Vocal mixing, especially harmonies

  • Thread starter Thread starter jaja714
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jaja714 said:
Ok, well, I think the best help you can give me is to say that the vocals are out of tune. Everyone else I play that for says "Hmmm... sounds nice" when I know for darn sure something's wrong.
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:) You've got it. Lovely when a plan comes together.
So was that the problem you were hearing, or is there more to it?

MrWrenchey said:
*sigh*

Is no one reading that he's using Audacity? xD
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Yeah, we've done that.
He was thinking about moving to reaper after these sessions.
I can appreciate that, when your balls-deep in something.
 
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Steenamaroo said:
So was that the problem you were hearing, or is there more to it?.
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I originally thought it was a mixing problem because, when I listened to the vocals acapella, everything sounded perfect. As it turns out, your observation that it was out of tune was the main problem and my new monitors smoothed out any additional issues. All that's left is the "muddiness" you are noticing. For now, though, I want to keep it that way to match the "muddy" instrumental. ;) actually I don't want to mess it up now that I have a good version! Onto the next Beatles song with Reaper! Ironically, I'm doing We Can Work It Out ... With A Little Help From My Friends would've been more fitting but I already did that song.

FYI: not digging Reaper so far but I have 60 days to see whether or not it is a learning curve.
 
+1 to Tom's comment. You are well aware that it is possible to have a mix sound good on both monitors and headphones. Since you know that, know that is possible for you to get to that point as well. The only thinking keeping you there now is very small changes in your mix. If you made the proper moves in the mix, then you'd have a mix that sounds both good on headphones, laptop speakers, monitors, etc. I know that I'm only stating the obvious, but realize that you're probably not far off, just a few tweaks here and there. So, seriously, just keep tweaking. Listen on monitors, get it right. Then go listen on headphones, and get it right there. Then go to your car, and takes notes on what isn't quite right. Adjust. Different systems will emphasize different frequency ranges of the mix. Personally, I currently mix with monitors which givers me a pretty good picture of the entire frequency spectrum. Then I put on some headphones that are very mid rangey. I make sure that the mids sound good there. They might be too much, they might be to little. I adjust slightly. Then I listen to headphones that accent the lows. I make sure that the bass and kick sound good together there. Soon you'll learn that different monitoring systems will each tell you different things about your mix. As you do this more and more, you'll become more and more familiar with what your system is telling you about your mix and how the song will translate out there. Just hang in there and let your ears become more and more attentive and sensitive to these nuances.
 
MichaelPitluk said:
Listen on monitors, get it right. Then go listen on headphones, and get it right there. Then go to your car, and takes notes on what isn't quite right. Adjust. Different systems will emphasize different frequency ranges of the mix. Personally, I currently mix with monitors which givers me a pretty good picture of the entire frequency spectrum. Then I put on some headphones that are very mid rangey. I make sure that the mids sound good there. They might be too much, they might be to little. I adjust slightly. Then I listen to headphones that accent the lows. I make sure that the bass and kick sound good together there. Soon you'll learn that different monitoring systems will each tell you different things about your mix.
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Running against the grain somewhat, the logic of this seems to emphasize the opposite. The reality, as you pointed out, is that all systems are different and emphasize different parts of the mix so if you keep adjusting for one system, logic dictates that you'll upset the balance in another. It seems like going round in circles.
 
Bohemeown Rhapsody being it's speciality ?
"Mama Meow, Mama meow, Mama Meow, let me go !"



Hey, your cat's not named Freddie Meowcury by any chance ?
 
Reaper can easily accomplish this.

Create a track (ctrl T)and label it Slap. Apply the delay effect to this channel, 100% wet and 0% dry. Click on the 'IO" button for the Slap channel and a dialogue box will open. Click the create new receive box and tick off each of the vocal channels that you want to apply the slap effect to.

The individual vocal channels (dry) will go also to the master bus, so you can adjust balance of the effect level (wet) with the Slap channel's fader.

Now, let's say you want to create instead a subgroup. Suppose you have a drum kit recorded using several mics, and you have carefully used the individual drum faders to get the balance of the different drums (or guitars or keys or whatever) just how you like it. Now you want a way to be able to raise or lower the level of the group of instruments without disturbing the careful balance you already have. This is where a subgroup comes in handy.

Create a new track and call it drums (or whatever group you are working on). Follow the same procedure as before to select the channels for the group to recieve, just like the aux bus. Now here's the difference; go back to each individual channel of the group, click the IO button and deselect master parent send box, so that each of those channels now doesn't go directly to the master bus, but only passes through the subgroup bus to the master.

Now, with a single move of the group fader, the entire drum kit level (or whatever group you are working on) can be adjusted without disturbing the balance you had worked up so carefully.

I hope this routing all makes sense to you.
 
I'm finding Reaper very difficult at the moment but I remember thinking the same thing about Audacity last year at this time. Since I'm under Reaper's 60-day eval gun, are there any structured tutorials to get me up to speed faster?
 
What an idiot! Why didn't I just search YouTube for "reaper tutorials"? Heck, there's a whole channel for it!
 
However much people want to laugh, some of those visual tutorials are a lifesaver. It's great when someone patiently explains but even there, it's not always easy to understand what is meant. But even someone who can barely speak your language can show you which knobs {real or virtual} to twiddle.
 
grimtraveller said:
However much people want to laugh, some of those visual tutorials are a lifesaver. It's great when someone patiently explains but even there, it's not always easy to understand what is meant. But even someone who can barely speak your language can show you which knobs {real or virtual} to twiddle.
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There's a joke in there about twiddling knobs, but I'm not going to make it. :) I agree, however -- I've found visual tutorials to be very helpful at times.
 
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