Can't Get It Out of My Head - ELO Cover

[PavlovsCat]

This is my cover of ELO's song, "Can't Get It Out Of My Head." It's my second draft on the mix and I would be grateful for any insights on how to improve the mix (beyond, get a better singer! Hahaha!). Thanks in advance for your advice and constructive criticism. 

EDIT: I deleted the originally linked file and replaced it with a link to the latest mixed version of the song. 

Edited February 26, 2023 by PavlovsCat

[PavlovsCat]

I'm trying to learn to do compression -- or at least have an awareness to let Izotope's AI deal with it  -- and created this unplugged version without drums. It's the same performance, just mixed a little differently and without drums. 
 

 

[mark skinner]

 Hello , I liked Both versions of the song. Always been an ELO fan and I think you did a Great job on this cover. It's leaning pretty hard towards "Lennon does ELO".  If I were to change anything I believe the vocals could  be improved as far as the FX and EQ. I'd probably back off the phasing effect a little and look closely around the 1K range for some reduction and a small boost in the lows.   Very Nice !      Enjoyed it ..   mark

[Bajan Blue]

Hi Peter

a really good cover I enjoyed it a lot - I agree with Mark's comments re the vocal mix  - I think it would help

Cool

Nigel

 

[PavlovsCat]

On 2/17/2023 at 8:48 AM, mark skinner said:

 Hello , I liked Both versions of the song. Always been an ELO fan and I think you did a Great job on this cover. It's leaning pretty hard towards "Lennon does ELO".  If I were to change anything I believe the vocals could  be improved as far as the FX and EQ. I'd probably back off the phasing effect a little and look closely around the 1K range for some reduction and a small boost in the lows.   Very Nice !      Enjoyed it ..   mark

Thanks to you and Nigel for the kind remarks and the advice. For the vocal, the effects I used were Nectar -- I used the AI's preset after it "listened to the vocal" -- and then put Waves Abbey Road Artificial Double Tracking on after that. I don't think there is a specific phaser effect used, but I'm guessing the combination of the two effects caused the phasing effect. Considering that I'm completely inept at mixing and rely on AI and presets and that there wasn't a phaser effect used in Nectar, would you  think I should back off on the ADT effect? That's my guess. 

Again, thanks for the advice and the kind words are very appreciated and encouraging. 

- Peter

Edited February 21, 2023 by PavlovsCat

[mark skinner]

 Yeah , might be the ADT , but sweeping the mid range EQ around with a narrow boost will help you identify the frequency that sounds more phased. The idea here is to make the vocal sound as "bad" as possible , then reduce that frequency. I only have Ozone Elements , but the AI's EQ suggestions are always a good tool to see if I'm way off on the EQ. It Always wants me to boost in the 1-2k range. I hate 1k on vocals.  (sorry for being so late to respond)  Hope it's going well ..  mark

[PavlovsCat]

4 hours ago, mark skinner said:

 Yeah , might be the ADT , but sweeping the mid range EQ around with a narrow boost will help you identify the frequency that sounds more phased. The idea here is to make the vocal sound as "bad" as possible , then reduce that frequency. I only have Ozone Elements , but the AI's EQ suggestions are always a good tool to see if I'm way off on the EQ. It Always wants me to boost in the 1-2k range. I hate 1k on vocals.  (sorry for being so late to respond)  Hope it's going well ..  mark

Thanks. I don't know how to do a narrow boost, but I will look Nectar's suggestions. As far as Ozone, I just go with what it gives me. But I think the whole thing with the vocal is that I used ADT on it and that went on after the Nectar effect. Can I do the same thing by backing off the ADT effect, as I'm guessing that is the root of the issue that you and Nigel have identified? 

[Wookiee]

Listen to the first post, sounds reasonable here. If I get the chance tomorrow I will do the comparison.

[AndyB01]

If I had to choose a version I'd go for the second one without the drums - I just prefer the feel.

On the vocal FX, it's all been said above so I won't go there, this a really good cover. Well done.

Andy

[Larry T.]

I like the second but that's just me....very, very good work on both versions???? 

