Ok I’ve done a first pass of this. Other than the one glaring problem, I’m actually pretty happy so far.
What’s that problem you ask? Yes, it’s the chorus vocals. I’m going to try some different treatments, but I feel like with what I’ve done so far, it swallows everything else in the chorus. If I turn it down, you can’t really make out what he’s singing. He’s got such an interesting voice… very good when he’s not pushing it, but when he leans into it, it goes haywire.
I’m interested to hear people’s take on it as it stands, and techniques to tame passages like this. Currently, here’s what I’m doing to it:
- ProQ3 to high-pass and try to address some of the piercing resonances
- ProMB in a vain effort to again tame things
- Purple MC77 (1176 clone) to squash the crap out of it
- Lindell 80 series for some console mojo and EQ
- Soothe to again try and tame stuff
I think my next step is to go in and surgically edit the track, so the scream-y phrases get brought down in line with the others, then I’ll probably scrap my chain and start over… maybe try more dynamic EQ.
As for the non-chorus vocals, as we know from David’s previous track, he doesn’t compress on the way in. I didn’t do surgical editing on this one, partly out of being lazy, and partly because I wanted to see if I could address it with compression and not have it sound like it’s being addressed with compression. There’s a couple of spots that sound a bit wonky, but I think overall it’s not bad.
Anyhoo, I think I’m ok with the overall balance so far, I think the piano could use some work… again some nasty midrange overtones in that one too. Snare could come down a notch in the verses too. Let me know what you think!
Woohooo!
