Took advice...upped the vocals...but did I go too far?

mshea

mshea

New member
Hello all. Got GREAT initial feedback from my first few songs...Creep Like You, Set Your Sight on Me and Bad Man. With that in mind. I canned Bad Man and am rerecording due to some crazy low bass background thud that was coming out of NOWHERE.

I HATE my voice, but that was the ONLY thing y'all agreed on was that it sounded good and to quit 'hiding' it in my tracks. So. I made a lil' 2 part harmony thing and panned one part left the other right. I think it's vocal overload. What is the standard when you work with harmonies??? I don't know what to do. Please take a listen to 'Subway Song' (spoken word over an R&B beat) then to 'Sunshine or Rain' and TEAR 'EM UP!!! All criticism is necessary for improvement. Thanks all

Maya Shea

Note: I think that Subway Song is pretty weak, however why is it that when I checked it's sitting number one for Chicago artists?

I am now more thoroughly convinced than ever that music listeners now a days get 'lost' when they hear 'real' music and therefore head to the simple stuff.
 
Tear em up?? O wow, I love doing that.

I listened to sunshine or rain.

You have a good voice. No question ,the tone is there. I think you need to let loose and let the power take over. By power, I mean Celine dion or whitney Houston at their most convicted/convinced moments. Exercise the range. I'll say it again to help you build your confidence. You have a really good voice.

What volume are you mixing at? The mix was way off as far as volume. THe instrumentals were way too low as a whole.
The panning thing sounded like two backing vocals.It would be more traditional to have what you had on the right , to have it bang center, and then have the harmony panned somewhere, at a slightly lower volume.

THe vocals sounded rather dry. It is better than to have it awash with reverb, but more reverb would have definitely helped.
I heard some shuffling at :20 and some popping on the vocal track between :30 and :50

Was the instrumental a backing track? It sounds like a midi track, but it was all bang center. It needs some panning.

The sounds I heard sounded weak. I think you could do better. I would also like to hear some more intricate voicings

Now for some good things about it. The mic tone was good. Needs no more eq. What mic was this. It sounds quite warm, even though it still a dynamic (i think)

I like the snare tone. The piano playing was good in places.

The tracking sounds a bit cleaner than the previous ones.

This tune has all the elements of a song that I would like to mix.
 
Ummm... yeah, what CJ said... he covered it pretty well.

I think the lack of a good set of monitors (amongst other things) and the fact that you're trying to do everything alone, on limited knowledge, is what's holding you back right now.
I used to do my stuff alone, but having a partner has improved my capabilities (engineering, playing, and singing) tenfold.

"Trial & error" is certainly a good way to learn things, but working with mediocre equipment will slow down the learning process that much more. I speak from experience on that!

Performance-wise, you need to re-do a few little parts here and there on the vocals, so we don't hear those occaisional flat notes as your voice trails off.
It's really hard to sing and push those buttons too... ain't it? :D

I think there's potential in this song. I like your writing and you're versatility.

The one thing I disagree with CJ about is that you don't have to go "Whitney" or "Celine" style on 'Sunshine or Rain'.
Your voice is much smoother and silkier, and the vocal track is clean.... that's why CJ thought you have a better mic than the *ahem* "value-priced" mic you have right now. ;)

It's a really good song, though.
It just needs more work.

Happy Thanksgiving! :)
Buck
 
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