Cover Song - Need advice on a better sound!

cincy_kid

cincy_kid

Active member
Hey all, long time no see, hope everyone is doing well!

I started trying to record again and I just finished a cover song. Feel free to comment on anything you would like but to be honest I am less concerned with the feedback on the actual performance but instead what I really care about is what I need to do to get the finished tune sounding more professional.

Here is the original I covered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teXA8N3aF9M

Here is my version:


My version 2:


I have had some tell me the volumes are not equalized, some say it just sounds like a poor quality recording and some have told me that it sounds like I am playing/singing from a toilet :)

So I need to know if its the lower quality equipment I am using, my chain, my software, my mixing skills (or lack thereof) or the fact that I did not master it or something else? It just doesn't sound as full and bright as a normal song you hear on the radio or done in a professional studio, what am I missing? I know its not ever going to sound as good as somethgin done in a pro studio, but I should be able to get it sounding a lot closer than this.

I did everything myself (in this order):

- Lay down the ukulele track
- Lay down lead vocal track
- Lay down the harmonies track
- Lay down the beat using my Cajon
- Lay down the bass guitar going direct into my pre-amp
- Lay down the tambourine

Equipment I use:

- Mic: Studio Projects B1 recorded everything (I tried a couple of different options for the cajon but the SPB1 ended up sounding the best)
- Pre-amp: M-Audio Tampa
- Sound Card - M-Audio Delta 1010
- Mixing board - small cheap Behringer
- PC - I forget the specs but its a few years old and still good to go
- Software: Sony Acid Pro 7

My Chain:

- From Mic >> Snake >> Pre-amp >> Sound Card >> (from sound card it goes into the PC but I also have the outs going into my mixing board so that I can run my monitors from them and also have my headphone amp hooked up at my mixing desk when needed)

After I recoerded everythign, I first got all of the tracks I wanted to use, adjusted volumes until i thgought it sounded good through the monitors. Put some reverb on my vocals, uke and cajon and that was pretty much it.

Then I "rendered as", saved it a couple of different ways (as a high quality mp3 and a wave file which was much too large to send anyone to listen to).

So any advice? New equipmet? Better chain? learn how to mix/master? :)

Let me know if there is any info I left out that would help in figuring this out.

Thanks in advance!!

- cincy
 
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Love it Cincy
Long time no talk
Glad you are recording again

Now we can do a colab together again
 
I listened to yours first, and I was impressed. Instruments all sound good, very good singing. The original has an edge to it that yours doesn't, which is to be expected because they've got drums and guitars, and they got a particularly good tone out of both of them. I think you sound very much like the singer at some points during the song, but it sounds like he's using a vocal effect at other times that has a bit of a metallic sound to it. If that's his normal voice, that's a pretty cool-sounding voice. If it's an effect, I'd try to find it and use it myself.

I can't answer the questions you're looking to get answered. I'm looking forward to hearing an explanation of what the differences actually are between the sound two songs and what caused them. I can hear the differences you're talking about, but I'm not really sure WHAT I'm hearing.

2nd unsolicited bright idea... probably as a direct result of too much exposure to Motorhead over my life, I'm a big fan of dirty bass tones that aren't too bass-heavy so you can play chords now and then to fill up space. Such a bass tone and occasional chords in a song where there's no guitar to take up the middle space, and a ukulele on top, would at least be interesting. Better than Spoon! :)

Nice work.
 
I think the uke is a tad loud, there is a tumping I hear, not sure what it is, could be reduced. Vocal is a little distant, but it sounds good. Other than couple of small details, I thought it sounded good.

I listened to your take first, then the reference. Its not even close to each other. They have a full acoustic guitar, vocal effects (that is not natural, almost sound like some sort of phase shifter or something)

Yours is a pretty natural recording, that is why is sounds different.

By the way, we are pretty close to each other, I am over by the NKY/Cincy airport.
 
EL34 - Hey man! Thanks a lot and yes a colab is coming soon! :)

NotThat - Thanks I appreciate the feedback! Yea he has a cool voice but as mentioned above I think he has some sort of effects on his vocals for sure. Im not much of a bassist but some good ideas I may try to fill it out more. Ever since I got my uke, its hard to pick up my guitar anymore hehe.

