Mix help

dnkygirl

dnkygirl

M42 Entertainment
Hi All,

I have been working with my brother and cousin on a compliation demo. I need some help fixing the mix on this song. "Open Wounds" I am having issues with blending the vocals and music placement. I am a beginner when it comes to mixing so any input you could give would be appreciated. It doesn't feel like the vocals are sitting right... I am still having lots of vocal booth problems and ended up cutting open an opening in my closet door just to kill the dead bouncing problem... now it still seems like the vocals have no life to them. I am using a rode nt a mic for vocals... working up funds for a baby blue bottle.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=331276
 
Demi....how many layers of vocals are on there? You might want to play with the pitch on some of them to add some spice to the mix a little bit. Also cut the beat up.

Will look into it a little more for you.
Fiev
 
Fieva said:
Demi....how many layers of vocals are on there? You might want to play with the pitch on some of them to add some spice to the mix a little bit. Also cut the beat up.

Will look into it a little more for you.
Fiev
Click to expand...

There are about 3 layers in the verses and 2 layers in the chorus. I doubled up the verses to add volume and pan left and right to try to balance them. I did very little to eq them, because right now the sound i'm getting from my closet with this mic is bad. I will give your suggestions a try.... I have an L3 maximizer on the master volume to turn it up the whole track volume, but for some reason on this song it doesn't seem to be working... i need to look at the settings i'm using. When i bounced it to disc and played it out of itunes the whole tracks volume sounds like it needs to be turned up.
 
dnkygirl said:
There are about 3 layers in the verses and 2 layers in the chorus. I doubled up the verses to add volume and pan left and right to try to balance them. I did very little to eq them, because right now the sound i'm getting from my closet with this mic is bad. I will give your suggestions a try.... I have an L3 maximizer on the master volume to turn it up the whole track volume, but for some reason on this song it doesn't seem to be working... i need to look at the settings i'm using. When i bounced it to disc and played it out of itunes the whole tracks volume sounds like it needs to be turned up.
Click to expand...

Are you rewiring Reason into Pro Tools? If you are then you might want to turn up the master volume in Reason to bring the beat up so it mixes a little better with the vocals.

Another thing that would help this is to throw some adlibs in the verses to throw them off just a little bit and keep them from being monotone. Also it'll help highlight the parts of the track that need to be felt.

Fiev.
 
I can really here that closet man....have you tried to tack up some comforters or blankets on the walls and ceiling's..that should help a lot!!..I think that's the reason it wont fit with the music...you will have to do the vox. over again after you fix the closet..their is no way to remove that reverby crappy room sound but to do it over!! Nice tune though!!!
 
Demi.. on the real this mix isn't going to work no matter what you do to it.. you really need to record the vocals all over.. come out of the closet and record in the open area of your room..and see how that works for ya'll.. you should use Headphone for recordings vocals..(meaning don't play the music outloud and record)..to give you a clean flat vocal sound..

I know I eq my vocals on recording..cutting the lows out around 75-80hz

if you keep having problem then you need to look at you recordings chain.. cause right now it sounds like the recording was done in a empty closet room with no treatment..

on recording the vocals.. i know everyone does it different but you could try this..something i do anyway..

record the main vocals twice
record the chorus vocals three - four time(each) (H(high),L(low),N(normal)- pan hard left, pan hard right)
record two sets of adlibs - pan 50% left(or right), pan 30% right(or left)

hope this helps...JMO
 
Thanks guys!!! i will definately do something about the vocal tracks!! I've got lots of material on the walls in that closet and i ended up cutting a hole in the door. I'm just going to have to ripped it all down and buy some acoustic foam and see if that removes that closet bounce. Recording out in the open room is some what of a problem. The computer is really noisy... and there's really no way for me to get it 100% quiet. This is like the only element of recording that is truely difficult.... i almost want to shell out big bucks for a contractor to soundproof the room and closet.


Demi
 
LOL, you really don't need to hire anyone to come in and get the job done. You just need the right products to get your vocals tamed. Try some of this stuff to get you going in the right direction. Cheap, but very effective...

http://www.audimutesoundproofing.co...s-acoustic-curtains-band-rehearsal-space.aspx

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-AUR-2WD24CG-LIST

And these things work wonders...I have six of them on my walls:

http://www.audimutesoundproofing.co...tive-wall-mounting-sound-absorptive-foam.aspx

You just need something to tame that "hollow room" sound you're getting while recording, something that can stop some early reflections like the stuff above should do the trick nicely.
 
I record in an open room about 5 ft away from my pc. I use the gate on my compressor to help remove some of that unwanted noise and the limiter to help balance the spikes from emphasis. I try to really keep it as dry as possible so I can tweek it more in Pro tools. Never tried it with a plug in, but it wouldn't hurt to try.
 
You could just make a PVC base and some heavy moving blankets in a V shape to make a cheap iso booth. Might help kill some of the noise.
 
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