vocals experiment

[IanW-UK]

Hi all, I asked a guy if I could mix a cover that he'd done just so I could get some practice and experiment a bit. Do you guys think what I have done with the main vocal works? Also I can't get the backing vocals to sit right at all. I haven't really mixed backing vox before so has anyone got any tips?

here's the file:

*edited original mix file out*

Oh and all the files were in mp3 format so it's been encoded twice.

Cheers,

Ian.........

 

[bsanfordnyc]

Well, your mix is infinitely better than the original mix, which truly sucked ass.

I don't mind what you did with the lead vocals, like I said, so much better than the original.

Maybe you can't get the backing vocals to sit right because they kinda suck to start with?

Remember, you can't polish a turd. I think the only way to improve the backing vocals is to erase them.

They sound like they were recorded in a much different way than the lead vocals...what I mean is this: the lead singer is singing his ass off...it's an energetic song. The background vocals, however, sound like they were done late at night in a place where much noise couldn't be made, and the singers were about to fall asleep. So you have energetic lead vocals, yet lethargic backing vocals. they don't mix together at all.

I think the background vocals should be sung with the same forcefulness of the leads...

 

[IanW-UK]

Thanks for the quick reply mate You're probably right about the backing vox, I tried to distort them a bit to make them fit better with the distorted main vox but it didn't do much good.

Perhaps I shouldn't have posted the "before" file. I think I'll edit that out.

Cheers,

Ian.........

 

[participant]

The original mix has a lot of hiss issues, amp noise... level probs w/guitars...
Some midrange harshness (2.5K -- in general)...

Your mix... ok that'sit... a lead guitar line... voice much more mellow, and
spread out with 'verb... wow... I can't BELIEVE how well you've done with
the same tracks... though there's not much you can do with those drum OH tracks,
eh? Too many lows on those cymbals... too dark... it's like night and date...

Really a good uhm... nugget polishing A little bass-lite, maybe?

5 ***** for your mix of what sound like nearly unusable tracks...


Chad

 

[IanW-UK]

Thanks Chad. I was a bit limited with the drums as it's just a stereo file. I compressed the whole thing below 3 or 4k (ish, i can't remember exactly) to get some crunchyness in there, so any extra lows on the crashes are my fault LOL.

So you think the vox are ok cool thanks. A successful experiment then

Cheers,

Ian.........