Originally Posted By: Guitarhacker
Nice work on the write.

Production nits seemed to bring it down.

Got to agree with others on the vox. The vocals don't even sound like they are a part of the same song. EQ is wrong, reverb is heavy and it kinda has a track doubling sound to it as well. It would work well on a John Lennon cover song but not in an intimate love song. Forget all the little tricks and gimmicks...just record a straight up vocal, sing close to the mic with a pop filter and only use a slight low cut (high pass) on the EQ. Keep the verb low.

I also heard the "gate" dcuny mentioned. Gates serve a useful purpose, but 98% of the time are not needed in studio environments. In this song, it is quite obvious the vox are either gated or poorly edited with envelopes. Since it's on the vocals, and you really need to record the vocal track again..... whatever you did there, don't do it the next time round.

I use a "process audio>mute" function in some of my songs... because yes, in a studio, with a hot condenser mic, you will get quite a few undesirable sounds into the track.... lip smacks, studio sounds, cars outside, the dog barking..... so it is acceptable to "clean up" the silence in the vocal track, but be sure you are not killing the reverb tails and other important things.

How I do this.... FYI: I leave the tracks 100% dry. No FX at all. I send the vocal tracks to a vocal buss and that is where the reverb and whatever else I have for processing is located. This allows me to cut off sharply in the track but since the reverb is in the buss, the tails live on. Dry tracks allow me to do other things in the tracks and apply it without printing permanently any EQ or reverb in the track.

All in all, a good song. I'd suggest taking the time to redo the vocal track and post it again.


edit: dang me.... forgot the last one...literally. Edit the drum track to stop in the correct place. It played a measure past where it should have ended.


Thanks Herb,
I'm glad that you weighed in on this, I've read some of your posts, especially the one on Taxi and understand that you know your stuff and have good advice to offer. I appreciate the positive statements here and that you took the time to tell how how you go about recording, solid advice for anyone here. As I've said this was recorded over a year ago and I've improved many of my technics since then but still have much to learn. I really appreciate learning how someone else goes about it because I'm self-taught for the most part in this. I hope you listen and comment on future songs I post as I value your opinions and comments.
Thanks,
Kenny