Vocals

This week I have focussed my attention on the space I will record my vocalist in. I am not a singer, and for my track I have an amazing alto vocalist to record my top line. However I have recorded myself and spent time analysing and setting up my vocal booth in preparation of my recording session.

Rocket Clock Vocal Booth 1

In my warehouse studio space there is an actual Rocket Clock!

Rocket Clock Vocal Booth 2

The warehouse space is large and reverberant

Rocket Clock Vocal Booth 3

Inside the Rocket Clock is a space big enough to turn into a vocal booth

Rocket Clock Vocal Booth 4

The walls are in not square, they slope in at the top to form a cone shape. There is an open door and windows

Rocket Clock Vocal Booth 5

The floor is one big cushion with plush carpet and other cushions inside. I removed half of the cushion floor so the vocalist could stand.

Rocket Clock Vocal Booth 6

I covered the windows with soft pillows and left the carpet on the floor.

Rocket Clock Vocal Booth 7

I set up my RODE NT1-A vocal mic. I sent a headphone mix to a small mixer for the vocalist to hear the guide track.

Rocket Clock Vocal Booth 8

The Rocket Clock is now teh Rocket Clock Vocal Booth.

I have a small studio workspace in a large shared industrial warehouse. It is a reverberant space with concrete floors, and walls and a high tin roof. Not at all the kind of place to record vocals. However we do have a giant rocket clock cubby that I have repurposed not a vocal booth.

The recordings turned out pretty well. I didn’t end up covering the door for this test, yet the booth sounded clear and dry.

Setting up a headphone mix is really great in Logic. After selecting the channels I want in the mix, I select a send bus and set it to pre fader. This allows me control over what the vocalist is hearing in the headphones without changing to balance of the main mix.

After setting up my vocal booth I did some test recordings to check the sound of the booth. Using the rough draft I recorded myself attempting to sing. It also gave me a chance to set up a headphone mix for the vocalist. I had trouble with the headphone send. I was experiencing delay with what I was hearing next to my voice. I looked into the potential latency issues with the software and made some adjustments.

Logic Pro X has an excellent composition feature. This allows me to records many takes of the song or section without having to stop and re-record. The takes are saved in a folder like structure, with a main comp at the top. Tools allow me to quickly audition a take or small phrases words even breaths and add or remove them from the final comp.

Sending the track channels to a headphone mix

Logic has sends on fader, this puts the signal of send knob on to the faders for easier control

Set up of send is in pre fader, sent to my MOTU audio interface output 9-10

Sweet Honey In the Rock. 1988. “Your Worries Ain’ Like Mine.” Track 14 on Live At Carnegie Hall. Vinyl. US: Flying Fish. https://www.discogs.com/release/1810467-Sweet-Honey-In-The-Rock-Live-At-Carnegie-Hall.

“Your Worries Ain’ Like Mine” is a blues standard first recorded in 1928 by Victoria Spivey. There are also two versions recorded by Georgia White (different lyrics) recorded between 1935 and 1946. I first heard the song as the accapella version sung live by Sweet Honey In the Rock, sometime in the late 1990's. I have the album and have found the tone and harmonies of the vocals amazing. It is the acapella version recorded by Sweet Honey In the Rock that I have sent to my vocalist to learn.

Chambord. “Wonderland.” 2022. Track 1 on Wonderland. Kindisch, https://wearechambord.bandcamp.com/track/chambord-wonderland

“Wonderland” is a 6:25min ‘Slo House’ track, being a dance track the vocals don’t come in until 2:12. The vocals are are secondary to the rhythm section that drives the track. Unlike commercial music, where the focus and priority is on the vocals, in dance music the vocals often provide secondary interest. In many tracks they are heavily processed with effects and texture. They are very rarely narrative in a singer songwriter type structure. While they can be identified as a verse chorus or A B section, vocals in dance music are generally very simple repetitive lines. This track is called Wonderland. ‘One day wonderland’ is the line that is repeated throughout the sections.