© 2007 HS Recording

By HS Media

Once the voice is fully fit, or perhaps a little earlier, then rehearsing the song can start. Vocal exercises carried out on route to the studio can be useful and cut down on the time needed to practise at the studio.  As time is money this is good practise financially and can eliminate some of the frustrations in trying to get a good take early on in the session.

Probably the most important factor is the phrasing of each line, how it starts and ends, how much weight is given to each word and to each note. Working on phrasing will need skills that can only be developed with experience - but eventually you will be able to make a raw performance double its effectiveness. Of course other details like intonation should be considered, and whether the words are intelligible. If a particular note is a problem, it is better to recognise this so we correct the problem before recording commences. If some of the words are intelligible we need a little extra clarity in the vocal delivery.

Many producers these days record a number of takes of the vocal, maybe as many as six or eight, and then sort through them later to get the best version of each line. This is called ‘Comping’ where we compile the best of all of these versions, perhaps to the extent of swapping between takes on every line, or even the odd word where necessary. After this, there may still be the odd line that doesn't sound quite right, so we may need to correct it. You may worry that since the time required to compile several takes into one can be quite lengthy, the vocalist may come back with a different tone of voice. Indeed, this may be a problem, but it is better than leaving a line in an unusable state. If you listen very carefully to records made by people chosen by the record company for their looks or personality, you will almost certainly be able to hear these inconsistencies. If it were possible to record a perfect vocal in one take, everyone would do it that way. There is a balance however between the acceptance of a take and costs and the attempt to improve the take may outweigh the budget. In the end the effort may not make a huge difference to the finished result.  The law of diminishing returns comes to mind here.

If things don’t go to plan to get a satisfactory recording, then we can use a little studio trickery. This can range from double tracking, pitch shifting out of tune notes or processing the vocal takes using an Autotune program. If you think this is extreme, then be assured that it is in fact normal to do anything that is necessary to achieve a perfect vocal, because that is what is going to sell the song or make the song sound professional.

Back to Vocal Recording P1 .