I don t get it

[danieleinad]

Hi
There are lots of delays and reverbs ( I still don t really know what to put) , that do make a nicer voice ; but then I have those echoes at the end that I don t want them so much in the song. Is there a way to get rid of this echoes, and keeping the delay for the embellishment of the voice ?

Also , is it natural that a person doesn t like his own voice? I am not satisfied of my voice when I record it, but I like it when I sing without a microphone
Daniel

[t4mh]

I can't stand my voice! I am NOT the person anyone would want close to a microphone!
Keith

[elser]

To decrease the number of echoes you hear you can turn down the 'feedback' control. If you turn it almost all the way down you should just get one repeat.

It's pretty natural if you haven't heard your voice recorded, both your speaking voice and and singing voice, to not like what you hear. The good news is that you can improve it by singing and recording yourself more until you do like it. But like anything it takes practice.

[mazz]

The only time one hears their voice as others hear it is when it is recorded. When one speaks and sings, the sound of one's own voice is a combination of the resonance of the head and body and the sound of the voice making it to the ears indirectly (i.e.: reflecting off the walls of the room, etc.). So our perception of our own voice is very different from what the world outside of our head perceives. This will never change, so the only solution is to get used to it. As Elser said, it just takes listening to it over and over until you get over that initial shock. Like any skill, it takes time to develop it.

As far as reverb and delay is concerned, there's just tons of information available on how these things work and so forth. I suggest you do some research on acoustics and on the difference between reverb and delay (and why they are similar as well). It's one thing for someone to tell you how to set certain parameters, it's quite another thing to get and use the knowledge on why those parameters are there in the first place. Of course, you have to start somewhere, but gaining a deeper understanding of sound and how it works while at the same time learning the gear will, IMO, get you further and be more rewarding to boot.

Hang in there, the curve is steep.

Cheers!

Mazz

[markjsmith]

Supposedly John Lennon HATED his own voice, even though most of us (if not all) would agree he was great!

[mojobone]

This is one where we could tell ya, but you'll have a lot more fun playin' with the knobs and discovering new sounds. As for your voice, you're used to hearing it from inside your head; just about everybody struggles with this, I still don't like the sound of my voice, but other folks don't seem to mind as much. The most important element in recording a vocal is confidence; it's more important than actually hitting the notes, so you have to keep plugging away at it, the confidence will come, once you have a few satisfactory performances under your belt.

[danieleinad]

Thanks for your responses
And how about the volume of the voice and the instruments .And the panning ?
Daniel

[mazz]

You're asking about the process of mixing, and that's a huge topic!!

Without opening that box too far open, I can suggest that if you haven't already started doing so, start listening to music that is similar to what you are writing with an ear toward production. You need to train your ears to be able to "zoom in" on certain sounds and frequencies and then zoom out again to hear the whole. That is a huge part of learning how to mix, and then at the same time, you start learning and experimenting with the gear you have to try to emulate those sounds.

I suggest you start trying to do some mixing and studying and then come back with specific questions. Talking generally about reverb, panning, EQ, etc., is not going to be very useful. What do you want to know specifically? Start with 2 or 3 questions that address a specific mixing issue you're trying to solve such as: my mix is muddy, what can I do about that? This way you chip away at the huge thing that is "mixing". It's not something you learn in a couple of questions on a forum, that's for sure!

HTH!

Mazz

[danieleinad]

All right Mazz
Should the volume of the voice be higher, lower or equal to the instruments?
Should the voice be in the middle, or a little bit more on the right or left ?
Should the instruments be in the middle....
I listened to Led Zeppelin ( I am craaaaaaaaaaaazy about Led Zep), and I noticed ( I could be wrong)that the voice is sometime in the middle (Kashmir ) and sometimes( maybe most of the times ) slightly more on one side

Daniel

[mazz]

The voice should be audible at all times. Whether it is louder or the same level as the other instruments is dependent on the style/genre of the music. Certain genres have the voice way out front, others have the voice more tucked into the mix.

The voice is typically in the center. There's lots of reasons for this, but these days it's pretty much always in the center (the featured lead vocal, that is). During the era of Zepplin, stereo was relatively new, and there was a lot more experimentation with things like voices on one side, drums on the other, etc. Listen to some very early Beatles, etc. to hear what I mean. Since it was discovered fairly early on that there was no way to guarantee that everyone set up their stereo the same so certain conventions came into play, one being the vocal centered. There were other reasons for this and also for the bass being in the center, mainly due to the laws of physics as they related to a vinyl record groove and the stylus that rode inside that groove.

The instruments should be arrayed around the vocal such that the frequencies and levels of the entire mix are balanced, with the bass guitar and kick drum centered along with the voice. Again it's really dependent on the genre how the instruments are spread out, and for instance in rock music, often the guitar is doubled at least twice and all of those parts are spread out in stereo, often quite wide.

These are just the very very basics, as I mentioned before, the best way to learn mixing is by focused listening to great mixes, and by experimenting with your own gear and listening to your mixes on lots of different systems. You have to study and practice to get better. It helps to study the history of audio production as well.

It's like anything, to become great at it, you have to be passionate about it and study and practice constantly.

HTH!

Mazz