4th attempt at vocals for the next song...

[Armistice]

I've spent days and days and days on the latest song and it looks like I'm spending today on it as well - all with the singing.

I'm getting some really harsh untameable frequencies coming through on certain syllables and it's doing my head in.

First I sang it loud - then decided that it was too loud and harsh and the volume was itself causing reflection issues.

Then I sang it softly one night last week. It sounded good as a vocal, trouble was it just didn't fit the tenor (cough ) of the tune & lyrics, which has a sort of sneery pumped up cock o' the walk thing happening. Ditched that.

Then I had a third attempt, this time, instead of doing takes and assembling, I just went verse for verse, and didn't move to the next line until I was happy with the last one. Not loud, but putting the loud characteristics into a softer vocal and working on mic distance for this and that syllable.

And I thought that was working OK, but I still discovered things I didn't like as I was mixing it in - so I'd go and retake a line here and there, using a different timing or pronunciation to remove the annoying bit. Problem now was that I'd moved the mic, as I did harmonies in the interim - and so you'd get to the next line in the song and there was this "What just happened?" moment as it just sounded different - bassier usually - I must have got closer, but I'd also moved the mic position. More hours spent trying to "fix" it to little avail.

So this morning, before it gets hot and the traffic starts up, I'm up singing away - using the verse at time method - at 6.30am - mic back in the position I've had best results for with other songs. Not singing loud at that time of the morning, but again, trying to get the snarly, cocky sounds into a lower volume track.

Once I've had a shower and coffee it's back to the desk - aircon will be on as it's going to be a hot one, and I've left the mic exactly where it was, and the marker on the floor, so I can do new bits and pieces if I have to.

Not even sure I like the song any more!

Talk about labour of love. On the upside, I'm singing it pretty well. Amazing what a couple of hundred attempts does for your ability to follow the melody. And each time I do it I find a better melody / idea for this or that phrase.

With luck I'll get it up today.

[CrowsofFritz]

Lol I would never have the patience for that. On some songs I can sing a high range melody in parts. I can’t sing the full “I Saw Her Standing There” in one go. But I can sing it in pieces at a time. I’m trying to expand my range and it’s definitely been getting wider. I’m able to sing songs now that I wasn’t able to sing a year or two ago.

[Armistice]

It's not patience, exactly, it's a desire to do the best I can do with what I have to work with.

The more I record, the better I get, and the more I understand and hear the problems, and so I have to fix them. This is going on a CD - or an album anyway - CDs I haven't actually thought about - I don't want to be cringing immediately I've finished, knowing that the damn vocal has this problem in that spot.

It normally takes about a year to get to that stage, once you've moved away from it and actually listen to it properly.

[rayc]

I had similar issues last week...I spent about three hours redoing vocals on a track...I'd been through three sets already but decided a fresh take would be the answer...I had the house to myself for a coupe of hours so went to it. The takes were far better than the previous in terms of pitch but something gravelly/raspy kept happening. I tried verse at a time, chorus at a time, alt lines at a time, drinking to keep wet etc. but after three hours trashed the lot.
yes, today'll be warm. I was up before seven to do a few things in the yard BUT Kim was still asleep & didn't rise until well after ten so didn't get to those tasks until 10.15. The main task was putting up a new letter box large enough for small parcels to save the postie from riding up the driveway to deliver. It's a big thing and needed levelling, propping etc. etc. but not a difficult task with a battery drill/screw driver to help. nevertheless I was drenched in perspiration within half an hour due to the blazing sun. It was only about 34C but that's hot enough for me to drip. Luckily you have some coastal relief David. I do miss that part of living in Stanwell Park.

[Armistice]

So it turns out I only think I sing well at 6.30am. Raspy as fuck... sigh. And lots of lip smacking... mmm.. not what you want in your ear.

The 5th set, however, based on the 4th set... they're the money.

I've basically moved through the song line by line - keep going back until I'm happy with that line, and even then I hear things later and I have to go backwards and redo previous lines I thought were OK - it's not that I can't sing anymore - it's that I'm going from quite high (for me, it's a relative thing... ) to way down low, and I just get catches in my throat all the time down low, and when I go from high to low, my pitch control when I get low is a bit awry, and when I go from low to high my pitch control up high goes a bit wonky.

Very frustrating. Anyway, I think I'm done now - I'm just going through re-doing harmonies to match the changed (again!) vocal lines. And hopefully the EQ won't be nearly as horrible as it was the first time.

