Currently working on a mix for JamKiske!
Song: Sobakasu by Judy and Mary
Put in about 4 hours of work in editing and mixing and very close to done. Making sure everything is all balanced and clean. Jam is a wonderful singer, and I didn't have to do much pitch and timing correction. My contribution to this is that Jam didn't have backing vocals, so I flubbed a bit of a harmony line using Melodyne. You can check out my example up top.
I won't post the entire song, but be sure to check out @jamkiske's final mix on where ever she decides to post it on!
Cubase has also been so easy to work in. It took a while to find some of the basic features like signal routing and figuring out how the sends work, but it all came together really quickly. It also simulates a physical mixing board which is a big plus since it's what I was used to working on.
I've decided to switch over from Adobe Audition to Cubase.
Originally, I used Reaper because it was a cheap DAW. The problem with Reaper was that its signal flow and interface was much different from what I was used to in college (Pro Tools). Overall, Reaper is a great DAW, but it doesn't feel standardized and has a learning curve that I don't want to try reprogramming into my brain.
Adobe Audition is VERY similar to Pro Tools. The workflow is something I'm very used to. It has features that allow you to edit clips within a multi-track session. Although it is a very cool feature, I never ended up using it. The big reason I'm switching over is that my VSTs aren't playing well with it and don't render well. Also, there is no option to do a real-time bounce. This is very important to me since I prefer to listen to my mix one last time as a final check. Although I can do that just by listening, the ultimatum of "This is it" makes me hyper aware of my editing and mixing. Even though it's not and I can go back and make changes, it makes me feel like I should polish everything before I call my projects "finished".
Another thing is that I want to start creating my own original songs. Composing and producing songs aren't my forte, but I am familiar with how the process goes (Thank you, college!!). Even if my original songs aren't record company quality, this is going to be my first steps into being a self-produced VTuber.
I'm not sure how my journey will go with Cubase, but I am currently trying the trial version to see how that will go. If I feel comfortable with the first two months, I'll definitely commit to it. Otherwise, it's probably back to Reaper or maybe I'll try my hand with Mixcraft...
Currently working on my cover of Astrogirl by Sana Tsukumo! This is a WIP so the final product is going to sound slightly different. There's a few changes I want to make before I set this as finished and start providing artwork, video and pushing it out to all my social media.
I'll post the changes I want to make and things I'm unhappy with under the break. Please give it a listen before reading the rest of the post so you can have an unbiased first listen and try not to hear the things I point out.
I am open to critique on my mixing. I want to provide the best product, so feel free to comment things you like or dislike about my mix.
This is my first time working with Melodyne and manual pitch correction and time phasing. For a first attempt, I think it's pretty good. There are words like "orbit" that sound kinda wonky. I don't know if it's how I sang it or if its the time phasing making it weird. Reverting time phasing doesn't seem to change how awkward I say it, so it might just be my voice.
2. The last chorus has a high vocal range needed, and using my higher range, I can't reach the highest notes. I used Melodyne to get even higher, but overall the pitch shifting sounds weird, so I might do another take and find an alternate harmony.
3. The original song uses a vocoder and MIDI. I'd love to use this same technique but Adobe Audition doesn't work well with MIDI, if at all. I've settled with using chorus and flanger effects to bring a fuller effect to my voice instead. Might play around with the settings to give it a more "vocodey" effect. Looking to switch over to Cubase since I want to get into composing originals, too.
I also found out that Melodyne doesn't render in Adobe Audition, so I have to realtime bounce my cover (hence the video recording instead of a audio post). I am definitely changing DAWs as soon as I can.
4. All the tracks have no gain automation. I don't think I need any, but it's worth exploring. If I hate it, I can just delete all the automation.
