Volcano w/vocal

B

Bulls Hit

Well-known member
I wonder if i could impose on you fine gentlemen once more to have another listen to this tune now with vocal.

Feedback last time was the low end was too rumbly so that's dialled back some, although I still want to keep it kind of dark.

I'm interested in any suggestions on the vocal as I don't mix much vox. Any and all comments welcome

 
Cool tune, vocals suit this very well. Although vocals cut through really nice I thought there was a bit of sibilance. Not sure you can dial that back AND keep the clarity though.
 
The guitars that come in at .40 could be way brighter. Your call. Boy, don't you ever get tired mixing stuff with all this distortion and harmonics going on all over the house? :D What a challenge. Yeah, I think the mix is a bit dull overall. I don't mean 'unexciting', I mean lacking highs, shimmer and air.
 
Wow, crushing! This is like the soundtrack to an ass-kicking.

The vocals do cut through but they sound, I dunno, crowded? The guitars seem to be interfering at least a little but I hate to suggest digging more out of them to make room because they sound pretty damn good. It's just those upper-mid frequencies that make the vocals hard to understand. But I'd hate to hear any of the sizzle come out of the guitars. Tough spot, and my modest skill level doesn't afford me much as far as solutions.

Great low end overall, and the guitars fill every nook and cranny of the spectrum. The drums just rock, and I never would have thought of that snare in this setting. Very mid and low-mid slice of the frequency spectrum, like the underside of the snare is emphasized. The hihat sits nicely on top.

I would give the overall mix dynamics a little more breathing room, but that's just me. I'm just not used to aggressive, punishing mixes :)
 
ido1957 said:
Cool tune, vocals suit this very well. Although vocals cut through really nice I thought there was a bit of sibilance. Not sure you can dial that back AND keep the clarity though.
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Hey thanks for the feedback ido. I wasn't happy with how the vocal turned out so I retracked it with a different approach. If you get a chance to have a listen, it would interesting to see if you think there's an improvement
 
dobro said:
The guitars that come in at .40 could be way brighter. Your call. Boy, don't you ever get tired mixing stuff with all this distortion and harmonics going on all over the house? :D What a challenge. Yeah, I think the mix is a bit dull overall. I don't mean 'unexciting', I mean lacking highs, shimmer and air.
Click to expand...

Haha. Yeah all over the house like underpants. I live for distortion and harmonics. This Eventide pedal, that's all it does. I think the lack of air is because I had to cut the overheads. The hats were just way too loud doing the two handed thing which I didn't realise when I was tracking the drums. It's turned out kinda grungy but I thought fuck it I'll just go with it. Thanks for the listen dobro
 
Tadpui said:
Wow, crushing! This is like the soundtrack to an ass-kicking.

The vocals do cut through but they sound, I dunno, crowded? The guitars seem to be interfering at least a little but I hate to suggest digging more out of them to make room because they sound pretty damn good. It's just those upper-mid frequencies that make the vocals hard to understand. But I'd hate to hear any of the sizzle come out of the guitars. Tough spot, and my modest skill level doesn't afford me much as far as solutions.

Great low end overall, and the guitars fill every nook and cranny of the spectrum. The drums just rock, and I never would have thought of that snare in this setting. Very mid and low-mid slice of the frequency spectrum, like the underside of the snare is emphasized. The hihat sits nicely on top.

I would give the overall mix dynamics a little more breathing room, but that's just me. I'm just not used to aggressive, punishing mixes :)
Click to expand...


Hey thanks for the mix comments. Given me something to think about. Yeah I didn't like the vocals so i redid them in a different register so hopefully they don't get in the guitars way so much. Not sure if they sit any better though, I'd be interested to hear what you think. They're very dry as I'm not good with reverb and I don't really like it. I do prefer a crisper drum sound but I had to cut the top off these because of the hats. Thanks for giving it the spin Tadpui
 
THere's a little sib but I think that's part of the "sound" - it does need some taming though.
It's a different beast with vocals.
I think the vox sit where they belong in a track like this - you're not carrying the entire peice on the vocal melody so it works for me.
Good one!
 
Bulls Hit said:
Hey thanks for the feedback ido. I wasn't happy with how the vocal turned out so I retracked it with a different approach. If you get a chance to have a listen, it would interesting to see if you think there's an improvement
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Better - less sibilance now....
 
