First of all, let me just say that it is never recommended.
The truth is, the producer hat and the vocalist hat are essentially at odds with each other. Just because you can do each one separately, doesn’t mean it will go smoothly when you try to do them together. The producer is the critical ear, the filter. Your producer brain wants to say no, do it better, that is not good enough. The producer brain is quite discerning. Then there is the performing brain — that is the part that must stay open. The performing brain must be supported, encouraged. There are no mistakes. The performance requires feelings, openness, vulnerabilty and safety.
Can you see how those things are nearly opposite? Stay too accepting, and you’ll never get that good take. Stay too critical, and you’ll never get that good take.
So, with this in mind, I am going to try to disclose some of my conclusions after sweating it out like crazy:
- Record first, edit later. Don’t think about editing on recording day, one hat at a time.
- Get ‘present’ – that stands to reason for any performance task. Be accepting. Too much desire for a perfect take almost guarantees a lack of results.
- Try taking on different characters. Who are you? Can you be someone else? This can help you get unstuck and give you some juice.
- Learn how to tell when you have enough good takes. Cover your bases, but don’t treat your voice like a sweatshop. You can always do pickups later.
- Pretend you are editing someone else’s voice. This is not you. Someone else hired you to do their hit song, and they happen to sound an awful lot like you.
- Learn to hear for microscopic details in a performance: breaths, little scoops, funny clicks or warbles. They will seem huge after 300 listens.
- Use autotune, don’t abuse it (unless you really want to.) It’s a great tool, which you can use to massage sneaky little words like “the” or “a” which people generally sing less accurately.
- Remember that a recorded performance is very different than a live performance. So don’t be shy about take looping.
- Don’t be afraid to screw up. In your home studio, time is free. Do it, and re-do it. Your morale may falter, but none of the time is wasted.
- Pat yourself on the back. Nobody else in the room to do it, and besides, no one is looking so you won’t look funny.
BUY ONLINE
The Gates are Wide Open, What Now?
18 08 2009Due to public acceptance of digital distribution, majors are now forced to compete more and more with indie artists. The world is upside down. It used to be the major labels and distributors controlled all of the content in record stores. It used to be that they were the gatekeepers. If you wanted to get heard, you more or less had to play ball with them. Much to their chagrin, it’s all moving online now.
They tried to control the distribution there too, remember? By adding DRM and doing various PR shenanigans, which only served to alienate their customers more and more. Really, they didn’t treat their customers all that well. When I bought a Compact Disc, I could make as many copies as I liked without hassle. It wasn’t copy protected. But when I just wanted the mp3 that I was going to make with my Compact Disc, they were blocking me all the way. So I waited. And waited. And finally the Apples and Amazons of the world managed to convince enough guys in suits to get their heads out of their own arses and sell me something I actually want.
But how do you cope with all the onslaught? Anybody with a few bucks can get digital distribution now, and the album is never out of stock. And that’s a good thing. Tons of new music all the time. But how are customers to choose? Where are they finding their music? These are things which keep me up at night. If access is not limited, then is it all about exposure? And who do you trust for recommendations?
Personally, I rely on friends, and chance. If I come across something I love, I’ll make an effort to find it. Otherwise, I ask for trusted friends to recommend stuff. It is the most reliable method. Strangely, they mainly recommend the same stuff. Somehow the music is snaking through the social network. And not just in the Twitter sort of way. Lately I’ve taken to having good old fashioned listening sessions with buds, sort of an extended musical show and tell. I really find it helps to cut through the mammoth mountain of choices.
For this reason I suspect some releases and careers will take longer to build. The slower the burn, the longer the fire – that type of thing. I try to take comfort in this when I ponder the microscopic corner of the music universe I presently occupy. At least I’m not some raging forest fire.
Do major labels still have something to offer? Surely they must. They are a finely oiled PR machine. They have money – lots more than the artists usually have, but less than they used to. And if you want to be a massive overnight Pop wonder, you would have a tough time doing it without big label clout.
I often think the role of the majors may eventually become more like a consultant or an investor. Like to nurture artists to grow. Leverage their experience, their contacts. Offer something the artists need. Since a distribution monopoly is no longer something they are offering, they must offer something else. Without expertise or other value, how will they inspire their bread and butter to sign on the dotted line?
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Tags: digital distribution, distribution, gatekeepers, indie artists, indie music, major labels, music industry, new media, online music
Categories : Industry Commentary