Field of Land Mines - Acoustic Pop - Home Studio

[ovdojoey]

So this is my first post of a song on here - so don't be too harsh haha.

It's called Field of Land Mines and it's myself doing the recording, singing and playing... I'm a one man band.

You can listen here: http://www.foundyesterdaymusic.com/F...0Mines%208.mp3

I would love some advice on the mix or the song.

Thanks,

Joe.

[bigbadwolf]

Not bad! This track is aaaalmost there. There are definitely some things I would change and as I tell a lot of people...Stick to what you do best, and do it better than everyone else. You're much better at being a "All-Singing All-Dancing" one-man band than most people, however I'd recommend having someone else track/produce your vocals. The song is wonderful and I'd be interested in mixing it, but I'd definitely take a look at the less strong vocal sections (where you hear strong tuning, and the last verse) as well as possibly adding either more lyrics or at least a variation in the melody on the chorus. The "Field of land mines" is about two times too repetitive. Great job overall, and please let me know if I can help you out.
Best,
BT

[camerondye]

I think for the kind of song that it is it sounds great.

I feel the lead vocal is a touch loud, but it kind of fits the song. I like a little more reverb/delay on the vocals but again it fits the song. Did you put an effect on the LV or did you pitch correct too much? I guess it could be a little of a nasally sounding voice but I don't think so. Again, it may fit the song also. Great job...
cam

[john caldwell]

This is very appealing indeed! Ease up on the pitch correction, I doubt you need it so dramatically as you've applied it here. Your tune is quite nice, as are your production and arrangement. A small nit might be that you give up a little too much on your first chorus, but these days, some might recommend that the whole cat be out of the bag within the first 22 seconds, I fear. I enjoyed the outro, with your three layers of call & answer vocals.

Keep working and post more, please!

John-

[ovdojoey]

Thank you for all the replies.

There is definitely some autotune going on in this arrangement lol and after re-listening closely I can hear the tuner at work, it may be a bit more beneficial to manually correct this song but as of right now I have it on automatic mode with a correction speed of 31.

The LV has a little delay a mix of 5 percent but that's about it - no other reverb or anything - I think the microphone adds a bit of upper haze to it which may throw in some nasally sounds (on top of my voice style...)

I can't wait to get my Daking Mic Pre to start recording more jams - this one was done on the built in MOTU pre's and some cheap MXL microphones (MXL 4000 - lead vox, MXL 603S - guitar)- and a RNC, I ran quite a few Neve 1073 plugin's on multiple sources to add a bit of air and rolloff the bass, I also had the Neve 33609 compressing the vox and backing vox, and a Limiter on the final mix.

Is there any thing I could do to work on the other parts of the songs (other than the sampled drums and vocals - which need some work I know) but like the guitar or tambourines - do they sit well in the mix?

Thank you everyone who took the time to listen and post a reply! - I appreciate it.

Have a good one,

Joe.

[camerondye]

I like the guitar sounds, nice job on both parts...gives it a lot of space. I think people expect space just from mixing, but it also helps to have the dual guitar parts that can be mixed that way. I hear a shaker but the only tambo I might be hearing is maybe on the snare hits so it must mix in pretty well.

Your vocal is a little nasally, but what I was saying was that the autotune was making it worse. You can even hear the autotune on the bv's, go back and spend the time and manually do it on all your vocals. I don't use autotune, I use melodyne but I'm sure you can get great results with it also.
Great job,
cam

[john caldwell]

Mix sits well as is. I don't find nasal voice problems, just the AT artifacts and the too-perfect pitch syndrome.

[MikeTSH]

I personally love it. I don't mind the autotune, tbh too pitch perfect doesn't exist. If you aren't in tune people moan. If you are they moan still. There's no pleasing anyone to be honest, as I learned last night. So keep going at what you're doing, really good song, I love it.

Some may call it overproduced, I call it "why not?"

[ovdojoey]

Hey well thanks all

The song is clearly popish so the autotune doesn't bother me too much - (but I'm not too old school so I'm around music that's suppose to sound quickly tuned these days.)

I've heard melyodyne is the way to go but have never used it (it looks like a damn good program to be able to graphically switch pitches)

Thanks for the reviews and advice - I may need to fix some of these vocals where it's really clearly tuned

[MikeTSH]

Don't bother, it sounds perfect. Every man and his dog uses Auto Tune software of some sort today, and I think it fits the song. Just one man's opinion.

[ovdojoey]

Yes this is true, but I don't think I want people to think I have to use AutoTune to sing well... that's a lousy image for a band lol.

[Yankee Doodle]

Yeah, very nice build with the dynamics...nobody does that anymore...COOL!

It sounds like a "vocal-up" version - final mix before mastering - except the drums are a little low in spots. I would bring them up then multiband compress and E.Q. everything in place aka mastering.

Very good so far...

Y.D.B.

[Beyersound]

Originally Posted by ovdojoey

Thank you for all the replies.

There is definitely some autotune going on in this arrangement lol and after re-listening closely I can hear the tuner at work, it may be a bit more beneficial to manually correct this song but as of right now I have it on automatic mode with a correction speed of 31.

The LV has a little delay a mix of 5 percent but that's about it - no other reverb or anything - I think the microphone adds a bit of upper haze to it which may throw in some nasally sounds (on top of my voice style...)

I can't wait to get my Daking Mic Pre to start recording more jams - this one was done on the built in MOTU pre's and some cheap MXL microphones (MXL 4000 - lead vox, MXL 603S - guitar)- and a RNC, I ran quite a few Neve 1073 plugin's on multiple sources to add a bit of air and rolloff the bass, I also had the Neve 33609 compressing the vox and backing vox, and a Limiter on the final mix.

Is there any thing I could do to work on the other parts of the songs (other than the sampled drums and vocals - which need some work I know) but like the guitar or tambourines - do they sit well in the mix?

Thank you everyone who took the time to listen and post a reply! - I appreciate it.

Have a good one,

Joe.

I like the guitar, MXL 603s are surprisingly good. The sound fits the song, sits well in the mix. The Daking will really take you to another level, and it is more aggressive. Time to upgrade your vocal mic when/if you can. Nice tune as it is. Really like the lyrics, can definitely relate the last year or so.

[ovdojoey]

Yeah I've let a few people listen that have a better rig than myself and they are impressed with the little MXL 603's in action - I think they sound good myself (but don't have the technical background to provided a sufficient reason why...)

I am looking into a Peluso P12 for the vocal microphone in the near future - do you think it's a good buy with my voice?

Thanks again for the comments and yes this needs to go to mastering to bring up these volumes.

[Beyersound]

Originally Posted by ovdojoey

Yeah I've let a few people listen that have a better rig than myself and they are impressed with the little MXL 603's in action - I think they sound good myself (but don't have the technical background to provided a sufficient reason why...)

I am looking into a Peluso P12 for the vocal microphone in the near future - do you think it's a good buy with my voice?

Thanks again for the comments and yes this needs to go to mastering to bring up these volumes.

A good vocal mic is an important purchase, there are a lot of great ones out there, the obvious best way to find the right one for your voice is to try them and actually hear it in the track. I know people who love the P12, 2247, 22 251. All are great, depends on the voice. Any of them would make the vocal less hazy sounding. The reason the 603s(I own a pair myself) sounds good on acoustic guitar is that its response is modelled after a Neumann KM84(a real classic). They are also amazing on mandolin, and the high end of a piano.