tracking vocals

[yiordanaki]

hey guys ,

This forum hasnt had much action lately, so i thought i'd just ask a question of everyones recording habits.

When tracking vocals , do you try to get it all right in one take ,?

or are you the guy who sings each line as many times as it takes to get it right, then sing the next line....etc.?

Also whats your personal "record" for the amount of vocal takes before you were happy?

keep the vocalist forum alive!

y

 

[smellyfuzz]

YORKI,

The way I have recorded vocals in the past is;

1) Hit record and sing the song all the way threw. This gives the people in the control room time to get levels but more importantly gets me to warm up and start feeling comfortable.( I suffer from mic fright).

2) When Ready to really track I start singing the song until something comes out that is not liked. The tape stops and a punch is done at that point until that section is good enough. If the punch is good the tape just keeps rolling until another goof. This is done from start to finish of a song.

3) When all the lead vox part is done, I go into the control room with the band and we the give a critical listen together. Always, we find something not good enough, we talk about what the problem might be and what I must do to correct the situation.

4) Back to the Mic I go for more punch ins until finally we are satisfied.

5) Harmony vocals are done the same exact way as the lead. However, they tend to be less critical.




Sean

 

[James Argo]

smellyfuzz hit my way

But in most case, I work alone (being recording operator & singer in a same time at my bassement studio ) So I'll just warming up a while, and record it all thru the song in one track. In case something doesn't sound nice, I marked that part, and do the re-take of the part in another track. Thank God I use SONAR (which allows me to have almost unlimited track ) When I satisfied, I'm done. Usualy, 3~4 relax hour for 1 regular song, including 3~4 backing track as necessary. I leave the day for tracking alone, and in the next day, I make experiment with effects, plugins, etc. before mix.


Jaymz

 

[yiordanaki]

good replies.

so james, is that 3-4 hours for just the singing track? interesting...........


Do either of you have any hints for making punch-ins less noticable??

i recorded a song the other day and because there was more power at the beginning of a breath in the given verse it was rather noticable. I'm trying to work on better consistency, but is there any tips/tricks to help this when mixing??

thanks

 

[smellyfuzz]

As far as punch ins, I just choose a spot with a space.

Sometimes there is a tight place I must punch, I am lucky enough to own an Otari 5050 8, It makes seamless punch ins.

Other ways of recording vocals is to use more then on track and mix & edit them properly.


Sean

 

[zer0sig]

i only do one-take tracks, generally. i run into much more trouble with error on my guitar tracks. of course, i'm lucky to have some music in my genes, so i don't know how that works for others.

 

[morindae]

I like to comp the vocals. I record five or six takes and then keep all the best parts to make a composite track. This works really well for me and I get to avoid all the tedium of punching in, which I find makes a vocal track sound stiff.