Desperate need for mixing help/opinions! [Dragonball Kai]

[SaiyanSerenityV]

I wasn't sure if this was the right place for this, but I've been playing around in Adobe Audition, trying to learn all of its functions to get a better understanding of mixing audio in general. I do a lot of fan-covers, and I can never seem to get that clear presence lead vocals always have (despite having a very high quality mic/decent recording space). Often times, and I don't know if these might be related, I also have a lot of trouble determining whether my volume levels are balanced. Maybe I'm using too much reverb? I'm using hard limit or my equalizer or pretty much anything incorrectly? I have no idea.

So this is the clip I've been working on, "Dragon Soul" from Dragonball Kai (https://www.box.com/s/e841f8cecc57070c0b9f). Loud songs like these seem to be the worst offenders, so it seemed like a good pick... ack, please be gentle on my singing.

Any and all mixing tips/suggestions would be extremely helpful! It's so frustrating not fully understanding what most of these functions actually DO. ;n;

[Trivial Serenity]

Listening to the sample you provided it sounds you're starting off in the right direction.

I'd encourage you to take a look at the Multiband Compressor instead of using the Hard Limiter. You can do so much more using that instead. A good way to do things is to mix in the Multitrack View. Because there you can have much quicker access to both the EQ and everything else. You can open the "Effects Rack" and add in your Reverb, Multiband, and whatever else you figure you may need for the mix to sound nice.

A thing that I personally like to do is to go into Dynamic Processing and select "Compander," then go to the Graphic menu and check off "Spline Curves." Doing this makes your audio much more level and it even takes away some of your white noise. (Even if you only have tiny traces of it). I really hope that I helped you out atleast somewhat and you can find my advice useful to you. If you have any questions you can shoot me a message on Skype, if you'd like.

[SaiyanSerenityV]

Ahhhh, thank you SO much for your advice! I already do most of my editing in Multitrack View, but the Multiband Compressor is SO much better than the Hard Limiter, and the Dynamic Processing really helped bring the vocals out. Though I had to play with the settings on it quite a bit before I was happy with the sound (sometimes it came out a little distorted/artificial sounding).

Here's what it sounds like now (https://www.box.com/s/6e104c7d5fe60ffd09e9).

I'm still not sure if the lead is quite right, but I moved on and added some back-up/harmony this time. Like with everything else, I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out where to place my backup vocals. Like, I don't want them to be too loud/overwhelming, but I don't want to lose the clarity either. I played with it a bit and I dunno... I think it's too loud still. Though, I wonder if this wasn't a good track to use after all, because it already has Japanese backup in the instrumental. ;n;

EDIT: Ack, I'm still having a problem with the audio coming out slightly distorted (kind of like hearing a voice over a phone?). Am I abusing the limit function too much?

[Trivial Serenity]

I'm glad I could be of assistance!

That does sound better! But yeah, I do hear what you mean by having a bit of distortion on your lead vocals. Most of the time you'll just need to keep messing around with your EQ and Multiband together until everything sounds completely right. You need a good balance for both to compliment each other. (As far as I know. I'm hopefully going to try and get into Audio Engineering classes).

That's another trial that will be hard to overcome; the original backround vocals. If it weren't for them, I'd say to turn down yours, but if you did that then you'd be able to hear the original. There's probably a way to block them out with yours without being too overpowering but I don't know how to at this time. Sorry! If you have any more questions, I'd be ore than happy to help, if you needed it.

[CeruleanAsh]

I wish I had something to add to this post in the ways of helping,... But I felt the need to comment because the advice of Trivial Serenity also helped me out with some long standing issues. So thanks ^_^