Luka (Suzanne Vega cover)

What jumps out at me right off is how piercing your voice is. If it is indeed your voice that's the source and not the mic or signal processing, it may be difficult to deal with. Some voices are that way, I wish mine had your clarity. It dominates the recording. Sometimes varying mic placement can help.
 
What jumps out at me right off is how piercing your voice is. If it is indeed your voice that's the source and not the mic or signal processing, it may be difficult to deal with. Some voices are that way, I wish mine had your clarity. It dominates the recording. Sometimes varying mic placement can help.
Interesting. I will take another listen and see what can be done. Thank you.
 
Beautiful. What microphone are you using? Is that a VST vkeyboard?

Luka is a hard song. Props for standing up.
Thank you. I got one of these from Amazon: PreSonus AudioBox 96 25th Anniversary Studio Recording Bundle with Studio One Artist DAW Music Production Software. Nothing fancy.
 
The vocal's a bit bright, over-EQ'ed it seems, and maybe with the wrong attack setting on the compressor. The accompaniment's a bit wandery. You can sing. The song's good 😎.
 
If you have a singing style that flows around the song's tempo - by singing a bit before or after the beat, that's great, but the beat in this case is the guitar and it's timing is all over the place. It just blasts away, and when a tricky bit comes up it slows down, then speeds up when the tricky bit has gone. It also does something very odd when it plays those little finger style sections - it seems to lose the tempo altogether? A certain number of notes to play, so timing ceases till they've all been completed. If you try to tap your feet to it, suddenly you can't, then you can once it goes back to the main pattern. There are also a few bum notes that should have meant take two, or an edit. With the timing, editing would have been tricky. The player using a metronome click into their ears would have helped lock it all together. Oddly - the voice is very good - but what you missed is what a producer would do. Listen, and fix the little things. Like "great - but you cut that last note really short" or "The third word is very important and it must come on the beat" - that's what they do. They listen critically and they notice the little note that was flat and either re-record and edit, or nowadays just fix that quietly without making a big thing.

The important thing is your voice has character and is not bland. So many (mine included) are!

My suggestion to up the song is re-record the guitar with good timing, and if it can't be done in one go, cheat - and record a really good verse and then try another - then edit the whole song from the bits if the player is getting tired. But fix the twiddly bits and miss fretted notes. everyone plays guitar, so everyone notices. Voice stuff can be 'art' and take liberties, but the guitar has to be solid in it's timing.
 
If you have a singing style that flows around the song's tempo - by singing a bit before or after the beat, that's great, but the beat in this case is the guitar and it's timing is all over the place. It just blasts away, and when a tricky bit comes up it slows down, then speeds up when the tricky bit has gone. It also does something very odd when it plays those little finger style sections - it seems to lose the tempo altogether? A certain number of notes to play, so timing ceases till they've all been completed. If you try to tap your feet to it, suddenly you can't, then you can once it goes back to the main pattern. There are also a few bum notes that should have meant take two, or an edit. With the timing, editing would have been tricky. The player using a metronome click into their ears would have helped lock it all together. Oddly - the voice is very good - but what you missed is what a producer would do. Listen, and fix the little things. Like "great - but you cut that last note really short" or "The third word is very important and it must come on the beat" - that's what they do. They listen critically and they notice the little note that was flat and either re-record and edit, or nowadays just fix that quietly without making a big thing.

The important thing is your voice has character and is not bland. So many (mine included) are!

My suggestion to up the song is re-record the guitar with good timing, and if it can't be done in one go, cheat - and record a really good verse and then try another - then edit the whole song from the bits if the player is getting tired. But fix the twiddly bits and miss fretted notes. everyone plays guitar, so everyone notices. Voice stuff can be 'art' and take liberties, but the guitar has to be solid in it's timing.

Thank you, Rob. I appreciate your comments and know I have a lot to work on. I just started finger style a few months ago and am learning the ropes. I treat these covers as a weekly exercise, but maybe I should concentrate more on getting it right no matter how long it takes.
 
Hi all,
I just gave this song a shot. I know it is imperfect, but would like to know your thoughts.
Interesting Vocals - you've really onto something there - what Microphone(s) did you use? I'd suggest recording the guitars separate than the vocals - your timing is all over the place - the guitars goes wonky - but the vocals are in time for the most part.
 
