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Snax sings another Styx song. Babe (This time with music)

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Here's my latest effort. This was recorded using my new Bluebird studio condenser mic in Logic Pro 8 on my Macbook. Please let me know if there's anything at all I could have done better either vocally or production wise. I'm still learning!

https://files.me.com/muskysnax/c62r3e.mp3

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I've spent an hour or so dancing to this song with my 3month old baby girl - we had the time of our life.

I listened to it without thinking it's Mike from the mvf. What I heard was a singer who's voice has a "saxophone" or "velvet" like

quality and I'm pretty sure your condenser mic brought that aspect of your voice forward. It reminded me A LOT

of Geoff Tate, albeit in a more rock or twanged version. Ever tried "Silent Lucidity" by queensryche ?

I liked how you processed the vocals and I'd like to ask you how much gain reduction you had on your meters, the ratio

and if you compressed the peaks only. It sounds really beautiful, not squashed at all but without any annoying dynamics,

just what's needed.

At the last verse you introduce a bit of gruff - not sure if it was intentional or not but it compliments your sound nicely.

You shine in this type of songs - if I ever manage to sing a similar type of song, I'll be convinced I can sing.

Don't stop posting Mike!

Thanos

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Your post was so touching Thanos! I'm honoured to have been the background music for a Father-Daughter moment like that!

As for the vocal track processing I used two different compressor plugins at the same time. The first stage is set with a 2:1 ratio and a lower threshold than the second. It is set to gently even out the overall track volume.

The second plugin is set with a 4.2:1 ratio and is set to tame just the peaks and has a higher threshold setting. I also have a limiter on that plugin as a safety net although it shouldn't have activated during a song like Babe.

My main stereo output mix has its own compression plugins to help keep the vocal track blending with the music. It has a multipressor with adjustable bands and a limiter just incase. After the compression I added an exciter plugin to add a little high end sparkle that the compression tends to remove.

Funnily enough I spent the most time EQing the reverb to get exactly the sound I was looking for!

My voice was a little scratchy still and that added to the saxophone quality you mentioned.

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Not too shabby, Snax, having been the background music for a moment like that (isn't that a Kelly Clarkson song, btw.? anyway...). I recall a band way back that couldn't sell their music if their life depended on it, because they were simply very bad. But finally they found a farmer who was willing to pay for their music to be played as background music on his farm. It was played pretty loudly through the farmer's speakers outdoors to keep the birds away from the crops - the music was used as a scarecrow :)

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Your processing chain makes perfect sense (pretty much what I'd use myself) and we both know only experienced "mixing engineers"

spend time eq-ing reverbs, the outcome is rewarding.

I pretty much copied the eq I used on my voice for the reverb I created. I tweak all my reverbs until they are perfect for me and then save them as presets. Saves time during further recording sessions. I actually have a reverb and slap back echo just for AC/DC songs!

The fun for me is in the mixing. Laying down the vocals is the "easy" part! ;)

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Excellent, of course. Here's what I noticed. It seemed like you started the song "heavy" and went lighter, later on. I reallyt liked the lighter voice. (personal preference for this song.) And you've got cajones of stainless steel to take on this song and do it that well. First, Dennis DeYoung is one of those bright, ringing tenors and he has resonance for days. Secondly, this is a "quiet" song. Most hard rock and metal songs are bombastic with loud instruments and if the singer hits a couple of good tones in all of it, it's a success. A song like this has the voice kind of bare and all alone, up front. And you did great.

It seems, if I remember, Dennis would do the songs like this and Tommy Shaw would do the "hard rock" stuff because he had a neat grit in his voice, such as in "Renegade."

I don't think there is anything you cannot do.

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Ron, thank you from the bottom of my heart my friend. :)

I'm about to post the song Lady again but with the backing music this time. It's got some really tough bits here and there and I've been doing multiple takes for an hour trying to get each and every part as good as possible. Unfortunately that leads to vocal fatigue so I may stop tracking and get to mixing.

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Mike - that's sounds great. The new mic is nice and smooth. Your voice is mixed very well with the backing tracks. The right volume and compression and the amount and room size of reverb. Your voice is perfect for the styx style. You are singing it with heavier as ronws said, and that is how Dennis sings it. Keep em coming.. I want to hear your new version of Lady.

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