Recording vocals: little bits or verses at a time?

Given that I'm NOT a pro: I tend to practice a song for a week or two singing it in my car to and from work, around the house, until I get comfortable enough not to have the lyrics in front of me. When I'm ready to record it, I sing it straight through from start to finish. Usually three of four takes, and I'm done. Unless I double track it, in which case it's 5 or 6 takes. Not nearly as many takes as recording guitar or bass.

I will sing each verse a bunch of times. Then pick the best reading; might be a word or two, or the whole take. Take knife and then start cutting.

Honestly I rarely sing one part at a time. The only exception may be  when I'm working on harmony vocal tracks.

Guess I'm old school, I do things the hard way...

. Earlier on in the work I rec a vocal guide track which helps me better construct the song.  Because I believe the lead vocal is the core messenger for the song and everything else falls around it, to compliment rather than compete with the vocal.

. Sometimes near completion of the composition I may rewrite the lyrics, maybe slightly change the melody, I want each word to sound what is best for the song.  If a rewrite is necessary then I'll re-rec it from start to end.

. I always practice (singing) the song over and over long before I rec it  from start to end. That's just me, I do this because it helps better prepare me for two reasons; (1) Perform/rec double vocal much tighter.  (2) Strengthen and improve my performance, whilst giving me 100%  confidence/delivery of performance, and if I need to cut it live then I'll be ready for it.

I usually get the talent to sing all the way through - I'm more interested in getting the feel right than perfection, tho.  A few takes - depends upon how it goes and how the artist feels about the takes.  Then maybe some single verses - even if it was only a line or word that was off.

Of course, I'm using someone else, not doing it myself, even at home. And there are the time constrants.  But I would suggest you try doing the whole thing at a go - several times.  Then find the best take and chop and dice from that one.  You might end up w/ a bunch of different pieces anyway, or you could save yourself some time and grief.

@

Read up on using track layers, looping & comp'ing.

I'm pretty sure it's all in the manual - if not, it's all in Scott's Garrigus' POWER book, without a doubt.

There just isn't any one right way to do vocals.  If it works, it works.

Keep in mind that the majority of recording I do these days is for-hire, so my experiences may be a bit different than the "normal" user.

What I typically do is have the vocalist run through the song from front to back - "just as they would do live."  I use these passes to:
1:  Set Levels for me and the talent
2:  Let the talent get fully warmed up
3:  Get to know the song better
4:  Used as a "guide track" as we jump around the song and record parts.

I'll record each pass without playback...sometimes up to 3 live passes.  Mute them.  Then we move on to verse 1 when the singer is ready to start "tracking".

Typically, I'll have the singer work on the first verse, moving on to the second verse and all subsequent verses immediately.  It is often that verses are performed in similar vocal registers, with similar delivery.  While the singer is in that "mood", I like to keep them there.  AND...often, the song builds with intensity when you compare the first verse to the second verse.  This also aids in natural warm up.

Once the verses are down, the singer is usually pretty hot.  So we go for Chorus 1.  Then Chorus 2 and 3, etc.  Again, not uncommon for Choruses to get even more aggressive as a song goes along...so as the singer is gettinger warmer and warmer, he/she's also getting into the real meat of the song.

And usually, we'll hit the bridge last.  Not uncommon for a bridge part to be the most aggressive of all...so it's nice to hit it when the singer is at his/her peak.  Even if it's a subdued sort of bridge, the voice is fully warm, and the emotion tends to be more believeable.

I also might add....it's not common, but occasionally we actually go back and re-track the first verse if it sounds obvious that he/she wasn't 100% warmed up.

If we're doing more than one track in a sitting, we'll do this for each song...taking a good 20 min break between them.  And again...starting with verses and so on to sort of ramp the singer up.

BTW:  Those 3 or so passes that I recorded "live" sometimes yield some amazingly inspired sections that we snag to comp with the rest of the stuff.

That's just the way that I do it here.

I generally record just one track for a vocal. I will record it straight through and listen to it a few times. If I feel I can do it better, I'll just delete it and start again. I will also sing it dry... or with just playback running so I can 1, warm up my voice, 2 get into the song 3 work out the issues...then when I feel it's all in place I punch up record and go at it this time for real.

I will only fix (by punch in punch out) the really bad screwups. Melodyne will get the pitchy places and the notes that were just plain wrong..... so yeah...I only do it in one track with minor fixes.

