Hey Folks -
Was in the studio recording vocals yesterday for a client who wanted to re-cut some vocals that were recorded in a rush before he left for a few months of touring this fall - but I had a whole lot of trouble with it. I just couldn't find confidence in what we were accomplishing.
Here's the method:
I generally set up a few mics to audition and choose the signal chain/mic that gets me closest to where I want to be, then change anything in that chain to get exactly where I want to be.
Track maybe 2-5 takes of the song - depending on the singer, whether they need more to warm up, or if they simply haven't gotten a decent take yet. I tend to find there is are diminishing returns on tracking heaps and heaps of takes. Sometimes I work with artists who want to nail a take with no edits - other times working with singers that prefer to edit the shit out of a vocal take. Different strokes for different blokes. Yesterday's client was somewhere in the middle - get a few decent takes, pick the best and make a few edits to clean up.
My problem yesterday was that I just didn't feel confident in anything. The sounds were okay, but nothing that blew me away - I tried a few different chains and settled on the best. The takes were good, but nothing blew me away. We edited a few small parts where the pitch was better in one take than another, but again - nothing really jumped out at me as being amazing.
I love the songs, I love the singer's voice, I'm confident in the studio where I work, the recording equipment, mic locker, everything is more than adequate.
Did I just have a shitty day in the studio? Does that happen to anyone else?
If so - what do you do when this happens? You can't exactly cancel the session right?
Recording Vocals with Confidence
- GussyLoveridge
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- A.David.MacKinnon
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- losthighway
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Usually even with a good signal chain and singer the "tone" of the track never really gets a wow factor for me until some compression gets involved and there's a little premixing. This is disappointing compared to plugging in the right mic in the right pre, putting it in front of a guitar amp and going "ohh mannnn!". This rarely happens to me with vocals. It's more of a slow reveal, mix stage kind of excitement.
I'm more looking for the mic that suits the persons voice, gain staging, and avoiding weirdness, pops, sibilance, harshness, weird peaks.
I'm more looking for the mic that suits the persons voice, gain staging, and avoiding weirdness, pops, sibilance, harshness, weird peaks.
- jgimbel
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Totally agree with A.David.MacKinnon and losthighway on both points they make. I have some sessions where I really feel like things are sounding incredible, things fit right into place. I have other sessions where I feel more like I'm on autopilot a bit, and it's not quite impacting me as much. I find in those cases I'm relying a bit more on recording knowledge than purely the creative side of things - I know what I'm going for and I can move a mic to get more toward what I'm looking to get, but it doesn't necessarily make me freak out when I get there.
And there have only been a few times that I've been blown away by vocals right at the recording like I often am with guitar and drum sounds. For me, like for losthighway, it's often a matter of honing in compression. I tend to track vocals with a little bit of compression, but not nearly as much as I'm most likely using in the final mix, but I don't want to commit to that sound until I've got the rest of the mix in a place where I feel confidently informed about where the vocal should be.
In either of these cases, 99% of the time when I come back to the recording the day later, or even later that day when everything has quieted down a bit, things are much better/more exciting than I might have felt at the time. Those are the moments for me that make me feel like I'm making progress as an engineer, when I can feel disconnected from a session and still produce work that meets self-imposed high standards later.
And there have only been a few times that I've been blown away by vocals right at the recording like I often am with guitar and drum sounds. For me, like for losthighway, it's often a matter of honing in compression. I tend to track vocals with a little bit of compression, but not nearly as much as I'm most likely using in the final mix, but I don't want to commit to that sound until I've got the rest of the mix in a place where I feel confidently informed about where the vocal should be.
In either of these cases, 99% of the time when I come back to the recording the day later, or even later that day when everything has quieted down a bit, things are much better/more exciting than I might have felt at the time. Those are the moments for me that make me feel like I'm making progress as an engineer, when I can feel disconnected from a session and still produce work that meets self-imposed high standards later.
My first new personal album in four years - pay what you want - http://jessegimbel.bandcamp.com
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