Achieving Your Best Recording Studio Vocal

Achieving Your Best Recording Studio Vocal (click here)

Many years ago I was ushered into the recording studio by several voice students who were running into trouble while recording their album vocals. From both relative beginners as well as seasoned pros, I was hearing these complaints: they were losing their voice during or by the end of the recording session; they did not have enough session time in the studio to get their vocals right; vocal sessions were often scheduled in such a way as to make singing difficult; they were straining to sing due to incorrect headset mixes; vocals were taking a ridiculous number of takes with the final result still one that compromised the professionalism of the product; the mic or mic angle was incorrect for the singer. Still to this day, clients come to me with the same complaints.

I find many singers do not know what preparation steps to take prior to going into the studio. These, as well as other reasons can make it difficult or impossible to achieve a high quality vocal and in-budget project.

Producers, engineers and band-mates can find themselves justifying and settling for lower standards on the vocals because they don’t know how to help the singer get anything better. As those of you who are singers know, the voice is a very different instrument from all the others, and each singer has their own particular needs.

There are 5 Major Factors to Achieve Your Best Studio Vocal

1)      General vocal technique to expand range, develop vocal stamina and consistency, and improve tone, pitch, control and power. The purpose and result of technique should be: able to spontaneously and easily use your voice expressively in the styles of your preference and not hurt yourself.

2)      Song interpretation that confirms your own unique style,

3)      Song delivery and performance skills,

4)      The art of vocal recording and working in a studio,

5)      Knowing how to evaluate your tracks and determine when you have achieved your final vocal.

Ultimately, it is the culmination of all these talents and skills into a superb recording that achieves an identifiable vocal and broad recognition.

General Technique

The voice is the signature of a band. The songs will change, the musical style may even vary, but: They know the band by the singer’s sound. That’s not to say there aren’t other instruments that can have their own signature sounds in a band. That will make the group even stronger. But the majority of listeners will not buy an album or go to a concert of a band that has a great guitar sound and yet terrible vocals.

When working on the vocal for a recording, concentrate first on the technical details, then on the overall performance. Establish the right key, learn the melody and lyrics, smooth out any pitch and range difficulties, lock onto the rhythm, learn all important melodic and rhythmic questions.

EXERCISE: Try singing the entire song without lyrics just using a naturally pronounced “Ah.” Strive to keep your “Ah” pronunciation consistent and relaxed regardless of pitch changes. After repeating, sing the song with the lyrics. This approach can help relax your throat muscles, enhance resonance, reduce strain and improve accuracy of pitch and melodic phrasing.

Your studio preparation should include practicing the song standing stationary in front of a mic on a stand, and preferably hearing yourself through headphones. When in the studio, you will have to stand relatively still while you perform your song so might as well get used to it beforehand. Try recording yourself. Listen back. Note anything that you like as well as for any technical details that need practice and correction. These aspects should be fully developed before you go into the studio.

Once the technical details are covered, establish a clear concept of the message and emotion(s) of the song. Your phrasing decisions will come from your understanding of emotion and message.

Song Interpretation

To establish your own unique style, the lyrics must become your own communication. You must mean what you say phrase by phrase within the larger message you wish to communicate through your song.

EXERCISE: As a practice method, use your own image in the mirror or select an object in the room. Speak the song lyrics to your mirrored image or the object. Work through any self-consciousness until you can do this naturally as though having an actual conversation. Develop your ability to speak as though the words and ideas are occurring to you right now. Make this a totally spontaneous conversational approach. If you really mean what you say as you sing, if you develop your own interpretation and really want to get this across to the people in your audience, you will be establishing the one thing that makes you unique: Being yourself.

Song Delivery and Performance Skills

Your voice and emotion must reach out through the recording to the listener and create an emotional effect. If the audience doesn’t feel it, what’s the point? When you sing in the studio, you must bring to your song the same energy and believability that your audience would expect of you in a live performance. To help your song have presence and energy even though it’s recorded, you must create the illusion of singing to someone. Don’t create mental image pictures of someone and sing to the person in your mind. To do so diminishes your energy and the vitality of the song by removing you from the present. Sing the song as though the person is in front of you now. It is up to the singer to integrate all the components of singing, performing and recording to reach through the tape and really connect with the listening audience.

