Your opinion please :P

R

rfpd

Member
Vocaroo | Voice message

Been working on something, I think the EQ is nice and when it comes to that it's sounding good to me. I do notice some voice cracks in the chorus and I find the transition to it kind of harsh. Also, I have two guitar tracks, except on the chorus because I wasn't able to keep in sync and it sounded like crap, however I added some reverb but it still sounds like something is missing. Any criticism is well received, thanks in advance!
 
Sick guitar playing!

The thing that I first notice is that the (sick) guitar playing is overpowering your voice a little so its hard to hear you in the verse but It gets better during the chorus. And I think you mentioned it but you're a little off beat/sync with the guitar at some parts. Other than that I think it's a pretty decent song I'd just say I would've liked if your voice was more prominent throughout the track.

Thats my too cents and some!
 
TreJay_Music said:
Sick guitar playing!

The thing that I first notice is that the (sick) guitar playing is overpowering your voice a little so its hard to hear you in the verse but It gets better during the chorus. And I think you mentioned it but you're a little off beat/sync with the guitar at some parts. Other than that I think it's a pretty decent song I'd just say I would've liked if your voice was more prominent throughout the track.

Thats my too cents and some!
Click to expand...

Thanks! Should I put more dbs on the vocals then? I did notice some parts where it was off sync (both guitars or are you talking about voice and guitars?), I'll try to fix it! Also, beasides the occasional vocal cracks in the chorus, did it sound "in tune"? I'll record it again anyway, but my ear always stranges high pitches ahah
 
rfpd said:
Thanks! Should I put more dbs on the vocals then? I did notice some parts where it was off sync (both guitars or are you talking about voice and guitars?), I'll try to fix it! Also, beasides the occasional vocal cracks in the chorus, did it sound "in tune"? I'll record it again anyway, but my ear always stranges high pitches ahah
Click to expand...

Yea I def think you should add more vol on your voice only on the verse though. And it wasn't the guitars but your voice that was off beat at times according to the tempo of your guitar playing. And I'd say your voice was in tune but at times it sounded flat, if that makes sense :guitar:
 
TreJay_Music said:
Yea I def think you should add more vol on your voice only on the verse though. And it wasn't the guitars but your voice that was off beat at times according to the tempo of your guitar playing. And I'd say your voice was in tune but at times it sounded flat, if that makes sense :guitar:
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree! Thank you!
 
I think the chorus section sounds a lot more concise. As you go up the neck, there is a lot more tonal space for your voice to sit in the mix. During the verse, the guitar competes with the vocal using the same basic frequency range. In other words, there is a lot going on in the low mid range.

There are probably a hundred ways around this issue. Adding volume to the vocal is just one possibility. You might also look at EQ changes on the guitar or replaying that section so it's more broken up, more syncopated, lower in volume, or muted using your hand. The EQ issue is particularly complicated by the drone note that runs through the verse. It sounds like a dropped D or maybe and open E. It's very low and full sounding, and it makes the overall sound slightly smeared and muddy--at least on my headphones (Sennheiser HD 650 Open Back). If you are re-tracking the guitar, you might review your mic technique and experiment with different placements. I'd avoid anything that points towards the sound hole.

It also occurs to me that the song could benefit from a larger stereo field, with the vocal centered and the guitar panned. That might be the simplest solution to sorting the vocal from the guitar.
 
To me, I'd like to hear a lot more top end in the guitar.

However the biggest thing to work on is vocal pitch. There are some considerable pitch problem.

The vocal is a bit behind the guitar.
 
The first thing I noticed was that vocaroo still uses flash?!

Anyway. A lot of the issues with your guitar might be addressed with panning. If you pan the two takes opposite each other, the smaller timing issues will be less prominent.
That will also help with the phase issues you're having on them (occasional notes phase in and out)

The vocals were pretty pitchy. It seems like you weren't singing with much confidence. Could you hear yourself? Are you well-practiced in the vocal part? Can you hear the tracks you're singing to?
 
TripleM said:
To me, I'd like to hear a lot more top end in the guitar.

However the biggest thing to work on is vocal pitch. There are some considerable pitch problem.

The vocal is a bit behind the guitar.
Click to expand...

Yup this is a first try, the chorus has pitch issues like I mentioned b4. Thanks :D!
 
VomitHatSteve said:
The first thing I noticed was that vocaroo still uses flash?!

Anyway. A lot of the issues with your guitar might be addressed with panning. If you pan the two takes opposite each other, the smaller timing issues will be less prominent.
That will also help with the phase issues you're having on them (occasional notes phase in and out)

The vocals were pretty pitchy. It seems like you weren't singing with much confidence. Could you hear yourself? Are you well-practiced in the vocal part? Can you hear the tracks you're singing to?
Click to expand...

I had vocal lessons, if you check this song:

Remedy by Evil Ash | Free Listening on SoundCloud

You'll notice I'm on pitch ahah. The thing is, it's not a confidence problem, it's the verse that's just like plain dead, it's hard to make something out of it, I try to compensate with the chorus, so I end up being in pitch on the verse part but a litle "dead" and the other way around in the chorus. The chorus, I also noticed, it was off pitch like I mentioned in the first post, I'll have to record it, this is just a "raw start". The chorus part needs to be filled aswell, sounds too empty.

