Using Technology Creatively For Better Vocals

Historically, vocals have long been the most difficult element to manipulate on a recording. For keyboardists, it's a snap to record a part via MIDI, and then change the patch the instrument is playing. But until recently, all a producer could do with a vocalist was to record lots of takes and knit them together, and then add a one or two effects (out of only a handful to choose from) onto that track.

But the technology available even to home recordists on very modest budgets gives the voice a rapidly increasing amount of flexibility. It hasn't quite reached the "dial in another patch" plasticity of keyboardists yet, but it's getting awfully close. So why do so many home, amateur and semi-pro recordings still have such poor lead vocals?

One reason is that they're not fully taking advantage of the technology that's available to them. The other is that they may not have thought about how to use that technology creatively. And that's what this article is all about. It isn't really a "how to record vocals" piece. We won't be discussing how to choose a microphone or where to place it, but fortunately, there are plenty of articles and books available on that subject. What we'll discuss is how to take full advantage of the many features that computer-based recording programs bring to even the most budget-conscious recording efforts.

Comping Vocals

With PC-based recording, the number of tracks is typically determined by the amount of RAM and hard disk space the computer has, and for many projects, running out tracks isn't even a concern. It's easy to record separate takes of each vocal part, often singing the entire song, or big chunks of the song continuously through. For example, Cakewalk's Sonar can be set to cycle record, by first engaging the "Loop/Auto Shuttle" function, followed by engaging the "Store Takes In Separate Tracks" button, located under "Record Options". Both of these windows are located under the "Transport" tab. Once both of these commands have been set, then unlimited tracks can be recorded. When the program reaches the end of a take, it cycles back to the beginning of where it should start, and automatically opens up a fresh track to record on.

Once those takes are recorded, it's time to "comp" the vocal, which means going through the multiple takes of vocals on separate tracks and editing them down to one or two tracks of the final lead vocal. And hopefully that track will sound, at least to the average listener, like one smooth, continuous piece of singing, without punch-ins or other obvious clean-ups. This may take a fair amount of sliding material around, taking parts from one chorus to another, or doing whatever's necessary for the vocal to both sound in tune, have the right tone, and, if the song calls for it, build in intensity as it goes on.

Article Author: Ed Driscoll

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