DM60 - Wow, it's funny you say that about the vocals being distant because 2 other people said the vocals needed to come up some in the mix but I swear when I heard it through my monitors I thought it was almost too loud. Cool, we are almost neighbors I am in Florence.

Just to be clear, I am not necessarily trying to make it sound exactly like the original. I just want the over all quality to sound more like it was done in a pro studio instead of sounding like i recorded it with an old tape recorder :)

Also one other piece of info is when I listen to the mix through the monitors at my mixing desk it sounds WAY better than the mp3 so I know it at least has a little to do with my software and the way I am rendering / saving it. Maybe it's time to switch to reaper or another good DAW?

Thanks again for the feedback so far!
 
Nice tune, nice delivery. I'm really doing a lot of ukelele work these days, so I enjoyed how somebody else deals with it. The room sound you have on it - is that the sound of the room it was recorded in, or did you put some kind of convolution verb on it? Reason I ask: the mix sort of sounds like the whole thing was recorded simultaneously in a room that didn't provide a particularly flattering sound. The whole thing says: room sound. (I think I'd like it all better if it had been recorded drier and then added in verb/delay later in the mix.)

The vocal: How about bringing it up, or the uke down? The way it is now, it sounds like the instrument's closer to the listener than the singer, which isn't how it would be in a live listening situation at all, right? Your mix makes the ukelele the star of the show, but it should be the vocal. You sing well, and the words for this one and the melody are the main thing.

Not for this tune, but if you do another strummed uke tune, and if the uke part is really vigorous, it's very cool to double the part and pan the parts hard left and right. Fills up the stereo field really nicely without being the least bit overbearing. You just have to play it tight.
 
Thanks dobro!

I recorded it in my regular room I do all my recording in, see pics here:
https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...sion-2-5-pics-included-233783/14/#post3056516

and then I added some reverb to it once in acid. Instead of having the delay up very far at all, instead I raised the other level up (I forget the name of it but it's the one that makes it sound less echoed but more warm). Same effect i used for uke and vocals.

I am going to get back into the file and lower the uke and see what it sounds like and repost.

When you are talking about doubling, do you mean record 2 separate tracks one left and one right or take the same track and pan one hard left and one hard right? I think I tried the latter and it didn't sound much different other than like a little reverb was added to it.

Oh, Dm60 I forgot to mention that "tumping" you referred to, yeah unfortunately when I play the uke sometimes my fingernail hits the bottom of the uke on my down strum and it makes that loud tapping sound. I probably either need to learn to play all with just the thumb or practice stopping my strum right before it hits the wood. :)
 
The ukahlaylay sounds a bit dampned. Maybe I just haven't heard enough ukas.

I like your voice.

The whole mix sounds a bit like it's inside of a bottle. Not bright enough? Maybe it's because the uka is dominating the sound.
The uka could be a bit quieter too. It seems to drown out the vocal occasionally.

The hi-hat could be a bit more silent.
 
yea, trying to make it not sound like its recorded in a bottle. :)

New version uploaded and linked in original post above with uke volume lowered a bit but still sounds about the same to me as far as quality.
 
cincy_kid said:
yea, trying to make it not sound like its recorded in a bottle. :)

New version uploaded and linked in original post above with uke volume lowered a bit but still sounds about the same to me as far as quality.
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It doesn't sound like it's in a bottle. You've got a great start going with the first one you did. You should tweek from there. The object as you pointed out was to have a "professional" sounding mix. I can help you with that. Can you give me an example of a song that you think sounds great and has the professional sound that you would like to emulate. Please excuse my ignorance as I've only used and am familiar with Pro Tools. I'm assuming you can get all the same plugins for acid as you can get for PT yes?
 
Hey Mikey!

Not sure on the plugins, acid has some built in ones but I imagine I could search for and install some VST's for acid although I am strongly considering making the jump to using reaper. Anything I search for about acid seems to be 8+ years ago.

As far as what songs I think sound professional, you can pick any song at all. Mine just sounds too muffled. There's no brightness to it. It would be like the difference between recording vocals with a condenser versus an old tape recorder mic from the 80s.

