why do these vocals sound bad?

can the vocalist not sing?

are the vocals not technically mastered properly?

are the production ideas not aesthetically apt / executed appropriately?

was just listening to this earlier (random track released recently on monotonik) and i've been really paying attention a lot to what makes vocals work and what makes them not work, as i'm eventually going to attempt to record my own vocals. in this case, i feel like the vocals fail. i cant quite put my finger on why, but my guess is that it's the quality of the recording, and maybe the execution of the vocals coming from the singer. i think the potential is there but it comes up short. any thoughts? what could make these vocals work? better mic? some reverb?

can't listen, requires log in and pass.

maybe the vocalist is trying a bit too hard and comes across a little insincere, i think the production is pretty good.

I'm no expert, but I think it's too dry & too far above the rest of the mix. The way the velocity swells every line kind of accentuates that. I also don't think he used a windscreen with all the sibilance happening. If the guy was going for a Depeche Mode sound, he pulled it off pretty well, though.

If you are studying vocals, try to find some acapellas & compare them to the originals. I'm always suprised how bad pop stars sound without the mixdown.

no issues with the production.

the slightly out of tune doubling does the vocalist no favours.

he's not that true, so the octave, occasional harmonies and doubling don't quite work.

i wouldn't have hard panned the vocals either.

other than that, top notch on the production.

ignore what most people say about reverb on vocals.

the less the better.

and remember, the vocal makes up about half the track, the accompaniment the other half... the biggest mistake most demo bands make is to swamp the vocal in reverb, and make it really low in the mix.

suddenly hating the 'trancey' synth sound with the reverb in the break.

hating.

aaaaaargrgrhgrh

It's the timbre/tone of his voice and the way he's projecting it. He's using a tone that doesn't reach back far enough into his sinuses so it sounds more harsh. If he were to smooth it out, it would sound better.

The production is fine.

He's not a great singer? They don't really sound bad per se, but like pylonbitch said he's not really on all the time.

I also wouldn't have hard panned the vox. Other than that the only thing I would have changed is maybe sat the vocals just a shade back in the mix. Not much at all though...maybe -0.5dB down....

production isn't an issue though with the vox.

LOL!

Yeah, what bitch said more or less.

In the past 15 years or so there's been a trend for vocals getting dryer, and more upfront. For a good example listen to Bjorks vocals and how they've progressed from album to album. Less reverb, using (very nice, very expensive) EQ more to sit it in the mix, often using a short ambient delay in place of reverb. Use too much reverb on the vocal and you instantly date the music. However, we are seeing a little bit of a move away from the very dry in your face vocal.

As pbitch says his pitching is a bit off, and this combined with his tone and phrasing isn't a great combination. Tones a result of a number of factors, not least the singers actual voice, and being able to single out one particular link in the recording chain would be difficult. Generally though, in importance it follows the order of the chain i.e. singer -> mic -> pre-amp/channel etc.

awesome feedback