Music: Joy

Steinberg Lounge
#1

A friend of mine wrote this song and I offered him to do a recording of it and add some drums etc.
Here’s a first mix, I’d like your thoughts on it.

Myself I find the vocals very weak somehow, I’m not really sure what I can do to improve that. (better articulation would surely help, we’ll probably end up rerecording the whole thing anyway.)
The guitar is a 2-bar loop because he couldn’t reliable play for much longer on tempo without errors, so that’s a point of improvement I’m well aware of.

This is my first time doing something like this and I know it’s not on the level of most of the music posted in this forum, but feel free to bash it as long as it’s constructive :sunglasses:

The accoustic guitar was recorded straight from it’s pickups through my mackie preamps into cubase, all editing was done afterwards inside cubase. Vocals were recorded in my bedroom using a Behringer ultravoice (I know :laughing: )
The drums I played myself on my drumkit, samples are all from the DM5 as well. The synthy sound is from my EM-20.

http://soundcloud.com/strophoid/joy

#2

sounds good youve got the makings of a good tune there stick at it , vocals could do with a bit more presence they seem to have a bit of a mid thing going on but the singer sounds good , maybe put some instrumental breaks in there (i dont mean guitar solo`s)or percusion breaks to maybe break it up a bit , sounds like a good track in the makin.

#3

Yeah, good pop song in there somewhere. I’d agree the vocals need to be redone but you’re off to a good start :sunglasses:
Cheers
Phil

#4

Thanks lads, I would agree with all of that :slight_smile:

#5

Definitely worth working on!

Keep at it!!!
Look foward to hearing its progress!

Cheers
Sav

#6

Hi Rick,

it’s certainly the core of a good pop song. :wink:

I think the vocals (other than re-recording them) would benefit from multiple compressors.
Grab five or six “character” settings and line them up in the project, then route the
vocal to each of them.
To get some edge into the voice, try a speech-type/voiceover setting, etc. Mix and match
and you could well end up with a much more dynamic and “alive” vocal track.
Having said that, the voice as is is rather one dimensional and static, but unless Freek is
capable of a different class of performance, the series of compressors might help.

Here’s how it’s done:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr09/articles/cubasetech_0409.htm

I thought the mix was a bit brittle and toppy, and the rides are too loud. The kick is
somewhat pillowy, but it’s all hard to tell in the absence of a bass line.

I hope you find my comments constructive, coz it could sound great.

Jet

#7

Hi

I am listening on my laptop ATM so can’t comment on the mix. Jet’s suggestions for the vox are good. You could also try automating the levels on certain syllables or words to give it more life.

Nice song too. :sunglasses:

Cheers

#8

can’t really help with any mix suggestions. just wanted to say that I like the song, really good lyrics and not unlike songs I hear on adult alternative satellite radio. maybe a little lead break in there but definitely the potential for a radio track.

#9

Thanks Jet, that’s perfect, exactly what I need :smiley:
I think we’ll do a rerecording anyway because he wasn’t really happy with his performance either.

Compressors are an entirely new subject to me so I’ll have a good dig in that SOS article. I know what they do, I just never use them.
I would really like a good bassline with the song but I spend a whole day on it and found it made the song too busy. Couldn’t manage to make the bassline fit in properly. That’s probably also the reason the mix is a bit toppy, I cut out A LOT of low in an attempt to make the bass fit in properly, I guess I didn’t correct for it’s absence enough.

I’ll continue with the track in a week or so, I’ve heard it enough for now. Couldn’t hear what was right at the end anymore :wink:

Thanks for everyones input and compliments, much appreciated!

#10

Teehee, compressors are doing miracles on the vocals :smiley:
Far from finished yet, just thought I’d let you know you put me on the right track!