Lessons

Lesson Info

Tracking a Female Vocalist Part 2

Can you hear that it's like uh the air conditioner something what a difference it was like dust in the in the pots dusty pots ok so these air just mike phones air dramatically different so I'll probably have to get uh new levels for these so all right I was trying way man tio tio way okay cool. I like that initiative she's going to the it's heart this already sounds a thousand times better and I'm not sponsored by condenser mikes in general uh fifty seven one of my favorite mike's I guess not for this whatever. So, um I was really changing a lot of these as you were going so um let's just go through it again because those levels were changing pretty dramatically all right hey, wait e to be a way okay? Cool. Um all right I do want to talk about some things really quick uh make sure that whenever you thiss obviously isn't norm for me I'm not in the studio so things were a lot different but when if you can come up closer to where you were singing really quick um I always like to check whe...

re the vocalist mouth is I didn't even do this and I apologized uh their mouths should literally go straight to the where the diaphragm is when you look at it to the side and if you get too close it will start a sound really bhumi um so just a comfortable distance from the actual diaphragm of the microphone maybe about six inches or ten inches probably no further than that. Um the further you get, the more room sound you have the closer you get, the more like luminous you have so you want kind of just a comfortable distance? Um uh oh, yeah let's do this we're trying to get the part of a perfect vocals, right? So it's all about doing whatever you have to do to get it perfect, so I noticed whenever we're playing back before that there was some bleed from these. Now if she's fine seeing with these this is a better choice, so if any time you know you're doing something in the studio and you just feel like then this could be better or whatever do it like any instinct, anything that's you feel is just weird or just makes you uncomfortable just change it. Make sure that you actually are getting the best of everything you can't, especially if you have, you know, other things laying around don't just be like, oh, they're on the other side of the house I was, uh you know, like, don't they do everything you can, teo teo to make it right, so whatever we were using, those dynamic mike's eye was just like feeling so gross because I hated the way they sound and now we're using these and I feel great and that's that's what should happen in this studio? Everything that you do you should feel great about and that's when you know you're actually doing something good so hopefully these are comfortable enough you enough? What do you think? Okay let's, try it so this should this should isolate the vocal even more so keep that in mind to do whatever it takes to get the vocals perfect and this stuff, especially when when you get to editing this is the stuff that matters like if you have a vocalist who who absolutely has to like, sing in the room with with the music and not wear headphones it's unfortunate but if you get the best vocal take out of them, then that's kind of what you have to do but like for today, if we can be picky if you can be picky, you need to know what to be picky about and like these are the kinds of things that you can do to get the absolute best vocals and that's what we're that's what we're going for today so let's, go ahead and go through that again and I was noticing uh, see, I couldn't hear I couldn't hear her very well, so I just kind of turn that up a little bit okay so today just so you guys understand today is on ly tracking editing is later um just so you understand that dennis totally different all right, so let's go ahead and go through that again this same thing I'll take it no way, man teo teo wait cool all right? So I consider this is like when the real tracking has actually begun because we found headphones that air comfortable that that don't bleed we found the microphones oh, actually we're still recording to let's just listen to those but after we choose that we basically have the right material to choose from uh then that's basically it to start I'll trade this money for some time I'll take whatever I reckon find it's like taking an for go this can know models on them I'm um uh lycos they burned a hole inside I gotta let him go lycos they burned a hole inside I gotta let him go so I'm hearing uh the space between the takes super clean headphones are working. So uh now what I'm hearing between the seven the sea for fourteen lycos they burned a hole inside I gotta let him go see for fourteen lycos they burned a hole inside I gotta let him go me what? I'm noticing there's like a kind of a presence missing from the sea for for psychos they burned a holden aside, I gotta let him go like cause they kinda hold inside I gotta let him go okay so they're both pretty the roof actually pretty similar but uh it might just be because I'm used to you eighty seven like that's why that's why I use for years and years so uh we're gonna do this we're gonna take this mike away oh okay don't need that anymore just got to make sure this is perfectly positioned all right? Okay, go ahead and cool looks good. Yes position I know uh like when you're using a live performance mike yeah, they tell you not to sing directly into it kind of have it just a slight angle I've just heard like singing, you