Help me with my vocal

[spector29]

Hi there I've been having lots of trouble making my vocal sit in the mix.
I've had this trouble with nearly all my songs except for my acoustic ones.
It seems once I have a proper arrangement I can't sit the vocal without it being too loud or quiet in the mix.
The main songs I find that are the hardest to work with are 'Nothing' and 'Self Obsessed'. I'm sorry I don't know how to post a song on the this page or creae a link to it so I have to use my myspace. Sorry if someone can show me how to post it on a webpage please tell me. The songs are at www.myspace.com/visionsofcontact
The vocals were recorded with a telefunken TD 25 TS microphone into a Digi002 with PT7.1.
Any help would be most appreciative.
Thanks guys/girls.

I've got to start posting more often.

Matt.

[spector29]

I think myspace is playing up right now because it won't let me sign in and it won't open my page.
Matt.

[torglenn]

I guess there's a lot of possible answers to this but this is my experience:
Start with taking a look at the compression on the lead vocal. The more you squash it (NOT to the point of it sounding bad of course -- Depending on your compressor and how careful you are using it, you should be able to really smooth it out and the vocal should sound better in every respect). See how much compression you can "get away with" -- This alone helps alot with it sitting in the track -- It's usally much better than riding the fader (automation or not). The next thing to look at is to what extent the vocal effect (especially reverb) "connects" to the basic rythm track. Sometimes it can sound really cool having a very dry lead vocal against a very live (wet/reverby, etc.) rythm track but USUALLY it doesn't work -- The more it matches, the more likely it is to fit in the track -- It just makes sense and it ususally just sounds "right". Less likely but worth looking at is whether or not you have some less than perfect EQ's on any of the instruments which are interferring with the vocal. Try playing the song with the vocal muted -- Make sure everything sounds great -- Then put the vocal back in and see if all the instruments still sound every bit as good (You might be surprised how often you find out that the bass or snare drum just doesn't sound as good with the vocal in -- This can definitely be interfering with how the vocal sits not to mention the problem itself of the instruments not sounding their best). Less likely still is the actual arrangement of the song -- Sometimes, if it's just too busy (bass lines or drum fills competing with the lead vocal), it can be nearly impossible to get the vocal to sit right even though everything seems to sound great without the vocal. Let me know if any of this helps. Good luck.

[Windtaken]

it's that static-y noise that's the problem

it's taking up way too much space for the vocals to sit anywhere

lower the mid frequencies of that to allow the vocal to come through on those same frequencies

[spector29]

Cool thanks for the replies.
I'll eq out a bit of the mids in the instruments.
I'll just re-record them to another stereo track, I'll remix them and pay a lot more attention. (I pay more attention to detail when its someone elses track instead of mine).
Once I eq a bit of the mids out I'll drop the vocal in.

Do you revkon it would be best to just eq out a little bit of mid say between 2 and 3KHz
on all the instrument tracks?
I might even re-record the vocal again as I'm never happy with how my vocal sounds.
Thanks again.
Matt.

[rsolinski]

EQ is not always the way to go...kind of a last resort..it is better to adjust the levels and panning of the instruments that are covering each other..for ex. if you need less bass in the overall mix turn the kick and the bass down a little rather than eq'uing the whole mix. Tracking with these prnciples in mind is also a good idea..Mic placement etc...Panning things properly can do wonders as well...move things that compete with the vox out to the edges and let the vocal sit in the middle...That said ,one place where things do build up is right around 256 hz since almost everything has something around this frequency...a little eq to this area in the final mix usually cleans it up..

Cheers,
Ray

[spector29]

I think I fixed the track. (I think being the key words)
I basically re-recorded the vocal and boosted some high frequencies.
What do you reckon.
http://www.myspace.com/visionsofcontact

[Jonboy79]

Originally Posted by spector29

I think I fixed the track. (I think being the key words)
I basically re-recorded the vocal and boosted some high frequencies.
What do you reckon.
www.myspace.com/visionsofcontact

Very NIN'ish, cool song but I can barely hear your vocals. The high frequency boost must not have been that bad because it didn't seem too sibilant but, again, I could barely hear you. Turn it up!!!

[spector29]

what did you listen to it through.
I think they are a tad quiet, especially in the quiet section. I think I lift their volume in that place. But I kinda think it's cool that in the first half of the song it sounds like a creepy whisper.
But I'll definately check it out again. Tonight.
Matt.

[Jonboy79]

Originally Posted by spector29

what did you listen to it through.
I think they are a tad quiet, especially in the quiet section. I think I lift their volume in that place. But I kinda think it's cool that in the first half of the song it sounds like a creepy whisper.
But I'll definately check it out again. Tonight.
Matt.

Some stupidly expensive pc speakers. Not the greatest things to listen through but I do reference every cd I record with them and the vocals always stand out more on my pc speakers than my monitors.

[spector29]

Yeah I mixed these in my bedroom, untreated, door open and the monitors are Tascam VL-X5. I referenced the mix on a couple of stereos, I definately could raise the quiet part vocal but it could be cool as a trick to leave it that level and then the listener turns it up and BAM the loud part comes in .
I'll get onto it tomorrow.
Matt.