Good Vibe Vocals

The Standard Trouble:

At the start of week 4, in a 6 week assignment isn't the best time to have problems with drums that we recorded at week 1. Morgan's computer has been not working since we recorded the drums. I've realised that in order to get this back on track I'll have to compose the synth elements and record them on the sub 37 by the end of this week, and vocals have to be done at the start of the next week, in order to keep the whole week of post production and my sanity in week 6. The Vocals: I've spent some time this week researching vocal techniques for a plan to follow in regards to recording. To start with I think the Neve studio will give us the best recording as it's the best room from what I understand, large enough to not sound like we're recording in a box yet still quiet. For the mic choice we will have to do some experiments, I've not recorded this artist before so I don't know what subtleties I should be drawing out from his voice. I know SAE Creative Media Institute carries SM58, Rode NTK, I'm fairly sure that they also have a Neumann TLM 102, Morgan also has a vocal mic he says will be perfect. In any case the plan is to try a variety of microphones first to try and bring out something unique in the voice or even blend multiple tracks together, perhaps the SM58 mixed with the NTK.

There will be 3 main things I'll be adding to the vocals,

Reductive EQ

Compression Additive EQ

The plan is to add some light compression to the vocals, just to bring down the peaks, then eqing out any frequencies that don't belong, e.g low end below 100hz while also adding frequencies that could bring out that unique sound I'm hoping for.

Parallel compression is very common for rap vocals, which may be a good starting point for finding the right tone/thickness. Aside from the main track, I hope to get some "Hypeman" vocals recorded, so they can be mixed in to create accents in volume over certain key syllables, this is also a common element to rap music

Update on Synths: In addition to the vocals, there is still work to do on the synths, the basic guide for the synth track is now complete, and we've booked time in the raven studio on thursday. There is also a few ideas with more of the effect synth elements yet to be included The track is long and slow to build, so to keep interest I think we'll need to add some FX synth elements.