"Someone Like You" Youtube mix/recording feedback

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alexcornell

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Hey guys, I'm new to this thread and loving it so far. Some really helpful articles. I recently recorded this song (MP3 attached) for Youtube and would love some feedback on the mix. The video is on my Youtube channel (alxcornell) in case you're interested

My audio setup is actually pretty standard:

Logic Pro: All out-of-the-box effects (reverb, EQ, compression), and I'm not really sure what I'm doing with any of them. Was considering upgrading to Altiverb but not sure if it's worth it.

Mic: AKG Perception 220

Interface: Mobile Pre USB

That's pretty much it. Nothing too crazy. Generally I find I need to do a LOT to get it not to sound A) too quiet, B) hissing audio and C) really muddy. The sound straight out of the box is pretty awful, and I'm wondering which part of my setup could stand to use an upgrade most. The interface sure feels old school...but i could also see a different mic giving it a different flavor.

Anyway, take a listen and let me know what you think. Thanks!

alex
 

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hey. i hate when no one replies to my threads, so i thought id give you an opinion.

first impression, i think you know a bit more about what your doing than you make out.
also its REALLY FLIPPING LOUD! like MEGA LOUD. which is always an impressive achievement! but yeah

still, everything sounded nice. on the vocal there were some plosives apparent, and the breathing comes through on the vocal track quite loud, but that comes from loud master and heavy compression. overall nice though. nice little background bits to keep it interesting. good job

in terms of external plugins and stuff, check out some of the IK multimedia plugins. they are all on 14 day trial. sit down and have a listen to how some of them work. i found them to sound amazing compared to logics own plugins, however i am on Logic 8 so im a little in the past now! works for me now though anyway.
 
thanks skuthepoo, yeah it is loud! I think I focus on that too much sometimes and end up getting more noise than I would if I wasn't pushing the levels so hard. I generally try to match real pop recordings' volume, which is a risky idea when all I'm using to pump the level is compression and EQ. I think this makes me bound to get some unwanted noise..

The breathing and popping I think is a result of having no pop-filter, and probably overcompressing the vocal. I generally mess with the settings until things sound OK (though I'm reading an article on proper compression technique now...so we'll see if that helps)
 
Hi Alex. This mix is a total and complete mess. You've obviously got some mics and recorded yourself without a clue about what you were doing. LOUD doesn't begin to describe the problems you've got with figuring out the sound. You're not quite listening to the sound yet -- you're turning dials w/o knowing what you're doing.

That's fine.

You've got talent with your music and that what count's most. You can either pay for or figure the rest out later.

Enjoyed the tune, but turned it off early because of the sound.
 
Oh ... and I wrote a song called "Someone Like You" ... which is why I listened. I liked your song too.
 
K-dubs, I hear you, that's why I posted it here! I am in need of some direction :)

Would love some initial tips or suggestions on how to move forward. When I listen, I feel like I'm over-doing the effects and getting all sorts of collateral damage in the process (for example, lots of hissing etc due to over EQing the highs). I'm not really sure though, so I'd love more detail..
 
Your issue is compression, Alex. Can you tell me what it means and how it works? If you can, you can answer your own question. I hope I helped ... but you're going to have to learn more. Feel free to ask me about the particulars, not the duhs. If you've not invested enough time in learning, then why ... on my free time, should I invest my time? I've got my own stuff to do.

This is not about you, Alex, I'm willing to help. But this is a course not paid for through a school that doesn't exist. If you don't take the time to learn the basics, then you will actually have to pay for the lessons.

How does a compressor work? What is its purpose? What is the history behind its creation? Why was it something anyone wanted?

What does it do?

One must know that before one applies it to anything.
 
Yo... You've got chops, dude. Great singing! Great playing! Your compression is cranked up so high, it's affecting the sound a lot in a negative way. As a first step, I'd simply try turning it down. You might be surprised how much that can help. There are loads of places on the net brim with information on techniques to get compression to work for you, and not against you. I'd start searching there, and.... Might I note.. Today's radio-ready mixes are at insanely high volume levels, but are usually processed with gear costing a lot of money. Personally, I don't really like the way they sound, but trying to get at "radio" volume levels with gear costing a few hundred bucks is ridiculous, and will get you crap for sound 99.9% of the time.

Try doing some research, and simply turning your mix down a bit. But whatever you do, keep singing. You've got a killer voice, man.
 
Right on, yeah I figured I was overdoing at least one of the effects. Logic compression being one of the only things I use, makes sense that it's a culprit. My problem is a I don't *hear* it yet -- I don't quite hear when it's dialed in or not. I've learned a fair bit on the subject before, but my desire to make it louder I think overwhelmed any understanding I was operating with initially.

I'm planning to eventually invest in some better equipment, at which point I'll look at compressors other than the built-in Logic one. Of course will read up a bit more too. If you have any favorite compressors and/or resources I'd love to hear about them.

Appreciate the feedback!
 
Hey Alex,

I agree with what's gone before me, but maybe not to the same extent.

I hear the odd vocal plosive and i *think* I can hear you autotune at some points (forgive me if I'm wrong),

but overall, it just sounds like a great song, well recorded and well mixed but overcompressed a bit.

You have a great voice there :)

I don't know how much I'd focus on better compressors, so much as learning how to be subtle with the compressors you have.

Sure better gear never hurts but i don't think it's the cause of your problem.


also, If you're worried about hiss and noise, compressing is only going to serve to highlight these. You might know that already, but compression is the reason you can hear every breath and lip smack. It works the same for hiss in quiet passages. Compressors just bring it up so you notice it.
 
Compressors squishes sound (hence the name). You lose natural space when you hit it too hard, and the sound becomes thinner, more brittle. As noted above, your issue with hiss is related, because compression elevates the soft sounds to become equal in volume to the loud sounds, by tamping down the loud so that it become equal to the soft -- narrowing the dynamic range.

In the old days, mix engineers used to ride the volume knob manually in order to keep sound levels even in a mix. Compression was originally invented to automatically "ride the faders". It has been horribly abused as of late.
 
K-dub said:
In the old days, mix engineers used to ride the volume knob manually in order to keep sound levels even in a mix. Compression was originally invented to automatically "ride the faders". It has been horribly abused as of late.
Click to expand...


Maybe I used it wrong, but I'd disagree with this.

I 'ride the faders' when i need to, and i use compression when I need to, but for me they are two different tools for two different outcomes.

You're right though, it has been abused in the way you described.
 
That is true, S ... but I was using it in context of automatic gain control (which was originally was used in AM radio to steady incoming ever varying Amplitude Modulation signals -- so that the fidelity of playback was improved). It was later similarly adapted to audio in order to increase signal to noise ratios on tape ... allowing for hotter tracking signals.

One can still ride the faders (or draw envelopes as the case may be), but one is more global and one is more immediate -- meaning that you wouldn't normally ride a fader to tame transients.
 
Very nice singing.

Watch out for vocal crackles. Like when you opened your mouth at :47. To a point those things sound nice. Beyond that point they're distracting to the listener. I'm hearing lots of other similar things elsewhere.

I was expecting to hear something that was totally ruined by a limiter. It was loud, but I've heard mixes ruined much worse.

I think the acoustic guitar was a little on the jangly side for a mix like this. I'd like to hear a fatter bottom end to it.
 
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