Recording falsetto

[HapiCmpur]

I've written a couple of songs recently that require me to shift into falsetto for occasional lines and phrases. (It's intentional, so I don't want to "solve" the problem by transposing the song into a lower key.)

Anyway, I'm having trouble getting a satisfying falsetto sound. When everything's set so that the main vocal sections sound good, the falsetto sections are weak, and vice-versa. Just leaning into the mic for the falsetto sections isn't working. (Shocking, huh?)

Am I going to have to record the falsetto sections on a separate track and then splice the two together? If so, it's probably not going to sound seamless. What are some other options?

For clues, I've been listening to John Mayer's "Room for Squares" and am impressed with the way his vocals (and everything else) are recorded, especially his seamless slides into falsetto. How the hell do they do that? You can tell that his natural voice is thin and breathy, but his recorded voice is strong, fat, and right up front, even though it maintains the natural breathy characteristics. Sometimes he even sounds like he's whispering, but there's no drop in volume or clarity. Are his sound engineers doing anything that I could approximate at home?

 

[TexRoadkill]

Compression would even out the two different parts. There is nothing wrong with recording them in seperate passes so the levels match. Why wouldn't they blend together?

 

[Robert D]

I'm afraid this is very much about vocal technique. As I'm getting older, I've lost a little range, and find myself hurting my voice trying to hit notes I used to reach. So, I've been trying to smooth out my falsetto transition, and it ain't easy. I found a little help with a technique taught by Seth Riggs called speech level singing. There's a long long list of very famous students of this technique, and while I haven't taken the course, just some of the sample excercises on the web have helped me immensely. Check it out.
Back to recording techniques......along with compression, try bumping up the reverb send during the falsetto parts. Double tracking them will also help.
Cheers, RD

 

[powderfinger]

I'm afraid this is very much about vocal technique.

I would have to agree, that the best way to solve the problem would be work on vocal technique. It could be done by recording different passes and compression and such, but that will be only a temporary solution. It won't sound as fluid, because it isn't sung as fluid.......it will also probably be problamatic in a live situation. It's tough to do well, but it will only make you a better singer if you work at getting your falsetto volume up.

 

[HapiCmpur]

There is nothing wrong with recording them in seperate passes so the levels match. Why wouldn't they blend together?

I'm assuming that I'll have to EQ and otherwise tweak the falsetto sections differently than the full vocal sections. Won't that make an audible difference?

I found a little help with a technique taught by Seth Riggs called speech level singing. Back to recording techniques......along with compression, try bumping up the reverb send during the falsetto parts. Double tracking them will also help.
Cheers, RD

I just typed “speech level singing” into Google and got dozens of good hits. I’ll start looking into it. Thanks for the lead.

Regarding reverb, though, won’t it be obvious to the listener that I’ve applied more ‘verb to the falsetto sections than to the other parts of the vocal? I’m worried that it might distract the listener.

When you say “double-tracking,” do you mean to record the same vocal to two tracks, then pan one a little to the left and the other a little to the right, or is there more to it than that? (I’m just clarifying because not everybody in this forum uses the same terms to mean the same thing.) Also, for the sake of seamlessness, should I double-track the whole vocal, and then just kick up the volume on one of the tracks during the falsetto parts? Or do you think I should just double-track the falsetto parts?

I would have to agree, that the best way to solve the problem would be work on vocal technique. It's tough to do well, but it will only make you a better singer if you work at getting your falsetto volume up.

Agreed. But is the entire problem I’m experiencing related to volume? Isn’t there a qualitative difference between falsetto and regular voice as well as a quantitative difference? Wouldn’t you be tempted to EQ the falsetto sections differently than the full vocal sections, for instance?

 

[esactun]

2 cents

Wouldn’t you be tempted to EQ the falsetto sections differently than the full vocal sections, for instance?

I wouldn't be, since then you will hear the sonic differences you're afraid of hearing.

If you like the sound of your falsetto, but it's just too quiet, I'd try compressing just the falsetto parts of the take to beef them up to the level of your regular singing. That'll approach the seamless effect you want. Compression will also bring up any breathiness.

 

[powderfinger]

But is the entire problem I’m experiencing related to volume? Isn’t there a qualitative difference between falsetto and regular voice as well as a quantitative difference? Wouldn’t you be tempted to EQ the falsetto sections differently than the full vocal sections, for instance?

Think live situation......while i admit that live is different than recording...the singing technique should be the same........in other words, if you can't get the fluidity and volume in the studio, you won't be able to do it live for certain....in a live situation, you can't really over compress certain parts or turn up the volume.............try practice singing songs with lots of falsetto, and try different things with your voice.......experiment a little..........some strong falsetto songs to practice w/ :

radiohead - "high and dry"
guster - "demons"
chris issac - "somebody's cryin" , "wicked game"

 

[MartyMcFly]

I have an idea...couldnt you just use two mics at the same time set up as close to each other as you can possibly get. Set one of the mics to record your normal parts with a good signal. And set up the other mic to record the falsetto part perfectly. Now this would require a very acurate fade in/out. But using 2 mics and 2 tracks would allow you to eq these 2 parts differently and give you more control overall...

 

[Robert D]

On double tracking, what I meant is to do two seperate takes, trying your best to perfectly copy the first take on the second. Of course it won't be perfect, but it's the slight differences that you want. I'd double the entire vocal, but decide during mix how much of it you want to use. Most likely it will be that you'll want the dub vox way down, almost inaudible during most of the vocal, and to come up more during the falsetto parts, and long held notes. Don't pan them left and right, that will seperate them, which is the opposite of what you want. You want the dub vox to be just under the point at which you can tell it's there. Edit any parts that slide out of time to bring them into time, or sing it again till it all overlaps perfectly.
On the reverb send boost, again be subtle. You don't want it to sound like you stepped into a cave for a moment. It really depends on the song, and what it's conveying at that moment, but I think if you listen to some of the examples that Powderfinger gave, especially the Chris Issac ones, you'll here the desired effect.
Cheers, RD