Note: I suggest that if you haven’t yet read Miracle Of Faith – Part 1, 2, or 3 yet you start there.  This way you’ll get the whole story.

Installment 4B

I very much like to do whole takes – that is, to have the singer sing the whole song each time.  That way the emotional arc of the song is performed each time.  Usually the first 3 takes deal with the technical notes – a little pitchy here, change the vowel here, watch the rushing here, nail this note here – that sort of thing.  I try to get the technical out of the way within the first 3-4 takes so we can get into the performance and the emotional content of the song once the technical is solid.

One thing for sure about recording vocals – the singer has to be deeply involved with the ‘in-the-moment-living’ of the song for it to be a great vocal.  The moment the song becomes technical it loses something and the greatness dissipates.  That’s why it’s so important that the song is memorized before hand.  If you’re clutching at the lyrics during the take, it just doesn’t work.  It’s like an actor in a play reading from a script.

Noah sang 6 solid takes of the song and I could hear his voice begin to tire slightly.  I asked him to do one more and again his answer was, “I’ll give you whatever you need.”  His seventh take was brilliant.  He nailed it – fully emotional, technically astute.

I knew I had the song in the can.  But there were a few places – 4 to be exact – where I just wanted to make absolutely sure, so we did 4-5 more takes on just those sections of the song.  His concentration and commitment stayed solid – a most impressive debut for this young talent.  His first studio recording and already an old pro.

When the session was over I was both elated and saddened.  The project had gone so much better than expected, but the time with Noah was over.  Show business is a strange field.  When working together you make such great friends because you share such personal experience together.  It’s not like any other business where the personal is best minimized.  Making an album, rehearsing a musical, even doing a movie together is always deeply personal and you make great friends.  And then one day the experience is over and you move on.  Often you never see or even speak to those close relationships again.

I shall make sure this doesn’t happen with Noah.