Vocals Sound Like Sh*t

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240v

240v

Super Perfectionist
Hi,

I'm having a hard time getting my vocals sounding right in this song. Before I put the vocals on, it was an awesome track, and then when I recorded them it sounded like its gone to sh*t. If anyone could help me out, it would be appreciated. I'll post a sample if I someone could tell me how to. xD I appreciate your time.

PS: Anyone else having trouble getting the buttons showing up when typing a reply etc.?
 
Hey,
I see you have a soundcloud link in your sig there.

Just do another one of those, but in the main body of the post.

I listened to 'another world' if that happens to be it.
The vocals sound like they were recorded too hot; It's distorting quite a bit.
They also sound very dry.

What mic are you using, btw?
 
Hi,

Thanks. It's not "Another World" that I'm concerned about ATM. That probably sounds worse if anything, that was done with a Behringer UFO202 (Yes, I know, I now have a Fast Track). I'll put up the snippet on SoundCloud, thanks again. I have a Behringer XM8500. Sometimes I get good recordings from it :\ Here's the song. :) Thanks again.

 
Okay, there is two things I think that is bad. Now, I'm just listening on my laptop speakers, so I can't confirm one thing but,

(Subjective) - I think the guitar is too loud. I can't tell for the life of me if your vocals are compressed or not (I'm really too lazy to get my headphones lol) but maybe compression might help. The guitar is certainly overpowering the vocals though, which isn't good.

(Objective and somewhat subjective) - Your guitar is severely out of tune. That's bad. I thought the vocals were fine actually, it was the guitar that was bugging me. And having the guitar louder than the vocals didn't really help either lol.
 
The vocals and guitar are very high. There's a chance that you might need to re-record the vocals and if you do, i recommend that you mix the track low (around -6db) and get that perfect mesh. It's a fixable issue.
 
The vocals and guitar are very high. There's a chance that you might need to re-record the vocals and if you do, i recommend that you mix the track low (around -6db) and get that perfect mesh. It's a fixable issue.

Thanks for the suggestion guys, I'll give them a go. :)
 
as noted - guitars severly out of tune. first plug on a guitar track insert should be a tuner. there's just no reason not to check the tuning between every take unless you want it to be out of tune, which is fine with me. its so easy with a daw. as noted guitars way too loud. is there a bass on this track? i dont hear one at all. i would really hesitate to do a track like this without a slammin bass line. the drums are super programmy sounding. all of this stuff may be a style decision - i dunno - in which case, as long as you are enjoying yourself keep workin it!
 
yep, the guitar is burying the vocal and is so out of tune is seems to be on another album.
The vocals don't seem to bad - repost without the guitar so we can hear how they sit without it. Alternatively post just the vocals so that someone can determine if there's a problem that starts with that.
It could also be all the superheated air from Capitol Hill around the refugee situation that's putting your guitar out!
 
Hi Again,

I had a play around and dropped the guitar level A LOT. Here's what it sounds like now.



Also, rayc, here is without the guitar.



I still can't seem to find out where the guitar is out of tune. Maybe I'm tonedeaf :3 I hope not :O If anyone could shed some light, it would be helpful.

Again, thank you for you time :guitar:

It could also be all the superheated air from Capitol Hill around the refugee situation that's putting your guitar out!

Haha nice one lol ;D
 
Hey man - it's wildly out of tune all over the place. Don't over think it. Just tune up and re-record the guitar part - it's not etched in stone, and the world isn't gonna run out of disk space. Put a tuner plug as the first insert of your guitar tracks. Check tuning between takes. UNLESS - of course you want it to be out of tune, in which case that's fine too.
 
The amount of compression on the vocal doesn't help at all but there's nothing bad about the vocal track that would cause mix problems. The reverby thing happening at the beginning is pretty muddy & that would further muddy the mix but apart from that I think it's the tension between the guitar notes & the rst taht's causing the problem.
1 thing I learnt early on is to use the same tuner for each instrument etc - tuners an be set differently and there are differences betwenn them anyway.
I use a sep tuner for my 'cello (at concert pitch) when I'm taking lessons etc but use my usual tuner for it & everything else when recording.
Rerecord the guitar using what ever it was you sued for the other instruments. It'll make all the difference in the world.
 
You can use antares autotune for pitch problems and use equalization to make it "sit" in the mix. You could try some delay also on the vocals couples with a little reverb. Adjust till it sounds good to you. I hope I helped.

Check out my blog:
(ckmusicprod.tumblr.com)
 
You can use antares autotune for pitch problems

I don't think autotune is an appropriate solution for an out of tune guitar. I humbly repeat my suggestion that this stuff isn't carved in stone, the world isn't going to run out of disk space and it is worth the time to simply retrack the part. Again - with all that said - he may WANT the guitar out of tune, which of course is fine with me.....
 
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