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Your Eyes

Finally been able to record something with my own vocals again! I wrote this a few weeks ago but I've not been too well, so I was glad to finally be able to actually put the song together.

I have found that there it is so much harder to put together a song with a vocal recorded at home than the vocal samples I've been working with. My singing is improving but I still struggle with pitch control but it's also the other sounds in the room which is making it harder to mix it all. I'm not sure if the microphone is part of the problem as well. I've used a De-Verb plugin on this one but it's hard to get the balance right between removing the sounds in the room and taking away from the vocal performance. Any tips for improving recordings at home will definitely be appreciated!

I mixed this in Studio One and used the CLA Vocals plugin and a saturator plugin on the vocals as well as Waves Tune for pitch correction. I also used Waves AudioTrack on the instruments and the vocal, I do like that plugin for compression and EQ.

_NEONROK.STY. Neon 80's Rock w/ Synths
RD: RETROPOP^08-a:Bass, LoudSnare, b:Bass, HardSnare :Ed (Great Oz) Clare
RT639: Guitar, Electric, Rhythm HardRockThrash Ev 085 , Darin Favorite
RT642: Guitar, Electric, Rhythm HardRockThrashHollow Ev 085 , Mike Durham
RT2324: Synth, Rhythm Rock80s Ev 120 , Miles Black

Lyrics:
When I look right through the crowd
I can see that you're standing alone
And you're looking right back at me

I take the time to catch my breath
And find the courage to take a step
Cause somehow I know we're meant to be

Now that I've found you
I know that I see

When I look in your eyes
I hope that I Find
The future in your eyes
I can leave the past behind

As I move across the room
I don't know what it is that I should do
But so much is said without words

I can't picture the words to say
But it doesn't matter anyway
Cause you take my hand and speak first

Now that you've found me
I hope that you see

When you look in my eyes
I hope that you Find
The future in my eyes
And you can leave the past behind

When I look in your eyes
I hope that I Find
The future in your eyes
I can leave the past behind

And when you look in my eyes
I hope deep down that you find
The future in my eyes
Cause when I look in your eyes
I know what it is that I find
I can leave the past behind

When I look in your eyes
I hope that I Find
The future in your eyes
I can leave the past behind

Hi, Richard.

Very 80's vibe you've got going here.

There are reflection filters for reducing room reverb, but as this video points out, what you really want to do is minimize the reflections that are coming in from in back of you. If you can somehow hang a blanket behind you, that can be pretty effective. So can placing the microphone in a clothes closet, albeit often not very convenient.

Oversaturating your vocals makes sense in this style, but personally I think your voice sounds better without effects.

Enjoyable song!

Getting a vocal without the room is almost impossible and plugins remove a lot with the attempt to kill it off. Getting a dry sound can be achieved and this, as Rustyspoon recommends, isn't a bad option when a room can't be treated...
https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=555125&gonew=1#UNREAD

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm not sure I have any way of hanging a blanket behind me at the minute. But I've ordered one of those things Rustyspoon recommended. Hopefully it'll help!

It's isn't perfect but it's a cheap start & portable etc.
I use a pop filter and screen that curves across the back of the mic. I'm lucky enough to have a room for my noise and it's filled to the brim with stuff including book shelves and 1000s of cds to help diffuse any reflected sound. I also have a couple of bass traps etc. The more stuff in a room the better - the more uneven surfaces and soft things to break up & partly absorb stuff the better too. Better still is an uneven room with bass traps for the corners, diffusers, clouds and good monitoring but that's expensive and unattractive in the living room or spare room in rented premises.
Rustyspoon uses one and his vocals are pretty clean.

Yeah, it'll be a good start while I'm still learning. Plus I travel a lot so that's a plus too! Thanks for the suggestion.

Hi Richard,

Wow! This is really creative! I love it.

There's a lot of skill on show here from creating the song through to arranging it, performing it and producing it. You've got talent!

In relation to recording... my setup is similar to rayc's. I have a mic with a sponge rubber semi-circle behind it (to absorb some sound echos) and a pop filter in front of the mic.

Recently, I've also started using 'subtracting' background noise in Reaper using a Reaper plugin called ReaFir. I like this.

With this plugin, what I do is to find a section of vocal track where the mic is on and recording and there no vocals. I then build up a noise-frequency profile of this section and subtract those frequencies from my vocal. I find this works well. If you are interested in how this is done, have a look at the 13 minute video clip below...



DIRECT LINK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar4hIbqTzAY&rel=0&width=960&height=540

All the best,
Noel

That's a good suggestion, hopefully that plugin works in Studio One and I can give that a try. I've been using the SPL De-Verb Pugin and it's OK but it seems to take a lot away from the vocal when you set it at any high levels.

Thank you very much for the positive feedback and taking the time to listen to the song. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

It sounds like you might have already found these Reaper plugins... just in case you have not, here is a link and descriptions about each plugin...

https://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/

The one that I refer to in my previous post is Reafir and it is available in the free Reaper set (at the above link).

It would be definitely worth trying in Studio One.

Nicely done I thought it flowed nicely, and you made good use of those RealTracks. Nicely catchy as well. Thanks for sharing!

Well crafted song. I liked the subtle harmonies at the near the end. Enjoyed listening.

Your Eyes Remix

Thank you very much for taking the time to listen and give feedback. I've put together a slight remix with different effects on the vocals but I'm not sure which version is better so I thought I'd link it on here.