C'mon, slap that bass!

[Eriksimon]

Hi Everyone,

 

This is Laura (18), who has never made a studiorecording before, but has performed a few times - only ever once with a microphone though. That's because she doesn't really need one, as I soon discovered...

 

 

She's also my daughter Finya's vocal coach, at school. So she asked me if I could record her, using hi quality stereo karaoke files to which she practiced the songs.

 

So, we did, I mixed it. The main job was to "tame" her voice, and fuse it with the track. I used a combination of compression and fader-riding, and some sidechain compression, triggered by the vocal, on the KO-track (= ducking), to achieve that. I think it turned out well. I did not use any pitch correction on either track.

 

Also I'm pretty pleased with how my microphone (MXL 990) and Audio interface (Edirol UA-4FX) have 'dealt' with her voice.

 

She sings "Slap That Bass" by the Gershwins, and "Love You I do" by Krieger & Garrett.

 

Enjoy.

 

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/eriksimon/slap-that-bass[/soundcloud]

 

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/eriksimon/love-you-i-do[/soundcloud]

[Jope]

Totally enchanted by her voice, especially in the first track.

Yes, she definitely doesn't need a microphone as we hear in both tracks. The high pitch chest voice notes in the second track get a bit out of control, but hey, what am I talking about? Three or four notes not as perfect as the rest is (but still very good!) - with no pitch correction at all - wow. BTW you did a very good job with controlling the dynamics.

Thank you for sharing these recordings.

[Eriksimon]

Thanks Jörg! Yes, I also thought the chest notes were a bit "over the top", but she was adamant that that is "her style" and that is how she does those. I already concluded she completely knows what she's doing, so I didn't debate it.

I'm glad you liked it, as the tracks got surprisingly little response from the other LPH-forumites... or maybe musical theatre is just not the most popular genre... (I must admit I didn't know either song, before this)

 

Again , thanks for listening and replying!

[Jope]

Thanks Jörg! Yes, I also thought the chest notes were a bit "over the top", but she was adamant that that is "her style" and that is how she does those. I already concluded she completely knows what she's doing, so I didn't debate it.

I'm glad you liked it, as the tracks got surprisingly little response from the other LPH-forumites... or maybe musical theatre is just not the most popular genre... (I must admit I didn't know either song, before this)

 

Again , thanks for listening and replying!

 

"Her style", I see. Good, self-confidence is a condition for success No kidding, I love her style, and since you wrote she's eighteen, her style will ripen. I always admire musicians who control their instrument (or voice) in realtime with such perfection.

"Not the most popular genre"... Probably true, but there are other "forumites" aound here with a more demanding taste. Patience

[camillo jr]

Ok I'll bite.

 

Now that's a voice and a half! As Jope said, if she's this good now, wait till she's a few years down the line. I'm loving the sense of detail in her voice; you really get to hear her texture.

 

In terms of frequency balance, the quality of the voice is great until she starts belting it out at which point I'm hearing a buildup in the 900 Hz to 1 kH area and to a lesser extent, some stuff around 350 Hz . I actually like the mids in the quiet parts; they creates a sense of intimacy but they really stack up in the loud parts.

 

The thing about those strong mids is that when she gets loud, they unglue the voice from the mix because you hear more of the room she's in. Some dynamic Eq might smooth that out and bring her into the mix more.

 

It's a tough call balancing between the excitement of a dynamic performance and getting it to sit smoothly in the mix. In her case, she's got expression to burn so I think the voice could use a tad more leveling overall, either via volume automation or compression or a combo of the two.

 

Erik, you have a very talented singer to work with there! [insert envy emoticon here]

And I'll bet she's a great influence on your daughter.

[lotionsandoils]

First listen: she is too loud on both tracks. as if she's sitting on top of the band instead of singing in between them. Your balance is good (your fader riding) and compression is nice as well. And she is most def. a good singer at 18, but she will grow and mature a bit more. scared to think how much better she will be when she learns about "style."

 

Are the stereo tracks one file or many?

[Eriksimon]

First listen: she is too loud on both tracks. as if she's sitting on top of the band instead of singing in between them.

 

On both tracks? That's funny, before posting here I got the feedback (about LYID) that she wasn't loud enough, so I gave her 3 dB more. It's very hard to judge, I myself used to use the rule: can we understand every word even at low listening levels - and that's sometimes deemed "too soft" or even "buried". But then again, this genre is new to me, and I guess needs to be approached with the voice (-performance) as the central thing, where with my own music I tend to go for the "song as a whole".

But sometimes the music's just the vehicle for the voice, the performance - which is, by the way, how she approached it. We did three songs, a total of eleven uninterrupted takes. I was very impressed.

Anyway...

No doubt I can listen to it again and agree that the voice is too loud. I'm easily swayed.