As I mentioned before I know some of it has to do with rendering it from acid because it sounds a lot better in the raw format through my monitors before i render it as an mp3. However, when i listen to other mp3s from professionals, it sounds so much better.

Instead of listing out a bunch of songs or artists that i think have pro sounding audio, I will pick a youtube artist that I am always super impressed with their overall sound. You can listen to any of their stuff but here are just a few to get an idea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfAh3uDXWEo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V6OWMwtL9o&list=PLJKlJGsyKNQj5vZtQhOvPQlV62yJeYYUg (has cajon also to compare to mine)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNFw0WKrwPE (with girl vocals also to hear how good they sound)

So yea, if I could get anything close to that quality I would be thrilled! :)

Thanks in advance for any help or advice ~
 
I just looked at your room pics cincy. That is a cool room.

I just sent you an email about the colab tunes you sent me
 
I listened to your second version.

First of all, great performance and nice recording overall! Here are some thoughts. Hopefully some of them will help. Looking forward to hearing the next version.

Ukelele sounds very nice. Someone suggested doubling it. That might be nice to add some stereo separation to the mix. Could you record the part again to a new track? Then pan the two tracks hard left and hard right. Or maybe just create a copy of the track, add different reverbs to the tracks, and pan them left and right.

Vocal sounds pretty good. Not sure if boosting the highs a little would help it sound even better. There may be a little bit of a room sound in this track that detracts from the sound. Could you track it again and get closer to the mic? That might give a more intimate sound, which would be cool on this tune, and might take away some of the room sound.

The snare (or whatever it is) sounds great right in the center.

The bass could come up a little in my opinion. Maybe add some mids/high-mids to help it cut through a little better.

The low part of the percussion seems to be clashing with the bass. Maybe try a little panning/EQ.
 
The recording itself doesn't particularly disturb me. It is very dry, which may account for comments relating to sounding like it's "in a bottle". Most of the observations made so far seem to be more matters of taste rather than critical musicality. All you can do is try out various suggestions and see which work out best.

The one comment I do agree with is that the uke is a bit too far forward, and consequently, the vocal sounds like it's back in the distance (which may also account for 'bottle' comments).

I think you've captured the sound of the uke well, and the cajon. My taste is for a bass with more bottom and less mid . . . but that's my taste and has nothing to do with the sound you prefer.

That's not to say that I'm totally happy with listening to this track. You've locked the bass, cajon and uke together rhythmically, and this makes for a very tight and clean recording. This togetherness persists throughout the track, and the only relief is the tambo that comes in later. The trade off you make for tightness is lack of drama. By the time the song ends I'm really wishing that there had been more variation or musical development.

Someone suggested doubling the uke, and I think that is worth trying. The natural slight variations between the two tracks will add considerable interest. Additionally, the split of two tracks to left and right will add to the sense of space (whereas the moment the track is very mono). DUring the breaks between singing, I would consider some kind of change (I don't know what . . . maybe a chord change, or a rhythm change) just to grab listeners' attentions again.

The comments about arrangement are not really related to the quality of recorded sound, so you can disregard them if you want.
 
sorry for the delayed reply and thanks for the latest comments volk and gecko!

I am going to try to re-track the uke and pan one left and one right to see if that fills the space better. Will try to do some eq on the low end of the percussion as well and the snare is just my cajon, thanks :)

Did not have time this past weekend but will get some time in this coming up weekend and will post a new version.

thanks again!
 
cincy_kid said:
Mikey, don't give up on me! :)

Looking for that advice if you have any, thanks again ~
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Hey hey I'm here. Been a bit busy this week.

It's funny you chose a Fuel song as one of your favorites. I worked on their Angels & Devils record. (Well one song) lol.

I think everyone here has pretty much said what I was gonna say. Doubling the uke is the way to go. Once you spread em out L&R your vocal will sit right in there nicely!

I'm pretty sure you're gonna nail this one!!

Looking ahead at improving your mixing skills, maybe you can do a cover much like the Fuel song and I can help you along with that? (If you even need the help!)

Can't wait to hear the new version!!
 
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