Starting Final Mixes: Song 1-My Praise

  • Thread starter Thread starter BroKen_H
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Artifacts show up in SC that don't when I play in Reason. "There is" nothing left to do "or" say. That my soul knows quite "well" among others...:(
 
Number 4 is a good, clean mix. Now, though, on not hearing the hi-hat or rides, so imo, could come up. Also, guitars could come up, but just a bit.
Is there anyway you could add girth to the lead vocal? Maybe with a plug-in or a second take, and duck it under the first take to taste.
Pitch correction is needed on the 2nd to last "Praise" and maybe a fade out on the last "praise"
Good stuff so far.
 
Okay. Added a 6k shelf on the drums (minus kick) to bring forward the hats, ride and cymbals. Bonus: got the snare louder in the process and some nice air. Kicked the snare back a bit (it got a bit too loud).
Pushed the guitars 2dB to get them back...don't know where they went to.
Tightened the 2nd to last praise. Makes it glitchy. Have to balance the first note tight and the last note tight and the slide between loose enough so it doesn't walk the glissando. That may take some work...especially as it doesn't always do it the same (seems to vary depending on the starting point. $200 is starting to sound cheap. :) not really.
 
BroKen_H said:
Okay. Added a 6k shelf on the drums (minus kick) to bring forward the hats, ride and cymbals. Bonus: got the snare louder in the process and some nice air. Kicked the snare back a bit (it got a bit too loud).
Pushed the guitars 2dB to get them back...don't know where they went to.
Tightened the 2nd to last praise. Makes it glitchy. Have to balance the first note tight and the last note tight and the slide between loose enough so it doesn't walk the glissando. That may take some work...especially as it doesn't always do it the same (seems to vary depending on the starting point. $200 is starting to sound cheap. :) not really.
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1) You didn't have a close mic on the hi-hat?
2) If you pm the vocal track to me - 44k, 24bit wave file, I'll pitch correct it with Melodyne.
 
Luke: 1) Thanks for the compliment. These are drum samples. :) I somehow wrote over the original and no longer have the midi to play with. Can't fix mix problems short of completely rewriting the drum line (which I don't feel is necessary as it's working)...again, maybe at the end of the project. Too many irons in the fire at the moment.
2) You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. PM sent. (BTW, how hard is it to run Melodyne with earplugs in so you don't have to hear the bad singing??? :laughings:)
 
didn't read any of the comments. man, that R cymbal sounds really good. frickin fantastic, what is it, specifically? ok, here;s what i'm feeling... the music needs a gentle push back when your vocals come in. it sounds like your vocals are trying to stand on top of this mountain of music that won't calm down when it should (the verse). then pick it back up in the chorus. it could be the playing was too heavy in the verse, or that a compressor can back down the music a db or 2, gently. but the energy seems too consistent between verse/chorus. just my thoughts, i'm sure others think differently there. tones all good, to me.
 
Hi, Taras! The cymbal (you will laugh) is one of the crash cymbals from the rock kit in Fluid r2...it's from a sound font released in 2004.
I'm going to have to remix a bit once I get the vocal track back I think (Crazy Luke offered to run it through Melodyne for me). My voice needs a good hide, here and there normally. :)
 
OK. The Pitch Corrected lead vocals are ready! Let's sit down and eat.
 
Wow, you cannot hear the correction. Software did a pretty good job.

Cymbals cut through pretty good, you can hear the crashes a lot better, you may want to see if there you may want to reduce them. Since they can be heard, it is almost like there are too many of them (just an opinion). Other than that, I can't hear anything that jumps out or makes me flinch.

I might need to think about Melodyne. That worked pretty damn good (mainly about how it corrected and didn't leave any artificial sweetener after taste).
 
Sounds better with the tuned vocals. Watch that you don't pitch correct the phrase too hard and lose the vibrato as some of the notes are "too perfect" sounding. The cymbals are a little loud - you notice the "splash" rings a bit - which may be SC but I suspect they are just too loud. The rest sounds good. The quality of the mix has improved over time so you are getting better at this mixing thing. I would recommend you buy some kind of tuning software for the future as vocals are usually the thing the average person listens to the most and if they fail no amount of your excellent keyboard skills will matter.
 
