Live acoustic and two vocals

[grn]

There's bleed on the tracks. Not sure if male vocal is too sibilant - will listen again in morning. Can you understand the words clearly? Is it too airy? Does acoustic envelope the vocals?

Used a studio projects b1 on the female, sm7 on male, and oktava mk012 on the acoustic. Did a little bit of motown/exciting compression on vocals. Sidechained the vocals to a compressor on the acoustic for a subtle "pump" to make it more musical.

 

[Robus]

Cool track. The two voices sound like they are in different spaces. There not blending. It's partly performance; they don't gel as tightly as they might. Are they using the same reverb? It's better in the last part of the song. I could hear the lyrics pretty well. Occasionally I'd lose a word or two of her lines. Good job.

 

[grn]

Thanks. Any suggestions as to fixing the space? There is no reverb effect on there, just three different mics, the compression and the natural room sound. I did pan the vocals slightly left and right about 15% - think I should leave them centered or pan them harder for clarity?

 

[TripleM]

I thought the performances were really good. Really good version of the song.

There is more high end to the male vocal than there is for the female vocal.

Things in general are a bit boxy - especially the female vocal and guitar.

The vocal levels relative to the guitar were good.

The mix problems are overshadowed by the performances and feel to the tune. Nice job. I liked it.

 

[grn]

I thought the performances were really good. Really good version of the song.

There is more high end to the male vocal than there is for the female vocal.

Things in general are a bit boxy - especially the female vocal and guitar.

The vocal levels relative to the guitar were good.

The mix problems are overshadowed by the performances and feel to the tune. Nice job. I liked it.

Thank you - I hear it now and I'm definitely going to apply some subtle EQ now. I appreciate another set of ears. Devil is in the details.

 

[Bobbsy]

After a quick listen, a few thoughts...

First, I might swap the mics around. As others have said, the sound is very different on the two vocals. The SM7B is quite a "warm" mic without a lot of top end detail; the B1 has more top end. Since the woman has a higher voice she sounds much brighter than the male voice. Warming up the woman with the SM7B and brighen up the over-warm male with the B1.

A trick I often use with two vocalists to both help the performance and control bleed is to stand them facing each other a metre or more apart. Using cardioid mics, this puts them in the null position for each other's mic but the eye contact can work wonders for a more "together performance.

On your recording, I thought the guitar was a bit dominant and perhaps a bit "tubby". Where did you aim the mic? Was it the usual 12th fret because it sounds a bit like you were too close to the sound hole. Anyhow, I'd move the guitar mic around and see what you can do. Also, when doing vocals at the same time as guitar, it can help to raise the guitar mic a bit and have it pointing downwards at the 12th fret--again this helps use the pattern null of the mic to minimise bleed without changing the tone of the guitar.

Finally, when you do the definitive mix, I'd say this calls out for some very light reverb!

 

[easlern]

lol my wife and I are doing this same song. Great vox. I think the guitar could use a little brightening. A bit of boxiness on the male.

 

[grn]

After a quick listen, a few thoughts...

First, I might swap the mics around. As others have said, the sound is very different on the two vocals. The SM7B is quite a "warm" mic without a lot of top end detail; the B1 has more top end. Since the woman has a higher voice she sounds much brighter than the male voice. Warming up the woman with the SM7B and brighen up the over-warm male with the B1.

A trick I often use with two vocalists to both help the performance and control bleed is to stand them facing each other a metre or more apart. Using cardioid mics, this puts them in the null position for each other's mic but the eye contact can work wonders for a more "together performance.

On your recording, I thought the guitar was a bit dominant and perhaps a bit "tubby". Where did you aim the mic? Was it the usual 12th fret because it sounds a bit like you were too close to the sound hole. Anyhow, I'd move the guitar mic around and see what you can do. Also, when doing vocals at the same time as guitar, it can help to raise the guitar mic a bit and have it pointing downwards at the 12th fret--again this helps use the pattern null of the mic to minimise bleed without changing the tone of the guitar.

Finally, when you do the definitive mix, I'd say this calls out for some very light reverb!

Thank you - I agree with all of this and I wish we could re-record it now! I will post an updated version though in an attempt to subtley fix these things (unfortunately in the mix). It is for a video that takes place in a rectangular room, so I do want it to feel like it's in that room and I'll use some extremely light reverb.