New Fun Pop Song

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xpnoixtremezx

New member

Our second song.. pretty much gave up on our first one for now. but hopefully you guys would enjoy this one :)
We were going for a similar sound to that addicting song Call Me Maybe.
 
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Female vocals are nice and clear. Mostly they're OK, but they seem to get off they rhythm around :20. Other than that she has a nice voice. Didn't care for the delivery on the male vocal.

Music had a canned sound. It was OK for this genre I suppose. Cymbals got a little fatiguing after a while.
 
Friday, friday, gotta get down....

Wait, wrong song. :D

I pretty much agree with everything TripM said. Female vocals sound decent at times. They get off in places. Her harmonies and layers do not work at all. I think this would be better with the cliche dude "rap" spoken parts gone all together. That was bad. The backing music is nothing special and quite cheesey sounding. For a modern pop mix, I guess it's on point. I think the vocals sit on top too much though. I guess that's normal for this style, but the backing music and vocals don't meld together at all. It sounds like a vocal take on top of a karaoke track. Get the vocals sitting in the mx but still clear and audible and I think it will be better.
 
Thank you for the feedback!
I'm actually having trouble getting the vocals to sit just right.. but I'll work on that some more.
I feel like if I lower the volume of the vocals, it gets burried though
the "rap" parts, I did myself to give a little contrast but I guess that didn't work. :facepalm:
I guess we gotta go back to recording those harmonies.
and LOL at that Friday comment. not completely a bad thing..:( LOL

TripleM- by off rythm did you mean the delay that was added?
 
If this is supposed to be a Pop/Dance track like that Call Me Maybe song, there a few things you need to keep in mind.

1 - songs in this genre are pushed by the kick. Tweens want to dry hump at the sock hop to a beat. The "drums" need to pump the track.
2 - the vox need to sparkle and sit like a warm blanket across the stereo image of these dance/pop songs. Like doubled and spread wider. Sounds too narrow. Sparkle meaning EQ that shit to bring more presence to it.
3 - that part at the end where she sings "OH OH OH OHWHOA WHOA" and turns into a cylon for two "Oh"s caught me unexpected and had me laughing my ass off. CUT THAT PART OUT.
 
How do I double the vocals? Put 2 of the same track and pan one all the way to the left and the other one to the right?.. and I actually still need to learn how to EQ, around which frequency do I turn it up?...
the singer actually hated the robotic OH's at the end, but I was trying to make it playful.. I'll take it out. :facepalm: Thanks DogmaticVox! Helpful stuff!
 
xpnoixtremezx said:
How do I double the vocals? Put 2 of the same track and pan one all the way to the left and the other one to the right?..
Click to expand...

That will still be mono. You could try the dumb old copy/paste/pan then shift one track forward or backwards a few milliseconds, but I'd advise against it. It'll sound wider, but it'll also probably sound hollow and out of phase. Doubling the vocals really means to track them again and use both tracks - but that girl's voice might not be good enough to pull it off well. Doubling vocals can be awesome, or a total disaster.

If you're looking for more "air" and "presence" for the vocals, you're probably gonna find it in the way highs. Like 10k or more region. Watch out for sibilance.
 
If you want the vocal to blend better in the mix I'd suggest you send it to a buss with either a slap delay, say 1/16th note, or ping pong with a 1/32nd and a 1/16th note delay, and inch it back until you can't really hear it but notice the difference when it's gone. Also send that delay track to your vocal reverb track, but don't over do it. Should help to tuck the vocal back into the mix a little. Play around with short delays to help your vocals.
 
Did a quick fix of the song.. lowered vocals, accentuate the kicks, less cymbals.. etc. added some of your suggestions.
Any better?
 
It's better than the first mix. Be careful with that backup vox part that just doubles the last word of those lines in the verse. It's like that wasn't turned down with the main vocals so you have this strange spike in volume when it comes in for a word.

Check this out: Selena Gomez & The Scene - Love You Like A Love Song - YouTube
As much as I hate this song in this video, I think it's a good current example of how pop vocals are mixed. Pay attention to the vocal mix during the chorus and you'll see what we're talking about - doubled vocals. And not just doubled and stacked, doubled and spread. If you listen closely you can tell she's been "autotuned" too. For the EQ of the vox you can hear they've ripped all the lows out.
 
DogmaticVox said:
It's better than the first mix. Be careful with that backup vox part that just doubles the last word of those lines in the verse. It's like that wasn't turned down with the main vocals so you have this strange spike in volume when it comes in for a word.

Check this out: Selena Gomez & The Scene - Love You Like A Love Song - YouTube
As much as I hate this song in this video, I think it's a good current example of how pop vocals are mixed. Pay attention to the vocal mix during the chorus and you'll see what we're talking about - doubled vocals. And not just doubled and stacked, doubled and spread. If you listen closely you can tell she's been "autotuned" too. For the EQ of the vox you can hear they've ripped all the lows out.
Click to expand...

OH, I see. No wonder it didn't sound much different.

I added the double vocal to my mix and I think it made it a lot better, thanks man!


When you guys do double vocals.. do you guys make the double pan left and right and keep quiet? or equal loudness with the main?
 
xpnoixtremezx said:
OH, I see. No wonder it didn't sound much different.

I added the double vocal to my mix and I think it made it a lot better, thanks man!


When you guys do double vocals.. do you guys make the double pan left and right and keep quiet? or equal loudness with the main?
Click to expand...
You can do whatever sounds best to you. There are no rules. Frequently I'll leave the lead center and pan the double 18- 20% off center to add some breadth to the vocal. I'll often eq them very differently to, using the double to bring out the airiness, and then saturate that part more than the lead. I think you need to experiment using different eq, panning and effects on the lead and double and see what sounds best to you. There are truly endless possibilities. I will say, most of the time I leave the lead part dead center with minimal effects except eq to taste, a short delay and some reverb. The double part is like seasoning. Don't overdo it and I think you'll like what it does to the overall quality of the song.
 
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