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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 474
Journeyman
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OP
Journeyman
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 474 |
I have listened to many good songs made by the members in this forum, and also read the comments they send together with the songs. Sometimes they say a variant of the following
"I know the vocal could be bether, but I am so tired of repeating myself and take retake after retake"
And of course it is dufficult. We sit alone in our small "studio" and try to sing like we are in front of an audience.
The next words is not mine, but written by a proffesional song teacher:
You are bored with the song. Distinguish this from being bored with COMMUNICATING THE SONG.
Performance requires vitality.
You have failed to understand, appreciate or project the meaning of the song. If you dont know the meaning of certain words or phrases- find out. Know what you are saying throughout the song.
Sing it from your personality.
End of sitat.
Also remember that you can syncopate some words, or maybe some words dont have to be sung at all. thy to resitate some of the words.
I think that it will be easier to make a decent vocal recording if we seperate the vocal into two cinds of moods.
First we are recirding the song the best we can to see if it works together with our arrangement, then we recording the vocal with this in mind that we are trying to COMMUNICATE THE SONG.
Best regards
Tono
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 141
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 141 |
Always good to be reminded of this point, Tono. After having been engineer, caterer, researcher, daddy, guitar hero, chauffeur, husband, mixer, computer operator, lyricist, etc, etc, for hours on end, it's not always that easy to deliver an inspired vocal performance.  Wait until tomorrow? Nah. Need to hear what it sounds like now - personality or not. Might not be time tomorrow. This is just a hobby. But I'll sure put a post-it on my screen: GET REAL! Or something. - Jepster
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,024
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,024 |
Good pointers Tono.
How is it we seem to sing entirely differently when we stand alone in front of that darned mic?
I now try to imagine I'm singing live to an audience who are enjoying what I'm doing - I get a picture in my head of a sea of smiling faces and me being the one who enthuses them.(I try to forget the times when I "fall flat on my face" !
Only problem is when I "let it out" I get peaks in the vocal - that's what hinders me sometimes from being relaxed and natural.
If I had a proper compressor it would help of course(I use ART MP Studio Pre-amp) and a Technica cardoid condenser mic.
Maybe the mic is too sensitive - might be better with a Shure or something simpler?
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502 |
Those are good points, all, Tono.
--Mac
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 657
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 657 |
I may be in the minority here but when I am looking for a song (usually a moldie) that I want to listen to, I want the original recording of the song. Not a live version, but the studio version. For me it's better. Case in point. I was wanting to listen to Billy Joel's 'New York State of Mind' and found 2 versions, live and the studio. Listened to both and studio was better.
Some of those live versions can get so boring to me. The musicians want to play forever (at times) and they may be inspired by the audience, but give me the studio version and hard work and planning.
Sort of like being drunk. You may think you're playing great, and feel really inspired, but in the end, you're not (exceptions to every rule, of course). Hard work and planning win out. You can fake inspiration, if you've done it enough. Most of my best licks on guitar have been found when I made a mistake. In a live performance you can't do it better, it's already done. In the studio you can say, I'm going to change that. IMHO.
Maybe it's a control issue.
"The desire for fame is the last infirmity cast off even by the wise."
Cornelius Tacitus
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502 |
I hear what you are saying, Charlie, but would add that it depends also upon the performance of the particular piece, something that should be evaluated with every instance and a decision made accordingly. There are as many examples of bad live performace as there are examples of stellar live performance, matter of fact I can recall several instances where I preferred the live performance as my learning target.
The first rule of the studio should be, "Make no absolute rules that cannot be broken to suit the prevailing condition," or as I am fond of saying, "Learn to Trust Your Ears".
--Mac
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 474
Journeyman
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OP
Journeyman
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 474 |
I am not speaking about sounding like a live performance Charlie.
When we are recording in our small home "studio", we are doing a studio recording.
What I am trying to say is that sometimes we are so tired of all the technichal stuff (like arranging in BIAB, Cutting and pasting in RT,
Panning, putting the effects right etc.) that the vocal start to more on the tecnichal side. The timing is correct, the pitch is correct, but it has no soul.
So, when I am speaking of soul I am not refering to great singers like Elvis or Aretha Franklin or Mahalia Jackson.
I am more trying to say that our mood is reflected in the song. For example when you say yhe words "Oh, I love you" they can be said like they are ment to, but they can also be said in a way that absolutely is saying the upposite.
So, to know what the song is about will have great effect in the way that we are comunicating the song.
And like they say: If the song doesnt do something to you. why should it do something to others.
The professional songwriters do exactly this. They write a song, maybe the lyricks and the melody, then they make a demo recording and send it to someone who have connection with a studio. The studio likes the song, and they try a find a singer who can communicate the song for them.
I agree that we are amateurs, and that this is a hobby, but to my mind it is still possible to have a proffessional atitute which is.
We do the best we can to the best of our capabilities,then NO ONE can ask for more.
AS you onderstand from my writing,I am not English, but hopefully I got myself understandable.
Best regards
Tono
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 474
Journeyman
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OP
Journeyman
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 474 |
And, yes Charlie I agree with you that hard work and planning pay out in the end, and I also agree with you that it is possible to fake inspiration. I believe that this is exactly what this great singers do. They are actors, They try to be the boy who lost the girl he loves, or the cowboy on the plains, or the boy in the Getow or whatewer. Or A country star singing in front of an audience.
They use all the mental trix they have to be in a mood to communicate the song to the best of their capabilities.(WITHOUT OVERDOING IT.)
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 657
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 657 |
Good points, Mac.
Tono, I wasn't disagreeing with you at all. All you said was very true. I was just saying what I had discovered about myself as to live performances and studio cuts. Two very different venues. I only meant to say that I prefer, when listening, a studio cut over a live performance. And some performers come across better live than in the studio. Good things to be said for both venues.
"The desire for fame is the last infirmity cast off even by the wise."
Cornelius Tacitus
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