Simple Alt/Rock Cover - Need help with vocal mix

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traciiroxx

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I have recorded an acoustic (+ 1 electric guitar) cover of "Coke" by Flickerstick, and was hoping to get some help mixing it. My first problem is that I don't have real monitors, so I am using regular bookshelf speakers to mix, and checking on cheap headphones, and my car. My biggest problem has been the vocals, on my first mix they sounded way too harsh in the headphones. I was torn between turning them down, and EQing, so I did a little bit of both.

Any help you guys could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Coke Mix 2 by Nitrel on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

Thanks
 
I like the song and the mix is pretty good... but I would add a bass guitar to the mix just give it some body. The guitar work is nice, could just use some bottom end. One other thing I would mention. I like the vocals but it sounds like you didn't prepare your voice for the song. About an hour of vocal exercises beforehand would have made a difference. Good work overall
 
I agree with Guitarlegend on both points, but sounds good other than that to me.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. I warmed up for about 15 minutes or so. In the future I will try to dedicate more time to vocal prep. I don't have a bass guitar, but I did use an amp sim to record the notes of each chord, and pitched them down an octave to give it some low end. Hopefully it doesn't make it sound too fake. I have uploaded a new mix. Please give me your thoughts if you get a chance.

Coke Mix 3 w/ bass by Nitrel on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

Thanks
 
The bass does wonders for this track. You might not fix the vocals overnight but make warmups a regular part of your performance and it will just keep getting better. I like the song
 
Pretty song.

Yeah there are some pitch issues on the vocal. Pay attention to those and either punch them out or comp takes. Otherwise the tone of your voice is nice.

Instruments sound OK, but the mix doesn't have a low end. If you don't want to put a bass in, then you should probably have guitars with more of a low end - like down to 100hz and maybe below.
 
Oh and I didn't read GuitarLegend's post before I wrote mine. I read it afterward and we pretty much said the same thing. :)
 
There might be some very minor pitch issues the vocals but you have a voice I could kill to have. Really that sounds really, really good to me. You have that little soar-throat thing that I've always wanted. Did you get vocal lessons or have you just smoked a bunch of cigarettes and had a lot of whisky? How do you DO that?
 
Thank you very much. I really appreciate te comments. I've never had any vocal lessons. In fact I used to be a terrible singer. I have just practiced and tried to find tips online. I almost never smoke, and drink whiskey occasionally, so I don't really know how my voice has that sound. I guess it's just natural.
 
I don't think it is. Honestly, I don't hear too much of it in my singing either, so I can't be sure.
 
I agree with DB that you have a voice to kill for. I hope this is taken in the right context but if you took that voice onto a show like [Insert Favourite Country]'s Got Talent or X-Factor they would crucify you with it. If I had that voice I would work with it to get it as good as I could. Since you have it, I can only suggest what I would do to make it better
 
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