Bulls Hit said:
I wonder if i could impose on you fine gentlemen once more to have another listen to this tune now with vocal.

Feedback last time was the low end was too rumbly so that's dialled back some, although I still want to keep it kind of dark.

I'm interested in any suggestions on the vocal as I don't mix much vox. Any and all comments welcome

Click to expand...

My first thought is that yes, it's very dark, but I think the notion that it can't have some air in the mix and still be dark is possibly misguided. For me (and keep in mind, my musical and mix sensibilities are from the jazz side of the house so this might be completely off base) there is so much density in the lower end of the mix that it's past aggressive and into "distractingly overbearing". I think that the song itself, and the arrangement of same, and the performances are all more than strong enough that the song would still be dark, bombastic and pushy, even with a clean and linear mix. Some of the distortion sounds chosen sound more like actual clipping than deliberate "distortion"; but again, that may have been a choice, I don't know. I'm certainly not an expert in the genre, but I found it hard to concentrate on the vocals at all because the rhythm guitars were relentlessly whacking me in the head.
 
I like the change in vocals, but I can't tell you if they cut through much more right now. I just came back from a concert and my ears are a little shredded. I'll give it another spin tomorrow night and see if I can hear anything by then :)
 
Whoa! Late to the party. What a cool grungy tune. I love it man! My ears are fried from a long mix session, but somehow this was pleasing! :)

I'll listen again tomorrow.
 
I don't know wtf these other guys are hearing. I'm hearing a fat and powerful mix that isn't lacking at all in "air" or shimmer. The low end is powerful but tight and controlled. Very well done there. Everything is clear and present to me. Everything has it's own space and separation while all bashing together. Pretty awesome. The vocals seem perfectly fine to me, and the mix suits the style perfectly. I wouldn't change a thing. Very well done.
 
This sounds pretty great to me. I like how strong all the low end is without sounding muddy. The vocals also sound in the right place to me - in rather than in front of the mix. If you have the facility to add some de-essing to them, then I'd do that and get rid of the sibilance - other than that it all sounds complete.
 
I had a chance to listen in studio. I think the mix is fucking great!

I do hear a bit of harshness in the vocals 'es-es' but that is kind of an effect here. I do feel a bit of something missing after the vocals are done. Like something should be there. Or is that the point for there not to be?

Overall, you have a great combination of complete dirty stuff that is pleasing to the ear. Props to ya BH! I'm not sure I could ever do anything like this myself....
 
robgreen said:
I like how strong all the low end is without sounding muddy.
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Yup. It's not muddy; there's tons of it, though. I'm listening to that part that sounds like big dinosaurs coming though - the bit just before the vocal - and I wondered what it would be like if it was a brighter part, like I suggested earlier. It would have more upper end, but maybe it would sound better like it is now. It would be the first thing I'd check and A/B if I was mixing it.
 
rayc said:
THere's a little sib but I think that's part of the "sound" - it does need some taming though.
It's a different beast with vocals.
I think the vox sit where they belong in a track like this - you're not carrying the entire peice on the vocal melody so it works for me.
Good one!
Click to expand...

Cheers Ray Yeah I'm thinking the vocals could do with a high cut to take the edge off. Thanks for coming back.
 
Llarion said:
My first thought is that yes, it's very dark, but I think the notion that it can't have some air in the mix and still be dark is possibly misguided. For me (and keep in mind, my musical and mix sensibilities are from the jazz side of the house so this might be completely off base) there is so much density in the lower end of the mix that it's past aggressive and into "distractingly overbearing". I think that the song itself, and the arrangement of same, and the performances are all more than strong enough that the song would still be dark, bombastic and pushy, even with a clean and linear mix. Some of the distortion sounds chosen sound more like actual clipping than deliberate "distortion"; but again, that may have been a choice, I don't know. I'm certainly not an expert in the genre, but I found it hard to concentrate on the vocals at all because the rhythm guitars were relentlessly whacking me in the head.
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the different perspective. If the guitars are whacking you over the head, then I've done something right! Short of retracking the guitars the only way I can introduce air into the mix now is with eq boosts which I tend to avoid generally. I'm still getting to know this Eventide pedal so the sounds are largely experimental. While I didn't set out on the road to darkness it seems to be where I've ended up and I quite like the guitar tones. I appreciate the listen Llarion and the time taken to comment
 
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