Have been working on the EQ of the vocal a lot but personally can't hear much improvement sweeping the EQ and reducing the 200hz and under db reduction... raised levels by a few DB.
Decided to cut the last chorus repeat as it was getting a bit long!
Congratulations Kirsty - this is so close to final release now
Apart from the little extraneous snippet (4:10 to 4:30) that sneaked in after the new end point at 4:10, the only thing I would personally change would be the level of the first main vocal phrase (0:27 to 0:32).
I would lift this a little to make those first important words slightly more legible: "You pull me close and say it's time to close my eyes". The final word 'eyes' is fine (especially with that lovely swell), but the preceding words only become clear (to me anyway) on second listen.
Beyond that I feel we're entering personal choice territory.
This is a great song that grabs the ears from the start and keeps you interested all the way through.
Lovely Kirsty - but to be honest I think there is still a problem with the harshness of the vocals. You could try a free 20 day trail of the Soothe 2 plugin if you like which is specifically aimed at treating this kind of issue. I've used it quite successfully on a variety of sounds. The free trial gives you the full functionality with no restrictions.
I think the vocals still probably need a bit of tweaking. Some lines sit well now but some are still a bit quiet and some are now a bit loud. This is where having a control surface with a real fader can really help. I find using a real fader to control vocal levels to be far easier when initially setting vocal levels. You can then fine tune things by adjusting the level envelopes with a mouse.
If you haven't already done so, I would put all the vocal tracks into a folder and then use a compressor on the folder track to even things out a bit. Your software may work differently and use groups or something similar but the idea is to have a single compressor over all the vocals.
Oh dear, James and I have just given you contradictory advice re compression! But actually not necessarily - you can certainly try compressing the vocals together and at the same time dialling back compression on the particular vocals that need to be smoother (if indeed compression is contributing to the harshness, which it might not anyway).
It is always hard to give advice from a distance when we don't know exactly what processing you are using.
When mixing vocals there is a place for both automation and compression. I'd agree that automation is probably the best solution here but compression of all the vocals together might be a quicker (though less satisfactory) fix.
I did change the volume on particular parts of the vocal on the same track, that may be the culprit here. I’ll level them and then work with the track volume to make the more consistent and see where it leaves me.
I haven’t used any compression thus far so i can try grouping all the vocals and compressing, Drew is going to go through parallel compression with me and see how that works..
I have used automation on the chorus line but perhaps not enough on that big note.
How about normalisation? Would that squash it too much?
Hippie162 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 31, 2022 9:35 amHow about normalisation? Would that squash it too much?
It wouldn't squash it at all. Normalisation doesn't alter dynamics - it just turns up the volume. It's really not advisable and I wouldn't do it.
Parallel compression is a very important tool for vocals for me. It's definitely worth getting it in your toolbox. I'm pretty sure I used it one of your mixes, so take a look.
Here's a very quick attempt at bringing the vocals up and compressing them with a soft knee compressor (I used RX's Music Rebalance to do the separation and ReaComp to do the compression).
There are still a few places which need automation but I feel that the majority of the vocals are now better balanced. Apologies for the mute in the middle too - I accidentally pressed the wrong button.
The Elf wrote: ↑Sun Jul 31, 2022 11:07 am
Parallel compression is a very important tool for vocals for me. It's definitely worth getting it in your toolbox.
Parallel compression can initially be quite confusing, but as Sam Inglis found during his SOS review, Baby Audio's 'IHeartNY' neatly distills the entire process and makes it much simpler to get a handle on:
James Perrett wrote: ↑Sun Jul 31, 2022 2:51 pm
Here's a very quick attempt at bringing the vocals up and compressing them with a soft knee compressor (I used RX's Music Rebalance to do the separation and ReaComp to do the compression).
There are still a few places which need automation but I feel that the majority of the vocals are now better balanced. Apologies for the mute in the middle too - I accidentally pressed the wrong button.
