please critique my whitesnake clip

[Olem]

Hello, singing folks!

I haven´t had much time to sing lately but i have practised a little on a whitesnake song that i like. Please be honest and tell me what you think and what i can improve. I send you two links, the first is only with my voice, naked without any effects, the second is my voice mixed with effects together with music. Maybe someone could give me some tips how to mix properly, that would also be appreciated.

Thanx in advance/ Ola

www.box.net/shared/jmv4ep6n4r

www.box.net/shared/t77jmv86vt

[ronws]

The singing sounded fine.

Mixing, however, is a fine art different than singing. You have to be brutal with your track. Now, in this song, you are in the upper baritone. So, you might want to lower the backing track around 1.8 kHz to 2 kHz .5 to 1 dB. This called notching and can often drop your vocal right in the mix, which is what you want. Also, on your vocal track, roll off or high pass filter at 1 kHz. This will get rid of unwanted or unneeded low freqs. And be subtle with your adjustments. The trick to mixing is that "less is more." The key to mixing is that if you want to bring something into prominence, you lower the value of something else. For example, in a multi-track recording, you want to bring up the voice. Rather than raise the eq on the voice, you lower the eq on the guitar.

The other thing you can do is take the final mix and use the compressor function on it, which will even the volumes out a little better and not quite so harsh as a limiter function.

[Validar]

You're slightly under pitch for a good portion of the song, and there were highs you were struggling with. It was a good effort, though, and probably not the easiest song in the world to sing. As Cheverie stated, relaxing is probably key here.

I could be wrong, but I would guess you could be over anticipating and psyching yourself up for the higher parts before you actually get to them, which will often compel you to overexert once you get there. You don't want to do this. It invites tension. You want to "keep your cool", so to speak.

I do like your tone, though. Keep pressing forward.

[Olem]

Thanx for your answers, folks!

Cheverie and Validar: What the !%!!. Just kidding You are propably right, i´ve had this problem for some time, pushing too hard and it´s even worse when i add distortion. I will follow your advice and post my results if it´s not sounding horrific after the weekend. I guess i will have to learn to support hard without tensing my throat at the same time.

Ron: I will try your advice when i mix the next time. Compression i use but it was interesting that you said about lowering the guitar more than raising the vocals on the eq, because now i am doing the opposite, raising the 8khz bar which i think is bringing forward the vocals more.

[ronws]

Thanx for your answers, folks!

Ron: I will try your advice when i mix the next time. Compression i use but it was interesting that you said about lowering the guitar more than raising the vocals on the eq, because now i am doing the opposite, raising the 8khz bar which i think is bringing forward the vocals more.

I'm not a genius for knowing that. I have, however, read a few books on recording and mixing. My next investment will be a decent mixing software that will beat the crap out of Audacity. Something with real time effects (effects that can be adjust during mixing process, as well as different effects at different times.) Otherwise, in Audacity, let's say that I wanted the chorus to have delay. Well, I would have to record the chorus on a separate track and use the delay on just that track. A bit cumbersome.

Then, again, I don't use much, if any effects, these days.

[Olem]

Hello, again!

I have experimented a little today on getting less hold with a dopier sound together with distortion.

Please tell me what you think.

http://www.box.net/shared/0i8cr6unls

[Chavie]

Last clip is awesome, your head voice sounds halford'ish

Id redo the original track, but blast it out like you did in this clip :)

[jonpall]

You're pitchy at spots, sometimes sing incorrect vowels and sometimes probably too much cry/hold so it becomes squeezed. But on the plus side, you have a great sound going on man! Many people will be envious. It sounds very rock n roll man! It's very cool. I suggest that you learn the melody spot on just by listening to the song and then try to open your throat more and your mouth a bit less, because I suspect you might be doing that. It would be easier if we could see you, though. But you have great potential, dude! Rock on!

[Olem]

Thanx, for your answers Jonpall and Chavie!

What would the vowels be, Jonpall? The curbing vowels on high notes are these oo as in "woman", ih as in "sit" and uh as in "hungry (curbing vowels)" ? And maybe i can use oh as in "sow" (the overdrive vowel)? I´m not sure what vowels are right from A4 to C5 where most notes are in this song. The correct vowel thing is a bit confusing for me. Some say use more open vowels and some say use the closed/covered ones.To have a more open throat i apply the yawning sensation i guess.

Have a nice weekend.