Vocal in the mix

[jazzbass12]

I am having a tough time getting my main vocals to sit inthe mix. They sound alien, like they dont fit in with the rest of the mix. The orignal recording sound good I used a good mic and preamp. It just doesnt seem to fit right.

Drums - Soft Sythn to wave stereo audio track
Bass - real bass mono track
Piano- Reason soft synth to wave stereo track
Gutar (Rythm)-Soft Synth to wave mono track
Strings-Reason soft synth towave stereo track

main vocal- mono
Backup- stereo panned hard left and right each track

Thanks,
RIch O

 

[tmix]

Time to experiment

I have found that some times even having a bunch of good sounding individual tracks doesn't mean they will all fit sonically together.
Sometimes it is just putting them all in the same room sonically with a small ambient reverb or such, but often subtracting certain frequencies is what it takes to tonally make the fit.(I HIGHLY recommend cutting over boosting)
I recently had recorded a music video where the vocalist had a real pretty sounding voice, but the song was more driving.
It took cutting some lows and adding a little distortion to edge it up a bit.

Happy experimenting!

 

[jazzbass12]

When you say putting them in the same room. Could I use a reverb plug in on the bus and choose a room with a slight reverb? Hope that is not a dumb ????

Thanks,

 

[maestro_dmc]

I would start by EQ'ing out some of the frequencies on the Piano, strings, and guitar. Cut a bit on the ones that are in the vocal range, usually between 1.5khz thru 4.5khz. to start with, and go on from there. You need to "create space" sonically for the vocals to sit in.(this applies to all the other instruments too)

I agree with tmix about cutting before boosting, in fact go back and check that you havn't boosted some stuff too much already that you could cut back and start over.

Maybe your vocals sound too distant? Don't add reverb then, it'll wash them out even more.

Sometimes an "up front" sound is what you need to make the vocal sit in the mix.