preserving vocals?

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infectdsniper

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Dec 6, 2010
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Athens, AL
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Hey. I'v got a situation where some locals are recording and we're having to do all the vocals at the the end of everything else. He's pretty much coming and doing as much as he can before his voice goes and then leaving. Does anybody here have any tips on keeping it going for longer because we are getting about one good solid hour and then a mediocre break filled hour. It would be much better for both of us if we could knock this out in fewer days :)
 
Only he can answer that question; ie. what works for him doesn't necessarily work for someone else. That said, hot water with honey, drinking lots of water, etc etc.. there must be a few threads here about this.
 
I actually don't think most vocalists can do more than one to two hours of heavy screaming vocals at high intensity per day. I know I am done after 1-1,5h or less. Studio work has a lot more "finesse" and intensity and repetitions than live shows. Also everything is under the microscope so it's simply more difficult.

That's why I prefer to do vocals step-by-step/day-by-day as soon as the basics/guide-tracks are there.
 
I normally do that with bands but these guys wouldn't listen to me when I said he needed to be here. . I was just wondering if there was anything more anyone here has discovered. Many singers recommend diluted lemon juice or honey but I was wondering what has worked best for others in heavy genres. If they have to come for 1 hour seasons it wont be the end of the world but its still a bit inconvenient. So has anyone had any luck squeezing more than an hour out of a vocalist?
 
I'm into throat coat tea with honey during breaks but stamina comes with practice and technique. Like so many things in the studio there aren't a lot of "day-of" solutions to fundamental issues. FWIW the death vocalist in my band can do 4 hours pretty easily when he's in practice but I can only sing for two or so.
One thing I think helps is doing like sections (verse or choruses etc.) and then cleaning, comping and tuning them before moving to the next set of parts. Then the vocalist can grab some tea and we can know for sure how the part is. You have to be careful to not let the vocalist get too cold though.
In the history of vocal tracking for me (as a singer or engineer), pushing through has never resulted in good takes.
 
smy1 said:
I actually don't think most vocalists can do more than one to two hours of heavy screaming vocals at high intensity per day. I know I am done after 1-1,5h or less. Studio work has a lot more "finesse" and intensity and repetitions than live shows. Also everything is under the microscope so it's simply more difficult.

That's why I prefer to do vocals step-by-step/day-by-day as soon as the basics/guide-tracks are there.
Click to expand...

Not to say 'you're wrong' but I disagree with that from personal experience. Most vocalists I know who have good technique etc can go for about 4 hours and then that's usually there best work. Same goes for when I do vocals
 
vespiz said:
That said, hot water with honey,
Click to expand...

Drink room temperature water. Never drink hot or cold anything, always room temperature, everything else you said was spot on though.

As a vocalist myself, stamina really depends on the vocalist and how often they practice. I can practice for 6 months every day and be top notch as far as endurance, but if I don't do vocals for 2 weeks I lose almost all of that work.
 
Remind him to bring a bottle of room temperature water that he can refill and have him take a sip every other take.

Most vocalists just don't realize water is a good thing to have on hand while tracking or they just forget.
 
Thanks a lot guys. I always have room temperature water. I'll try honey tea breaks and diluted lemon juice on different days and report results. this guys been pretty consistent in going out in an hour so if it helps ill be able to tell.
 
Like Melb_Shredder said, technique is a big factor, my last vocal session (black/death metal)
was about 5 hours of singing, tracked for probably 8-9 hours that day, took some breaks and
drank tea (slightly warm, but not hot at all) with honey, helped me alot.
I might have to add, I was able to get the technique right from the beginning and actually started
with growling/screaming when I was 13-14.

If the vocalist is a strong smoker, don't make him quit for the session, smoking doesn't help
but if he quits for the session it's probably harder for him, I smoke probably more during tracking
vocals, but that's a personal thing imho.
Besides that, a good warm up helps, too, if you take breaks longer than 15-30 minutes, he should
warm up again before he starts screaming.
 
If the singer doesn't know from his body what he's doing (feeling thru body when support is ok) monitoring can be quite tricky. Too much vocals to headphones can cause support to fell of. Or too little vocals to headphones can cause supporting too much and making long sessions impossible, but longer than in support fell off situation. Also headphones sound can lead vocalist to sing different than he should be, so good pair of phones is critical.

Also using compressors to monitoring can bee good or bad. In good way its giving some more to hear and makes vocalist feeling confident, in bad it can cause singer to be all over places with his volume. same goes with Fx, too much verb can cause pitch problems, but little verb can help pitch sometimes.

And also latency to phones can cause mindfuck also, cause sound inside singers scull and sound from headphones is in phase. Too much latency can cause support problems also. Putting one earpad off can help sometimes (no vocals to phones). With strong belting opera style lines (like mighty Devins stuff) i like to use one off, cause in that way i can here more how my voice is resonating in the room and in my body, and not how mic hears it.

Bare in mind, these all don't do nothing if the vocalist hasn't got a proper technique.
 
The vocalist in my old band watched the Melissa Cross "Zen of Screaming" DVDs and now (even years later, almost never practicing) he can go all day without hurting his voice. Don't know if it works for every vocal style though...
 
In the end it's the singer's vocal technique and vocal health that will determine the singer's endurance. They never want to hear it but its obvious when they are burnt early. Not that it didn't sound good, but IF they were to tour, they wouldn't last long and would end up benched or damaging themselves. I've had singers who swear that whiskey helped the throat, but that goes against everything I've heard on the subject. I haven't heard of any vocal instructors in the immediate region who specialize in bringing out your demon. That being said, most of the vocalists I've worked with are self taught in the death/extreme metal genre.

Since the focus is on the session and not about his long term vocal health and endurance, then all band-aids (bad pun) could apply. Tea with honey always a good suggestion, even though I sometimes feel a punch to the throat is more appropriate when I'm facing someone insistent on helping their voice with cigarettes and whiskey \m/
 
remember to warm up the vocal chords slowly. You don't want to just dive straight into screaming. That'll ruin your throat.
 
villeh said:
Putting one earpad off can help sometimes (no vocals to phones). With strong belting opera style lines (like mighty Devins stuff) i like to use one off, cause in that way i can here more how my voice is resonating in the room and in my body, and not how mic hears it.
Click to expand...

That's one tip I always follow. It just seems to work better for me. I can control my voice much better that way.
 
Sethis said:
That's one tip I always follow. It just seems to work better for me. I can control my voice much better that way.
Click to expand...

Singing, I find this way less necessary in a zero latency monitoring situation (analog). It's a completely anecdotal observation but even a couple of ms of delay makes pitching more difficult for me in a way I'd never notice if I was playing an instrument.
 
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