How to help the vocalist...

[Mike Sandberg_dup1]

...hit the notes? (Without pitch correcting...) Hi all, I'm recording demos with a female vocalist (unexperienced) who's got a really nice voice, not particularly strong or with a wide range, but beautifully, kinda intimate sounding. Problem is she often goes flat/sharp at the mid or end of a phrase. Sounds like a strength issue, but some songs come out really great, others... erm, well... We kinda figured out what keys fit her voice and she's been to a vocal instructor to get some more power and focus, but I still feel I might be able improve the monitoring levels to further help her deliver the goods. It's a basic drum-bass-e.guitar setting. My primary thought was to go after the guitars to give her some more room, but then again, I seriously don't have a clue... Any advise, help or experience would be greatly appreciated. I did a search, because I've seen topics about this before, but nothing close came up. Mike Sandberg

[Jotown]

Well the vocal lessons are a good start. I would spend as much time possible away from the studio, or at least not recording, to truly prepare her for the sessions. I think most vocalist's come into a session very under prepared. Practice, rehearse, then practice and rehearse some more. I wish there was a shortcut, but there is none. As Thomas Edison said: "Success is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration. That applies to singing as well as life.

[Mike Sandberg_dup1]

[quote]Originally posted by Jotown: [b]I think most vocalist's come into a session very under prepared. Practice, rehearse, then practice and rehearse some more. I wish there was a shortcut, but there is none. As Thomas Edison said: "Success is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration. That applies to singing as well as life.[/b][/quote]Thanks for replying. That isSO true. But I'm also wondering what I can do on my part, i.e. the headphone mixes, to make it easier for the vocalist. Or how to be the least in the way. For example, I don't like to have my vocals too loud in the headphones as it makes it easier for me (I'm trying that on our next session). It'd be great to have some other input, I'm totally open to suggestions here.

[Tedster]

Try having her sing with one ear out of the cans...the other in. Good warmups are a necessity. For me, I find the beginning of phrases tougher than the end, kinda like I'm "finding my voice" and then I'm okay once I've found it. Other than that, let her listen to playbacks and point out (tactfully, of course) the pitch issues...

[Kendrix]

[quote]Originally posted by Tedster the Fender Addict: [b]Try having her sing with one ear out of the cans...the other in. Good warmups are a necessity. For me, I find the beginning of phrases tougher than the end, kinda like I'm "finding my voice" and then I'm okay once I've found it. Other than that, let her listen to playbacks and point out (tactfully, of course) the pitch issues...[/b][/quote]I agree with trying one can only - or even no cans and accepting some leakage from open air monitoring during vcoal tracking. Some folks ( myself included) suffer from some sort of pitch perception issue in the cans. Also make sure she can hear herself well - pump up the vox in her cans and add some ambience. If monitoring open-air place the mic between the speakers- facing away, minimize the volume so its just loud enuf for her to get her cues and to be fully aware of her voice. I also cut some lows and percussive parts so they dont bleed thru too much. Some folks think putting the speakers into mono mode and out of phase helps to minimize the leakage - but I have not had luck with this.

[Anifa]

[quote] I'm recording demos with a female vocalist (unexperienced) who's got a really nice voice, not particularly strong or with a wide range, but beautifully, kinda intimate sounding. Problem is she often goes flat/sharp at the mid or end of a phrase. Sounds like a strength issue, but some songs come out really great, others... erm, well... [/quote]Mike, I have several comments on this. As far as your girls' voice going flat in places, this is probably a factor of breath control more so than pitch control. As she starts out the phrase, she may not be preparing herself with adequate breath to complete the final words. BREAK POINTS are a very critical element when singing and breathing. She needs to learn where she can sneak in inconpicuous breaths to continue her phasing. Also, she needs to pull in DEEP breaths at the beginning of each new phrase rather than depending on average breathing techniques to carry her through the song. Have your singer refrain from eating anything for at least one to two hours prior to a session. There are also foods that will affect a singing voice if they have been eaten throughout the course of an entire day. POTATOES and/or salty foods are some of the worst enemies of a singer, IMO. Foods that are harder to digest tend to hang around longer, so when I know that I'm going to be performing I eat lighter foods such as Yogart and Jello. Have her sing STANDING UP!!! Sitting down and trying to sing puts a CRAMP into your style. DON'T SMOKE in a room to where she will be performing, as smoke dries out the air. (and hopefully she doesn't smoke if she knows what's good for her singing career.) Put a humidifier in your room if possible to keep adequate moisture in the room. Turn it off at the time of recording. Dry air can affect singing capabilities and also have an affect on the acoustics of the room. Another factor, that I take into consideration as a songwriter, is selecting songs that are suitable for the vocalists range. This may be why she performs well on some and not others. I write my songs accommodating to different levels of performance. Some are choppy so that they allow the singer to pull in lots of breaths and not be so obvious, and others require FULL lung capacity for carrying out the notes. I have a 2 octave+ vocal range and longivity in holding notes while staying on pitch. Where some of my songs written could be performed by another artist and sound great, there are others that they would flop on unless they have the vocal strength. As far as breathing techniques to help your singer build her strength, the breathing techniques learned by track runners is the same that helps a singer. Pull in deep breaths and hold them for as long as you can, then gradually let the breath out AS SLOW AS POSSIBLE, yet fluent. I like swimming to keep my lungs healthy and, when I swim, I bury my face in the water and take as few breaths as possible. Hope you find something in all of this that you can use.

