Need tips/critique: More Than

[boydwgrossii]

I wrote a song for my sons when I was unable to see them. I finally got to see them after 5 years or 2 of the 3 and 3 years for the oldest.

I want to give them the best and I need to learn how to mix better to do so.

Any pointers on how I can do this before I attempt to master?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dmjtkv6h9f...05%29.mp3?dl=0

[RDBOIS]

I think it is very sweet what you doing.

A love song

The intent is really the gift.

It feels weird to critique such a wonderful love song. I hesitate... Ok. Let's do this from a purely detached unemotional point of view ok?

From a technical point what sticks out is they loudness of the "MORE THAN..." sections. I get that they must come out with intensity, but have a look at the WAV file. You'll see how they spike up drastically compared to the rest of the song. I favor controlled intensity. You don't want to the listener to feel ear pain while you are telling them how much you love them. A bit of compression would help smooth the blow.

There's also a question of singing off key in a few places. This could be fixed with ReaTune; an auto tune stock plugin. Put the plugin in MANUAL MODE and draw out the lines in the spots that need some vocal tweaking. You want the listener to hear the message (i.e. the "I love you") not get stuck on the ear distraction.

I wish you all the best.

[boydwgrossii]

Originally Posted by RDBOIS

I think it is very sweet what you doing.

A love song

The intent is really the gift.

It feels weird to critique such a wonderful love song. I hesitate... Ok. Let's do this from a purely detached unemotional point of view ok?

From a technical point what sticks out is they loudness of the "MORE THAN..." sections. I get that they must come out with intensity, but have a look at the WAV file. You'll see how they spike up drastically compared to the rest of the song. I favor controlled intensity. You don't want to the listener to feel ear pain while you are telling them how much you love them. A bit of compression would help smooth the blow.

There's also a question of singing off key in a few places. This could be fixed with ReaTune; an auto tune stock plugin. Put the plugin in MANUAL MODE and draw out the lines in the spots that need some vocal tweaking. You want the listener to hear the message (i.e. the "I love you") not get stuck on the ear distraction.

I wish you all the best.

Do not hesitate God has granted me a love for music, writing and playing it, and 3 sons that I have the opportunity to be a dad to. Because of this, I want to do this right.

I am intimidated by ReaTune. I have it on every vocal track but have it default set to Subtle C# Major (Db Major). I went to look at the manual mode and couldn't figure it out.

For the "More Than" part, I can put a volume automation in there, right? Wait....that is the chorus. I should bring it down to the verse volume level and maybe only boost it by .5 - 1 db? I think I boosted by almost 5 or so...pretty drastic.

[RDBOIS]

I'm going to help you get pass the intimidation of ReaTune.

I made a short video to show the basic steps needed to correct the pitch of vocal using the manual mode. I also show you how to adjust the timing of vocals (it's better to re-sing, but sometimes it can be fixed using stretch marks).



I hope this helps. Experiment and never overdo things with ReaTune unless you want to sound like Cher (the female artist). lol It is always better to re-sing to fix problems than rely on plugins.

A strategy that I often use is to sing the song once, correct it with ReaTune, then re-sing the song while listening to the perfect pitch version. Then I delete the first track and keep the second. I find it helps to sing on key when you have something to aim at...

[boydwgrossii]

I haven't retracked the vocals, but your tutorial helped!

My friend gave a listen and said everything sounded a little muddy due to the 500 range (mids). I took that range down in many instruments and turned down the ambience area of the drums that were a little too loud.

In Superior Drummer 3, I turned down the snare, kick, and hi hat in the overhead mics I have sent out. This way, I can have more of the cymbal action.

I feel like the vox are loud, but as a guitarist primarily without confidence in my vocals, I tend to want to turn up guitars and turn down my vocals.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ydfm5fryso...06%29.mp3?dl=0

[boydwgrossii]

Here an updated one. I did some big changes to the drums. I got Slate Trigger 2 Platinum and did some work with the kick, snare, toms. I altered the volume levels of each to try to set better and get the drums to not disappear during choruses.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p2q56vcmza...ng%29.mp3?dl=0