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Thread vocals sound disconnected from the mix

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1 vocals sound disconnected from the mix
I am recording my band withcakewalk. i have invested money into good mics, a board, a good sound card, and some misc. rack gear inluding compressors and an EQ.

I will record my drums guitars and bass and they sound awsome together.
Then I will lay down my vocals and the actual vocal recording sounds awsome too. But when i listen to the vacals and the insturments together it sounds bad.

The vocals sound seperate or disconnected. Its kind of hard to explain but does anybody know what I'm talking about?
2
The best thing to do should be to make us listen to your mix ;-) if you can place a mp3 or equivalent on a web site, put a link here please.

The problem comes generaly from a bad eq on your different track. You have to analysys the spectrum of each track, and set up your EQ to avoid superposition of sound from different tracks at the same frequency... do not hesitate to kill a large range of frequencies on your different tracks to try... Mixing is one of the most difficult thing for a musician!!! ;-)
An other thing is the reverb: you can enlarge the sound of a track from the other by putting an appropriate reverb on it.
Last thing: the compressor... it's certainly thor more difficult processor to use!! I will try to give you some standard set up for your compressor for voice, drum, etc...


What is your set up?
3
The easiest way is to put a reverb on the mix (not just on a track) to give impression that all instruments and vocals are recorded together, in the same room. Of course, it's a matter of a few! Just to damp the mix.

Give feedback.
4
If you want to hear one of my recordings you can follow http://www.freewebs.com/unlistedrock/mp3s.htm Listen to Orange Shorts, it wasnt the actual recording i was refering to but I think it has the same sort of problem (I didnt mix Would You).

I'm using the DR-DRM Audio Technica set to mic my drums plus an AKG C3000B condensor as an overhead. I am mixing the drums on my board and sending the kick out of my board, through my rack gear, as one signal to the left channel of my soundcard for one track in cakewalk. I am sending the snare, toms and overhead to the right channel on my soundcard so they are on a seperate track than the kick. I am mixing it this way because my sound card only has two channels, therefore I can only record two tracks at one time. I also use the AKG on the guitar and bass tracks (just miking the cab) So in short I have a bass drum track, a snare tom overhead track, a guitar track, a bass track, then vocals.

In my rack I have a DBX 266XL Compressor/Gate and a Behringer Ultra-Graph Pro EQ. I have a pair of event monitors for playback.

I am using Cakewalk 9 and a buttload of plug-ins
I also have Sound Forge 7.0 But I dont know how to work it AT ALL!

I was also wondering if there was anymore rack gear that you think is essential for a good studio.

PHEW!!! thats about it :)
Thanks
5
What do you mean by "damp the mix"?
And how much reverb probably just a little bit right?
Thanks
6

Quote: What do you mean by "damp the mix"?
And how much reverb probably just a little bit right?
Thanks



Tracks on your pc are like the instrument. Problem is your computer don't put all your track in a same room if you don't tell it to do and your song'll sound like each instrument are in a different room. So, to have same condition like in a normal rehearse, you have to reproduce the room you play in. Reverb is like the sound moving in space. By adding a reverb to your general mix, all tracks sounds will move in the same room, like when you play live.

But, if you put too much reverb, you'll have echoes and your sound'll became confused.

So, just damp your mix, just let all sounds move in the same room. Sounds must touch others sounds.

Otherwise, I listened to Orange Shorts. Well, I think you have to do something for bass drum and bass guitar: they simply don't have the place they deserve.
7
Check your frequency balances as well as dynamics.

If your bass and drums are "smoothe", but your vocals' dynamics are inconsistent, you'll have that "vocals just don't quite fit in" result.

Same thing applies frequency-wise. Your tracks should all contribute to the overall mix's "curve". If one of your tracks is way to harsh, or sibilant, it will clash in a mix where most of your instruments are sounding more neutral. That one track will stick out farther than it should.

EQ and compression/limiting will help you get there.

One more thing, which is probably the most important, is your song arrangement. Make sure that nothing is competing with your lead vocal track. Your arrangement should work together, not against the song, and finally the mix.