Going for my first track with vocals, suggestions needed

[steffeeH]

So finally I'm making my first track where I will use vocals, and since I have no experience at all on this I would appreciate some inputs!
I produce electro/house/something, and I know enough about recording vocals and editing them, but I have no clue about writing the melody of the singing.
Right now the only thing I can come up with is to temporary lay down a synth that will play the melody of the vocals (both lead and harmonics), and write the lyrics so the singer get the idea. However, I have no idea if this is a good way to do it. What is the common way of doing it? And now I'm talking about the procedure when you have a featured singer, and not when you're the singer yourself.

Thanks

 

[DM60]

Depending on the song and how I've created with determine how I write the lyrics. If you have the music already written without a focus of the song, then I just start out with some words that begin to work with the beat and melody. Sometimes I will not put in words, just hum, hum, do do, and make up vocal noises. Then begin writing the words to the music. Even if you are not singing, you can still make a track with your vocals to guide the singer to the basic and then between the two of you, work on what compliments the song, your vision of the song and the singer's vision of the song.

Here is the hard part, if someone else sings it you will have to accept their version of the song as they will need to own it as well. Hard to do, but if you can, you will get a much better performance out of the singer.

 

[Bane01]

I second what DM60 says.

Usually you should be able to hear a melody coming over the music, if not just imagine what your favorite electronic artist would do with your song. From there just record it with a keyboard using a basic sound such as a violin until you finish the song. You'll probably have lyrics in mind, if not just start writing down phrases that come to your mind when you hear certain parts. From there you can construct a message and eventually sing a demo so your vocalist can tell what to do.

 

[ido1957]

Vocalists have a specific range. Stick to it.