Help me make my vocals not suck

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Help me make my vocals not suck

Postby CenterStage » 20 Apr 2013 09:04

Haha, I can't figure out where the heck to post this.

So after like a year and a half of having this instrumental track, I've finally tried laying down a vocal track for it. Eight or twelve takes later, I have something that... isn't awful. It's a work in progress.

Direct link. (It's a parody of American Idiot.)

I know my voice sounds strained, I'll have to work on that (I haven't been singing for about a year now, it's hard to get back into). I'm more concerned with what to do on the mastering side (this version has been normalized and 2:1 compressed, which is what I usually do for spoken things, and it kind of sounds exactly the same after as before), as well as any tips on keeping tempo, which I am apparently not good at doing. It could just be the song I'm using, I don't know.

This is pretty much my first song, for all I can claim it's "mine" (the instrumental is not my work, it was done for me, so I can't really do anything about it). I hope making this post will help me produce stuff that doesn't sound like some jerk singing over top of the radio. Advance thanks.
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Re: Help me make my vocals not suck

Postby Forza SoundFire » 20 Apr 2013 10:14

Can't remember the original very well, but I think you need vocal harmonies &/or double tracking in the verses.
Consider using a chorus FX instead/maybe as well as double tracking

I think the 'vocal break' vocals have FX like distortion and band EQ.

Balance the vocals with the rest of the track (too lout ATM) - the vocals dont sit with the mix. Just sounds like vocals on top of a backing track ^^
You might want to experiment with ducking or types of compression/inverted gating with sidechains.

Add at least a little light delay & reverb. Listen to determine how much sounds good..


If your vocals sound the same after compression, you've *probably* got your threshold too low.
As for timing, it's just a matter of practice, being anal on sub-dividing your beats and making your slurs/consonance snappy.

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Re: Help me make my vocals not suck

Postby CenterStage » 20 Apr 2013 20:13

Forza SoundFire wrote:Can't remember the original very well, but I think you need vocal harmonies &/or double tracking in the verses.
Consider using a chorus FX instead/maybe as well as double tracking

I think the 'vocal break' vocals have FX like distortion and band EQ.

Balance the vocals with the rest of the track (too lout ATM) - the vocals dont sit with the mix. Just sounds like vocals on top of a backing track ^^
You might want to experiment with ducking or types of compression/inverted gating with sidechains.

Add at least a little light delay & reverb. Listen to determine how much sounds good..


If your vocals sound the same after compression, you've *probably* got your threshold too low.
As for timing, it's just a matter of practice, being anal on sub-dividing your beats and making your slurs/consonance snappy.


That sounds like something I can do. The rest... I'll be honest, you kinda lost me. I don't think Billie Joe Armstrong had a chorus effect on American Idiot, but I'll double-check to be sure. This does explain why it sounds like vocals on a backing track, though!
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