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Hey folks!Hope all is well on this Thursday morning!I'm looking on some feedback for this track. Mainly the vocal department. I'm considering changing lead vocalists in this band. The band is called, Scarsville. A concept driven progressive acoustic retro rock band. Whew. This song in particular is about a Pharaoh being awakened from his sleep by his own people turning on him to overtake his reign on Alexandria. Although this Pharaoh is good to his people, a few with evil intentions have gathered an uprising to take him down, bury him, and overthrow the city. Listeners later find out through other songs that the leader of the uprising was his own wife and through other songs listeners learn that he actually saw this coming through his dreams. What's interesting concept wise about this song is how his attackers choose to bury him in a glass coffin so he can see the very people rising against him. Which in turn, include his loved one. Basically just picture a guy sleeping in his chambers, being awakened, then taken off and buried alive as the song goes on. Whew. That about sums up what the song is about.Anyways, Scarsville has an entire album (Prophecy of Exile) built on this concept ranging from the fall of the Pharaoh to his final return for revenge and redemption.We (Scarsville) have only recorded and mastered the one song professionally, which is this one, "Glass Coffins." Although I like the unique sound of the lead singer, and although I think his voice fits this sound, I keep questioning myself, wondering if we should change lead vocalists now before we go onto finish the rest of the album.Opinions?The song is sung from the Pharaohs perspective.http://www.audio-village.com/kickapps/_ ... 29713.html

I don't hear anything wrong with the vocalist, but it sounds like he's been run through a processor that has all the bandwidth of a telephone. To me it sounds like the vocals could come up in the mix a bit all around too.Cameron

Oct 2, 2008, 6:14am, cameron wrote:I don't hear anything wrong with the vocalist, but it sounds like he's been run through a processor that has all the bandwidth of a telephone. To me it sounds like the vocals could come up in the mix a bit all around too.CameronThanks and yes, you are right. I felt the vocals needed to come up as well. But artistic direction took over before commercial sense I suppose. We were trying to create the feeling of "singing" from inside a glass coffin without relying on a ton of reverb, if that makes sense. Thank you so much for the listen and the good advice man. Let me know if I can ever return the favor.Stephen

Hey Stephen.... I don't think it's the singer, though if you're having doubts about him for any reason, now is definitely the time to concern yourself with it. I actually like the song, minus the singing from the glass coffin. There are much better ways to do this IMO without sacrificing the vocals... painting the picture musically is the best, which you've done pretty well here with the arpeggiated chords (electric piano type of sound) in the beginning and cymbal work. There may be more you could do to convey it, but I would work on it musically rather than vocally. And just a thought.... If it's sung from the pharaoh's perspective (which I believe it is), you should always be able to hear him.... whereas if it was sung from an outsider, everything the pharaoh says would be affected (if you went that route). And if you're switching between outside and inside, you better have a good reason to do it from a story point of view so that it all gels together.HTH!

Oct 2, 2008, 7:52am, zoom wrote:Hey Stephen.... I don't think it's the singer, though if you're having doubts about him for any reason, now is definitely the time to concern yourself with it. I actually like the song, minus the singing from the glass coffin. There are much better ways to do this IMO without sacrificing the vocals... painting the picture musically is the best, which you've done pretty well here with the arpeggiated chords (electric piano type of sound) in the beginning and cymbal work. There may be more you could do to convey it, but I would work on it musically rather than vocally. And just a thought.... If it's sung from the pharaoh's perspective (which I believe it is), you should always be able to hear him.... whereas if it was sung from an outsider, everything the pharaoh says would be affected (if you went that route). And if you're switching between outside and inside, you better have a good reason to do it from a story point of view so that it all gels together.HTH!Thanks for the insight man. Do you think I should just record this one over tackling it in the manner you are suggesting, or do you think as is, it gets by?Unfortunately, unless the listener reads into the story, I don't think they will get the vocal effect too much. So, I'm debating a do over. I'm just wondering how I could give that "trapped" impression without effecting the vocals.

Hi Stephen;How might it be to layer the processed "faraway/ inside the glass coffin" vocal OVER a regular mix of the lead vocal? That would give you both the fully present sound + the more ethereal one at the same time. Which would add to the metaphor of power and powerlessness combined together . . . My only other comment is that the melody on the chorus "Snow white tree (or dream? couldn't tell what the words were)" sounds more like a harmony line than a melody. It came across like two melodies and no harmonies. Perhaps adding a higher, more passionate melody line (almost a descant/ gospel style overlay) would add a feeling of intensity and contrast to the more "straight" sounding harmonies that convey a feeling of being "boxed in".I think you have a lot of cool ideas going in this, and I think the vocals and the instrumentations are good. I'd just tinker with the sound processing, mix & intensity of vocals during the chorus.Best regards,Suz

One more idea about conveying the "trapped" feeling in the vocals:You could at the outset have it fade in from the processed, tight sound to the full regular vocal, and have the "in the box" tight processed vocal fade in and out, or perhaps be panned in interesting ways (to convey movement throughout the song) -- but all the while have the full vocal be dominant -- perhaps until the end when the "in the coffin one" begins dominating and the full vocal fades away, symbolizing the Pharaoh's increasing loss of power.Or you could begin the song with full vocals and gradually overlay the in the box vocals and have the full vocals retreat.Seems to me that the basic mythology/ archetypical message of the song is about power and the loss of power. Choosing to mix your vocals to reflect this duality (e.g. via the interplay between full present vocals and the distant in the box ones) would reinforce the message already in the lyrics.Good luck with the project!Suz

Oct 2, 2008, 8:51am, suzdoyle wrote:Hi Stephen;How might it be to layer the processed "faraway/ inside the glass coffin" vocal OVER a regular mix of the lead vocal? That would give you both the fully present sound + the more ethereal one at the same time. Which would add to the metaphor of power and powerlessness combined together . . . My only other comment is that the melody on the chorus "Snow white tree (or dream? couldn't tell what the words were)" sounds more like a harmony line than a melody. It came across like two melodies and no harmonies. Perhaps adding a higher, more passionate melody line (almost a descant/ gospel style overlay) would add a feeling of intensity and contrast to the more "straight" sounding harmonies that convey a feeling of being "boxed in".I think you have a lot of cool ideas going in this, and I think the vocals and the instrumentations are good. I'd just tinker with the sound processing, mix & intensity of vocals during the chorus.Best regards,SuzHey Suz. Thanks for the listen first off. Adding a layer over top might actually be the easiest and most effective way to overcome this problem. That is an excellent suggestion. Adding an additional harmony isn't a bad idea either. Oh and its, "Is this a Snow White dream..." Kind of taking the fact she was in a glass coffin. Actually now that you mention it, the vocal parts present are actually the harmony lines. Good ear girl! Originally the chorus only had the lead vox and one harmony. Then we later added another male and his wife, thus dropping on of the lead vox. Again, good ear. I agree with you. After reading your suggestion, I just might try to overlap the lead vocals, and then place a better lead melody over top the chorus as well.Thanks again for the listen and sound advice.

STEVE....GREAT SONG DUDE...J

Oct 2, 2008, 11:18am, taxi wrote:STEVE....GREAT SONG DUDE...JWell shoot. Thanks man!