Walkin after Midnight - a capella

[AndyR]

Yeah, right, but Andy REALLY knows what he is talking about.

I'm not sure that's entirely true, Flash...

Andy thinks he REALLY knows what he's talking about


Haylie - get yourself into a position in your head where you "love the mic", make it a friend and colleague, a co-conspirator in your effort to get the singing performed for the recording. That way, recording the vocals becomes less of a "trial/chore" (like, er, doing the washing-up is a chore that you have to do so that you can have a clean kitchen when it's done).

If you get comfortable with the recording experience, even manage to turn it into an enjoyable experience (doesn't always work for me!), then you seem to be able to "work" the mic at will. You end up with an instinctive feel for "I want a warm vocal, so I do xyz when I sing it...". The room you're doing it in (unless it's a treated dead room) has a big effect on things as well. That's partly why I'm feeling less confident about it myself at the moment - we've moved, and the room I was doing vocals in is no longer available to me... so I'm having to relearn all the little signals and nuances I was relying on.

The main thing is to get comfortable and (initially) recognise that it's not like singing to a live audience (with or without a mic, in a living room, hall, or whatever). When you get comfortable and start getting what you feel are better results, you suddenly find that everything you know about singing live is relevant after all. It's just that there's a completely different spotlight/microscope on you. Then you start "working" the machine like you "work" a room - instead of scratching your head and wondering how others manage to record "better" vocals.

One of the "secrets" to getting great vocal recordings slickly is "get a decent recording down in the first place". This applies to all instruments, but it seems to especially apply to vocals for me. If you want a natural "here's what I do" lead vocal, you need to capture it as close as possible with the performance. If you have to fiddle around with compressors and EQ too much when using it in the mix, then you start losing some of the natural-ness. (I read this somewhere, but I found that it's actually true! ). Sounds like you already know this instinctively, though.

Anyway, the impression I'm getting is that you are already heading in the right direction for you - the way that you regard it (the recording stuff is ok, but it's just a method of getting the performance out there) will naturally lead you to finding your own take on these concepts/ideas.

The reason I type out stuff like this is because I personally find it's helpful knowing that everyone else went through the same "how on earth??..." problems, and it's also very helpful knowing how they got over them - even if their method doesn't quite work for me...  So whenever I think I actually have some info like this, it feels like I ought to get it out there.

By the way, if you haven't already, listen to some of oldrottenhead's vocals - it certainly helped me. It was listening to his vocals that helped me figure out the "get comfortable and work the thing like it's a friend" approach. He records vocals on the old MBR, held in his hand - originally, I just couldn't believe what he was achieving in this way. Then I realised he'd found a place in his head where he can just sing it and trust the silver box to do its part of the magic (he is trying to avoid clipping and breath, pop, movement noises - but I don't think he worries about it like I do, so it's not stopping his best performance happening).

[Hilary]

Thanks for taking the time Andy - it's already much better than it was. Geir helped me with my first attempts with advice on settings and so did Speed Demon (I had 2 leaky cables which Gene managed to identify from sound samples I sent him). I've also picked up a lot of advice from various threads on the SC site.

I'm blown away by all the talent on this site and very touched that you all take time out to listen and help with my endeavours (and with the other newbies).

Planning to record one of my originals today for the 'introduce yourself' section, with video whoop!

[AndyR]

Now, video, that's one thing I know nothing about

Looking forward to it...

(I typed a discussion here about why videos don't grab me personally, I'd be interested whether anyone else feels the same as I have about music videos ever since they started. But I realised it derailed your song thread!! So I've cut it and might use it in General Discussion later.)

[Speed Demon]

Do not worry about breath noise in vocal tracks. Just sing your heart out.
That's what editing is for.

After all, you can't sing if you don't breathe. You soon won't be doing much else, either.

[Hilary]

Andy - you can tell me videos don't grab you after you've seen mine!

Speed Demon - advice I will definately follow thanks (isn't it 3am ish where you are?)

[Hilary]

Seriously Andy the video thread would be great to post - the standout videos that I've seen are (in no particular order)

Jemima's Kite Filthy Animal - Jim's 'six-pack' and crotch grabbing - fabulous!

Jemima's Kite My Sweet Misery - a brilliant conception, perfectly produced

Tim Green - The Octopus and I - an idea that's captured the interest of 1000s of people

all first class songs, performed and recorded to perfection with interesting videos that only further enhance the songs (in my opinion)

[AndyR]

I'll see what lunchtime is like - it needs some careful thought and editing, otherwise I could end up saying something I don't actually mean!

Otherwise I'll try to do it tonight before the missus comes home (and, er, after I've done that washing up chore I was talking about... otherwise I don't think we can have any dinner! )

[Speed Demon]

Haylie, it is now 5:43 AM here. Darned cat woke me up about 3:30 AM and demanded food.
I've been editing music ever since I fed His Royal Highness, The Exalted Grand Poobah of the cat world.

[Hilary]

Oh dear Speedy - maybe a cat nap (ha ha)

I'm trying to get a guitar track down, it's not going well! Apparently 3 mins of guitar without me making a mistake is roughly 2 mins 55 secs too long. All good practice nevertheless!

[AndyR]

I'm trying to get a guitar track down, it's not going well! Apparently 3 mins of guitar without me making a mistake is roughly 2 mins 55 secs too long. All good practice nevertheless!

Some folks will disagree, not sure how many, but you should learn how to cheat with the recording machine

I am actually a guitarist, but I often can't play the part all the way through a song, especially when I've just written it. So what I do is organise the part into manageable chunks where I can stop and restart without anyone noticing. Then I use two tracks to record it, alternating the chunks across the tracks. Then when all the chunks are recorded without mistakes - I bounce them down to one, er, "flawless" performance...

I first started do this with bass parts when I was having trouble. It takes a bit of practice to learn how to stop and then how to come in so it sounds authentic, but it's really worth learning this skill. After bass, I started doing it to guitar parts - I'd always been in the "it has to be a continuous performance to sound real" camp, but I found I couldn't spot the difference. Then when I was teaching myself piano/organ a few years back, I'd even record the left and right hand separately and bounce them (I still will if I write something I can't play well enough on the day). I wans't interested in proving I could play piano, I wanted the piano on the song....

And now, I even do it to lead vocals if I'm having trouble. I always aim to do a lead in one take, but if I can't, I can't. Sometimes it's because I haven't learnt the song so I make mistakes with the words, or I might get carried away with expression (or don't put some expression in that I meant to). Sometimes it's because I'm not physically fit enough to do it that day - a big note at the end of verse and I'm no state to come in with a clean/positive entry on the chorus.

You might have fun with the clicks of on/off - especially on the MBR or BR-80 - just make sure the chunks are big enough so that you can click play early and stop late and still leave enough silence around the actual recording. Then you can either record silence (record level zero) to clean the tracks, or use something like Audacity to edit the noises out.

If you feel any "guilt" about doing this, listen to the results. Can you tell the difference? Then ask yourself this, if the record light hadn't been on, could you have played the part all the way through? The answer is probably yes... So all in all, there's nothing dishonest about it - you can and did play it, and you've used the tool to ensure the thing was captured.

The art of recording is about building a representation of a performance. How you build it does affect how it sounds, so care must be taken, but if the finished product is what you want, then how you built it is of no interest to the general listener.

Go on, learn how to cheat!!!