Interesting Vocals - you've really onto something there - what Microphone(s) did you use? I'd suggest recording the guitars separate than the vocals - your timing is all over the place - the guitars goes wonky - but the vocals are in time for the most part.
Yes, my guitar is wonky and boy, is that a perfect word. I recorded vocals after my guitar track and knew it was slip slidy. I am motivated to get better at this. Thank you for your comments. I used a mic that came with my PreSonus AudioBox 96 25th Anniversary Studio Recording Bundle.
 
Yes, my guitar is wonky and boy, is that a perfect word. I recorded vocals after my guitar track and knew it was slip slidy. I am motivated to get better at this. Thank you for your comments. I used a mic that came with my PreSonus AudioBox 96 25th Anniversary Studio Recording Bundle.
Your M7 has about a 5 db rise from 5kHz to about 15 kHz - a 1.5 db rise at form 1 kHz to 2 kHz (peaking at 1.5 kHz) - don't know if you want to tame it but you might try with a graphic EQ - as for the guitar - just practice more - trying to play the part as smooth as you can - connecting the phrases better - thinking about the piece as a whole - if you wouldn't mind giving me the tracks I'd love to take a crack at fixing them -
 
Your M7 has about a 5 db rise from 5kHz to about 15 kHz - a 1.5 db rise at form 1 kHz to 2 kHz (peaking at 1.5 kHz) - don't know if you want to tame it but you might try with a graphic EQ - as for the guitar - just practice more - trying to play the part as smooth as you can - connecting the phrases better - thinking about the piece as a whole - if you wouldn't mind giving me the tracks I'd love to take a crack at fixing them -
I don't know what an M7 is. Am I supposed to know what these numbers mean? I just use effects and if it sounds good to my ears, I keep it. What is a graphic EQ? Thank you for your input!
 
I don't know what an M7 is. Am I supposed to know what these numbers mean? I just use effects and if it sounds good to my ears, I keep it. What is a graphic EQ? Thank you for your input!
When we look up your studio recording bundle, the mic shown is labeled M7 on the front. Graphic EQ is an equalizer plugin in your Studio One DAW software.
 
For virtually everything you record - you will edit and tweak. EQ comes in many types - the most popular in DAWs is where you can boost and cut lots of frequncies and easily bugger it up! So little and subtle are great ways to start. Listen hard and try to pick out thing that don't sound quite right - then use EQ to fix them. Reverb is the other popular tool. Gentle reverb to make it sound like it's in a different space - it doesn't have to be cathedral like. The rest of your tweaking can be on effects - so on acoustic guitars many people creep a bit of chorus in, top sparkle it up a bit? Loads to experiment with.
 
For virtually everything you record - you will edit and tweak. EQ comes in many types - the most popular in DAWs is where you can boost and cut lots of frequncies and easily bugger it up! So little and subtle are great ways to start. Listen hard and try to pick out thing that don't sound quite right - then use EQ to fix them. Reverb is the other popular tool. Gentle reverb to make it sound like it's in a different space - it doesn't have to be cathedral like. The rest of your tweaking can be on effects - so on acoustic guitars many people creep a bit of chorus in, top sparkle it up a bit? Loads to experiment with.
Thank you. I almost always add a touch of hall reverb to my vocals. Will look into chorus for my guitar. Yes, little and subtle for a mainly natural sound would work best for me.
 
I don't know what an M7 is. Am I supposed to know what these numbers mean? I just use effects and if it sounds good to my ears, I keep it. What is a graphic EQ? Thank you for your input!
The M7 is the mic model you have - the numbers mean instead of a flat response your Microphones boost some frequencies - a graphic EQ is device that affects the Equalization - it looks something like this: This is a Waves Software version (Waves makes plugins)

Image 6-13-23 at 11.13 AM.jpg
 
The M7 is the mic model you have - the numbers mean instead of a flat response your Microphones boost some frequencies - a graphic EQ is device that affects the Equalization - it looks something like this: This is a Waves Software version (Waves makes plugins)

View attachment 130437
Thank you. Looks like I have to go back to school! Do most people learn this on their own?
 
What else would you like to know?
Thank you for asking. This is how I go about things on Studio One: 1. I pick the singer/songwriter template that has tracks for vocals, guitar and midi-drums 2. I render a click-track 3. I lay down an acoustic guitar track, sometimes with a touch of hall reverb 4. I lay down a vocal track, add effects - female vocals louder, hall reverb and maybe flat plate and just use my ears to tell me if it sounds good or not 5. I go to edit and mute the unnecessary breathing or extraneous noises 6. I download it into a MP3 and critique it

I know nothing about adding drums or adjusting EQ or anything else within the effects that I choose. I suppose there are video tutorials for this. Do you have any suggestions regarding my process?
 
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