New Mix - "For All That You've Done" - Are the vocals too loud??

"The system cannot find the specified file"

Anyone else get this message? I'm using Windows Media Player.
 
The problem isn't balance

It's dryness. You need some reverb in there to give the voice some air. Running dry, it isn't working with the background music, just sounds like it was stuck in over it.
 
I think the vocal levels are just about right. If you pull them back, make it just by a little bit.

A nice reverb on them would help. There are opportunities for harmonies that would sound nice.

I sort of liked the lyrics. At least I was interested in what the next line was going to say. That's my personal judge to tell whether or not they're good.
 
Phyl - Not sure why it's doing that for you. I tested it before I posted and I thought everything was fine. Thought being the key word.

sloop - OK, I can see that. Maybe that's why I'm hearing it loud. I give more reverb a try

Trip - I wanted to stay away from harmonies on this song because I usually layer everything I do with tons of harmonic crap. The lyrics were meant to be sung by a guy about to lose it big time, just a nice simple happy song :)

Thx for the comments guys.
 
I agree with the reverb comments. Make sure the instruments are in the same 'room'. I don't think thats always necessary but here, I think, it is. Maybe because the arrangement is sparse and you can hear every instrument.
 
Thx for the comments ashulman, appreciate it. What do you mean by arrangement is sparse?

As for the reverb, I'm trying to find some decent plugins, or maybe just upgrade to Sonar 2.2
 
I just mean that you don't have a lot of layered instruments cluttering the mix so that each instrument becomes more prominent. Think of a tune like "Red House" by Hendrix. Just 3 instruments so you can really scrutinize the sound of each one. This really becomes a test of your sound engineering capabilities because I think its easier to bury mistakes by piling on parts.
 
No, the vocals aren't too loud, but it's a really beautiful song. I'd rather listen to this than Oasis. There's stuf like that piano bit at 2.05 and the double drumming at 3.20 - lovely touches.

I reckon you should hard limit the whole mix by 2.5 dB, and then normalize everything. Why? I think there's an unnecessary amount of contrast between the overall level of the track and the double drumming at 3.20.

You've got a wonderful voice.
 
I disagree with all the recommendations I just read for more reverb on the vocal. It's fine the way it is. Sure, you can put more verb on the vox if you want. But why not leave it out front where everybody can make out the lyrics? It sounds good the way it is. People are looking for things to recommend. It ain't a matter of this or that is right or wrong, it's a matter of this or that makes it different this way or that way.

It's your call in other words.

It's a good song too. :)
 
I'm always very careful not to impose my "vision" of how a song should sound onto someone else's recording because I think there is an infinite variety of good sounds that people can come up with and thats part of the fun of this forum. However, some things are fundamental, meaning that all of us try to accomplish them on every recording. One of those things (and one of the hardest, IMO) is to have vocals sit in the mix. I don't disagree with Dobro that you should go after your individual sound and to a certain extent I am nitpicking, but I think what you are hearing as the vocals being too loud is just their sitting above, rather than 'in' the mix. Compression, reverb, or both can help.
 
Hmmm. To answer your question, I myself do not think the vocals are too loud. They are not clear to me however. What mic and preamp did you used to record the lead vocal with?

My guess is that you need to just work a little more with the EQ of the instruments to make some room for the vocal. I would also agree with the recommendation of LESS reverb.

Great job though. I like the different sounds. :-)
 
Hey Lynx,
....cool one man. I musta missed this. I like the song alot. You captured a drunken meloncholy type o' vibe really well. Regarding vocs, I can see why youre having a hard time. I didnt think they were too loud, but they do seem to stand out a tiny bit too much (as ashulman mentioned). Just a little compression might help that, and i agree about a little verb, ...but just a little. ...The dry, clean aspect of the vocs supports the songs feel really well.
very cool man:) g
 
I don't have a problem with the dry nature of the vox. Works fine to me. But there's a lack of clarity in the vox that might be remedied with a little eq work. Probably in the lower mids area.