Melodyne is a great tool when you spend the time to correct only what needs to be done. There is option to just throw a percentage of correction on a whole track, but to get the full potential and best results, you have to really dig in and go note by note, line by line. Then back again to really make sure the performance is not hindered. I have spent countless hours for years using Melodyne. As much as I hate to have the need, it is really a great tool.


Crazy Luke did a great job, but I must say that I hear some phasing, like the latency that having Melodyne still active on a track and the bounced version of it playing at the same time. Maybe I am also crazy. But I hear it...
 
jimmys69 said:
Crazy Luke did a great job, but I must say that I hear some phasing, like the latency that having Melodyne still active on a track and the bounced version of it playing at the same time. Maybe I am also crazy. But I hear it...
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Actually, I didn't get a clean vocal tack, as there where some double tracked vocals that were left in here and there. You are probably hearing the doubles.
 
Luke did indeed do a great job on this. I did notice three notes that were a half step off in the bridge where the chords change (should have sent him a guide track with chords! 20/20 Hindsight). Most noticeably the WELL in "my soul knows quite well" is a 1/2 step flat and it holds there. All in all, I was EXTREMELY impressed. Miss the glissando on the 2nd to last praise, but I suppose it's for the best. Might have to try to retrack that one word till I get something that actually sounds good.

To all the others in the group, thanks for all the help and mix advice. This has come from an okay songwriter's tune to a very nice song. It may not be professional level, but I've not got the ears for that, methinks!

BTW, I sent the vocals without the effects. The doubling and what-not is the Polar effect I use to add that "Ozzy-esque" tone to my voice that I added back in after correction. It does minor (a few cents either way) pitch shifting, and might make things sound different, but I love the way it sounds, and even if everyone else hates it, it's my voice and my music...so THERE. :laughings: I also noted that I didn't have to turn the EQ on that notches out some bad freqs in my voice after the correction. Starting to think that Melodyne might be worth the $200 investment...
 
ido1957 said:
Sounds better with the tuned vocals. Watch that you don't pitch correct the phrase too hard and lose the vibrato as some of the notes are "too perfect" sounding. The cymbals are a little loud - you notice the "splash" rings a bit - which may be SC but I suspect they are just too loud. The rest sounds good. The quality of the mix has improved over time so you are getting better at this mixing thing. I would recommend you buy some kind of tuning software for the future as vocals are usually the thing the average person listens to the most and if they fail no amount of your excellent keyboard skills will matter.
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Strangely enough, if you listen to previous editions of the song, most of the vibrato you hear is added by Trident (Reason's entry level pitch corrector). One thing I actually still do well is hit a note and hold it...sometimes flat or sharp...:eek:
 
Now, the next problem...I've got to get the other 11 songs on the project up to this one's standard...that's not going to be an easy task...
 
Another trick that seems to help some singers is to use Melodyne to make a scratch guide vocal track. Tune a vocal track and sing with it. Helps to get your pitch dead on when tracking.

I heard Stryper used separate keyboard notes sent to each of their monitors to improve their pitch when performing live. Same kinda thing.
 
Michael Sweet sings well, but he screams outstanding. :) Thanks James, that's a great suggestion. I used to use a keyboard to practice my vocals all the time in the 80s. Maybe bringing that back can bring back some of my former magic...
 
jimmys69 said:
Another trick that seems to help some singers is to use Melodyne to make a scratch guide vocal track. Tune a vocal track and sing with it. Helps to get your pitch dead on when tracking.

I heard Stryper used separate keyboard notes sent to each of their monitors to improve their pitch when performing live. Same kinda thing.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm doing with the singer I'm working with right now (check out "Too Many Gods, Too Many Wars", Beware the Wiccan" etc on this forum") I would feed him the notes on keyboard in his headphones, then make a guide track using Melodyne. Actually, everything I'm posting right now is a guide for future REAL musicians to go into a studio with.
So far, people are impressed with his singing, but he had help on the tracking and in post, so I'll take some credit. BTW, how is Melodyne 4 working out for you, Jimmy, is it worth the extra dough for the upgrade?
 
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