Or am I?

 

[...]

 

But, no, actually, I just listened again for the first time in a week, and I disagree. The music and the voice are fused sufficiently, and at the same time they are showcasing her voice (which is one of the goals here: a portfolio) nicely.

 

Your balance is good (your fader riding) and compression is nice as well. And she is most def. a good singer at 18, but she will grow and mature a bit more. scared to think how much better she will be when she learns about "style."

 

Thank you very much. Yes, I'm curious too. She also has stunning looks, so the odds stack in her favor.

 

Are the stereo tracks one file or many?

 

Both these songs were Laura's voice mixed with one stereo "empty orchestra" file. Especially the "Slap that base" big band I found to be of very high (sonically and musically) quality.

I'm still working on "Natural Woman", which we also recorded that afternoon. But it will be with a full arrangement...

[Eriksimon]

Ok I'll bite.

 

Now that's a voice and a half! As Jope said, if she's this good now, wait till she's a few years down the line. I'm loving the sense of detail in her voice; you really get to hear her texture.

 

Yes, aren't big diafragm microphones just great? Very happy with the thing, combined with my first ever half decent 24 bits audio interface (Edirol) - what an enormous difference compared to my 16 bit USB mic. I think she would have sung that thing to shreds.

 

In terms of frequency balance, the quality of the voice is great until she starts belting it out at which point I'm hearing a buildup in the 900 Hz to 1 kH area and to a lesser extent, some stuff around 350 Hz . I actually like the mids in the quiet parts; they creates a sense of intimacy but they really stack up in the loud parts.

 

You seem to have such an acute analytical hearing forEQing frequencies, I envy you for that. I did look out extra for those frequencies in "Natural Woman", the third song, yet to be finalized.

 

The thing about those strong mids is that when she gets loud, they unglue the voice from the mix because you hear more of the room she's in. Some dynamic Eq might smooth that out and bring her into the mix more.

 

It's a tough call balancing between the excitement of a dynamic performance and getting it to sit smoothly in the mix. In her case, she's got expression to burn so I think the voice could use a tad more leveling overall, either via volume automation or compression or a combo of the two.

 

Erik, you have a very talented singer to work with there! [insert envy emoticon here]

And I'll bet she's a great influence on your daughter.

 

Thanks for the kind words and the detailed remarks, Camillo! I'll take 'm on board for "Natural Woman".

[camillo jr]

You seem to have such an acute analytical hearing forEQing frequencies, I envy you for that. I did look out extra for those frequencies in "Natural Woman", the third song, yet to be finalized.

Ok, while I could hear certain frequencies jumping out at me, my ears are not quite so "analytical!" So I did what I often do with some songs I hear on this forum and I recorded it into Logic so I could get a close look at the EQ balance. After that, I did some mastering things to the track just to see what I could get out of it. Using my mid/side dynamic EQ, I did some cuts at those frequencies only on the center channel. And I did some other things too because I find the whole topic of mastering quite fascinating. I like the results - to me she sounds more a part of the whole production - although there is bit decorelation going on in my mastered version. Nothing into the minus side but it's more than was there before. The original track has some decorelation on the band, I think because a very wide reverb was applied to the band. Was that part of the track or did you add that?

[Eriksimon]

You seem to have such an acute analytical hearing forEQing frequencies, I envy you for that. I did look out extra for those frequencies in "Natural Woman", the third song, yet to be finalized.

Ok, while I could hear certain frequencies jumping out at me, my ears are not quite so "analytical!" So I did what I often do with some songs I hear on this forum and I recorded it into Logic so I could get a close look at the EQ balance. After that, I did some mastering things to the track just to see what I could get out of it. Using my mid/side dynamic EQ, I did some cuts at those frequencies only on the center channel. And I did some other things too because I find the whole topic of mastering quite fascinating. I like the results - to me she sounds more a part of the whole production - although there is bit decorelation going on in my mastered version. Nothing into the minus side but it's more than was there before. The original track has some decorelation on the band, I think because a very wide reverb was applied to the band. Was that part of the track or did you add that?

 

Ah, OK, I see, would be curious to hear your results, could you put them up for download somewhere? And I did not add anything to the karaoke files, used them "as is".

[camillo jr]

Certainly. I'll PM you a short-term dropbox link where you can grab the MP3s. I did both songs since the set-up for the first one was mostly working for the second one too, with some tweaking.

 

One goal was to bring up the band in relation to the voice. Part of that strategy involved pulling down the center channel which was partially done via the aforementioned EQ notches as well as some other tricks. As a result, you'll hear a fair bit more reverb on both the band and on the singer. Personally, I like it although it might not be to your taste.

 

Caveat - I do not claim to be a mastering engineer! This is just me mucking around and trying out some techniques.