[Rog]

A few more suggestions: Get her to sing to a guide vocal or preferably guide instrumental track, that should hopefully alert her to the places where she wanders out of tune. Try mixing in some distortion for her headphone mix; there's nothing like an ear full of harmonics to let you know where the right notes are ... and the wrong ones ;) Simply get her to sing problem lines and phrases over and over both with and without backing until she can sing them properly. Sometimes it's a confience thing.

[Jedi]

Great advice here. I'm one of those that Kendrix spoke of that has pitch perception problems with cans on. I think I sound so much better through monitors. Always been curious on why that is. Anyway, I still track with cans and it comes out pretty good. Reason being, I learned how to make it work. The best advice I could give is tell her to invest in a 4-track cassestte recorder and go to work. Tell her to keep recording her voice, and listening to her tapes. A person can't sing and listen in detail to their voice at the same time. This is why recording voice demos on a 4-track and listening totally to the flaws is an invaluable tool. It improved my vocals dramatically. Hope this helps, Lincoln Ross Dead Black Jedis

[Rim]

A couple of more hints: Set up microphone a little higher than her mouth so she's singing a little upwards to help open up the throat. Have her smile when she sings. I read it as a suggestion and it does seem to help my singing. The muscle movement in smiling helps somehow.

[Kendrix]

[quote]Originally posted by Rim: [b]A couple of more hints: Set up microphone a little higher than her mouth so she's singing a little upwards to help open up the throat. Have her smile when she sings. I read it as a suggestion and it does seem to help my singing. The muscle movement in smiling helps somehow.[/b][/quote]I second Rims point re: the benefit of smiling before/during the take. I have noticed the difference this makes. The phsyical act of even a forced smile seems to put my brain chemistry and my vocal apparatus into some sort of zone.

[joegerardi]

[quote]Originally posted by Rim: [b]A couple of more hints: Set up microphone a little higher than her mouth so she's singing a little upwards to help open up the throat. Have her smile when she sings. I read it as a suggestion and it does seem to help my singing. The muscle movement in smiling helps somehow.[/b][/quote]Actually, tilting the head up restricts the airflow, rather than open it up. Classical singers are taught to pull the chin in towards the chest to open the airway as much as it can.

[Mike Sandberg_dup1]

Thanks to everyone for your time and input! This is really, really useful! Tomorrow we're doing another session, and we're going to sit down and discuss all this, what to do, and try out some stuff. She's aware of the problem, no touchy subject or anything. I'm sure everything needs to be done better: practicing, preparing, producing, monitoring, etc. But what struck me as the most obvious problem was the breathing technique. I remember when comparing tracks that breaths would come at different points on different takes of the same parts. And of course the takes came out sounding quite unlike each other. Lots of stuff to do here. Thanks again!

[Anifa]

Mike, I'm sure that you are probably aware of this already having mentioned her varied breathing patterns, but she needs to learn those break points and be CONSISTANT each time she sings the song. It may not hurt for you to rehearse the vocals with her to give her an idea as to where the best places would be to steal an extra breath.

[Mike Sandberg_dup1]

Anifa, I'm more and more convinced that this is one of the main things that need work. It's been on my mind for a while now, but reading it here made it very clear. Thanks for pointing it out! I'm also pretty sure I need to improve my headphone mixes, too. If she puts in an effort, it'd be sad if I didn't do my part properly, or in any way that suits her best. I've heard her sing some cover tunes and the voice is definitely there. Mike