First Time Posting to the Mixig Clinic!

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KaptnKrunch

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Hello All! This is my first time posting anything here, and I am anxious to receive all of your excellent feedback...

I have a small portable Christian recording studio and this is one of the first songs off of a CD I have just recorded for one of my clients...
I produced and arranged everything you hear...
Tell me what ya think!


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=945421
 
That was very nice... well put together. But I picked up a lot of auto-tuning on the lead vocal... quick jumps from one tone to the next... at times it seemed to wobble a bit.

If I'm wrong about that, someone can do some really amazing stuff with his voice and should be examined by NASA or something. :D
 
ErichArndt said:
That was very nice... well put together. But I picked up a lot of auto-tuning on the lead vocal... quick jumps from one tone to the next... at times it seemed to wobble a bit.

If I'm wrong about that, someone can do some really amazing stuff with his voice and should be examined by NASA or something. :D
Click to expand...

Ouch! Ya got me!...:)

A few questions... I am trying to learn something here...

Is it simply the sound of Autotune you don't like, or do you not like artists that use Autotune because it is "faking it"?

What I'm wondering is, would it be acceptable to use Autotune with a setting that is a lot lower? or do you recommend no Autotune?

I agree that it is too Autotuned even for my tastes...

Also, in your opinion, is it acceptable to tune the background vocals more than the Lead? I've noticed this in some types of music (mainly country)...

I am trying to get a stellar sounding vocal that has a little something "awesome" about it, despite having a normal singer... Any tips that might help me make the vocals sound better without, or in addition to, Autotune?
 
KaptnKrunch said:
Ouch! Ya got me!...:)

A few questions... I am trying to learn something here...

Is it simply the sound of Autotune you don't like, or do you not like artists that use Autotune because it is "faking it"?

What I'm wondering is, would it be acceptable to use Autotune with a setting that is a lot lower? or do you recommend no Autotune?

I agree that it is too Autotuned even for my tastes...

Also, in your opinion, is it acceptable to tune the background vocals more than the Lead? I've noticed this in some types of music (mainly country)...

I am trying to get a stellar sounding vocal that has a little something "awesome" about it, despite having a normal singer... Any tips that might help me make the vocals sound better without, or in addition to, Autotune?
Click to expand...

I use it here and there myself, so don't feel like I'm judging you.

Anyway... I don't have any ideological objections to autotuning. It's just that in this case it's right in the gray between "I'm autotuning the heck out of these vocals because I think it sounds cool" and "I'm just trying to subtly correct a slightly bad note here and there without anyone noticing".

I can clearly hear that it's autotuned, but I feel like I wasn't supposed to notice it. Therefore... it feels like you were faking it and trying to get away with it, but failed. You know?

It's kind of like... if you had a really high note you couldn't quite hit, so you slowed down the playback so you could sing it at a lower pitch... but then you came out sounding like a chipmunk. If that sort of thing is obvious to the listener at all... it's just tacky.


As far as something else you can do with the vocals... you could try doubling them. My method of choice is to sing my lead vocal... and then sing another one just like it. Then I take that second vocal track and run it through Waves Doubler... set it up to split that second vocal into two vocal tracks, each one panned to one side or the other. Then tone it way back in the mix... so it just kind of broadens that lead vocal... but you can't really tell what it is you're hearing to make it like that. It's all about the subtlety. Especially with mostly quiet music with a lot of empty space around the voice.

Also... with that kind of music, you might wanna stay from doubling except for when the music is going full blast... with drums and bass and stuff. You don't wanna do it during the soft sections.

One last thing. Remember... I'm a hard rock musician, and I'm almost entirely self-taught. So take what I say with a grain of salt.
 
ErichArndt said:
I use it here and there myself, so don't feel like I'm judging you.

Anyway... I don't have any ideological objections to autotuning. It's just that in this case it's right in the gray between "I'm autotuning the heck out of these vocals because I think it sounds cool" and "I'm just trying to subtly correct a slightly bad note here and there without anyone noticing".

