How can I make my voice recording sound more integrated with the beat?

Question

I got a yeti mic with a gain adjuster on it and a pop filter. I even put the mic in a big box lined with 2 inch foam acoustic padding but my voice doesn't sound like it's actually on the beat like I hear in other songs. Still new to all this. If you check out my SoundCloud you will see what I mean

https://soundcloud.com/realmikeg

Answer 1

Well I listened to "I say a little prayer" and your singing could improve somewhat - a bit pitchy some people would say. But this can be worked on. I was the same and I improved some folk will say LOL.

Now what I hear as the main problem is that the backing track is probably fairly compressed so the dynamics are constrained so, when you place an uncompressed vocal over the top you get a problem - basically it becomes karaoke - two disparate sounds that are not blended. So first bit of advice is use a compressor on your vocal to reduce the dynamics - it will start to blend in better with the already-compressed backing tracks.

Next, your vocal is very dry and the backing has a pile of nice reverb on it so, try and add a small amount of reverb to your vocal to make it sound like it was recorded in the same room as the backing.

Also, the vocal level is too high for the backing but fix the other bits first and you'll find it works much better. I hear the vocal badly clipping the track as well.

I use tons of effects (subtley) on my vocal cause my singing vocal is really dull - the basic EQ on yours is fine I might add.