Studio Vocals - 5 tips PART 1

A project I recently completed involved a complex and intricate vocal production, and I’ve just been contacted about consulting on solving a series of problems on a different project that has already been tracked, mixed and mastered. The main problem, according to the artist, was that the vocal sounded “fuzzy”. She mentioned that she felt the vocal “had a blanket over it”, while the accompanying band tracks sounded just fine. What, she wondered, would cause this, and how could it be addressed?

The vocal is the most important aspect of a record, bar none. If the listener can’t hear the vocal, understand the vocal, identify the chorus when it happens, etc, the song is a commercial misfire. So what contributes to excellent vocals in the studio? Well, a number of things. But they’re all relatively small, so they’re often overlooked

1 – Vocal technique. This artist told me that during tracking, she had been told by the engineer to be careful about “overloading the mic”, breathing too heavily near the mic, and singing too dynamically (loud and soft). Without identifying it, she was describing how her performance was affected by both equipment and instruction!

An artist’s performance in the studio needs to be as effortless as possible, with as little intellect involvement as can be. It’s not that artists shouldn’t be challenged by their producers; but being asked to think about their volume, breathing and dynamics puts their head in charge of a performance that should be heart-driven.

As an artist, you need to record with a producer or engineer who has equipment that makes you feel comfortable. Technical considerations during the recording process are NOT your responsibility, and any competent engineer should be able to adequately manage the full range of dynamics that the human voice can generate. Bottom line – this vocal performance was doomed from the start, because the engineer wasn’t up to the task of capturing what she was giving.

2 – Mic choice. The artist mentioned that the engineer used several different mics for the vocals on the album. She could hear the different mics on different songs, and was disappointed that her voice sounded different from tune to tune.

Now, I’ll go out on a limb right now and say that I don’t think there is a universal mic for a studio. Having said that, I’ve found several in the sub-$1000 category that I like. Just as professional chefs seek out different varieties of butter or flour for their effects on dishes, the ultimate vocal engineer has the perfect mic for each voice.

How realistic is this, considering that a pound of ultra-esoteric, imported butter might cost $15, where the ultra-esoteric, imported mic might cost $3000? Well, not very realistic. I do think that it’s worth trying a few mics if you’ve got them, because it’s always worth comparing the tone and trying to make your job easier – the right mic can reduce the amount of corrective EQ during mix, and can help control peakiness in a vocalist. But don’t change horses mid-stream. Pick one mic and stay with it during the project, otherwise you complicate things during the mix, and the vocal runs the risk of injury in the process.

3 – Production awareness. I use this term because I don’t have a better one, but it relates to the production techniques that create a contemporary vocal. Often, I’ll have the artist “double” themselves, especially on a chorus. When they double or triple themselves, it creates a thickness that can be used in several different ways – it can “spread” the lead, to make it wider; it can create more punch for a chorus; or it can simply be treated differently than the main track and processed for effect.

I see double- and triple-stacking a lead vocal as a different process from creating the lead in the first place. During the double, the artist needs to think like a background singer, always going for the match and not the creation of a new lead vocal. Artists often don’t make that mental switch from “star” to “background singer”, and fail to really listen to their previous performance.

When doubling, the artist needs to pay close attention to attack, release, vowel shape and placement. Most vocalists don’t hear differences in vowel shape, but when doubling, it’s crucial that the “I” in “I said” have the same roundness, height or spread. Otherwise, the listener’s ear gets pulled to the double instead of the main track. T, d, c and s consonants are nightmarish to double-track, because they can be a few milliseconds apart and destroy the illusion of matching.

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Sandy Tipping is Co-Owner of Advantage Music Production and has frittered away the rest of his life as a studio musician, arranger and producer in Nashville.