Recording - December 2009 - 50

Getting the best performance out of a singer can be tricky. We welcome new contributor Cliff Goldmacher, who shares tips and tricks from sessions at his New York and Nashville studios THE ENGINEER/PRODUCER’S GUIDE TO By Cliff Goldmacher Technical & emotional insights into getting great vocal performances As a producer and engineer, I’ve worked with hundreds of singers from Grammy-winning to first-time amateurs. Over the years, I’ve discovered several constants that must be present for a session to run smoothly and yield a great vocal performance no matter who the vocalist may be. Some of these constants are technical, such as mic and mic pre/compressor choices, headphone mixes, and efficient vocal comping, while others are emotional, like good communication—otherwise described as “ways to tell a singer they’re ‘flat’ without using that word.” It’s with a good balance of technique and communication that you’ll be able to help a singer give you their best. WORKING WITH VOCALISTS A great mic pre and compressor will do their jobs without your ears detecting that they’re “working.” The pre will “warm” up the sound, giving it additional presence and clarity, and the compressor will take some of the more dramatic peaks and valleys out of the vocal while it’s being recorded. I’d recommend conservative use of compression at tracking—I stop at around 3 dB. Headphone mixes It’s a good idea to check in with the vocalist at several points in the session to see if they’re getting the proper level for the track and their vocal. Too much vocal in the headphones will make the singer Being a producer/engineer is like being a therapist/rocket scientist. It requires staying on top of your technical game while remaining aware of the emotional climate in the studio. Technical insights It is part of our job as engineers to be fascinated by the latest DAW, microphone or compressor to come down the line, but at the end of the day, all that matters is that you know whatever equipment you have well enough to make it “disappear” during a session. The vocalist doesn’t really care if your $5000 mic is one of five in the world and handmade by 30 Scandinavian virgins, all they want to do is sing into it and like how they sound. The same goes for your recording setup—you need to know it so well that when the vocalist is ready to sing, listen back or get a slightly different sound, you can make it happen without making them wait. Waiting around in the studio is the second most effective “vibe killer” right after rudeness. So: know your equipment cold. Microphones, preamps, and compressors Using a great microphone saves you from a lot of eq work on the back end to get a good tone. I remember switching from a mid-priced condenser to my first tube microphone and noticing how much more balanced the vocal sound became with so much less effort on my part.RECORDING DECEMBER 2009 tentative, while too little vocal in the headphones will result in the singer pushing too hard and struggling with pitch. Composite vocals Even the best singers may require that their final performances be assembled from a number of takes. Compositing or comping vocals is an art that requires good listening, but the basics of the process are simple engineering techniques you should master, even if your particular DAW offers fancy tools to speed up the comping process. Use the playlist feature on your DAW software to record multiple takes. Make sure to label each take. This allows you to keep the track settings the same for each pass. Then create a new track underneath the main vocal track and drag a copy of the selected vocal takes down to create a comp track. Keep eq/compression/effects settings the same on comp track so you’re comparing “apples to apples.” An experienced engineer will use lyric sheets to take detailed notes while the vocalist is singing: • Place the number of the take to the right of the line when you think the take is a keeper.

Recording - December 2009

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