When TRACKING A whole album.

[momagoose]

If i was to record an album, first i would do all the music then when it comes to vocals would I do all the takes then edit them and have SINGLE tracks perfect of all the parts or would i have like 2 PERFECT takes from 10 on a chorus. whats the best way to go about tracking mixing vocals.

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

Everyone has their own way of doing it. A lot of the approach depends on if you are paying for studio time or not, or have a large budget, etc....

The practice of having a number of takes and compiling it into a single master vocal is called comping. A lot of people use comps now because it is so easy to do.

One thing that isn't a bad idea is to comp together your master vocal and then have the singer double it to thicken things up. Mix the double in at a lower volume or it will sound really unnatural.

Having access to TC Helicon or Antares products are useful too. Ultimately it depends on how good the singer really is.

 

[earz]

It depends on the singer, most of the time I track 5 or 6 takes of the whole song,
then I edit the best parts and compile 1 track out of the best parts. This is a good way
to preserve a live feeling i think. If you want everything to be phrased/sung perfectly as you had in mind, you could go for punch in punch out method, getting every phrase exactly as you want it. This is more time consuming and although I am not a singer, I
can imagine this is more stressfull for the singer as well.
Sometimes I find out during pre-production or while doing the first vocal takes that a singer's performance decreases further in a song, then I let him/her sing the first verse, do 5 or 6 takes, when done, move to the first chorus, etc..
Or I first do the chorusses, then the verses or vice versa.
It is only occasionally I find one take of a whole song to be perfect. So I would never go that way as it might end up doing take after take to get that perfect take and you might end up with nothing really usefull and a singer without any energy left.
in short: the method of recording depends on the singer's capabilities in my opinion

 

[LRosario]

If i was to record an album, first i would do all the music then when it comes to vocals would I do all the takes then edit them and have SINGLE tracks perfect of all the parts or would i have like 2 PERFECT takes from 10 on a chorus. whats the best way to go about tracking mixing vocals.

The sky is the limit, because there really is no wrong way. The only thing that changes technique is when time and money are involved.

Of course if you can get a perfect take the first time, say like Maynard from Tool (that guy really is something else, but thats another story). Or try different methods for different songs to see what works best for you.

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

Of course if you can get a perfect take the first time, say like Maynard from Tool (that guy really is something else, but thats another story).

This sounds like music industry BS rather than truth... I dunno... I've never met a singer that nailed everything in one take. Although I've met a few that nail it within 3.

 

[LRosario]

This sounds like music industry BS rather than truth... I dunno... I've never met a singer that nailed everything in one take. Although I've met a few that nail it within 3.

You'd be surprised

Not the whole album, of course, but you rehearse any song long enough and you could do the same thing.

He's gifted, but a perfectionist and really difficult to work with. I was interning at the time and was lucky enough to see him do his thing.

I'm not really a big fan of Tool though.

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

You'd be surprised

Not the whole album, of course, but you rehearse any song long enough and you could do the same thing.

He's gifted, but a perfectionist and really difficult to work with. I was interning at the time and was lucky enough to see him do his thing.

I'm not really a big fan of Tool though.

If it's true that's cool. A real exception to the rule that most pop stars are marginal talent losers that wouldn't sell album one if it weren't for their good looks and underpaid audio engineers making them look good (to make themselves look good as engineers of course).

I mean seriously (apologize for the tangent here); who *wouldn't* want to see a competition of pop stars be forced to write and perform material on their own, and then record, mix and master it? I guarantee some of the results would be a laugh riot. Can you imagine Blink 182 producing themselves with no outside help?

Sometimes I get cynical when working with clients and their 'it's good enough' attitudes and total lack of good sound.