The Art of Recording

The main elements that go into the art of recording have first to do with microphone selection. Each mic has its own personality. Some will be right for your voice and musical style, some will not. Choose a recording studio that gives you a choice and then audition each for one that works well for your voice.

Next is your microphone technique. While certain live performance mic techniques also apply to recording, there is a primary difference: in the studio, mic to mouth distance remains constant and you can’t touch the mic or mic stand. This added mechanical necessity should be practiced before going into the studio until you can do it and still sing emotionally. If not, trying to hold still while singing can be distracting and annoying and your performance will suffer.

Pops and hisses on tape created by overemphasis of certain consonants can ruin professional recording attempts. To practice, think of the consonant as using the same amount of air as its neighboring vowels. Align your energy with each vowel, letting the consonants take a back seat.

Headset Mix: Headset mix and mic choice can make an incredible difference in how you perform and sound. Take the time to work with your engineer and get it adjusted right at the beginning of the vocal session. Work on it until you have absolutely no attention on the mix and can perform undistracted.

Punching-In: When a portion of your vocal needs to be re-done, the engineer will have you sing that section again and re-record it. When re-recording a section on the same track as your previously sung vocal “take,” it is called punching or punching-in. Make sure the engineer rolls back to a phrase or two just before the place needing to be re-recorded. If there’s a vocal there, sing along with it. This ensures the re-recorded part sounds natural, in context and believable.

The Fifth Element

The fifth element of importance subdivides into four sections: Rhythm and phrasing, Pitch Accuracy, Vocal Tone, and Overall Performance.         

Knowing how and when to pay attention to these details in the course of a session will help you stay in control of your vocal recording process and help you achieve your desired goal for the recording – a captivating vocal that grabs the interest of your listener. If you’ve done all your homework prior to going into the studio, once you have the mic selected and your headset mix worked out, don’t put your attention on the technical details. Sing the song. The technical details can be fixed as needed once you’ve really captured your performance on track.

Overall Performance: Does the song sound alive? As you listen back objectively, do you believe the singer? Does it emotionally move you or leave you feeling untouched? There is a delicate balance between achieving a great performance versus having some technical details to correct. As long as the technical details don’t distract the listener’s attention from the performance, you’ve succeeded. If the performance is great but there are some “ear-wincing” mistakes, work them through off tape and then, rather than punching in, try recording a second or third track of those sections. Hopefully you’ll be able to use them in a compilation track thus fixing those areas that need correction on your main vocal track.

Evaluating Your Tracks

How many hours have you been in the studio working on the final take of this song? You may be wasting your time, money and voice. Usually, if the vocal is not getting noticeably better after the fourth take, either the headset mix or mic choice is ridiculously bad and throwing you off, or you need some technical vocal assistance. Nonetheless, knowing how to evaluate your tracks and how to fix them can make a pivotal difference and is an art unto itself. This is also a key to efficiency and helps you know what to re-do, what to keep and when you need to call it a day and do more vocal pre-production before further recording. 

Paying Attention

Do you want this tape to help you get a deal? Do you want it to turn some heads? Maintain an objective and professional attitude and hold the line regarding the whole project. Don’t push it if it’s not happening. Take the time to plan out the whole project and do sufficient pre-production to arrive prepared.

© 2008 All Rights Reserved. Printed with permission.

Jeannie Deva has been flown to recording studios internationally to handle album session vocal coaching and vocal production. For this she has been endorsed by producers and engineers of the Rolling Stones, The Cars, Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac and many others. She is the Originator of The Deva Method® A Non-Classical Approach for Singers™, Founder of Jeannie Deva® Voice Studios, and author of internationally published book and CD home-study course: “The Contemporary Vocalist” and of “The Deva Method Vocal Warm-Ups and Cool-Downs” CD. Jeannie’s private voice studio is located in Los Angeles, California. Clients include Grammy award winners, American Idol finalists, and label recording artists.

www.JeannieDeva.com