Cool organ part! I like the song a lot. I think you might work on getting the various parts to sit with each other a little better. But great tune and great performance.

Chris
 
GOOD vocal levels

No, the vocals are mixed PERFECT, don't touch 'em .... (fang face here)

If you put any reverb on the vocals they are going to fall further into the mix, so you'll need more headroom. Your vocals are really at the perfect level, the only place they could acceptably go is a little louder if the levels changed, but the level are fine, unless you add reverb.

I understood ALL THE WORDS the first time around, and that's very, very good.

yeah, there's a little touch of Oasis in here I think.

I want you to 'think' more about preparatory breath, think about 'relaxing' to 'let' the air in before you sing. When there is a pause of a few seconds in between lines, vocally that is an eternity, and tension can creep in ... let it go ... let it go

Now at 2:24 you teased me with a harmony-backup vocal ... make something more of this, mix it up more and put some delay on it ... something. Harmony vocals are .... yeah ... gold.

The drum fill at 3:19 is going to be re-written or just taken out ... thanks. :-)

The mix is good, nothing is stepping out too much, nothing out of proportion.

Are you holding back on your vocal a bit sometimes ???

Like at 1:43 ... 'be today' , I'd expect you have the pipes to let loose a lot more dynamically there. Are you backing off on the mic there ... proximity effect ? Don't, you have a good pop voice fella. Don't touch those levels , (scowling like a barbary pirate here) :-)

Nice song, marketable !
 
dobro - Thx for the comments about the voice. I really like your mixes so I value your opinion on that.

caryindy - i hope to get back to you today on your request. thx again.

Guernica - drunken meloncholy type o' vibe - I love it! Maybe had a couple of rums while doing it :D

groucho - thx man, I'm going to buy some better software this weekend and play with some decent plugins. I would at least want to have the ability to try anyways, which I don't have now.

studioviols - thx man. About that drum roll, I have a lot of problems with it too, I think I may redo it. Sounds kind of plastic to me after awhile, but it sounded like Alex Van Halen at the time :D
 
I'll be back ...

Hey Lynx -- I've just downloaded this one and I'll check it out later. Just wanted to really quickly throw out some props to you for your "Feel Fun Again" which is song # 2 on my home-made NWR comp...totally rocks, man!

I'll give this one a spin soon.

:D
 
Damn, man, another great number! Okay, this one is going on the next comp album...There is something similar about your style and Dobro's (though the musical thought is completely different, there is some kind of appealing similarity there)

This one sounds great to my ears. The vocals are clear and out front and you have enough interesting things happening musically to hold interest. Excellent vocals!

Nice work!

:D
 
Good use of instruments. A couple of the high notes in the vocal sound weird but overall a great vocal character. I guess it might be cool to have some light background vocals or pad synth washing around.

That roll thing has got to go.
 
Kewl synth stuff. Drum kit sounds mono. IMO this needs the stereo spread... prominent low mids here 400-600Hz... may want to take some of that from the piano and give it to voice...

IMO the trouble you're having is a physical separation issue, not so much an EQ issue... PANNING and REVERB.

The weird/interesting things you're doing ... the hardpanned stuff is nice, but push the snare drum off to the right side slightly... the voice to the left slightly... put the bass either in the center... or to one side or the other.... just some suggestions to open this up some more (unfortunate that the piano sound is MONO)...

REVERB can also help separate everything and make the mix sound richer. Set up a nice stereo room reverb (bright medium room, or something) on an AUX buss... feed each track into it in VARYING percentages... more for the stuff in back (like drums), the least for the vocals, etc...

You may want to double up the piano and put a short delay on the double (30ms or less) and pan each track fairly hard to the opposite side. This will "widen" the piano track. You'd probably want to then drop it back in level and let it sit in the background.

Just some suggestions. Nothing set in stone.

Good song.


Chad
 
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