Harmonies..., to me can be a bit harder to get right and I will use punch in & out more on them.  I am not above copy & paste once I get a harmony part right... if subsequent choruses are suitable and I am feeling lazy..... I'll copy and paste a part in a heartbeat.  I still aim to sing the chorus lead in real time so it has those small subtle differences that are lost in C&P.

me, i tend to write on the spot.

i take my pad, and pencil, and start writing.
typically, i'll arrange the whole song, before i put the lyric on.

i'll have a gist of what i want to do vocally, and just start.

sometimes, i work it out a line at a time, and sometimes it just comes in a flood and i'll furiously write down 2 verses and a bridge back to back.
then, i just stand up the mic, and start experimenting.

when i do a line, that i really like, i'll know it as i'm doing it, and i just continue on, assuming i have my lyrics written down.


i'm very good at punching in, and remembering parts, and usually i'll do an entire verse at a time, for example, and immediately arm the harmony vox tracks, and lay them down before even moving on to the next part.

then, i'll live with the demo version for a while, and then decide if i want to re-track anything.
sometimes, i'll pass on doing something over to make it 'tighter', just because the vibe of the 1st shot is more important to me than the slick pro side of nailing it.

i still dig the old stones and humble pie way of doing vox more like it's a rock show...
it's loose, and vibey.

there's so much stuff out there these days, that are just as slick as goose sh!t, and i want to do something different. that's just me.

I would love to be able to keep that one start-to-finish take, but invariably there's always one phrase or note that needs fixing.  But skullsession is totally right: if it works, it works.

There was an article on Billy Corgan, and it covered his recording techniques back in the Smashing Pumpkins days (assuming he's always worked like this).  He'll sing multiple takes, then pick the best pieces to make up the finished song.  Not too different from the way some early Elvis Presley songs came together - the engineers would combine takes #5 and #12 into the "one" version you've heard a million times.

Anything goes. The things I do most with, the most, experienced vocalists is record the full version a bunch of times and then pick the best ones. If something does not fit entirely I comp it from some of the other takes. As said the continuity and feel will often get just a tiny bit better from the natural flow but it's very easy to remedy with comping as well.

For a little less experienced vocalists I record the full verses a bunch of times and comp the best parts from them, sometimes with re-recording certain snippets/lines that they might have a problem with.

For newbie vocalists it can also work very well to record every line, or every rhyme, by itself and then puzzle it together as they can get nervous if they have to remember to much and feel more secure to concentrate on one thing at a time.

If recording snippets/lines I ave found it to be a good thing if the vocalist can at least hum along to all (or at least a few) of the pre-recorded takes of the verse as they play before the part they are to record appears to get the feel and sound continuity better.

Also, the most important thing with recording vox is ALWAYS make the vocalist feel like a star and like they are excellent. If you get them to think they are excellent they will perform much better, confidence is a great booster. If you are recording yourself tell yourself you are great and reward yourself with something nice when something feels good rather than being picky and dragging yourself down. It's always better to say "That was great (even if it wasn't), let's see if we can get an even better take" than "That didn't work, can you please at least try to get it right this time", unless the person you are working with is a **** and you are not even getting any money in wich case you should tell them they just don't have it and ask them to leave your studio so you won't suffer from a nervous breakdown

When I record myself, I sing it 10+ times, then I slice and dice and pretty much go line-by-line picking the best takes to make a good comp track. However, I'm not a good singer.

When I've recorded good singers, I try to get a good full take of the entire song. I think that it flows when you can capture that. It's also easier to mix! But then I'll still keep a few extra takes in case there's a word or a line here or there that needs fixed.

Legion

Also, the most important thing with recording vox is ALWAYS make the vocalist feel like a star and like they are excellent. If you get them to think they are excellent they will perform much better, confidence is a great booster.

+1. I like to tell the singer... "okay that last one was a great take. Now on this next take, the pressure's off so just let go, add some more creative touches and see what happens." THAT's often the keeper take!
When I'm recording myself, after a few takes, some whisky helps!

No rules... make it good... I often do 1 or two lines at a time, some take 10 tries before Im happy. I listen for the performance of that line or lines, and also how it flows with the surrounding lines. Also, editing the line your on to get rid of clips at ends or wierd breaths to be able to vibe on it more with the rest of the lines around it helps.

Again, no rules. If you can do a 1 take deal, by all means, go for it-

I can record ain one take, and it sound nice. Many would consider it great. But it usually isnt on the level I want it to be.

Good thing is, I do know how to get things on the level I want them, so that is a relief as an artist and producer/engineer, etc.

Legion

Original: dlogan

When I'm recording myself, after a few takes, some whisky helps!

LOL! +1000

The whisky helps the most during playback.

COMPING is your friend.