Vocal Meisters...Please Do Me A Favor ???

People...

I'm still having what I presume to be "trouble", with the vocals on one of my tunes from our upcoming CD release. I've used 3 different mics (Audio-Technica AT4050, Shure KSM27, AKG C 535 EB) & 2 different pres (UA 2-610, Grace Model 101); & continue to wind up with "harmonic distortion?" at certain lyric lines & passages. I've had one ME tell me he heard it; & one ME tell me I'm nuts...(that there's nothing there.)

So...I've posted a .wma & an .mp3 of 4 sections from the composition...on my test server; & I'd like the vocal experts here (or anyone with a good ear...for that matter) to give a listen & tell me what the h_ _l they think it is:

http://www.moonjams.com/musiclinks1.htm

The clips consist of 4 sections...the 1st one starts with the song's intro; & then fades out & into #2 (with the rest fading out & into the next, etc.)

In Section 1, listen for the lyrics/passages:
"feel you", "life", "angry sea", "sail into", "rainbow" & "feel you've"

Section 2:
"worry about", "last" & "time"

Section 3:
"have" & "worry about"

Section 4:
"matter how", "ya'", "star lights", "guide" & "high and"

The problem areas consist of a scratchy, grainy sound, similar to harmonic distortion. It's not proximity effect...I was very careful to stay away from that. I didn't overdrive the pre's; & the signal waveforms all look normal. Does it sound "distorted"...if so, what kind? Does it at least sound "musical"? Does it sound "normal" for a high velocity vocal take? (It's also there to a certain extent in the raw, dry takes; & only exacerbated a little by the reverb processing.)

Would you guys release it...if it were yours?

Could use some input.

Thanks very much,

mark4man

Honestly, M4M, I don't think I would have noticed anything, if you hadn't specifically pointed out which words to listen for -- and, even then, I'm not sure I hear it on most of them. Maybe headphones would make it more obvious; but, as is, I don't think I'd worry about it.

My 2.

hi mark4man,
i know this is a freaky thing to do, but could you post it with just the vocal track
(no instrumentation)? mixed in, it's hard to tell if it's the vox track, or the vox track
in interaction with the backing tracks .. which, given the stereo spread of the backing
EP, is a distinct possibility.
jeff

RLD, M, Ed & Jeffrey...

I think you may have all helped me more than you know. In putting together the first series of files...(c/o music & dry vocals)...I discovered that...

Let me back up a little bit...all of the vocals on this CD project...as recorded raw...lack a bit of luster. They're all pretty much flat response w/o high-end sparkle; & sound dull (& somewhat low in gain) in the mixes. So to compensate...what I do is to clone the raw track; & back the clone off to around -7.5dB or so...to make the presence in the mix a little more robust. Then I apply a brightness EQ curve I devised, in Cambridge (to both tracks in the pair); & on just the first track (the one at 0dB), I also apply an airy EQ curve from EX-1.

[& I'm uploading a screenshot of the track pair & the plugs in a little while, so you can see these settings.]

THEN...I pipe that signal out of the DAW, thru the reverb hdwe. & back into SONAR.

Well, I guess the combination of settings on the two plugs aren't as dandy as I thought they once sounded...because in listening to just the EQ'd tracks, without verb...they have a "hollow, ringing" type sound...like they're rattling around in a bottle. The whole vocal line sounds too edgy (notwithstanding the fact that those settings are helping to push the questionable clips over the top.) Too much high end prior to reverb, maybe? Check it out:

http://www.moonjams.com/musiclinks1.htm

[Screen shot is up, now],

mark4man


[Edit] Jesus...look at the 317Hz band on the EX-1...it's fighting the 308Hz band on the Cambridge !!! What the h_ _l was I thinking?