Getting the best out of your singer

This will be a brief blog post just going through some important points to get he best performance out of a singer in a recording environment

Now we're going to assume that the singer you are working with is not a total diva, bold assumption when it comes to singers I know, and that their more than likely to be a little self conscious at the beginning of their recording process. All the other instruments have been and gone now we've saved the best for last - at least that's what we tell them - so the pressure is on to get that perfect vocal performance on take 1 and wrap up and go home to bask in your inevitable success.

Anyone that's ever worked in a studio environment will agree that NEVER happens. There are a few one take wonders out there but there are absolute gold dust. For me there are 3 C's of recording a vocalist which are:

Comfortable

Confident

Competence

If you follow these 3 guidelines you'll get better performances out of each vocalist that graces you with their presence in your studio.

Step 1 - Comfortable

Now we all know we tense up when we're nervous and are incapable of giving our best performance under high levels of stress. Whether that be during an audition, recording take or ordering take away over the phone there's always that special something that's lost when the nerves take over.

just a quick aside: if this is something you repeatedly struggle with, more than you think is normal, then you might want to take a quick look at something known as the bulletproof musician. As they offer great advice and management situations to get your stress under control in the high pressure job that is the music industries.

Now if you have an already established relationship with the vocalist this can be the easiest step in the 3 C's but if not just make sure you are praising the singer at all available opportunities and be constructive with any changes you want them to make not just "that sounds crap." Essentially it seems like we are treating the singer like a 5 year old in primary school to build up their confidence........ that's because we are. It works well and will yield the best results, unless they are just an ass then good luck to you we've all had to deal with that and we sympathise.

Also a lot of singers don't like themselves totally dry in their headphones so dont be afraid to chuck a bit of reverb into their headphone mix to get them a little more comfortable. Also when not recording keep that talkback button latched down, let them join in the banter.

Step 2 - Confidence

So this follows on well from comfortable as once they are in a comfortable position they are more susceptible to having their morale boosted into a confident take to give a good performance.

One thing I've noticed with some singers when they start out in a recording session is that they try to imitate a statue when in the booth. That's not what you want. If you want the record to breathe like a true performance your vocalist should be performing in the booth as well. Now i don't mean Pete Townshend destroying guitars level of a show but just being loose and moving with the music is a great start. Once they start getting into it they'll be less self conscious and give a better performance which is what we're there to capture.

Step 3 - Competence

Now this is where we get to come in and show off. It's no secret that a good recording engineer or producer makes the world of difference in recording a record. It also makes the world of difference to the musicians as well, knowing they have someone there that really knows their stuff and can magically manipulate the world of their DAW at the touch of a button.

It spurs the musicians on to show up on time and give their all into each and every take. I've had a few recording session on the other side of the glass where the engineer really wasn't too comfortable with what they were doing and had to stop and start every few takes because of something inane like "Whoops I didn't hit record" or "I had the drums muted sorry." Honestly i could make that it's own post between the stuff i've seen and done but that's for another day. This small stuff adds up and really detracts from the performance of the musician because they'll be sitting their thinking "am i really paying this guy for this" instead of "Let's get this take the ebst it can possibly be."

So to combat this make sure you are comfortable with your software and hardware and even if you have to take a day to memorise some easy key commands and recall settings on your DAW and interface it's definitely worth not just in the time it will save you but the impression you will give to the people who choose you to record with.

Step 4 - Caffeine

Lots and lots of caffeine, their musicians and they're probably hungover.

Thanks for reading hope you can put this to some good use in a future scenario and please don't turn up to the studio hungover, had enough of that and i haven;t even left university yet.