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Over the last week I have spent some quality time with gear and plug-ins, going deep into shit that my previous schedule wouldn’t allow. I have been itching badly to put together some tracks with XT but I have been otherwise wedded to the the project of completing vocals on our band’s first full length.
There have been some real difficulties getting the tracks right since long overdue re-writes and tracking are happening simultaneously. In some sense, I am relatively new to the music game and nailing my vocal takes has been a challenge. The guys that I work with are top notch session players who I have come to believe are more deserving of a seasoned vocalist. Nonetheless these guys wouldn’t have our band any other way, always making it very clear that I am, stylicstically speaking, the voice of the band.
Since there may be a lot of full-on producer types among the em-ers I was curious what everyone’s overall experience with vocalists has been, experienced and otherwise. I learned to work on tracks at about the same time I was discovering my own singing style.
The reason I became a vocalist was due to the fact that I discovered EM (Sonic Foundry’s Acid 3.0 to be exact) and ironically what was initially a laptop hobby manifested itself into singing and myself about on stage.
The band I am with now is the first band I ever joined. I have had the good fortune so far of working around bands signed to top labels here in LA so I have seen how turd polishing works. I am at odds with the idea of doing take after take for 4 hours to get a verse sounding right, punching in ‘ands’ and ‘ofs’ until a modicum of compelling work is achieved. Even after a massive cut-and-paste job (mixed with a few miracle one-takers), I always get a pat on the back once the illusion is rendered fully.
After a session behind the mic, the players gather round and carry own with their in-crowd anecdotes about Thomas Lang or Ted Templeton or whoever while I spin on my own axis somewhere outside the studio.
On a side note, now that I am in a situation where I am now working part-timeish and living on a shoestring, music has reassumed a power that initially drew me towards it. I was listening to ‘Geodaddi’ today and my mind was being blown by tracks that I have listened to a hundred times. These are sort of uncertain rewards that I hope to keep finding as nourish my artistic hunger.
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11/13/07
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astroid
i had some limited success playing in bands, more limited success producing singers, and the most success actually just saying fuck it and making the music i think is real and good.
it's trickier once you have a job to do and are dealing with competence issues. lord knows i have those:/ just keep a good attitude, and try to be bold and take direction, and everything will work out right
11/13/07
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madeofoak
i've had a lot of experience with bands and a decent amount of experience producing vocalists. i think the best method to keep stuff fresh and avoid the whole 4-hour-punching-every-word problem (but still get the "polished turd" effect) is to use a three take comping method. have the vocalist do only three takes, then go through them and comp them together, using the best phrases or sections from each to form one final take. it's fast and usually produces a more-or-less flawless take.
as far as the job thing goes, i've finally gotten myself into a position where i have two jobs that both allow me to leave for touring and such after a few years of having to quit anywhere that didn't fit with the music lifestyle. keep looking around for jobs and keep playing shows and touring, you'll eventually be able to balance your time and income between jobs and music. i'm lucky enough right now that i make as much on the road as i do at home, and anyone can get there.
11/13/07
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la0la0la
what astroid said and get the vocalist comfortable, watered and soberish. also a bit of reverb helps in the cans.
as to getting in a band well done.
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