New CCM Track - vocal mixing advice

[a_street]

I'm a relative newbie here....I just finished a new song, called "See The Way." It's at the top of the song list at http://www.ampcast.com/andrewt, and overall, I'm happy with it, but the vocals seem to be a bit too overpowering and upfront. However, if I lower them in the mix, they get buried toward the end of the song when I bring in the strings for the last chorus.

Any mix/production comments would be appreciated, but especially in regards to the vocal mix.

 

[Dougie Johnson]

Gave It A Listen.

First thoughts: The vocals are mixed fine. The problems I heard were in the "Puny" drum machine mix. Could use more beef via reverb & EQ.
The keyboards sounded just fine to me, the light orchestration in the background was a nice touch.
I would add a "crunchy" rythym guitar to the chorus, let it ring outa bit with the first chord.
Very good lyrics, constructed well!

DJ

 

[CyanJaguar]

Hi,

I agree that the vocals are slightly loud. THey surprised me when they came in. I think that you can successfully pull it back one to 2 decibels without clouding it. I think you should also use a slightly bigger room and maybe slightly more decay.

It seems to me that most things can generally use some more body. THe high end is fine, but the strings need some body, the piano could use a tad bit.

I would pan the strings out.

You have a very good voice. I also dig the piano playing. I think the bass needs more definittion, and the hi hats are too loud. I like the kick sound a lot but you can get away with bringing it up in volume.

peace

 

[a_street]

Thanks for the input!

Just out of curiosity, are there any EQ settings you can think of that would give them more "body"? Is it just a matter of getting a better balance of mids and lows in the sound?

Also, the drums are pretty inseparable track-wise. The snare is its own track, but the the rest of it is all on one track (the one thing I hate about working with MIDI and soundfonts)...is there any way I can get a "fatter" sound out of the drums without messing it all up?