Why is Kevin sounding absolutely natural when played over headphones, but when listened to over external sound system, he sounds mechanical? I set up a song in Synth, downloaded (bounced) to a Wav, then played back both on headphones and sound system. Sounds good on headphones, but clearly synth on the sound system. Any ideas?
Could you clue us in on how much tuning of the voice you did?
I can spend hours on a single vocal track, repeatedly going back to further refine it for days or weeks.
If you rely on default parameters then it will give a passable result … most of the time, depending o your use-case.
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Thanks for responding. I’m super happy with the quality of voice when listening over the headphones. I wouldn’t be able to improve it much, I think. Main thing is that I can get it to sound perfectly natural. Just to give you an idea - I exported it as both wav and mp3, and between Synth V, the mp3 and wav file played back over Audacity, VLC and listened to by headphones, no difference to my ear. But when I downloaded it onto an mp3 and played it on my sound system in my lounge - I hear that mechanical, tinny overtones when you listen to most synth voices. My sound system isn’t bad, but it’s the only variable I can think of right now. Don’t understand it, though.
Without knowing the spec’s of your stereo system and headphones it is hard to make suggestions. Can you post those? Also is the stereo in a treated room?
I can kind of relate to this issue as I used to mix on headphones (good ones) alone, later listening on loudspeakers sounding so different. If the same mp3 sounds different on the two systems then I must suspect some compoent of the sound systems!
Another thought - are you using the voice outside its ‘natural’ range, pushing too far up the keyboard would give artefacts?
Bear with us on this issue, I can only guess what you are hearing and its cause, if I (we) sound a bit snippy then it is not intended.
Do you have that same issue with voices other than Kevin (if you have any)? How do other SynthV voices, like songs posted here, sound on your sound system versus your headphones?
Thanks, rAC. Stereo system is crappy, probably a rip-off, and the room is not treated for optimal sound, but I think that’s not the point imho. If I’m correct the final production of a song should withstand crappy systems out there in public. But re. my sound system: the strange thing is that when I play quality music from Youtube (eg. classical, but also other genres) over the system, the sound is beautiful - no strange sounds at all. It’s only noticeable when I compare my Synth V song between headphones and sound system when that synth effect becomes noticeable.
Thanks Mechie. I suspect that’s close to the problem, your thought on the technical aspects of the hardware. I don’t think the vocal range is the problem - Kevin sounds comfortable as a sort of mid-range tenor, the way I read his voice. I have to mention that I made the song a 3-part harmony, and because I only bought Kevin, I tweaked his voice for each of the 2 harmonies. But of course, they only run simultaneously during the chorus bits. I expected some (unknown) interaction between the voices during the chorus bits, and there was some, but it doesn’t bother me (it’s sort of masked, and I kind of like it anyway). The bothersome bit is when Kevin does the solo. I only have a backing guitar, so his voice stands out clear. Like I said, over the sound system the unwanted effect is noticeable.
Thanks Keith. It’s a great idea. I’ll download and test today, and let you know. I would’ve liked to get an example of a Kevin song, but I just saw a Natalie song that I’ll try.
Okay, I tested Natalie, got hold of a Kevin (sort of). Natalie sounds good on both systems, Kevin was unusable - sounded equally bad on both systems. (Sorry…) An obstacle I’ve encountered is that the mixing of the songs isn’t helping - the loudness of the instrumental parts vs vocals doesn’t give me a clear perspective, even when I listened to Natalie. I guess it’s not the creator’s problem; it’s just the genre. I’m into folk, so quality of voice is NB, especially because I want to achieve a live performance result.