New Age Celtic

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cmhansen

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I think I need help. Umm.. I've been working on a new project the last year or so and this was the first of about twelve pieces that I've written for it. The problems come when I'm putting a vocal track onto the music. I've never done it before because I can't sing very good and I know some people who can, and I've finally got them to sing.

What I'd like to know is, is the vocal sitting in the mix well enough, and if not how would you try and fix the problem. Also there seems to be little like drop out of volume throughout the piece which I can't account for when playing all the tracks individually and together, but appear when I bounce to a wav file.

Also would like to know what you think of the piece in general. The vocalist said she is going to sing the piece again 'cause she's not happy with the wavs she sent me. So don't spend to much time comtemplating the vocal, besides the placement if you will.

Vikings

Thanks for any listens and any comments. It sure will be appreciated. ;)

PS It's at Soundclick, so sorry about the wimpy player. :eek:
 
It's rather bright, overall. Perhaps the vocal is having to compete too much with the brightness of some of the patches. I would try to roll off the highs elsewhere than the vocal, then use a deesser to compress and then boost the highs on the vocal.
 
mshilarious has it pretty well sorted. He knows of what he speaks.
There are some nice mids but not much deep bass to anchor the piece.
This is a nice piece so be careful how you treat it.
 
That is a nice song. It does sound like it's gonna be a tricky one to mix.

It's really hard to hear what's going on. I'd want to strip out everything except the percussion and vocals and get that sounding right before adding those synths. There is some serious competition for sonic space going on there -- and perhaps too much reverb blurring.

A pro would know what to fix in 5 seconds. I'd just have to start from scratch and try to hear the clashes.

Good luck
aspiring
 
mshilarious said:
It's rather bright, overall. Perhaps the vocal is having to compete too much with the brightness of some of the patches. I would try to roll off the highs elsewhere than the vocal, then use a deesser to compress and then boost the highs on the vocal.
Click to expand...

I was afraid that was one of the problems. The string patch is very high end and the vocal is too. Thanks for the insight. I'll try it out tonight when it gets a little quieter around here. I'll also keep it in mind when she sends the new vocal wavs.

Thanks again.
 
rayc said:
mshilarious has it pretty well sorted. He knows of what he speaks.
There are some nice mids but not much deep bass to anchor the piece.
This is a nice piece so be careful how you treat it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. There is quite a bit of low in the piece. I think I lost some of it when I converted it to 128 kbps. And that wimpy player they have at SC is'nt the best. Wish they'd go back to using the listeners player.
 
aspiring said:
That is a nice song. It does sound like it's gonna be a tricky one to mix.

It's really hard to hear what's going on. I'd want to strip out everything except the percussion and vocals and get that sounding right before adding those synths. There is some serious competition for sonic space going on there -- and perhaps too much reverb blurring.

A pro would know what to fix in 5 seconds. I'd just have to start from scratch and try to hear the clashes.

Good luck
aspiring
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments about the song. I'll have to take everybodies advice and see if I can do something with it. I might just deconstruct it again and see where the problems are.
 
Interesting vocals - they are blurry sounding - something I've not heard often. Gives them a sort of synth or string feel to them. Like a lead instrument. Could be the player but I would try and tame the effect a tiny bit to clarify the words....

Overall I like the mix you've started with the leads come in and out of the mix nicely with the vocals, while the percussion is steady.

Nice patches on the synths.....
 
I really like what you have been doing so far, the vocals need to cut through a bit more and some bottom end would round out the mix........bring the vocal to the front, and back the rest off a bit add a bit of bass and I think everything would sit very well.
 
Lush sound and well balanced between the parts IMO. I like the cyclical rise and fall in dynamics of the percussion. The vocal is gorgeous. I think the vocal would come across better and clearer with less verb/delay. I'd leave the waves crashing and seagull sound out but that's just me. They don't hit me as realistic enough to match the song's beauty.

Tim
 
I would keep the same verb on the vocals, but I would bring up the low-mids. After that was done, I would breing down the low synth drone (since the vocals got more of that covered).

It is a beautiful song, but that seagull has to go.
 
ido1957 said:
Interesting vocals - they are blurry sounding - something I've not heard often. Gives them a sort of synth or string feel to them. Like a lead instrument. Could be the player but I would try and tame the effect a tiny bit to clarify the words....

Overall I like the mix you've started with the leads come in and out of the mix nicely with the vocals, while the percussion is steady.

Nice patches on the synths.....
Click to expand...

