Thanks for posting your song. It shows great potential.

For me the first issue, is the vocal being to bright and nazal. You should experiment with both of your mics and the distance from which you sing from the mic to get a more balance sound
Beginners often mix brightness and quality but that's not it at all.

Second, your accoustic sound boxy, I guess you might have cut some Hi frequencies to hide the fret noises. Its good that you want to hide them but again mic choice and placement is the key. you could have a far better balance and presence to that guitar.

If you are willing to experiment, post other versions and we may guide you to help it get better ;)

pretty nice. finally i am in the studio when i see one of these. overall pretty nice, reducing some highs and mids on the vocs will go a long way and maybe some lower mids, lows on the acoustics, and less 5k. you did a good job. i think the guitar sound has more to do w the instrument than the recording. the vocals could use some de essing as well. some more presence to the snare in the mid/top would help some too. but nice job.

I like the way the vocal sounds on the little speakers on my LCD computer monitor. They cut through nicely and sound very airy. And these speakers usually sound crappy. It's very pleasant sounding to listen to.

GBH

Graham Bell Hertz, post: 421312, member: 48616 wrote: I like the way the vocal sounds on the little speakers on my LCD computer monitor. They cut through nicely and sound very airy. And these speakers usually sound crappy. It's very pleasant sounding to listen to.

The goal of recording and mixing is to send your song into the world for everybody to enjoy on ANY system.
Computer speakers deliver a very limited representation of the frequency spectrum you would expect from any music.
If it sound good on those, it maybe by accident or by chance. Thing is, the mix needs to be worked on to be any speaker friendly ;)
I'm confident that working for a better balance, frequency wise, would help a lot.

Hi guys, sorry for not responding a while, but I REALLY appreciate all the fb.

About the vocals: I can relate to the newbie mistake of adding highs to try and fake quality. I did that a LOT in my earliest moments. However, in this I decided to add some highs as my voice misses alot of that edgy sound, you know? Some eq helps it stand out some more imo. I'm going to redo some parts though, and a de-esser will surely help with the vocals.

I re-recorded the acoustic guitar, which was desperately needed. It's a total difference now. Used a different room set-up and mixing. It sounds alot more natural now, so thanks foor that!

Also, for the ambiatic/melodious sounds in the song (it's an electric guitar with tons of echoing/reverb going on), I lowered the volume in the intro. This makes the acoustic more of the center of the intro, while still keeping that ambiatic atmosphere which I really like (that's my style lol).

I also saturized a biiit of the drums, so they have more presence in the chorusses. Adds some weight to it ;)

I'll continue working on this mix, and will try to upload it over the weekend.

Thanks for your feedback so far guys!

I can hardly hear your drums at all? You're in the Netherlands and your drums were in the Netherlands. Or maybe Germany? Either way, they are nascent.

Very cool and ethereal, but there should be an instrument or two that isn't washed out and cuts clean for the rythm's sake.

hugohuijer, post: 421518, member: 45827 wrote: Some eq helps it stand out some more imo. I'm going to redo some parts though, and a de-esser will surely help with the vocals.

To a point, yes. But, past that point, doing so can also add harshness as well, and, depending on where your individual sibilance sits frequency-wise, it would boost that as well.

As opposed to using a dedicated de-esser (and the type of de-esser matters alot too, because cheap, third party de-essers can actually do a lot more harm than good) you could look at editing the S's in level only.

If your DAW has the ability to allow you to focus in very tight, you'll begin to recognize the physical appearance of the wave form for hard S's; and you could split that waveform on either side of the rest of the words and bring down the level of the S's. While it takes a bit longer, this generally works much better than typical de-essrplugs, sonically speaking.

hugohuijer, post: 421518, member: 45827 wrote: However, in this I decided to add some highs as my voice misses alot of that edgy sound, you know?

Honestly? The vocal track is very hard to listen to. It sounds as if you zeroed in on the pain frequency of 2.5 - 4k and boosted it very hot, trying to emulate "the edge" that a nice mic and a nice pre can provide.
Instead, what you've done is made this very hard to listen to because it's just so harsh. Sibilance is also very bad.

If a cheap condenser mic was used through a budget pre amp, very often, this combination doesn't "take" EQ well, and you end up also boosting the bad characteristics of the combination as well.

What mic and pre were you using for vocals on this?

Hi guys, sorry that I haven't replied for a while. It has been a busy month..

Found some time to work on the tune again, and I'm loving all the feedback.

New version: [MEDIA=soundcloud]hugo-huijer/small-lapse-of-silence-1
[[url=http://[/URL]="https://soundcloud…"]View: https://soundcloud…]="https://soundcloud…"]View: https://soundcloud…]

Re-recorded the entire acoustics. Remixed a few parts. Saturized the drums a bit, and did some tweaking to the bass. In my opinion, it has already improved. It is still unfinished, but I would like to know if you guys agree whether it has improved or not. :)

Thanks a lot and merry christmas!

Good job ! You have managed the sibilance in the vocal and the balance is a lot better.
The only thing that is still bothering me is the drum which sounds unnatural in the playing (or sampling) with a snare and bass drum that need more presence. But hey ! I'm a drummer, I prefer listening to a real drummer or a programming that is convincing enough... ;)

Wow - great improvement.

Beautifully plaintive entry with the reverbed electrics and the acoustic. The vocal sounds a bit thin, too close, slightly brittle and too breathy, but your singing style and voice are perfect for this song, you just need to engineer a more natural sound. As this lovely dreamy whimsical song develops, it sounds as if the vocal needs to be compressed more to maintain an even level, and maybe a bit less treble, and more middle will help it maintain a legibility through the gentle wash of sounds.
The instrumentation is beautifully done, maybe a bit bass light, but still a classy production, clearly conceptualised and articulated. Maybe a bit more light and shade, that is instrumentation variation, between sections would help delineate the song better and avoid a slight blandness.
But full of a gently wanton expressiveness that is most appealing.

I really like it. It's got some great dissonant overtones. Nice stuff!