know, just a few degrees off of center so you don't get so much bass and do it if you get right upon it but with like, a condenser mic or something like that do you suggest singing directly into it? Yeah, I'm straight on actually haven't heard that about performance mike's I've just seen differences in tone depending on oh yeah yeah I'm sure that definitely has but we're talking studio here so yeah asking yeah I've never had any good results like as good of results says like what it's straight on okay but I think the mikes are built to sound the best at at that point like like this did you know it cool all right so we've chosen our microphones uh I I don't care about these other takes they're gone unless I'll make this choice later so we'll hide him by all right so uh this is a pretty easy choice we only want the u eighty seven tracks come on okay so just making a bunch of other tracks so we can have a bunch of different takes you said you could use alternate plate playlists if that's your preference uh the way you do that and pro tools is you just hit new and you name it whatever and then you could record on there and you can go back to each take um but I've noticed weird things happen with that like especially few group tracks sometimes like certain things don't I don't know I've had weird problems with it so I just kind of try to keep it simple okay all right, here we go well this money for sometime, huh? I'll take whatever I can find take and go no more a man my ah lycos aye way tio because you miss is a ah a ah we'll never know okay uh since I moved the mike a little bit I guess everything um matters I was hearing some different things so I have to make an adjustment there is a little more bass because we're directly on so I'm just adjusting for that let's just go through that one more time oh yes that's always a good request ready I'll trade this money for sometime I'll take whatever I can find a steak and forgo scan no my um I I got a hole inside I gotta let him go way man to be alone is ugo ah a ah never mind okay uh yeah it's all good okay it's coming in do you wanna talk it's er just some of those little tiny micro adjustments you're making yeah I'm just uh so what do you know these are these are the exact compressors that I have so I'm just trying to I just noticed it was coming in a little bit hot like it looks like it's almost clipping which is not what you want I just want people to know at home that that is like way to come impressed well as you're going in just so you know uh how much headroom do you liketo have on on a vocal track uh well if you're compressing it I think should be that um well you always just want as close as close to clipping as you can without it being clipping um so it's usually like bouncing I usually like it bouncing around the yellow like underneath the red I don't have any dv down that is but um it's just a good visual uh guide so you're probably pretty safe all right so let's do this let's sing the first two lines just uh to just digging for let's stuff at digging for gold take a can I find it's like digging in for go okay just thiss money for some uh I'll take what I can find it's like digging in for go cool yeah okay this looks this is more like it should be with uh you can actually see some of dynamics but it is still compressing it just a little bit to control it. Okay, so that's good now and that's another thing if you are in a session and you notice something like this and it is clipping even if you're teaching on creative live you stop they say hold on let's redo that because it's clipping like we actually use these vocals later for another segment so, uh if this is not right, the consequences that's messed up so uh it's even worse later whenever you're mixing a band and you can't do anything and it's just completely ruined um the consequences are much greater so this is fine. I feel good about these levels now sorry this is these are my compressors that always use sometimes tricky you just gotta take your time make sure it's right take it slow if you will little session joke all right, so, uh stop at let's sink through the verse up until we weren't meant to be alone so here we go this money for I'll take what I can find just like digging for go get no miles on them I like oh say on hold and I got to go you know ah awesome okay let's do that again I want uh let's let's say let's get uh let's get a few more takes of that exact same thing just so and then this these will be the takes that we work from well trade this money for sometime I'll take what I can find is like digging for go get no way am I like those on a hole and I got a way you know okay it's going that well with money ah I'll take what I can find it like digging and go no way am I like cause there's a hole inside I gotta let him go ah okay cool. So a quick test I did hear uh come on okay I did hear a few uh ple oceans in there that got through the pop filter but I actually show you a little trick of how to get rid of those so I figure we just leave those for now so whatever you're doing like this uh where you have a verse this verse it would just be a single vocal but just a quick test is just to play all the vocals together to make sure nothing is like crazy different than the other takes so we're just listen to this I'll take what I can find is like digging for go get no way like they way I got a lead on the o c o okay cool so I noticed uh she has a breath here in uh a few that takes but not in the other one so I would like