Thanks Ido. Only have reverb on the vocals at the moment. May be a little much but I actually went for that wet sound to kind of go with the genre. The synths are really soundfonts of a synth patch. I have a few of them on hand for pieces just like this one.
 
jpw23 said:
I really like what you have been doing so far, the vocals need to cut through a bit more and some bottom end would round out the mix........bring the vocal to the front, and back the rest off a bit add a bit of bass and I think everything would sit very well.
Click to expand...

Thanks jpw. I'm hearing what everyone is saying about more bass in the piece. I was so intent on the vocal that I really did'nt pay that much attention to it. I'll be going back and adding just a nice reverbed contrabass or pad to fill it out more I think.
 
Timothy Lawler said:
Lush sound and well balanced between the parts IMO. I like the cyclical rise and fall in dynamics of the percussion. The vocal is gorgeous. I think the vocal would come across better and clearer with less verb/delay. I'd leave the waves crashing and seagull sound out but that's just me. They don't hit me as realistic enough to match the song's beauty.

Tim
Click to expand...

Thanks Tim. No waves or seagull? That's my favorite part. :D Was actually going for a sandpiper sound. Hate to tell you what I really used for the bird sound but I think you'd probably ask. I used... gasp... guitar fret noise. Am I good on guitar or not. Ha, ha. It does'nt sound to bad of a bird. I'll think about leaving them out. But don't be disappointed if I leave it in. ;)
 
LP2006 said:
I would keep the same verb on the vocals, but I would bring up the low-mids. After that was done, I would breing down the low synth drone (since the vocals got more of that covered).

It is a beautiful song, but that seagull has to go.
Click to expand...

Thanks LP. I'll have to see how everything fits as soon as I add a little bass and take away a little highs to the piece.
 
Taking into account all the posts and suggestions here I tried to fix this mix the best I could. With the limited equipment I have, this is about as good as I can get from the advice given. Thanks again for all the suggestions. It is much appreciated.

Lowered the highs on the string synth, added a little bass and brought the vocals up front a little more by adding a some highs and backing off the reverb just a little. But I just did'nt have the heart to get rid of the waves or the bird. Sorry. Maybe someday I'll find a better wave and bird sound.

'Vikings'

Thanks again for any listens. ;)
 
cmhansen said:
Taking into account all the posts and suggestions here I tried to fix this mix the best I could. With the limited equipment I have, this is about as good as I can get from the advice given. Thanks again for all the suggestions. It is much appreciated.

Lowered the highs on the string synth, added a little bass and brought the vocals up front a little more by adding a some highs and backing off the reverb just a little. But I just did'nt have the heart to get rid of the waves or the bird. Sorry. Maybe someday I'll find a better wave and bird sound.

'Vikings'

Thanks again for any listens. ;)
Click to expand...

I kinda like the bird.....the wave really needs to be replaced or sustained and not as regular.......it was too predictable
 
jpw23 said:
I kinda like the bird.....the wave really needs to be replaced or sustained and not as regular.......it was too predictable
Click to expand...

If you told me the wave was oars rowing a ship, that would be believeable, but fade it out sooner. Try dropping the pitch a bit too. I don't mind the bird, but again a couple fewer of them would be the ticket.

OK, now that the vocal is front and center, it's going to need a bit of work. I honestly think it still needs a healthy dose of compression, and a bit of the verb back, please. You're leaving her out there right now, and in a few places she could use some help.
 
jpw23 said:
I kinda like the bird.....the wave really needs to be replaced or sustained and not as regular.......it was too predictable
Click to expand...

Thanks jpw23. Yeah, I'm hearing the mechanical sound of the waves too. I'll be changing that when I get the new vocal tracks from the singer.
 
mshilarious said:
If you told me the wave was oars rowing a ship, that would be believeable, but fade it out sooner. Try dropping the pitch a bit too. I don't mind the bird, but again a couple fewer of them would be the ticket.

OK, now that the vocal is front and center, it's going to need a bit of work. I honestly think it still needs a healthy dose of compression, and a bit of the verb back, please. You're leaving her out there right now, and in a few places she could use some help.
Click to expand...

Thanks again for the listen. I was thinking that the other day. Maybe change it to a oar stroke and have maybe some sail rigging and oar noises. Might go better with the song. I did drop a few of the birds from a new one I uploaded today.

You know I forgot to re-add the amount of reverb on the vocal track that I had before. I was trying to hear the highs and low and did'nt remember the reverb. That has been fixed also.

Thanks again for all the help guys. I needed it as you can see. ;)
 
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