Do these vox turn you off?

D

Dibidoolandas

New member
Hey guys, I'm struggling to get these vox to sound right to me. They seem a bit too nasally (I cut around 1khz but I don't know if it helped a ton) and I'm not sure if the reverb sits right/if they should have a different treatment, like double tracking (or at least faking it with some delay). What do you think?

Also comments on the mix in general are appreciated.

Song 5 Mix 2 by Dibidoolandas on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free
 
I don't the vocals are nasally, and I doubt they would if you removed the 1K cut. I think they sound OK. I wouldn't focus too much on the vocals at least right now.

The first thing about the mix that struck me was that it sounded "small." It lacked a low end and it lacked width. The mix is a bit quiet, which doesn't help.

That was quite a musical change at 2:00. Not sure those two pieces of music fit that well together.
 
Hm... Okay. I can definitely boost the bass. As far as width goes, do you mean panning or just overall scope of the frequencies in the song? Any areas other than the bass you feel could be boosted?

As far as the mix being quiet, that's more of a mastering issue right? I mean I don't want to get too close to 0db...
 
I meant panning. Things were real narrow until that last section.

Yeah the mix wasn't too quiet to listen to, but you could bring it up a few db's with a limiter for the version that you post.
 
I don't think it's nasally, and if it was then I doubt you could fix it with EQ...

The drums sound very small, especially in the end section - which I think works fine. And I think your second guitar in the left ear is a little flat.

And I get TripleM's comment about the whole mix sounding "small" - good description.

I really like the section starting around 0.45 when the guitar starts playing.. nice.
 
I hear what you mean about nasally. I do hear/perceive some of that. How was the mic placed? Mix-wise, some of the guitar parts are eating up the vocals when they jump in further garbling whatever the vocalist is singing. Maybe some selective EQ and panning will help separate the elements. Just my two cents.
 
well i think your not hearing vocals "right" because of the support behind it... the kick should be louder, definitely and cut the boxiness out of it a bit around the 250-450 range.

the snare could have some more crack and volume... (the 2k-4k range) but sounds like it has some good body to it.

the echo'd voice during the "in a cage" and "try to gage" are both out of time and out of key.

there are some frequent flat parts.

It also sounds like you are singing without confidence... untill the music picks up a bit and then you find your confidence... a cool trick is to track a scratch vocal track to sing along with when you are recording your real track... people tend to be more confident when they hear another voice thats singing it with them.

also the high guitar part panned in to the left could have some reverb or delay to give it a bit more of a space feel.

also on the master fader... try putting a bit of reverb on the whole mix to make it sound like its in a room... .but just the TIIIIIIINIEST amount.

i also think the vocals could come back a few DB.

a lot of the times the vocals "sound weird" due to the support section (instruments) not being mixed the way they could/should be.
 
Man, when it kicks in heavy near the end the vocals are not fitting at all.
They are too overpowering. Try thinning the vocals, bringing the level down and a good portion of compressing to mellow the higher peaks.

G
 
Bisson820 said:
well i think your not hearing vocals "right" because of the support behind it... the kick should be louder, definitely and cut the boxiness out of it a bit around the 250-450 range.

the snare could have some more crack and volume... (the 2k-4k range) but sounds like it has some good body to it.

the echo'd voice during the "in a cage" and "try to gage" are both out of time and out of key.

there are some frequent flat parts.

It also sounds like you are singing without confidence... untill the music picks up a bit and then you find your confidence... a cool trick is to track a scratch vocal track to sing along with when you are recording your real track... people tend to be more confident when they hear another voice thats singing it with them.

also the high guitar part panned in to the left could have some reverb or delay to give it a bit more of a space feel.

also on the master fader... try putting a bit of reverb on the whole mix to make it sound like its in a room... .but just the TIIIIIIINIEST amount.

i also think the vocals could come back a few DB.

a lot of the times the vocals "sound weird" due to the support section (instruments) not being mixed the way they could/should be.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed notes. I think you're spot on about recording to a scratch track, because time and again I go in to redo vox a second time and they always come out better, I think because the previous vox are already there. And yeah they are probably a touch too loud because our last album they were criminally quiet so I'm probably overcompensating. Though the singing off-key and time for the cage/gauge part was intentional.

Also in agreement about the left guitar, I think it sounds a little abandoned.

These are great notes guys, thanks for all the help.
 
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