On Sun, 2004-11-28 at 06:52, Dave Phillips wrote: > Hey John: > > I'll chime in with some kudos for the tune, but I agree with your own > assessment re: the vocal, it does need to come forward. No point in > singing words if they can't be heard or understood, yes ? > > Vocals are often a problem for people who don't particularly think of > themselves as "good" singers (whatever that means: is Bob Dylan a "good" > singer ?), and there's a resulting tendency to put the vocals too far > back in the mix. The thought is often to truly "mix" the vocals in with > the instruments, but I suggest taking it the other way on, i.e., mixing > the instruments against the voice. The song is the thing, its melody and > lyrics must be clearly heard (or at least clearly sensed: I can't > usually understand the lyrics to Mudvayne but at least their man is out > front). One of my favorite local musicians made a wonderful album years > ago, but the one mistake he made on it was to mix his voice too deeply > into the instrumental sounds. He told me he wished he hadn't done so, > and that his decision was based on his poor opinion of his own singing. > Sometimes it's best to get another opinion, I guess that's part of the > function of a good producer. >
Absolutely. It took me forever to get used to listening to myself sing. You've got to bring the vocals out front. Bob Dylan is a perfect example ;-) Jan