Mixing metalcore, need help with vocals too

[Shawnn]

Hey Sneapsters! I just finished this mix, and I thought I'd come to you guys for help. I'm wanting to make this mix sound more heavier, less muddy, and glued together.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1558265/toast my bread snippet mix 1.mp3

Guitars - TSE X50
Bass - Guitar Rig 4
Drums - Metal Machine with snare and kick replaced with Sturgis samples

Oh, and I also felt like recording vocals the other day. Thing is, I'm not much of a vocalist, nor do I have much experience in the field of vocal recording. I read somewhere on here about doing 4 vocal takes, one main vocal, two backing panned L/R -6.0dB from main, and one an octave lower. So I did that with the exception of the octave lower track - just 3 takes in total at the moment. I'm having a more vocally-experienced friend do the other octave for me in the morning.

I recorded the vox with an sm57 pointed at my chin. The end result didn't come out too good unfortunately. It sounds really thin, and I have a hard time trying to fit it into the mix. Maybe it's just my voice. Perhaps you could give me advice on vocal recording and mixing? I'm planning to rerecord all the vocal stuff later. Here's a clip by the way:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1558265/toast my bread vocals test.mp3

Comments/criticism? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jordyadfar90]

Hey man! I like the overall feel of the song, seems like you wrote it for you GF? Nice one, gets you laid pretty damn fast

The thing with vocals is, is that it's all about a good performance. When the singer (you) doesn't do well in the performance, you'll notice it quite fast. Especially with the vocal range area.

Try singing a octave higher. I know it feels uncomfortable at first, but in the end it will pay out in thousands. Also a short delay or a little reverb helps the vocal sit a little better

Cheers

 

[CharlesMonroe1989]

Hey man! I like the overall feel of the song, seems like you wrote it for you GF? Nice one, gets you laid pretty damn fast

i laughed so hard!

On the guitars i can hear to much of the room they were recorded in.

maybe you can fix this in reamping.

Drums sound good. For a more "glued" sound i would try to get the same reverb on vocals and the drums.

The vocals are too loud and sound too much "in your face". A bit of reverb (same as the drums) and a delay would work well i think.

And turn the Bass up a bit

greets

 

[Shawnn]

Thank you SO much guys! For me now, it's just practice, practice, practice. But I'll get there eventually. My friend will be recording the higher octave for now. We did a few takes of him, and it doesn't sound as bad anymore.

The roomy sound on the guitars is probably from the tad bit of reverb I put on it. I'll take it off.

 

[Tommy Evans]

Love the song man there's some really good riffing going on. Snare is too loud though Its distracting.