Do not underestimate the power of a cry. Babies scream and cry piercingly and powerfully all night long without going hoarse, or crossing into falsetto. It is the intense emotions that keep the vocal cords together and the diaphragm/abdominals tight and in control of your air, to deliver the most powerful and rich cries.

Listen to Opera, or any great singer really. Strong emotion is key, and if you can't tap into that directly, you have to be able to fake that sincerity by "acting as if."

Very interesting point. I've actually come close to that, crying while singing, even when it's just little ole me playin/practicin by meself. Of course, that emotion doesn't fly so well when covering AC/DC's Big Balls, but it comes in handy for certain tunes.

Doug, that's an excellent point and I agree with you.

Also, you know, one of the things about home recording too is that it depends on what you're doing. I tend to be pretty good at getting acoustic guitar-based stuff. I struggle more with harder music, for example - I've tried putting together stuff that's heavier than the music I typically write (because I've written stuff that's heavier), and I have a *lot* more trouble mixing it. The EQ curves are different, and it's just not what I seem to naturally gravitate towards. Making good-sounding recordings in idioms outside my usual experience is extremely difficult for me.

On the OG topic, the talents I am worst at regarding home recordings are:

1: Compression
2: EQ
3: FX

Actually...I guess it's more of a balancing issue that I have with FX. I have trouble blending them in so that they are not noticeable.

One more thing about singing convincingly--I'm playing this weekend with a great drummer who has toured and recorded with Van Morrison and others. A total pro. It's a blues gig, and we rehearsed yesterday.

*I* can play a shuffle, a slow blues, a skiffle beat and so on on drums. I'm pretty good at it, I think.

But this guy OWNS those beats. I've rarely felt so relaxed with another drummer, even ones that I love. He is so deep into the grooves, I am just flying over what is happening. That[s the difference between a good player and a pro, I guess.

My analysis was that these mixes were... EQ'd so that each instrument popped.

And every instrument recorded in that room has that natural ambience. Now, if you think Popmann's recordings sound awesome -- which they do -- then we need to pick his brain because he records in a square garage-y basement with concrete! I do know he uses several different reverbs on each song.

-- Yoh, Popmann! Time to spill the beans!

vocal&lead gtr: varying amounts of the same (usually) plate...along with an accompanying mono tape delay.

I never use it as a thickener/doubler, as I kinda havea personal hatered for the sound of real doubled vocals-let alone electronically doubled-yuck (but that's a me thing)

As for thickening, in almost every article I've read about Nashville engineers, they say they use it.

As to the EQ'd so each instrument "pops"...uhh...I generally roll off low end and/or low mids...that's the EQ'ing I do come mix time...

Do doubled vocals bother you when they're background vocals? Because almost everybody sings background vocals twice. Some even three times...

...I love the early to mid Beatles, where almost every lead vocal was doubled (sang twice). When they switched to electronic doubling, I thought there was a big loss in excitement...

Do you think you need to thicken your voice?

What was my one comment when I took a listen about the vocal production?

You're adding too much high end. And it's weird high end.

boosting the high end of a 4050 is just going to sound odd and electronic.

remove any unwanted freq with EQ

Weren't they using just 4-tracks? How were they able to do all that doubling? Where did you hear that is how they recorded?

The EQ on the DPS only lets me trim one mid-range frequency.