I can see what you mean they sound so much clearer. Did you add a reverb, sounds really lush?
The Elf wrote: ↑Sun Jul 31, 2022 11:07 am
Parallel compression is a very important tool for vocals for me. It's definitely worth getting it in your toolbox.
Parallel compression can initially be quite confusing, but as Sam Inglis found during his SOS review, Baby Audio's 'IHeartNY' neatly distills the entire process and makes it much simpler to get a handle on:
It's nice, but probably not necessary. As Martin says, it does distil and speed up the process a little, but you already have all the tools you need in the standard Cubase plugins.
blinddrew wrote: ↑Mon Aug 01, 2022 5:10 pm
It's nice, but probably not necessary. As Martin says, it does distil and speed up the process a little, but you already have all the tools you need in the standard Cubase plugins.
James Perrett wrote: ↑Sun Jul 31, 2022 2:51 pm
Here's a very quick attempt at bringing the vocals up and compressing them with a soft knee compressor ...
I can see what you mean they sound so much clearer. Did you add a reverb, sounds really lush?
No, that's just a side effect of the compression which is both bringing out the quieter syllables and also the reverb you've used on the vocals (Music Rebalance includes the vocal effects as well as the vocals themselves on the separated vocal track).
Lots of good ideas in there (though what's with the barking dog?)
Now, play it to someone who hasn't heard it before. Ask them to write the words down. If there's anything they're not sure about after hearing it twice (which for me is the few words after 'I feel you tremble' and then, I'm afraid, much of the chorus) you need to do something about it.
But I think we've reached the limit of what can be 'fixed in the mix'. Re-record the vocals.
Posts:5837Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 12:00 amLocation: London UK
You don't have to write songs. The world doesn't want you to write songs. It would probably prefer it if you didn't. So write songs if you want to. Otherwise, please don't bore us with beefing about it. Go fishing instead.
Exalted Wombat wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 1:37 am
Lots of good ideas in there (though what's with the barking dog?)
Now, play it to someone who hasn't heard it before. Ask them to write the words down. If there's anything they're not sure about after hearing it twice (which for me is the few words after 'I feel you tremble' and then, I'm afraid, much of the chorus) you need to do something about it.
But I think we've reached the limit of what can be 'fixed in the mix'. Re-record the vocals.
It's not a barking dog it's a vocal chop
I still want to try to fix it. I think i just need to level it up and sort the volume.
Posts:5837Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 12:00 amLocation: London UK
You don't have to write songs. The world doesn't want you to write songs. It would probably prefer it if you didn't. So write songs if you want to. Otherwise, please don't bore us with beefing about it. Go fishing instead.
I had a zoom session with Drew earlier who unwound the wonders of parallel compression for me
I have added this to the vocal, tried to level out the parts and then bussed it to try and get consistent levels and boosted them a bit.
I needed to add some automation on the chorus as it was still a bit much on that high note, I checked the EQ and boosted slightly at just over 200hz to try and add a bit of chest voice to level the vocal out.
blinddrew wrote: ↑Thu Aug 04, 2022 8:09 pm
I reckon you can go harder with the parallel compression there.
I agree, but unlike so many vocals, I also suspect that your 'esses' are rather subdued, so if you're deliberately doing anything to suppress them, dial it back a bit so that you get a little more 'spit' in your delivery, which could help the clarity of words.
On the other hand, more parallel compression might just help with this aspect too.
Returning a favor here: vocals start getting loud for me around 1:00 (and similar); and I am the guy with notoriously loud vocal recordings (according to many others)! The singer is good. The song is pleasant. Some elements of the song are somewhat repetitive. Nice overall.
Maybe a little too high on 4 6 khz
I think the voice needs compression to stop those increases in volume and make it more homogeneous, sometimes they sound too loud
As Martin says, it does distil and speed up the process a little, but you already have all the tools you need in the standard Cubase plugins.
