Serious question for everyone

Just so everyone knows, I am seriously in the brainstorming phase.  I haven't laid a single guitar track.  That may be a while as both of my electrics have issues needing repair.  I need to get my basses intonation reset as well.  

As far as selecting a singer, I will talk to some of these people and see what turns up.  It really will be in God's hands if this happens.

I will probably start with the self-tifled Mission Of One album and cut it down to an EP.  There were to many styles on that.  I dislike all but about 4 or 5 songs.  If I redo that, I will cut the tracks I don't think fit.

alldatndensum wrote:

Quote :

I have had other production foibles as well, but my voice, in my opinion, has always been the weakest link.

Hear, hear!  I've tried doing my own vocal tracks and they are lackluster at best.

Xid wrote:

alldatndensum wrote:

Quote :

I have had other production foibles as well, but my voice, in my opinion, has always been the weakest link.

Hear, hear!  I've tried doing my own vocal tracks and they are lackluster at best.

This is one of the reasons I am considering reworking everything.  I can change vocal parts so the "Alice Cooper" vocal could work.  With songs that are two high or two low, I can redo them in a different key to make it easier.  When it doubt, whip a capo out!  LOL

Do one album with you singing, and the other with another singer (assuming you can find one you like).
That way we get two albums!!!!

It makes me curious who's doing the vocals of the new Mission Of One CD.
You or an other vocalist.

Staybrite wrote:

Do one album with you singing, and the other with another singer (assuming you can find one you like).
That way we get two albums!!!!

Staybrite...quit stealing my ideas! LOL

I'm about to do it again actually! Dominus Meus "DM2 - The Resurrection of WASP-76b" is coming soon! And it's KILLER!!!


But Chris, regarding your main question...One thing you could do is record the songs with your vocals and then pick 2 or 3 of them to have a different vocalist on and in the song title would be "Song Title (Feat: John Evans)". That way you can do your Alice Cooper voice for most songs, have a different person for 2 or 3, or 2 or 3 different people that each just tackle one song. If you paid for the vocalists it would cut down on the costs because you wouldn't need them for the whole album.

A great place to find singers at reasonable prices is a website called SoundBetter. Here is a link to their Male Heavy Rock Singer page   https://soundbetter.com/s/singer-male/heavy-rock
I've used this site several times and have had very positive experiences. One time I requested a specific singer, he responded within 30 minutes, we agreed on his fee and I sent him my completed track, by the end of the day he had sent me 6 vocal files along with a short video of himself in the studio singing the song so I could use it in a video if I wanted. Now not all are as fast or accommodating with videos, but you set the agreement up front. The point is that they are pros and you can review their ratings and hear their previous works before even speaking with anyone. 

Follow the link above and check out Rasmus Anderson. He sounds just like Chris Cornell. Or Leonel Silva is pretty good. Listen to his sample of Burn and he sounds just like David Coverdale, and he's only $100 per song. 22 reviews all 5 stars.

JLE3 wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

Do one album with you singing, and the other with another singer (assuming you can find one you like).
That way we get two albums!!!!

Staybrite...quit stealing my ideas! LOL

I'm about to do it again actually! Dominus Meus "DM2 - The Resurrection of WASP-76b" is coming soon! And it's KILLER!!!

....

I saw the tease for Dominus Meus DM2 (super cool), but I had no idea there was going to be another WASP-76b album, I was quite surprised by how much I like the first one, looking forward to another.

JLE3 wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

Do one album with you singing, and the other with another singer (assuming you can find one you like).
That way we get two albums!!!!

....
But Chris, regarding your main question...One thing you could do is record the songs with your vocals and then pick 2 or 3 of them to have a different vocalist on and in the song title would be "Song Title (Feat: John Evans)". That way you can do your Alice Cooper voice for most songs, have a different person for 2 or 3, or 2 or 3 different people that each just tackle one song. If you paid for the vocalists it would cut down on the costs because you wouldn't need them for the whole album.
....

Alldat actually did this with his Mission of One album "Show Me The Way"  likely his most "metal" sounding album yet.  He did vocals for most of the songs, and had a guest vocalist (Scott Wenzel.....yes that Scott Wenzel) sing lead on a few tracks.

Staybrite wrote:

JLE3 wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

Do one album with you singing, and the other with another singer (assuming you can find one you like).
That way we get two albums!!!!

Staybrite...quit stealing my ideas! LOL

I'm about to do it again actually! Dominus Meus "DM2 - The Resurrection of WASP-76b" is coming soon! And it's KILLER!!!

....

I saw the tease for Dominus Meus DM2 (super cool), but I had no idea there was going to be another WASP-76b album, I was quite surprised by how much I like the first one, looking forward to another.

Ah you misunderstand sir. What I have been doing is releasing a record, then re-releasing it with DT on vocals. I really love that WASP-76b record. I think it has some of my strongest straight metal music on it, and while I did like Mara's vocals, DT has taken it to a whole other level. It's far far better than DM1. There will be some cool stuff on it. At least one new song. Some duets, etc.

So Dominus Meus "DM2 - The Resurrection of WASP-76b" is the WASP-76b Raining Metal album but with Dale on vocals. I'll probably put together a song sample video this weekend so you'll see what I mean.

Xid wrote:

BTW - I started using Reaper for recording.  It's reasonably priced and I like it a lot.

How hard was it to learn?  I will be going from my Korg tabletop unit to a DAW.  Does it take much to set it up?  Do you have to customize it?  I know a lot of people do, but I want something easy to use "right out of the box".  

Recording on the computer will make it easier for me to collaborate with people.  With the Korg, I have to burn a disc of the song, rip it to MP3, email it, and then take their track and manually sync it with the music which is quite stressful until you get things close enough to manually edit with the limited computer inside.  I would still do my rhythm guitars and bass, but I could work faster networking with people to get leads and drums done.  I might even bring in a guest bassist on a track or two just to help cross promote bands.

In preparation for recording, I put my Fender 5 string bass and my Douglas 7 string guitar in the shop.  The Fender just needs some TLC as it is 29 years old.  I am having the frets worked on a bit, having the truss rod adjusted, the intonation reset, and the string action lowered.  I play it a lot with the guys I am jamming with and I have noticed that I am working myself to death pushing on the strings.

The 7 string has always had a buzz.  I have tried switching the wires on the jack to different positions and nothing helps.  The jack could be bad.  The pickups could be bad as it is a cheaper off-brand guitar.  If I can get the jack replaced and it stop buzzing, I am going to have it fixed.  If the pickups are bad, I am going to buy a new guitar.  I had an Epiphone I used to record with but traded for a cello.  The cello was not quite the quality it was supposed to be and soon scrapped it.  I still have my old SX, but it needs a new nut put on it.  I am working on that myself, but it takes times.

So, as soon as I get my guitars done, I will start the process of building these songs again from the ground up and hopefully can obtain the quality I have always wanted but never achieved.  I will not release them again if I cannot make them as close to pro quality as a home studio can.  With my Big Chris blues stuff, I found I CAN put out a quality sounding album even if they aren't quite label quality.  I want no less for the Mission Of One material.  If I can't perfect the sound on these old songs, then there isn't much need in continuing the name Mission Of One or recording new stuff as I feel there will always be a stigma with that name.  I need to get it right now that I know what I am doing.

As with anything there is a learning curve and there's adjustment.  I know there's lots to the program but I get what I want with just the basics.  It's a little more difficult than Audacity but it runs a whole lot smoother.  If you can't figure out how to do something, more than likely there's a video tutorial out there that will show you how.

You can download Reaper and use it for free to try it out.

How's it going with the music?