I can clearly hear that it's autotuned, but I feel like I wasn't supposed to notice it. Therefore... it feels like you were faking it and trying to get away with it, but failed. You know?

It's kind of like... if you had a really high note you couldn't quite hit, so you slowed down the playback so you could sing it at a lower pitch... but then you came out sounding like a chipmunk. If that sort of thing is obvious to the listener at all... it's just tacky.


As far as something else you can do with the vocals... you could try doubling them. My method of choice is to sing my lead vocal... and then sing another one just like it. Then I take that second vocal track and run it through Waves Doubler... set it up to split that second vocal into two vocal tracks, each one panned to one side or the other. Then tone it way back in the mix... so it just kind of broadens that lead vocal... but you can't really tell what it is you're hearing to make it like that. It's all about the subtlety. Especially with mostly quiet music with a lot of empty space around the voice.

Also... with that kind of music, you might wanna stay from doubling except for when the music is going full blast... with drums and bass and stuff. You don't wanna do it during the soft sections.

One last thing. Remember... I'm a hard rock musician, and I'm almost entirely self-taught. So take what I say with a grain of salt.
Click to expand...

I don't feel like you're judging me at all...lol
If I didn't want your opinion I wouldn't have posted.
Thanks for all the good advice! :)
 
Forgot To Mention....

Oh it almost slipped my mind... One thing that might make this track sound a little pitchy or funny is the fact that one of the Background Harmony parts is completely generated from the Lead Vocal using Akai DeccaBuddy... So that might have something to do with it sounding really tight and Autotuned as well... Just thought I would mention it...
 
Fantastic job! Love the recording, message, vox [both], and outside the box instrumentation for the genre!

There is only one thing that was a little strange in it:
At 2:25, and at least one later place, there's a part where the lead vocal is underlaid with a warbling organ. For a second, it sounds as though the vocal is breaking-up....maybe a pan-fixable moment? Move the organ off center for the second, and swing it back in then the moment passes?
 
Hey There Kap'n - This is a nice song. A few things that jumped out at me:

I agree with the other comments about the lead vocals. To me it was actually distracting and really did take away from the song. I like the melody and lyrics a lot, but kept fixating on the weird vocal sound coming out of him. I don't think the lead singer is bad at all, but maybe just needs a few more takes to get it a little more dead on. The harmonies were nice.

I also felt that the drum beat was a little too prominent in the song. I kept hearing the 2 and 4 of each measure so prominently that I don't even recall hearing whether there was guitar or piano in the song. Does that make sense? Maybe take it back a bit, or change it up. Seemed a bit too straight and mechanical maybe?

Again, I do like the song a lot and I think it has great potential. Great job and please keep posting your stuff! The guys here know a lot and they've helped me for sure!
 
I think you went a little too heavy with the processing. The alternating megaverb snare whack, meandering synths and bells, and heavy autotune make me feel like my head is spinning. Sorry man, had to turn it off. :(
 
Thanks!

I know this style is not for everyone, so I understand if you don't like it Greg_L.

To Everyone - Thanks for all the AWESOME advice! You guys are helping me a lot already....:)

Things I am working on now:

-Toning down the Autotune...
-Evening out Drums(Volumes, etc...)
-Possibly sequencing in more variations into the drums throughout the song...
-Fixing the Bridge where the pad phases with the vocals..


Any other suggestions to add to this list?
 
Nothing bad to say about the song itself, it's a very nice tune.
But I'm absolutely opposed to Autotune, Melodyne, whatever.....
It's so obvious here, it reminds me of Miley Cyrus...:D
The music industry managed to produce great songs and magnificent singers even without these tools in its history. I'm not against going back and fixing lines, I do it all the time, but I find resinging stuff to be more real. This isn't just a principle, it's just that these tools to me are fake. It seems though that the industry today can't and doesn't want to to do without them.
Moreover, the singer sounds pretty good and I'm sure he could have fixed any bad pitches himself.
Just my opinion....
Joey :)
 
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