Check my vocal attempt & mix on this tune

[Felix Neumann]

Hi dudes

I´m still working on the fifth Machines & Madness song and I tryed some vocals over the backingtrack. Let me know, what you think about the vocals and how it´s embedded in the mix. A few words/advice about the mix generally would be cool, as well

Here is the clip:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2414899/Vocal_test_MM5.mp3

Cheers!

 

[Ermz]

Hey man, nice stuff. Cool to see that you're still singing.

My advice on the vocals as they are in the mix is that they could probably use a little more compression and excitement. Try staging some compressors and then brightening it (or vice versa, EQ into compression can work better)! Admittedly it may be the guitars clouding them a little.

Next maybe fill out the lows. Get the kick-bass relationship really punchy. At the moment it's pretty warm, but lacks depth.. at least to my tired ears.

After that maybe tweak the guitars. What are you using on them? They just seem a little flat and benign. Not really jumping out or 3d.

Anyway good stuff man, thanks for sharing

 

[Felix Neumann]

Thank you very much, Ermin. I´m glad, you dig it

Really good words here, totally appreciate it! I´m doing much too long on this tune yet, it´s good getting some prof. advice.

For the guitar tracks I´ve used a ESP ltd fx360 with 81´s, sneapster Mikael (alias Analgrinder333) reamped it. Though I played around with the eq´s, of course...(maybe a bit too much). Dude, I´ll take your tipps into acount for the next mixing session

 

[azistenostora]

Felix, I love your voice (no cocksucking intended). Reminds me a bit of Tobias Sammet at times. The song is cool too, it's a bit Malmsteenesque at the fast riff and that I like! A nice change from all the growling and screaming going on lately Btw I could totally shred the crap out of this, let me know if its needed, don't have much going on lately anyway...

 

[Mago]

Very nice vocal ideas for the tune felix, also like the "lazy" (have no better word for it ) vibe at the first half of the phrase from 0:46 to 0:48, but the last word of that phrase seems out of place to my ears, tonewise.
Won't comment on the mix now, I don't trust my ears these days :/

 

[Skinny Viking]

Felix my man!

Sounds great so far bro ... I agree with Ermin, vocals need a little excitement to them. It almost sounds like you're holding back a little in your delivery, its slightly "reserved" sounding to me. Might just be some of the signal chain stuff but to me it just really sounds like you're not putting your whole heart into the performance ... yet. Some doubling in spots and a couple of well placed harmonies would go a long way to filling it out and adding some excitement as well. There is also something a bit "off" sounding at the :55 - 1:00 spot with your vocals. Other than that, I really like the melodies a lot, they have the right vibe for the music.

Mix wise I can't comment too much cause at the moment I'm in the middle of redoing my entire room with the new acoustic treatment I've gotten and still haven't hooked up my new monitors but for the time being ... guitars seem a bit too "dry" and by tha I mean they just seem to need some presence or something. They're kinda flat.

Drums are nice and I like the bass as well. Sounds like you're on your way to another killer tune ... I'm loving the faster tempo

 

[Felix Neumann]

Ha! Thanks so much for the detailed feedback, Carlos, Marco & Oliver!! It´s good to hear it.

@Oliver, Of course, there will be a nice solo spot for you. Will post the entire backingtrack soon! Still not sure, how many solo spots there will be then, but it looks like we get another hot solo battle for that song

Very nice vocal ideas for the tune felix, also like the "lazy" (have no better word for it ) vibe at the first half of the phrase from 0:46 to 0:48, but the last word of that phrase seems out of place to my ears, tonewise.

Haha lazy is a good word to describe it You´re right, it´s not 100% in tune, I hope I come along without autotune in the end

 

[Felix Neumann]

Felix my man!

Sounds great so far bro ... I agree with Ermin, vocals need a little excitement to them. It almost sounds like you're holding back a little in your delivery, its slightly "reserved" sounding to me. Might just be some of the signal chain stuff but to me it just really sounds like you're not putting your whole heart into the performance ... yet. Some doubling in spots and a couple of well placed harmonies would go a long way to filling it out and adding some excitement as well. There is also something a bit "off" sounding at the :55 - 1:00 spot with your vocals. Other than that, I really like the melodies a lot, they have the right vibe for the music.

Mix wise I can't comment too much cause at the moment I'm in the middle of redoing my entire room with the new acoustic treatment I've gotten and still haven't hooked up my new monitors but for the time being ... guitars seem a bit too "dry" and by tha I mean they just seem to need some presence or something. They're kinda flat.

Drums are nice and I like the bass as well. Sounds like you're on your way to another killer tune ... I'm loving the faster tempo

Haha you´re right about the vocals, I didn´t put my whole heart into, cause I´m not 100% convinced about the lyrics yet. So I did a take just to check, how the melody lines is working. I really hate writing lyrics and that´s why I always need so fucking long to finish a M&M song. This song is about a Priest (Father Callahan) with alcohol problems and troubled faith, who became a killer. I wanna express despair and depression with the lyrics (..to which god I have to pray..)

Will do another mix tonight, and maybe I get THE idea for creating the lyrics. Can´t wait to finish this track Thanks Carlos!

 

[Mikaël-ange]

Sound cool Felix but I agree with everyone about dry guitars
Let me know if you want reamp revision btw...

Cheers

 

[Felix Neumann]

Sound cool Felix but I agree with everyone about dry guitars
Let me know if you want reamp revision btw...

Cheers

Dude, if you wanna try another reamp, feel free to do it Is everything okay with the D.I tracks, enough gain? Let me know!

Here´s the package with the D.I tracks, if someone wanna try it, as well:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2414899/MM5_DItracks_FelixNeumann.zip

 

[Nuno Filipe]

Cool song Felix. The mix is quite weak in the low end and the drum has no punch, especially the kick and the snare.

 

[Felix Neumann]

Cool song Felix. The mix is quite weak in the low end and the drum has no punch, especially the kick and the snare.

Thanks for the feedback, Nuno! I wanted to keep the drums quite natural for this classic Metal song, so I didn´t use much compression yet. Maybe a bit more would be okay though..

 

[Skyweaver]

I like the drums are they programmed ? if so details ?

 

[Ola Englund]

awesome stuff felix! man I really wish I could sing so I could be the one-man-band of my dreams

 

[Felix Neumann]

awesome stuff felix! man I really wish I could sing so I could be the one-man-band of my dreams

Thank you, Ola! Haha yeah, it´s good being "one man band", no compromisses and total freedom. Though it´s difficult to spend 100% quality for each element..(especially drums, cause they´re real played) That´s why I need month to finish one fucking song

I like the drums are they programmed ? if so details ?

@Skyweaver, thanks! Drums are not programmed, pretty edited here & there, but drums are real. This time I didn´t replace the kick, only the snare a little bit (50%) with drumagog. Don´t wanna replace it completely, because of some ghost notes.