{"id":7999,"date":"2012-11-11T16:23:18","date_gmt":"2012-11-11T23:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=7999"},"modified":"2012-11-11T16:34:04","modified_gmt":"2012-11-11T23:34:04","slug":"pitch-perfect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2012\/11\/pitch-perfect\/","title":{"rendered":"PITCH PERFECT"},"content":{"rendered":"

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PITCH PERFECT<\/h1>\n

Crafting superior vocal tracks takes both\u00a0technical and personal skills<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n

\u201cVocal production can be one of two things,\u201d says producer, mixer and engineer Fab Dupont. \u201cOne is the art of constructing a finished vocal track by getting the best performance and best sound possible. Two is the art of making a singer sound an awful lot better than he or she really is. They\u2019re two different spirits and practices, and you know right away at the beginning of a session which one you\u2019re dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of whether you\u2019re recording a seasoned veteran who can make warriors weep or an enthusiastic newcomer whose technique isn\u2019t fully developed, the art of eliciting the vocal track you need can be tricky and nuanced. But it comes down to one thing, according to Dupont. \u201cThe purpose of a vocal session is simple,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to get emotion out of somebody and ensure that emotion transfers through recorded media.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having worked with an array of artists like Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah, Brazilian Girls and Les Nubians, Dupont knows a thing or two about creating great vocal tracks, from working with artists to choosing the right mics and laying down the final mix.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How do you coax a great vocal take?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You cannot make somebody sing well on any given day. There are no magic words, tools or techniques. What you can do is make absolutely sure that there is nothing preventing the singer from recording at their best. And after you remove any roadblocks, the most important thing is to create a relationship of trust. To singers, recording is like jumping off a bridge with an elastic rope tied around their leg\u2014and you\u2019re the elastic. You can\u2019t break. Even if you\u2019re working in horrible conditions\u2014say a bad studio with horrible mics\u2014the most important thing between singer and producer is a strong trust.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How do you remove roadblocks?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A big thing is knowing what mics and preamps sound best on what types of voices. If you\u2019re working with a bright female voice, don\u2019t select a bright microphone. If you have a guy who stares at his shoes and mutters, you need a mic that\u2019s going to open up his sound and catch everything he does. The right mic makes a world of difference. Also, know the person you\u2019re recording. If the singer is shy, get everybody out of the control room. If the singer has a big ego, get 10 people in there who will all say how great the vocals sound. If the singer takes off his or her shoes right away to get connected to the earth, turn out the lights and bring in candles. Get in sync with the personality of the singer, make the singer feel comfortable and supported.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What about singers who need help?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For those who can\u2019t sing well but can emote and communicate well and have something special to say, then removing roadblocks is even more important. You may end up with 100 takes of the same verse and have to comp them together word by word. Because of that, it\u2019s important to have a very consistent sound across takes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Best ways to get that sound?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Start by putting a mark on the floor so the singer knows where to stand in relation to the mic. Give them a rigid, metal pop filter and tell them to keep their nose on it. I also record vocal tracks in sections. If you do 150 takes of one verse and then go back to another, it\u2019s not going to sound the same\u2014their voice will be tired and have a different tone than at the beginning of the session. Organize your session so you get a consistent vocal sound across each verse or chorus.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How do you comp vocals?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I recommend comping as you go. I make a grid, almost like a spreadsheet on the lyric sheet for the song, and note the take that was good for a certain word or phrase. You have to be very present and listen hard to tell which takes work and which don\u2019t. That document will make creating quick comp much easier. After that, it\u2019s important to be very, very good at Melodyne or Auto-Tune, which are the two software options for pitch fixing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What are some vocal tuning essentials to consider?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tune only the parts that need it, the notes that are so off they make you shudder. It\u2019s difficult to consign yourself to tuning a couple notes per song. It can be a very slippery slope where you fix one high note, then go back and hear that the pickup to the first phrase is a little under\u2014and by the end of the day, you\u2019ve tuned the life out of what was already a perfectly fine performance. Also, be careful about breaths. You can\u2019t tune a breath, so if you select an entire track and tune it, the breathing will sound processed, and that\u2019s a telltale sign you\u2019ve been playing with the pitch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What should a singer be hearing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Make sure that the rough mix of the track he or she is singing to sounds as close to a finished record as possible\u2014so make sure that you have the original multitrack session, and not just a two-track mixdown. That way if the singer wants to hear more bass and less drums, you can adjust.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Can you get good results recording multiple singers at once?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was working with Les Nubians, we tracked a lot of vocals with the two girls singing at the same time. I put a dividing wall between them with a mic on each side so I had full separation between the vocals\u2014and they sang their verses and harmonies together. That sounds much more natural than recording a live take, and the other trying to overdub and match it. There\u2019s something magical about two singers recording live at once. It was also great because they were able to write their parts and exchange ideas in real time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What if both singers aren\u2019t available?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I worked with Shakira and a great African band called Freshlyground on the song \u201cWaka Waka.\u201d It was a duet, and my role was to take Shakira\u2019s recorded vocals and produce the vocal part sung by Zolani Mahola from Freshlyground. Originally, we went through several mics and preamps to find a tone that matched Shakira\u2019s tracks. Later Sony requested a remix and we needed more vocals, but Zolani wasn\u2019t in New York. I ended up doing a remote production session\u2014I was in New York producing Zolani, who was in Johannesburg, over Skype.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Who have been some of your favorite singers to produce?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cyrille Aim\u00e9e, Sofia Rei and Will Knox are unbelievable and they deliver the best vocals. They\u2019re on another level and they\u2019re going to be superstars. Chester Gregory is a Broadway star who also has a career as an R&B singer. He\u2019s a machine when it comes to recording. He\u2019s in tune and in the pocket\u2014three takes and we move on. I\u2019m the luckiest human being alive to be able to work with singers like those.<\/p>\n

\u2013Michael Gallant<\/p>\n

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PITCH PERFECT Crafting superior vocal tracks takes both\u00a0technical and personal skills \u201cVocal production can be one of two things,\u201d says producer, mixer and engineer Fab Dupont. \u201cOne is the art of constructing a finished vocal track by getting the best performance and best sound possible. Two is the art of making a singer sound an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[777,5389,5380,5377,5390,5384,4676,5386,5387,5376,5388,5077,5383,5378,5385,5379,5381,5382],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7999"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7999"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8003,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7999\/revisions\/8003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}