missing vocals????

[meLLoMikePetro]

Whats up ppl
Im having this probblem when it comes to the final mix...
I'll bounce the project down and listen back thru my monitors, sounds great!
I play it in the car...sounds great!
I stick it on my phone, (with headphones) sounds great!

But........ listen thru the phone speaker...very faint almost vocals
Listen on a dolby 5.1 system, very faint vocals ???
Its weird.... iv even had one track that had "hook" vocals normal, but all other vocals were very faint. the main/dub/punch were all on the same bus @ mixdown so i dnt get how certain things just dissapear?
Like i said it sounds good with headphones or from my phone~thru~the car speakers via mini jack
Any ideas?

 

[gumby1220]

it seems to be some sort of phasing issue although not too sure about that since it's fine in stereo but not mono nor 5.1. what are your vocal tracks pan settings set at?

 

[bouldersoundguy]

You could get that effect by copying the vocal track, panning the copies hard and flipping polarity on one side. In mono they'd be gone, and in 5.1 they'd be in the surround speakers.

 

[RawDepth]

Yep! It sounds like a simple case of mono phase cancellation.

The first three systems you mentioned all playback in stereo. The last, the phone speaker, sums the audio into mono. (In other words, the left and right channels are blended into one channel.)

Go back to the mixer and check your overall mix in mono mode. See if the vocals disappear there when set to mono. If so, you may need to change your method for creating stereo tracks.

Can you tell us more about your tracking and panning? Have you created a duplicate vocal track and panned one L and one R?

 

[meLLoMikePetro]

re missing vocals

I do everything in the box (after i record)

I use acid pro 7 to track vocals, edit and mix I can only set the master bus to "stereo" or "5.1"

Heres my set up Mic ~to~ preamp ~to~ compressor ~to~ 4channel mixer ~to~ computer. (all ourboard gear)

Once in the DAW i usually have 1 main vocal ( i dnt pan it, i keep it in the middle )
1 punch in track (in the middle) and a few dub tracks which i pan L and R
I record/track the vocals in stereo, could that be messing things up?

I kinda get what your saying but i dont get how certain vocals will not be lost and other will... when theyre all running thru the same BUS.
I BUS verses together the a BUS for the hook then a BUS for the beat/instruments

I really appreciate the help man.....this has been a problem for a while and i never understood why. Iv been recording my own music for a while but i just kinda self taught, i know im not always doing things the "right" way

 

[drumslinger]

agreed. be sure to check your mix in mono mode to hear how well the vocals and all the instruments sit. you can try copying the vocal track and keep it mono. bring it up in the mix while in stereo and then check to see if it still sits in the mix when you switch to mono. hope this helps.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

I do everything in the box (after i record)

I use acid pro 7 to track vocals, edit and mix I can only set the master bus to "stereo" or "5.1"

Set it to stereo. Something in your monitoring chain that summed the L/R to mono is very handy for checking for mono issues like you've had.

Heres my set up Mic ~to~ preamp ~to~ compressor ~to~ 4channel mixer ~to~ computer. (all ourboard gear)

Once in the DAW i usually have 1 main vocal ( i dnt pan it, i keep it in the middle )
1 punch in track (in the middle) and a few dub tracks which i pan L and R
I record/track the vocals in stereo, could that be messing things up?

It's likely that recording in stereo has something to do with it. You only need to use a single mono track for a single mono mic, which will save disk space and possibly prevent the trouble you're having. How are you getting the mic signal into two channels?

I kinda get what your saying but i dont get how certain vocals will not be lost and other will... when theyre all running thru the same BUS.
I BUS verses together the a BUS for the hook then a BUS for the beat/instruments

The problem is probably present in the stereo vocal tracks before they get to the bus. The bus probably doesn't have anything to do with it. If you have a way of converting the stereo vocal tracks to mono before mixing it may solve the problem.