Crisp / Clear lyric pronunciation.

witm8

Member
Hi, I’m finding something that I’m doing really annoying, and was just wondering if there was a mixing technique that could be used in my instance.

I’m finding that when I’m singing, I’m occasionally losing the last syllable of some of the words. I suppose that this is the way that I sing, kinda sloppy. An example of this would be singing “In this world” – but when it comes to mixing and really focusing on the vocals, it’s actually sounding as “In this worrrlll” – so I’m not hitting the ‘d’ at the end.

Sometimes during mixing try to really focus in on that last syllable then quickly boost the volume for that, which occasionally brings it out – but what would people do to generally emphasise that last syllable?

I could, and occasionally do, re-record the complete vocals and specifically concentrate on my pronunciation, but I find that I lose a little something else.

I have also just re-made the ‘D’ noise, or re-sang the word ‘world’ and dropped it over the top and tried to mix it in – I can tell the difference though.

Any advice ??

Many thanks
 
You can't fix what isn't there. Do multiple takes, and at least on some of them really concnetrate on getting those last syllables done correctly. It will be much easier to comp pieces of the takes together than to try to add the syllables in later.
 
There's two options:

1 Do nothing. With your singing habit you are not alone. You can listen to any selection of Beatles tracks and find a smorgasbord of missing 't's and 'd's.

2 Fix your singing. This is the easiest way of dealing with the problem. This will require practice to develop a new habit.
 
+ 1 to that.
It's very common and not always an issue but when it issue an issue just retrack and do it right. :)

It's a 'bad' habit that you may end up being very grateful for if you start layering multiple harmonies. ;)
 
Repairs are always last resort. I've done it loads myself, and the trouble is you are never happy with what you do yourself, so when you've made a cockup, or just got lazy - it's really annoying. Fix it before recording.
 
I will add, though, that there is a benefit of not enunciating consonants at the end of words: when you are layering your vocals you don't have to deal with differing finishing points of words and the consequent multiple 't's (or whatever) that arise which then need fixing. Double-trackers who track with precision are rare.

The easiest way of getting rid of multiple consonants is to keep just one and remove all the others. A more complicated process is to stretch or shrink the words so that the ends all line up nicely.
 
That's just the way some singers are. I tend to be a major league enunciator of consonants but I even find that sometimes a consonant doesn't come out clearly. Most of the people that have ever sung on my recordings don't pronounce ending sounds. Sometimes, I can very quickly whack up the vocal fader to catch that consonant and you hear it without the rest of the word or breath suddenly going up. But I've often been surprised that the end sound actually isn't there. I'd not noticed it in the tracking.
I'm not sure many listeners really notice but you do and it annoys you so it's something only you can remedy or learn to ignore.
 
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