This is a huge debate with vocal instructors. Some think you are limited to a certain vocal range that you were born with and others believe you can have a 5 octave range! I follow Brett Manning and he believes we are able to have that 5 octave range… male or female…it’s possible! He isContinue reading “Singers, you have a bigger range than you think……”
Tag Archives: vocalist
Can mood really affect a vocal performance?
So here’s an interesting topic…can a singer’s mood affect their vocal performance? It absolutely can! I have worked with singer’s before that were going through things that weighed heavy on them and they really couldn’t find the technique anymore. It’s like the singer had a wall constraining them from singing. This is sad to see,Continue reading “Can mood really affect a vocal performance?”
Does the chord progression take away from the vocal melody?
I ran into an issue this week that I feel is a great topic to talk about. Does the chord progression in the song take away from the vocal melody? I was working on this project for a singer and the bass guitar was playing the main chord progression. The progression was not wrong orContinue reading “Does the chord progression take away from the vocal melody?”
Writing vocal melodies that compliment the singer’s range….
One thing I have run into lately is songwriters writing songs for other people without keeping the vocal range in mind. My wife does a lot of singer-for-hire jobs remotely online and we have run into this a lot. A man will write a vocal melody intending a girl to sing the song and he’sContinue reading “Writing vocal melodies that compliment the singer’s range….”
Two different approaches for pitching layered vocals…
We always have to know what style of music we are working on and what makes sense for that style. It may be surprising, but how you pitch correct vocal layers varies depending on what type of music you are working on. I’ll start with pop music. Pop music is a perfection type of music.Continue reading “Two different approaches for pitching layered vocals…”
Sometimes singers sing with strain…what should you do?
One thing you really can’t fix in the mix too easily is strain. Even if you pitch the vocal well, there is a characteristic in the voice that comes through as strain. Singing flat does sound like strain so if it’s pitched correctly it will sound slightly better, but strain can damage the tone ofContinue reading “Sometimes singers sing with strain…what should you do?”
This is the best way to trim and edit background noise in vocals…
When recording vocals there’s always going to be some background noise. Noise gates can work but are hard to set to a good setting if the singer has any sort of dynamics. Gates can work well for rap music usually or for rock/metal singers who are always loud. I want to talk about manually editingContinue reading “This is the best way to trim and edit background noise in vocals…”
Why should all vocalists record themselves at home?
If you are a vocalist, I’m pretty sure you practice for your live shows right? Band rehearsals, stage moves, vocal warm ups etc. Do you practice recording your voice? This is an entire skill on its own! Recording and live are two different animals. You don’t know how many times someone has told me “IContinue reading “Why should all vocalists record themselves at home?”
Performance vs Pitch
I wanted to talk about a very unique outlook on vocal recording. Many singers will hate almost every take that they record. Why is this? Simply because of pitch. It is extremely hard to stay close enough to perfect pitch that we are satisfied as humans. Our ears can sense if it’s off pitch, evenContinue reading “Performance vs Pitch”
The power of nudging in Protools!
I’m going to share with you a super simple technique to improve your vocal productions! One word…nudge. Nudging is simply sliding vocals ahead in time or back in time. Protools has a function to move audio by pressing the + or – key on the numeric keypad. Just select the part you would like toContinue reading “The power of nudging in Protools!”
Perfect Vocals Academy 