear more organic life in the vocal track (excuse me--I just threw up in my mouth for using such an artsy-fartsy hipster phrase as "organic life"). In any case, there's evidence of improvement.

Post it up without any autotune--so we can hear the vocal for what it is. And if it sounds a lot better in terms of tone (in spite of some pitchiness) then maybe it's worth re-tracking. And if you can't re-track it, maybe the gain in tone and energy is worth the loss in pitch. Either way, I'd like to hear it au natural.
 
My first comment was going to be on the auto-tune too; then I saw everyone's already on you about that!

I'd scale back the slapback on the first line or so. It's too much for that sparse of a mix.

The hi-hat is definitely too crisp. It cuts right through the mix and sticks way out.

Otherwise, you've got a pretty good mix going on here.
 
WhiteStrat said:
Post it up without any autotune--so we can hear the vocal for what it is. And if it sounds a lot better in terms of tone (in spite of some pitchiness) then maybe it's worth re-tracking. And if you can't re-track it, maybe the gain in tone and energy is worth the loss in pitch. Either way, I'd like to hear it au natural.
Click to expand...

Agreed. It's the kind of vocal that needs character and wit over anything else, including pitch.
 
Thanks for the continued feedback, guys. I'm at work all day today, but our vocalist will be doing a lot of tracking. I'm hoping to post up an autotune-free version tonight, and I'll be interested to hear your feedback as far as vocal pitch, tone and energy goes. More to come!
 
Dropping the auto-tune definitely helped. I'd put a bit of the reverb back into the vox though; they sound a little dry now. Just back it off in the intro.

Hi-hat sits much better.
 
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