Better vocals with or without playing guitar at the same time?

[Wings7919]

Hi folks,

Apologies if this topic has already been covered elsewhere.

I'm a singer/guitarist recording a project of songs at home. Curious to get opinions on what approaches people are finding unleashes the most convincing vocal performances?

When I record the guitar and vocals separately my vocals sound very different to when I sing and play guitar at the same time. They seem to be more energetic/louder but less convincing and less natural. However, for some tracks I don't really want a loud acoustic guitar bleeding into the song through the vocal mic.

What is working for others?

Thanks.

 

[ido1957]

I record everything separately. I don't go for the "live" sound and I no longer play live. I usually set up 10 vocal tracks and comp the parts that I like. The guitars are set up the same way but I usually take the whole best track - as I get warmed up it gets tighter. Actually best two or four tracks as I stack and pan L/R for all my stuff.

 

[Bobbsy]

It's a compromise only you can make. Recording separately will almost certainly provide a technically better end product...but recording both at the same time might result in a better performance.

The only thing to consider is that you CAN learn to change your performance but if there's too much bleed on a recording there's little or nothing you can do about it.

One trick I often use is to do a first take with both parts together then go back and do two more tracks with you recreating first the singing then the guitar (or vice versa). This can sometimes help you get closer to the live performance with the quality of separate recordings.

 

[gecko zzed]

Some people are ok recording their vocals to a separately recorded track, while others find they can get more energy and credibility into their performance by recording their singing while playing.

Which you choose is entirely up to you and your thoughts on which gives the best result.

However, singers who are very capable and confident with their singing can record vocals with the same energy and excitement that they would deliver at a live concert, without needing to play at the same time.

As Bobbsy says: you can learn to change your performance.

Personally, I'm not as extravagant as ido1957 in the number of vocal tracks I record, though I too record everything separately. I usually record one track, which I use as a means of exploring how I'm going to do the song, how I'm going to phrase words and so on. Then I go for a good one. Usually this is ok. I either repair bad blues on this where they occur, or record another if the whole thing has too much suckage. After that, I don't worry too much, and simply accept my limitations. There is a point of diminishing returns, where more takes simply means more mistakes.