Note: I suggest that if you haven’t yet read Miracle Of Faith – Parts 1-7 yet you start there.  This way you’ll get the whole story.

Installment 8A

The Sessions:

So I finally got to the point where I decided that it was now or never.  Are we ever fully ready to do a vocal session?  So much is learned in the session itself.  As the producer listens to take after take and helps shape the performance and direction is taken by the vocalist, the song does grow.  It’s simply a part of the creative process.

I always say that it’s most important to have as much of the technical understood before that session so that the technical becomes second nature and the majority of the focus in the session is on the emotional and logical performance.  In any given moment in a studio recording, if the singer is focused on the technical, it simply weakens the performance – the singer is not living the moment, but rather is standing outside of the song and not “into it.”

When I produce my own vocals, then I have to wear two hats – the hat of the producer and the hat of the performer.  As a performer when in the booth singing, I can’t be listening to myself with my producer hat on.  I must be totally the performer.  If I were to listen to each take as the producer right after the take, I would double the time it takes to do a good vocal and turn a 2-3 hour session into a 4-6 hour session.  A long session like that would simply wear anybody out, so basically I have to just wear the hat of the singer and trust my instincts and hope that I have what I need for the comp.

I believe I did 10-11 full takes of the song.  In my studio I can run my computer and my Apple Logic Recording Software remotely from the booth.  So I am, in essence, singer, producer and engineer.  I need to make sure I get a lot of sleep the night before.

I start out by getting levels – both headphone levels and recording levels.  Sometimes I’ll ask Julia to come in and watch the VU meters while I run through the song in rehearsal and set a level so that I’m well short of distortion.

Once I’m happy with the mix of orchestra and myself in my phones then I spend the next 2 hours recording 10-12 full takes of the song.  I drink a lot of hot tea while I’m singing.  It keeps my throat lubricated and warm and I just like the feel of it.  Every singer is different.  Many won’t drink any dairy products before or during a session.  They say it coats the throat.  Others drink hot water.  Cold water with ice is probably the one drink I would stay away from.  Carbonated beverages are probably not such a good idea either.  Too many bubbles in the stomach.  Burrrrp …

Well, enough of all that …

Basically I try to spend the 2 hours of singing living the character of the song.  In this case it was a more theatrical song and I was playing Thomas, the doubter, but as long as I play Peter, the doubter I’ll be OK.  Even if I’m playing simply myself in a given song, I still have to choose what part of my own character I will play.  I have to know who I am and who I am talking to and most importantly what am I doing.  Basically all these decisions of the actor are made before the session, so once I get into the session, I just let it fling.