Take 678

Is there another way to record vocals?

hahaha... OMG i FINALLY just got like my first verse down, and it sounds halfway decent. btw steve i just listened to a clip of your new album and i think it sounds really great! :-)

Hey, thanks. Believe me I spent many many nights in anguish from recording the vocals on that record. Only at the very end of the process did I start to feel somewhat comfortable. I think singing into a mic with headphones on in an isolation booth can be very different from other kinds of singing. You almost have to learn all over again.

But it'll be ok. When you're finished with it you'll be glad you didn't accept anything less than perfect. And it'll hurt a little less next time.

it's true, it does require a relearning of sorts... weird.

No, almost never. I'm a big believer in takes 1, 2 and 3.

I've got a lot less anxious about vocals since I discovered double tracking.

My process is:
1) Record a vocal track in a couple of takes
2) Listen to it and decide it sounds fine
3) Mix it down, put it on a CD, promote the CD, play a CD release show, try to get people to review the CD, talk it up, give out copies to friends and family, anguish about nobody buying the CD
4) Listen to the CD a year after it came out
5) Realize my vocals are stupid and off-key
6) Feel better about nobody buying the CD

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

see, number 5 is why i agonize! that's hilarious.

xpost double tracking is great! takes 1 2 and 3 are always so tempting. i always think "it's just 40 seconds of singing, get it down!"

doesn't happen.

see, number 5 is why i agonize!

Ditto! That's exactly how I think of it when I'm recording - that I don't want to do anything that will make me squirm when I listen to it a year later.

Do you practise singing - and especially recording singing - as often as you practise your instrument?

I have the ability to do note-perfect takes (and volume perfect takes) first and second time around because I've been practising recording vocals and harmonies with a microphone and a 4-track for years and years.

Singing into a microphone/for recording is a slightly different art to just singing live. (Though getting it right will actualy help you sing live.) You learn by practise what sounds good - bear in mind that what you are hearing in your head is *not* how it will sound on tape - and strive to get that sound, rather than what sounds good through your own ears.

Line levels - singing to an LED meter really helps you gain volume control. And singing along to a tape of your own voice helps you learn to double, consistency in your phrasing.

Practise all of this stuff with a 4-track *before* you go into the studio, and then you will be happier with the result. The only time you should be doing multiple takes in the studio is to get nuances of emotion - technique should be worked out ahead of time as sure as you would work out your guitar solo or bassline before going into the studio!