Semantics (Sano mix)

[sano]

Not quite happy with the vocals, I found them hard to sit right.

Which explains why the vocals are the only thing I don't like about this whole mix. That being said, I'm not surprised you're having trouble with them; I did, too. They're muddy with very little high frequency definition; it's always hard to get muddy vocals to sit well. In my mix (posted here if you want to have a listen) I applied the following EQ to the lead vocals so they'd stand out more: -5 dB @ 80 Hz, +6.5 dB @ 5 kHz, +3.5 dB @ 12 kHz. On the backing vocals I was more gentle because I wanted them softer to play nice with the lead vocals, anyway. On them, my EQ settings were: -3 dB @ 80 Hz, +1.5 dB at 6200 Hz, and +3 at 12 kHz. On all vocal tracks, lead and backing, I applied a hipass filter at 76 Hz, which is standard for me on any vocal. Give that a try and see how it works for you.

Thanks for your comments and the Eq tips. I actually was about to post an updated version when I read your post. I had a bit of a battle with the vocals and I not quite sure who's won yet.

I hope they sound better, but I'm a little fatigued now and lost a bit of perspective on them.

The guitar tracks 19-22 I HPF to around 150Hz Panned them hard left and right sent them to a stereo aux with a little buss compression to tighten it up, dipped a little at 240Hz and boosted around 400Hz +2db to add weight and power. Then track 24 I HPF and added a little boost at around 4k and mixed on top to add the definition.