[PavlovsCat]

Funny. I stopped playing music 22 years ago after a repetitive stress injury made it painful to play for even a couple of minutes. But I was  a musician and never more than a background vocalist; okay except for one or two nights with a bar band when I was 18 where I had to replace a drummer/lead vocalist.  The only people who ever heard my demos were my family -- all musicians and my mother and eldest sister were music teachers-- and musicians I played with in bands. So the first time I ever shared anything publicly was last year. When no one responded in 24 hours, I figured my vocals were so bad it overshadowed anything good I did with the arrangement. So thanks to everyone for the encouragement and I'm going to go back and try my best to make adjustments to the vocals and will probably even try recording new vocals, especially for some of the parts I struggled with. 

[Lynn Wilson]

Aside from the above suggestions, what I like about both versions is that you made them your own, rather than just being a carbon copy.  This is a great song, and you have the voice for it!  Stay with it!

[Bert Guy]

Cool cover of a great song.

The vocals sit better in the mix in the second version to my ears, but that is without the drum part -which is good.  Maybe back out of the drums a bit & soften them up.

And the oldest trick in the book to fatten up a vocal is to actually double track it.  

Good stuff, either way.

Cheers,

Bert

[steve@baselines.com]

My band covered this song when we were first starting out...this brought back some great memories.  Your version sounds good to me.  Here are a couple of things you might look into.  It took me a long time to learn that whenever I use anything (compression, eq, fx,etc), when I get to a point where I think it's good, I back off everything I added by at least half. LOL - it saves a lot of time coming in the next day and doing it.  Also, I am not a fan of high/low pass filters, but they do have their place when used in moderation.  I think you could open up and separated the sound a little if you tried some of this on some of the tracks.  I'd also make some of the tracks more staccato and less droning.  If you are using Cakewalk, look into the Sonitus compressor.  Even after all this time, it is still my go to for handling mild gainstaging.  I think that the interface for this particular plugin is incredibly useful and tells me exactly what I want to know.  

[PhonoBrainer]

I don't think there's too much wrong with the vocal. There ends up being 1 billion choices of how to process vocals, and I've used Nectar to get a start on things before. But more and more I find less is more, and less Nectar for me ends up being more.

I listened to the first (compressed) mix, and I liked the vocal very much. But for me it's being killed by the loudness of the piano. You might duck or volume automate the piano down maybe 1.5 db when the vocals are vocalling. I bet your loud piano (which sounds quite nicely compressed and full ) is really masking your vocal. The vocal should pop when the piano is moved a bit lower. Just a thought.

 

cool song and I respect your chops on this one!

 

 cheers,

-Tom

 

[PavlovsCat]

3 hours ago, PhonoBrainer said:

I don't think there's too much wrong with the vocal. There ends up being 1 billion choices of how to process vocals, and I've used Nectar to get a start on things before. But more and more I find less is more, and less Nectar for me ends up being more.

I listened to the first (compressed) mix, and I liked the vocal very much. But for me it's being killed by the loudness of the piano. You might duck or volume automate the piano down maybe 1.5 db when the vocals are vocalling. I bet your loud piano (which sounds quite nicely compressed and full ) is really masking your vocal. The vocal should pop when the piano is moved a bit lower. Just a thought.

 

cool song and I respect your chops on this one!

 

 cheers,

-Tom

 

Thanks for the advice. I am aware of ducking,  but I've never tried it. Your post inspired me to find some articles and videos on ducking.  I'll experiment with it this week. So, Tom, you think it's just the piano that's the problem? There is a lot going on, including acoustic and electric guitars,  a Wurly...  Do you think I should put them all through (I think it's sidechaining a compressor) or only the piano? Beyond the fact that I don't technically have a clue with mixing, I have a significant hearing loss and don't hear the frequency ranges very well. 

I'm the worst pick for mixing or playing! I stopped playing music professionally  or at all 22 years ago due to an injury resulting in lifelong tendinitis. I can only play an instrument for very short periods without pain. I've been trying to play again since last year, but can only play several minutes at a time. This song was a good fit because it's so easy to play and the tempo is slow. It's a real and unexpected pleasure that anyone enjoys anything I've recorded.  

[PavlovsCat]

I don't know if this mix is better for sure, but I think it is. I took off the Abbey Road ADT effect after it seemed the consensus was that it didn't work. I replaced it with a similar effect inside of Izotope Neutron.  I also took a couple of different vocal parts that I thought were better than the ones I had previously used.