Twinflames - struggling with bass and lead vocal

WolfandWeather

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Twinflames (rough Mix) by Magindara | Free Listening on SoundCloud

This is a short clip from a new track I've been working on for a while.

I'm pretty happy with the mix for the most part but I've been having big issues with getting the bass and (especially) the lead vocal to sit right. I feel like I'm in the ballpark with the bass now but I still can't do anything with the vocal without it sounding artificial and overprocessed.

I appreciate all feedback and any hint and tips you can give!

I can give you more details about how each part was recorded and what I've done to it so far if needed.

Thanks,
Harry
 
Hi Harry........I think we could use more detail. Give us a quick rundown on the mic you used for the vocals.....how you set it up.......etc......and an overview on the rest of your production. The vocal does sound a little out of place but mainly because of it's tone in relation to the rest of the tracks. The bass can use some work........as you mentioned.......and the kick needs some as well. You seem to have a conflict there.........but as I mentioned......it would help if you outlined your setup and methods as to how you created this track.
 
OK no problem.

The vocal was recorded in an untreated bedroom with a Rode m3. No mic stand or pop filter because she felt more comfortable sitting on the bed and holding the mic and we wanted a natural performance.

It went straight into the laptop through a behringer USB interface. In the mix I ran it through a tape delay plugin to warm it up and then added a touch of eq and some compression (la2a and 1176 together). No reverb yet because I can't get it to sound natural.

The bass is a very simple DI track with some compression in the mix and a lot of eq to take out the low end because it sounded overwhelmingly boomy on my speakers. I did a high pass at around 150, 3db low shelf at around 330 and a massive cut at around 70 to make room for the kick. Also a slight boost at around 740 for articulation. It's played very high up on the neck and it doesn't need to be super bassy. I want to let the kick cover the low end and have the bass sit on top.

The kick is a sample from ezDrummer and I haven't done much to it. Just a slight cut at around 200 to create some space for the bottom of the snare and the bass. I also tried taking out some at 100hz to let the bass poke through more but then the kick seemed to disappear on smaller speakers.

There is also a compressor and a tape emulator on the mix bus. The other tracks are mostly virtual instruments and samples and I've done some mild eq on each but nothing drastic.

For reference, I'm going for an LCD Soundsystem kind of sound with this. I don't mind if things sound a bit rough around the edges, just as long as it all sits together nicely and works reasonably well on both small speakers and a club PA system.

I haven't recorded it yet but there will also be an acoustic guitar part, probably double tracked and panned hard.
 
Can you get a better vocal performance out of her? Her pitch is drifting a lot, and that will be very hard to fix while still keeping it natural-sounding.

As to 'verb on the vocals. Generally, you want to try to make everything sound like it was recorded in the same room, so your goal is going to be to reverse-engineer the "reverb" on the drums and percussion.
Since you're using canned drums, you're looking not so much for "reverb" as the slapback-of a well-treated room. I don't know what EZD's room is like specifically, but it's probably pretty large (at least 20x20x20 feet), not rectangular, and fairly dead.
 
Thanks for the advice! I'll play around with the reverb and see what I can come up with.

Anything I can do to improve the kick and bass?
 
Some reverb on the vocals would be cool they sound a bit too dry unless thats what you're going for

Have you met your twin flame btw?
 
Maybe try experimenting with different phrasing on the vocal with fewer drawn out notes.
So instead of ...suuuuuuure exactly whyyyyyyyeee... try ...sure exactly why...
 
her timing is off, it's too late to the beat, I'd move the entire vocal track back a few milliseconds and find out where you can make her singing sound 'in the pocket' I don't think this is releasable material in this state, it needs some editing work, word by word if necessary.
 
The singer has a nice tone. The pitch is not always 100% on target. A double tracked vocal I think would work well. You could probably compress it a bit harder.

I might cut down the length of the synth intro. When the vocal comes in, I might reduce the level of the synth. It competes with the vocal just a bit.

It's cool when the song kicks in the drums and bass. Is the bass midi?

Drums sounded pretty decent. They're at a good level too.
 
I didn't hear the first version, but my comments on the second:

I like the way the layers build up the energy. At first I thought the snare was a bit loud, but by the middle, it was just right. The drums sound great overall. I like the backing vocals and I like the reverse reverb or whatever that is. There are some definite pitchy spots. A little at the beginning, then in the middle it's not quite so noticeable. Around 3:40 when the band drops out and she holds some notes, it's a little cringy.
 
I didn't hear the first mix but the new one sounds really good. I'd just suggest to make the intro drum machine sounds a little shorter, like maybe to 4 bars or half as long as it is now. Keep up the good work.
 
Cool stuff. Like some of the little tricks you did in there. I am listening on cans right now but I think the low end, particularly the kick is lacking a bit. Its there but it doesn't seem to drive the song as much as it could, maybe dial in a little more low end to it. By no means breaking the song but just my observation. Reminds me A lot of ABBA. Good job.
 
The singer has a nice tone. The pitch is not always 100% on target. A double tracked vocal I think would work well. You could probably compress it a bit harder.

I might cut down the length of the synth intro. When the vocal comes in, I might reduce the level of the synth. It competes with the vocal just a bit.

It's cool when the song kicks in the drums and bass. Is the bass midi?

Thanks for your feedback! The bass is actually real. It's a p bass going direct into the interface. Nothing but a bit of compression and eq.

I might look into sidechaining the synth or maybe eqing it a bit to make room for the vocal. I'll compress the vocal a bit more and maybe raise the level a fraction too.

There are some definite pitchy spots. A little at the beginning, then in the middle it's not quite so noticeable. Around 3:40 when the band drops out and she holds some notes, it's a little cringy.

I already did some light tuning on the harmonies but I'll try some on the lead vocal too. Thanks!

I'd just suggest to make the intro drum machine sounds a little shorter, like maybe to 4 bars or half as long as it is now.

This is something a lot of people have mentioned. I'll definitely try out a shorter intro.

I am listening on cans right now but I think the low end, particularly the kick is lacking a bit. Its there but it doesn't seem to drive the song as much as it could, maybe dial in a little more low end to it.

This was one of my biggest concerrns because I can't properly hear the bass with the equipment I'm using at the moment. I don't want too much bass on the track but I'm thinking of just adding a bit more bass at the mastering stage. Or would it be better to do a little bit of eq on the kick and bass track individually?
 
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