What's Wrong With These Vocals?

[Frak]

Hey guys,

I'm doing a mix for my band and I think I'm pretty much done. I'm pretty happy with the way everything is sounding apart from the vocals... there's something about them. They're not sitting right, and I can't quite work out why...

Any ideas?

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21735317/Cellophane.mp3

 

[DistractMe]

I agree that something sounds a little off with the vocals, but it's hard to pinpoint the issue exactly. I'd start with DeEssing them though, definitely getting too much of that hissing "S' sound. I think the delay you have on the vocals may contribute to that as well, so I'd back off that a little bit.

The vocals also sound a little thin, but that might just be the timbre of the singer's voice. I think double-tracking the vocals would work wonders to thicken them up, as long as they were as close to perfect as possible. Adding some harmonies when appropriate would be great too. An SM7 would be a righteous mic choice. But then again those are all in the recording stages, and I assume you'd rather hear more about what you can do in post...

I think a solid vocal plate plugin (or hardware if you are fortunate enough!) with a relatively low reverb time would give the vocals some more depth. Singer is mostly on tune, but a little extra pitch correction on the higher notes (a few fall flat) would tighten things up.

As for EQ you could probably do with some boosting in the mid to low-mid area (but not too low!).

That's all I can come up with for now, and the mix still sounds killer as it is!

 

[Frak]

Thanks for the reply man!
We tracked the vocals with an SM58 because we're on a tight budget. We do plan on doing a little more vocal tracking in the next couple of days. One or two lines need to be re-recorded because they sound cupped or distant, and we're gonna get the other guitarist to do some harmonies. He has a much thicker timbre to his voice, so hopefully it should fill out the vocals a little more.

I definitely agree with the need for a harder de-esser, but whenever I try to push it, the vocals lose a lot of presence. It may be an EQing issue perhaps, I'll try start from scratch with that now that the rest of the mix is pretty much done.

Better reverb sounds like a good idea. I'll give it a crack. I'll also see about tuning those high notes, I can hear them too now that you mention it.

Thanks for the kind words dude.

 

[jebbyderinger]

Yeah I was gonna say SM58 can be fine or even preferable but I was expecting screaming. With singing like this a larger diaphragm condenser would be the way to go. The part where you did the telephone like EQ works quite well. I think it will be difficult to get to a point where you are totally happy with all the de-essing and eq'ing to make it fit. Not sure if you have EQ'd the vocals but I think it's missing some of the natural midrange frequencies from the vocal range. This could totally just be the SM58 characteristics though.

 

[Frak]

Alright, thanks again guys. Took aboard your suggestions and just fully reworked my vocal FX chain from scratch. I think the main problem is what was suggested by DistractMe, I EQ'd way to hard with a lot of mid to low-mid cuts which made the vocals sound very thin. Used EQ a bit more sparingly this time and got the vocals sounding much more natural and glued.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21735317/Cellophane Take II.mp3

Any more suggestions on anything at all mix-wise? I'm pretty happy with it. Going to track a few more vocal lines this week and it should be ready for release.