Interestingly, the more I sing it, not only is the pitch better, but the volume and plosives, sibilants, clicks and mouth noises are better as well.


@rayc - I'm taking advantage of GF's two weeks in Sydney to try to wrap up the vocals on the album. After this, I have one song. It should have been sung by now but this one is killing me, as you can see. So I get the limitations of attempting vocals with a partner around. Very difficult.

Also, no sea breeze here today - it got to 33 I think, but I'm huddled inside with both aircons going - although I have to turn upstairs off to track lead vocals as it raises the noise floor by about 15dB given the mic is set up directly under the return grill in the lounge - can get away with it on harmonies, however.

Cup of tea, biscuit, then back upstairs to finish the tracking at least. Think I'll step away for the rest of the day and pick up mixing tomorrow.

[CrowsofFritz]

You use melodyne at all, Armi?

[rayc]

You use melodyne at all, Armi?

I doubt it as he a) sings in tune and b) just wouldn't because of the same reasons VomitHatsteve wouldn't: pride, (if it CAN be done without it then work until it's done), as opposed to me who sings up to notes almost always but has trouble staying there. I barely have a single conversation of more than four sentences in a day so even as I'm improving my singing my voice, tone, timbre etc., are deteriorating. That's the problem with my latest song - I can sing it in pitch reasonably well, but I sound awful.

[CrowsofFritz]

You use melodyne at all, Armi?

I doubt it as he a) sings in tune and b) just wouldn't because of the same reasons VomitHatsteve wouldn't: pride, (if it CAN be done without it then work until it's done), as opposed to me who sings up to notes almost always but has trouble staying there. I barely have a single conversation of more than four sentences in a day so even as I'm improving my singing my voice, tone, timbre etc., are deteriorating. That's the problem with my latest song - I can sing it in pitch reasonably well, but I sound awful.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using it. I used it on my Happy Xmas song. I can show you all the difference between the raw track and the melodyne. It’s very very small, but it’s there. One thing I’m great at is telling the difference in pitch. I can tell a 0.6% of a semitone. I know this because I use an app called InTune to test out how much I can tell. According to the app, that’s really low. Most people stop around 4% of a semitone.

Anyway, what makes a naturally good singer so great with melodyne is that the work needed is a lot easier. If you sing in tune and are only off by the slightest amount, you can use the automatic pitch center to around 75% and it sounds completely natural. If your pitch is way off, you’ll have to move every single note around manually, and that would take longer probably than to comp takes until everything is approximate.

The only thing I have to change in my vocal track on that recording are two notes. For some reason, Melodyne raised the pitch too high in two of the notes on that take. It was actually just fine before automatic pitch center, so not sure why it raised it, but it’s a quick fix.

If you can sing in tune, Ray, but have trouble staying there, Melodyne has another automatic slider: pitch drift. That one keeps you locked in the note you started out with.

[Armistice]

I use ReaTune - don't have Melodyne - mainly on harmonies when I just don't have the time or the inclination - see previous comments about finding the time to sing - to practice and practice - and if they're up really high I lose my pitch and voice pretty quickly. Given the number of harmonies I'm laying down, it's almost a necessity for some correction.

On the main vocal I use it mainly to correct what was an otherwise good take, and end notes, where I tend to trail off a bit. Also relatively quick melodic passages where I have missed a note a little on the ascent, or descent. A touch here and there.

Singing is a physical skill and unless you're singing all the time - and who can do that - it's pretty hard to keep on top of. Add to that that these are all new songs, no "muscle memory" and I'll reach for it if I need to but prefer not to. ReaTune just isn't THAT good...

I have recently discovered that during the day I can run cables into the next bedroom and do harmonies in there whilst GF is working - so long as I can sing quietly-ish to avoid reflections in the small room. Handy... less ReaTuning that way.

[rayc]

I recently that found that if I set up ReaTune to do just as you've described and then copy & paste the set up one underneath, (two identical instances), I'll get a more consistent and even result. Try that and let the tracking run while correcting in the 2nd one to "see" the more consistent result.
I've also found that Reatune sounds its worst on the sharp ups n downs at the end of notes. It's rather better to run up to and trail off a note than to hear the machine interfere.
Nothing wrong with using either if needed and I've discovered, through a few tutorials, that a lot of studios use a tuner to reduce drift on harmony vocal held notes in particular.