Recording update - raising voices

About five years ago, I couldn't stand my voice. Anyone who has a copy of Crystalline (all ten of you) can tell you that the vocals are mixed way too low, in fact to the point of being nearly inaudible in "Redefining Life." It wasn't until a friend of my used that particular song in a student play of his that I discovered just how low the vocals were mixed. In the theatre where the play was being staged, the acoustics of the room completely devoured the vocal track when the song was played. I remember thinking at the time, "shit...my message isn't getting through."

As the years have passed, I've come to accept the unique properties of my voice while sneering at those who don't feel likewise. For anything recorded after Bitter, one may note that my singing isn't drowned in reverb and other effects or simply turned down so that it barely makes the VU metres move in relation to the other sonics. Crystalline is the vocal equivalent of hiding behind a tree, while I'm still amazed that the vocals are as loud as they are on Bitter.

Thus far, for the songs I'm recording for The Forever Syndrome, I'm feeling pretty good about how my voice sounds. I know I'll never sound like the people on the radio, and the fact is that I wouldn't really want to at this point. In the songs I've recorded thus far, the reverb soup has been scaled way back. It's still there, mind you, but that echo-chambre/shoegaze effect is not nearly as prominent as it was on the early discs. Also, I've turned up the volume on my voice - it even drives the metres (mildly) in certain parts of certain songs. Just think, you won't have to reach for the lyrics sheet to figure out what the fuck I'm singing about...well, you won't need the lyrics sheet to know what I'm saying anyhow.

In any case, The Forever Syndrome seems to be coming along swimmingly. I do still want to recruit some female vocalists for some songs. I just need to figure out whom to place with what.

In more boring news: today I remiked drum machine tracks as well. Boring as hell, some of these songs are when they are just drums and nothing else. Still, a required task, if I want that "big" drum sound.