The thing is, it was easy for me to find the right pitch for the above song, this one I still need to find the right pitch! I was thinking something more alive and more with my "voice" and a higher pitch. For the chorus I was thinking of a lower pitch, perhaps I'll check which vocal notes are in key with the guitar. That's one of my main problems here, I think "Remedy" sounds way better than this one, like way better, this song sounds like something I would've recorded 1 year ago. Even the verse part it's now sounding like it's off, doesn't belong quite well, but doesn't sound off pitch, idk, I'll have to be more theoretical in this approach.
 
dwillis45 said:
I think the chorus section sounds a lot more concise. As you go up the neck, there is a lot more tonal space for your voice to sit in the mix. During the verse, the guitar competes with the vocal using the same basic frequency range. In other words, there is a lot going on in the low mid range.

There are probably a hundred ways around this issue. Adding volume to the vocal is just one possibility. You might also look at EQ changes on the guitar or replaying that section so it's more broken up, more syncopated, lower in volume, or muted using your hand. The EQ issue is particularly complicated by the drone note that runs through the verse. It sounds like a dropped D or maybe and open E. It's very low and full sounding, and it makes the overall sound slightly smeared and muddy--at least on my headphones (Sennheiser HD 650 Open Back). If you are re-tracking the guitar, you might review your mic technique and experiment with different placements. I'd avoid anything that points towards the sound hole.

It also occurs to me that the song could benefit from a larger stereo field, with the vocal centered and the guitar panned. That might be the simplest solution to sorting the vocal from the guitar.
Click to expand...

Exatly that's it! I'll need to sing at a higher pitch. I now recorded the guitar pointing at something between the 12th fret and the hole, because at the 12th fret it was picking out a lot of noise. The thing about panning is that the sound wouldn't get as "full" as it is, at least I think, but it's a cool effect though, but yeah the vocals do get more clear.

Thank you all guys!
 
I try to live by the credo that less is more. In music and mixing, sometimes this means letting the vocal sit by itself. Not every instrument has to be playing at all times. This is hard with an already sparse arrangement but it's possible. Try stopping the guitar and singing, or as I mentioned before, palm muting or reducing the volume. It's also important to realize that while the guitar has six strings, not all of them need to be vibrating at once. This is especially true for open chords. The acoustic guitar is always ringing. It's as if you had six background singers singing at the top of their lungs. Sometimes, you have to tell the background singers to sit down and shut up. Another way of looking at the problem is dynamics. You want dynamic music right? That means change in volume, pace, tone and whatever else you can think of. In the words of Frank Black the old Pixies front man, it's all about loud-quiet-loud. (Or was it fast-slow-fast?) So when you perform, think dynamics and try to build them in whenever you can.

And on the fullness issue...I would argue that wider equals fuller. So try the panning solution. It's a lot easier that going into the weeds are trying to tweak the attack time of a compressor or setting up parallel compression or some other exotic approach. Keep it simple and turn the dial.
 
dwillis45 said:
I try to live by the credo that less is more. In music and mixing, sometimes this means letting the vocal sit by itself. Not every instrument has to be playing at all times. This is hard with an already sparse arrangement but it's possible. Try stopping the guitar and singing, or as I mentioned before, palm muting or reducing the volume. It's also important to realize that while the guitar has six strings, not all of them need to be vibrating at once. This is especially true for open chords. The acoustic guitar is always ringing. It's as if you had six background singers singing at the top of their lungs. Sometimes, you have to tell the background singers to sit down and shut up. Another way of looking at the problem is dynamics. You want dynamic music right? That means change in volume, pace, tone and whatever else you can think of. In the words of Frank Black the old Pixies front man, it's all about loud-quiet-loud. (Or was it fast-slow-fast?) So when you perform, think dynamics and try to build them in whenever you can.

And on the fullness issue...I would argue that wider equals fuller. So try the panning solution. It's a lot easier that going into the weeds are trying to tweak the attack time of a compressor or setting up parallel compression or some other exotic approach. Keep it simple and turn the dial.
Click to expand...

Indeed, the loud-quiet-loud formula created by the Pixies and popularized by Nirvana. I mean but to me just a voice or a guitar sounds kinda empty. But I do agree that by singing at a higher pitch I would get a bigger "bandwith" of frequencies, which, in turn, would add some fullness. When I have the chance I will redo the singing and I'll try panning (btw I tried it and it did made the vocals more clear, I mean it makes sense, similiar sounds adding up). I always have the "tendency" to make "quiet" vocals, the song I put there, Remedy (the song I put in the last page), it's really an exception, and I wish I could find singing patterns or rythms that go around my "tendency". Is there any "formula" or is it something that should be by trial and error?
 
The guitar is much cleaner on this one. Whatever you did, you are heading in the right direction. Of course, it's still fairly primitive. The transition at 1:15 is a bit awkward and the end is not very polished. But it is a phone after all, and I presume there were no edits and no effects like EQ or reverb.
 
dwillis45 said:
The guitar is much cleaner on this one. Whatever you did, you are heading in the right direction. Of course, it's still fairly primitive. The transition at 1:15 is a bit awkward and the end is not very polished. But it is a phone after all, and I presume there were no edits and no effects like EQ or reverb.
Click to expand...

Yeah first take on the phone, just trying a new vocal rythm. At 1:15 I made a mistake, but yeah I'll have to make the transition better ahah. The only thing I changed was the vocals, problably having a higher pitch makes both parts stand out more.
 
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