Mixing and vocal critique

A

Anorton

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Sounds good - there's a couple of flat vocal notes that you might want to look at but the mix is fine for me. Sweet lead tone on the break :D
Reminds me a lot of John Lennon's material.
 
Pretty good. Sounds like a heavy Beatles(Lennon at least) influence. The mix sounds good. Everything seems to have its own space. Only thing I don't care for is the dry snare. It's also stagnate in the verses. Sounds like the same exact velocity hit every time...it gets better in the choruses though. Regardless, it's a cool song and performed well.
 
ido1957 said:
Sounds good - there's a couple of flat vocal notes that you might want to look at but the mix is fine for me. Sweet lead tone on the break :D
Reminds me a lot of John Lennon's material.
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Thanks, ido1957. Hate to ask this, but can you be more specific about the flat notes? I've been working on my pitch, but I can't always tell when it's off. Again, sorry for the bother.
 
Bruthish said:
Pretty good. Sounds like a heavy Beatles(Lennon at least) influence. The mix sounds good. Everything seems to have its own space. Only thing I don't care for is the dry snare. It's also stagnate in the verses. Sounds like the same exact velocity hit every time...it gets better in the choruses though. Regardless, it's a cool song and performed well.
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Thanks for the feedback, Bruthish. I'm stuck with drum loops for now, so I don't suppose I can do anything about the velocity in the verses. I could try drum replacement on the snare. Thanks again for listening and commenting.
 
Yea, you're off on your pitch in a few areas. I struggle with this as well. You are not so off that it is terrible, but off enough to notice it.

The drums didn't seem to go with the mix. They seemed rather dry while the rest was more wet. Maybe a bit more room for the drums.

I think going back and giving those vocals another run would be in the best interest of this song. Not sure how many times you rehearsed this, but if this version is early in the production, going back and singing this about 20X times to get a good feel. I do think this will help in the pitch issue.
 
DM60 said:
Yea, you're off on your pitch in a few areas. I struggle with this as well. You are not so off that it is terrible, but off enough to notice it.

The drums didn't seem to go with the mix. They seemed rather dry while the rest was more wet. Maybe a bit more room for the drums.

I think going back and giving those vocals another run would be in the best interest of this song. Not sure how many times you rehearsed this, but if this version is early in the production, going back and singing this about 20X times to get a good feel. I do think this will help in the pitch issue.
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Thanks so much, DM60. I'm out of town right now, but I'll do a bunch more vocal takes when I get back; I did quite a few takes, but I was also tinkering with the melody on the fly as well. I really appreciate the advice. Some people just need to sing it once, unbelievable.
 
Anorton said:
Some people just need to sing it once, unbelievable.
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That is not true. You are still composing and arranging verses singing a well defined finished song. To record that in a few takes when there still isn't really a song is IMO the wrong expectation. Even though you wrote it, it is like hearing a song for the first time on the radio and just singing it. Words, note changes, etc. and getting it right is not possible. When you compose and arrange an original song, it is the first time you have really heard it. Just because it is yours doesn't mean you know it yet.

It is a new creation, until you get close to being finished (like at 98%), you will not be able to sing the song with any confidence until you know the song. There is no such thing as one take recording. You have to know the song to sing it and you just don't fully know your song yet.
 
great song man. I thought the mix was good and the lead guitar tone is KILLER! The vocal is pitchy. I saw where you wanted specifics on where the pitch issues are....
I was going to try and pinpoint some....like right off the bat the word "grown" is flat. There are a lot of pitch issues in this vocal. Almost every word that you make three syllables with, to correspond with the three melody notes... has at least one pitch issue.
I suggest listening with a friend, who has a good ear, with a copy of the lyric and make notes where the pitch issues are. after doing that sing it again.. .Recording the vocal
The record another vocal...
and again..

cut 4 entire vocal tracks. When you have all 4 tracks recorded then go through the song, one line at a time, listening very closely for pitch problems....and you use the best vocal out of the 4 for that paticular passage to an empty. Line by line you cut and paste a killer vocal track. It takes a while to go through a song and do that, but the end result is worth the investment in time.
 
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By the way I listened to some more of your songs. They are really good! I wish I could write like that.
 
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Everybody said that, but I gotta do it too, it sounds a lot like Lennon...really beautiful voice, my friend.

The drums are a little "stadium-like" for me, but it is well mixed. Fuck the flat notes, I dont care, you have a wonderful voice.
 
jimistone said:
great song man. I thought the mix was good and the lead guitar tone is KILLER! The vocal is pitchy. I saw where you wanted specifics on where the pitch issues are....
I was going to try and pinpoint some....like right off the bat the word "grown" is flat. There are a lot of pitch issues in this vocal. Almost every word that you make three syllables with, to correspond with the three melody notes... has at least one pitch issue.
I suggest listening with a friend, who has a good ear, with a copy of the lyric and make notes where the pitch issues are. after doing that sing it again.. .Recording the vocal
The record another vocal...
and again..

cut 4 entire vocal tracks. When you have all 4 tracks recorded then go through the song, one line at a time, listening very closely for pitch problems....and you use the best vocal out of the 4 for that paticular passage to an empty. Line by line you cut and paste a killer vocal track. It takes a while to go through a song and do that, but the end result is worth the investment in time.
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Thanks for taking the time to help me out on this. I'm definitely going sing it again. I'm on vacation now, but I started playing the melody on a piano app on my iPad. I think I have a tendency to rush the notes, sing them before the chord change, which might be part of the reason I'm out so much, sort of in limbo between chords? In any case, I dropped a track in the mix with the melody being played on the piano and the vocals muted. Maybe some ear training will help while I'm away. I'll sing it again after this weekend. Hopefully, I can get it right. Thanks again.
 
CMolena said:
Everybody said that, but I gotta do it too, it sounds a lot like Lennon...really beautiful voice, my friend.

The drums are a little "stadium-like" for me, but it is well mixed. Fuck the flat notes, I dont care, you have a wonderful voice.
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Thanks, man. I appreciate it. I want to get as close to right as possible on this one.
 
I listened to Sealed With a Kiss. Yeah it sounds like a Lennon solo song.

In general I thought it sounded very good.

Little edit or something around :59. On the word "go." A small pitch problem in a couple of spots. Very minor tho.

I thought the mix had a little too much low end rumble. I'd roll off some lows from the the bass and the distorted guitar.

I liked the drums.
 
TripleM said:
I listened to Sealed With a Kiss. Yeah it sounds like a Lennon solo song.

In general I thought it sounded very good.

Little edit or something around :59. On the word "go." A small pitch problem in a couple of spots. Very minor tho.

I thought the mix had a little too much low end rumble. I'd roll off some lows from the the bass and the distorted guitar.

I liked the drums.
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Thanks, TripleM. Low frequencies are so tough for me to get right. My room is untreated and my monitors aren't too great either. I rely on Focal Spirit Pro headphones and moving from the car to the other car to earbuds to the stereos around the house, etc. Some day I'll finish the basement, but there's just so much else to do (I know, poor me). When I redo the vocals and remix, I'll try to clean up the lows. Thanks a bunch, man.
 
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