KVR Audio

TabSel · Post by **TabSel** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 6:24 am

I recently picked a MIDI file of "Against All Odds" and worked with it... I can't sing, so I asked a friend of mine to do some vocals...

This is, waht she came up with...: Against All Odds

She works with a simple soundblaster card, a cheap Sure micro and Magix Music Maker and her talent. All the vocal bits were her idea...

What do you think? I love her voice!

TabSel · Post by **TabSel** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 9:22 am

no comments? I guess, some feedback on her beautiful voice would do her justice...

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 10:13 am

She's got potential for sure.
But there's quite some intonation problems, which gets pretty much noticeable during the doublings and the two part voicings.
Also, I think you should really do a better backing in case you wanted this to be anything more but a demo for "Tanzmucke" stuff.
And of course you should get her recorded through a decent mic setting.

DevonB · Post by **DevonB** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:04 am

To my ears, it sounds like she's singing slightly flat most of the time. Some pitch correction may help.

Devon

donkey tugger · Post by **donkey tugger** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:09 am

Hmm, t'lass is trying, but I still prefer my version

Squonk · Post by **Squonk** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:10 am

Sascha's right - there's definitely some potential there, you can hear some very good qualities to her voice, which could certainly come out with more practice.

IMHO the "squeezed" start to every line (emotion?) gets really old really quickly. Don't take that as too negative, it's just my opinion.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:12 am

donkey tugger wrote:Hmm, t'lass is trying, but I still prefer my version

Me too

How comes I missed that before?
Pure class!

Squonk · Post by **Squonk** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:26 am

donkey tugger wrote:Hmm, t'lass is trying, but I still prefer my version

Quality!

WoJ · Post by **WoJ** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 12:31 pm

@ donkey

WoJ

Hewitt Huntwork · Post by **Hewitt Huntwork** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 1:15 pm

I understand the criticisms above, but I liked her voice quite a bit. I thought the pitch was fine when she wasn't doubling. I have great pitch, but have, on rare occasions, had problems doubling and / or harmonizing with myself. In my case, it's a monitoring problem... When you are hearing 2 or more of yourself in headphones (as opposed to hearing your voice resonating in your own head and chest) it can be challenging to sort out what you're hearing and where it's coming from.

If you were producing a song with a harmony guitar lead, you wouldn't want the guitar sound to be exactly the same on both tracks, because it would make it harder for the listener to distinguish the parts. You might use a different pickup setting, different effects, or maybe even a different instrument to make sure the parts were distinct. Vocals need the same distinction, and when multiple tracks are being generated by the same singer, obviously varying the pickup setting and instrument itself are not options.

If she was tracking with the levels near where they were in this mix, there's a chance she would've had trouble hearing both the harmonic content of the song (provided by the piano) and the harmony she was trying to lay down.

Things to try:
1) Have her record with one headphone on and one off.
2) Have her record with the piano and harmony vocal levels turned up, lead vocal turned down.
3) Temporarily EQ and effect the lead vocal so that she can follow the phrasing but not get thrown off by the identical timbre of two of the same instrument playing at once.

Steady On!

EDIT - I almost forgot, she can try panning the lead and harmony vocals. Any vocals already recorded should go to one side and the track currently being laid down to the other side. Keep the instrumentation closer to the middle.

Cover: Against All Odds