these to just be the same so what we're just gonna punch in this one line so jessica the wine is uh it's getting old so I want the breath after all it's good no and lows so just a nice breath there you were doing that in the other takes so um sometimes it's good to just let the vocalist do it again without saying anything to sometimes your information throws them off uh so I mean this is a really simple change but sometimes it's a little more complicated so sometimes a good tip is just like just going do this again I'm not going to say what's different but uh I'm sure you'll probably fix it you know without even trying all right so go ahead and just sing from uh the previous line just so it flows in naturally yeah there we go way back okay yeah and it's good have uh that was good what you did she only needed to sing that one part but she kept singing that's exactly what you want them to do singing in and out of apart it seems like a really simple thing but not everyone is aware of that and the breath is there okay cool so let's tackle the pre course and chorus really quick um we weren't meant to be alone list start from there wait wait same deal way tio okay, so I noticed uh I think I liked you don't have to say this to the vocalist but I'll just say it because there's one thinking the last take I liked better so we're just going toe record over this one with the next take I think the last one she was a little more bold and confident in the words so let's go ahead and do overtime wait man teo teo wait all right and we just need one more take and will be golden way teo teo teo wait ah cool. All right so I just want to listen to these takes together make sure nothing crazy is going on wait teo teo teo teo wait. Okay, so there was one take that was just a different timing. You did two of them two of them. Right. So, uh we do I have to get another take before we finish up here so let's get one more take all you got to do is sing the take it slows was it because of mr years as they go by take it slow so just those three lines wait good, good, good, good uh huh and that's it uh for the tracking part of this now this all there's no prediction for me of how the session would go and I treated just go the way that I would treat a good vocalist you did a great job thank you just um but sometimes it doesn't go that smoothly um sometimes you just wanna sometimes it's really difficult but you've got to be patient and, uh, you just need to make sure you have ah, strong goal in mind of of where you want to take it. Uh, this was the this was the only less slide uh, it's important to keep the session flowing. Um, stopping between takes to check your facebook and, uh, twitter and stuff isn't professional and it's really annoying. I don't know if you've ever had a really good idea and you really want to track it and the person tracking it was checking their facebook it's very aggravating. So, uh don't do that if she was getting like, really if if this was a regular session and she was getting really frustrated at like one line, we would just maybe take a brake switch to a different songs, which to another line, whatever, so just keep it comfortable breaths we actually luckily did one wrong breath and they're really important um especially when you have doubles and this course is gonna be tripled and we'll show you how to make the triple sound super cool um but those breaths have to be the same for that uh puncheon's lead in lead out always you have got to do that uh so and doubles that I mean just making you know, just listening through it with all of them making sure that there are no changes and we took care of that so uh I think we got what we need to use this later. Awesome. Thank you. That was awesome. Jessica thank you are we're gonna hear more of you we're gonna hear any more of her uh gonna be editing this way will hear this it won't be hurt. It will be our digital self. All right, we have a couple questions from online as well and if you guys have any questions, feel free to jump in. So fish said at the same basically record with only one mike what about using double of double mike set up for vocals and what is the best set up for that kind of recall? Uh, well it's kind of like what you were talking about earlier I have messed with like, double my king and stuff using two completely different mike's like a dynamic and a condenser I haven't gotten the results that I was happy with me we kind of talked about that, but yeah, I haven't gotten reason. Teo, is there a difference between having the mike's side by side versus, like, on top of each other? Oh, no, no, no, not really. Great. It's all the same. All right. One other quick question from mikey. Do you know if you can get away with a simple road and t one, eh? For the heavier rock metal vocals? Uh, yeah, actually. That's a good question. I mix a lot of projects that I don't track, and I have all different types of microphones that people track with. And if you know what to listen for when you're mixing and we're going to get into mixing later you can you can almost get away with anything. Like if we had to use that fifty seven for this, we could make it work. I could e q some bottom end into it and stuff. But if you khun b, if you want, the best vocal sound is the best solution is to get it right at this at the source. So in answer your question. Yes, you most likely could do that, um, but some somewhere more ideal than others, depending on your voice in the music, but you most likely could, yes.