Kalia (Mix C&C please)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve-0
  • Start date Start date
S

Steve-0

New member
http://www.soundclick.com/FelixAndOscar

"Kalia"

Despite being done in a 10x10 untreated room with a very cheap AKG condenser and a crappy engineer (me) I think the vocals sound pretty decent on this one. I got to open up and play a guitar solo for once which was good for old times sake (since none of the songs I write these days seem to have them).

Mix / Master / Song comments and criticism please.
 
I just love her voice. I remeber her from the song "Ruthless". My kids and wife just love that song. Very good tune. First. I feel the vocals are too bright. Alot of syblance in her voice. Eq it down. Then we can tell if the instruments are too bright. But definately the voice needs fixed. Alot of talent there.
 
I listened to White Lies. The vocal high freq eq on it is so much better. A/B the two. You will see what I mean.
 
Great voice, reminded me of Avril Lavigne (in a good way...).
Nice song, mix sounds great too. My only nit would be the drums sounding a little robotic. But it's really good anyway.

Joey :):):):)
 
I don't usually hear the hole song... i love it... It's true that the drums are too robotic, but even so, they give the right intensity in the right places. A little work on them.

The recording/mix sounds like a "The Sounds" song, but i like more the girls voice on your song.

Well Done.
 
Totally dig the whole production. I didn't know they were fake drums...I thought it was a really good drummer.
Raw, exciting, a lot of good stuff. In my neck of New England, this is what's filling the clubs. You would pull a major crowd. If you had a whole band!

ps...I like the sound of the recording...vox and everything...and even when she sings sharp...sounds right and full of guts. Don't clean this up too much!
 
Thanks all! I'm glad you seem to dig it.

Bushmaster, I felt like the vox were probably going to end up too bright when I was mixing it. I shelved above 3k into a mountain because it sounded kinda cool at first, but then it sounded harsh, and then I neglected to fix it because once you've heard it 50 times, the harshness isn't even noticeable anymore.

I was lazy and didn't A/B it with anything at all, but thanks a million for the input. I'll definitely fix that. :)

I'm really glad to hear that your family likes the Ruthless tune. It gets my vote for "Most Likely Song to Trail Off Into a 10 Minute Jam At Rehearsals."

JoeyM and Zero00, the drums are definitely robotic, but hopefully my drummer can get in here sometime in the next couple of days and make the patterns closer to what he actually plays. I'd love to record drums, but I still lack the 8 pre, mics, nice room, and knowhow to do it right, so for these home demo recordings it's gonna be sampled for the time being. Some fills and humanization will work wonders.

Jeff, worry not! We really do have a great drummer, and we do have a full band. First gig just 2 weeks ago. I definitely won't clean it up too much. I won't even touch her voice with pitch correction (especially since I can just guilt her into doing 100 takes if I want). She's got balls for such a little lady. Usually we just do a lead vocal in a take or two, double where needed, harmonies on the fly in 5 minutes and call it done. It's an awesome thing to watch her nail an entire lead vocal without stopping.

Ironically if we ever end up produced they'll be sure to pitch correct it and over-perfect every element of the production, but for the time being we've still got some soul.

And I'm glad this would fill clubs on your side of the country, because it's working out just fine on mine and we're all really young cats so maybe we'll find a future doing this yet.
 
Yep your ears can deceive you after a while. Especially the high end.
 
Yeah, the vox are too bright to my ears. But only a little bit. The singer is very talented if she can nail a usable take all in one shot.

As for the song, not really my thing, but I can definitely see it drawing lots of attention. The only thing I noticed was that the guitar solo--while well played in its own right--seemed a bit much for this type of song. Good job all around.

Matt
 
Even if you just tame the sssssss you will be fine. You use a pop filter ? If so or even if not. I you angle the mic a little down it will minimize the p's and b's and sssss. Dont sing straight into it.
 
BushmasterM4 said:
Even if you just tame the sssssss you will be fine. You use a pop filter ? If so or even if not. I you angle the mic a little down it will minimize the p's and b's and sssss. Dont sing straight into it.
Click to expand...

For some reason I always paid attention to this, trying to lower the mic or angle it down. Except this one session I didn't really pay attention at all.

Come to think of it when we recorded this I put it exactly at mouth height, pop filter directly in front of it, pointed right at her mouth.

In hindsight that may not have been the best idea.

I've heard that lowering the mic to more chin/throat area results in a more throaty/chesty sound and raising it results in a more nasal sound. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

I'm asking because she seems to have a much darker, smokier voice when she's actually singing than she does when I play back the tracks, and maybe I could capture a little bit of that by putting actual effort into my miking technique.

Also using a mic that isn't a cheap tinny import would maybe help. I've had good results with a 57 (definitely brings out more of the quality of her voice) but I miss the high end that I get from a condenser. Has anybody tried putting two mics about an inch apart on the same stand and blending them? Phase issues or any wierd stuff I should know about?
 
Jeez. If I were you and her, I'd book a few hours at a real pro studio with a real engineer and the couple dozen mics they have laying around. Have her sing and record with whatever the actual know-it-all recommends, and listen to the recordings. Then have him tweak to his quality standards, and axe him what he hears, and what he does to get beauty from her raw voice/preferred mic combo.

You guys got something real, righ? And her voice is a big part of that. Nail it down!!!!! You sound like you're serious about the biz. Find the shortest distance between points along the way!! An objective, learned commercial recordist is one straight line.

I booked 'lessons' once with just such a guy. He charged me $50/hr 'consultation fee' to show me what buttons to mash to make recordings happen...and some 'how to master' basics. Money very well spent. I recommend it to you.
 
Very nice song :)

I love the Vocals, she has a great voice.

The drums do get lost in this great tune, cymbals are way out, kick seems lost, bass a little loud for my taste.

Mic's on on all the drums pieces would make this a winner, in my collection.
 
Steve-0 said:
For some reason I always paid attention to this, trying to lower the mic or angle it down. Except this one session I didn't really pay attention at all.

Come to think of it when we recorded this I put it exactly at mouth height, pop filter directly in front of it, pointed right at her mouth.

In hindsight that may not have been the best idea.

I've heard that lowering the mic to more chin/throat area results in a more throaty/chesty sound and raising it results in a more nasal sound. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

I'm asking because she seems to have a much darker, smokier voice when she's actually singing than she does when I play back the tracks, and maybe I could capture a little bit of that by putting actual effort into my miking technique.

Also using a mic that isn't a cheap tinny import would maybe help. I've had good results with a 57 (definitely brings out more of the quality of her voice) but I miss the high end that I get from a condenser. Has anybody tried putting two mics about an inch apart on the same stand and blending them? Phase issues or any wierd stuff I should know about?
Click to expand...

Try different angles and see. Different singers require different setups including angle. Mics play a big part. Some voices do better with certain mics.
 
I love the vocals, and I'm not picking up too much sibilance, but I do hear a little harshness in places that's probably from the mic. But really, sounds great.

Nice job!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top