Stop Recording Vocals Like This

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If I had a voice like Joe's I'd never stop singing. When I sing my wife goes to the neighbors so they will know she's not stabbing me and call the police. 😁

I gotta say, I used to record tons of people and I did this, but it didn't get as good results. Likely that was partly because the vocalists weren't as good. But I've found I get the best takes out of vocalists by intentionally not interrupting them and giving them as little feedback as possible. The more I've tracked artists, the more I've leaned into giving them very little input because it brings them out of the emotion of the song and caught up with technique. Just my experience as an artist, engineer, and producer. I do understand this method tho, and perhaps I'll give it a try again.

Being able to punch in and out in DAWs makes recording vocals a TON of fun! No need for lengthy takes, just sing until you mess up and punch in from there. It's a blast, but make sure you're maintaining input consistency or the edits will be tough to mix cleanly.

This is so timely. After recording at home for decades, I came to this conclusion myself in exactly the way you describe. The entire vocal several times, then divided up, then finally I thought no... I'm not moving on to the next verse until I have a great take. It came naturally, but I also realized I just couldn't do the endless searching through track after track anymore. It feels like a weight has been removed, as "the vocals" had become something to be dreaded more than something to really look forward to, which I think they should be. The vocals are the song after all, and it should be more of a magical time than an editing nightmare for the next day or two or three. I highly recommend this approach to anyone. Free yourself! Thank you for this!

My approach is to tell the artist from the get go, that we will record the song twice on different days. First I record the "Demo" where the singer is just making the first tries of everything - I focus on the melody and that the take is clear to understand what's going on. Then I'm working again on a arangement of the song, thinking about the parts where I'd use some backing vocals and all that stuff, while the singer is listening to what is recorded and is working on what to improve on. Then when we're on another session the singer is prepared to make a one take and we end up with the very best.

According to the members of Oasis, they would limit their recording to 3 takes, and if they failed, they'd just record another time. I really like this because it forces you to practice well and be ready on the day of recording. Also, as a rapper, I personally try to nail it in a single take and hopefully the first or second try. And 9 times out of 10 the first complete take works the best for me. Even if there are some "mistakes" I leave them in because the overall vibe is what's most important to me. Of course, if I missed a word in an otherwise awesome take, I would punch it to just correct that, but that happens rarely. That being said, great video and I loved hearing your approach to this!

It’s a high risk technique to employ as mixer you have to think about engineering the track and identify good takes in the moment which could leave you without enough backup takes when you listen back a day later and realise that take you thought sounded great (so didn’t get any more takes)is actually not so great or there’s some unwanted noises or glitches in the audio. The other thing is dropping in vocalists to fix phrases often results in different tonalities and energy that is difficult to mix. The vocal is the most important part of a track I think you need multiple takes to work with. My preference is to get five takes but mentally note the best full take then use that as the master and drop in bits from other takes where needed. No need to audition every take for every section.

Joe's method 3 is pretty much the only way I have ever recorded vocals. The only slight difference is that we usually record a scratch vocal, singing through the whole song for reference to song sections. Then we tend to do method 3 section by section.

Joe, I record multiple takes like example 1 but I don't review each take. I go - maybe five takes, until I am warmed up and get one that feels good, then I only look for segments of the earlier takes if there is something wobbly I might have done better earlier. I make sure all takes are under identical circumstances- always the same day. Thanks for the invaluable checklist. You are a hero.

The best thing about home studio recording tutorials on YouTube is the variety of approaches and techniques. Love ya, Bro-Joe.

Having immediate feedback and deliver quickly something functional. You are following an "Agile" way of working, which is a current challenge for many big companies in general (not related to music) and who struggle to achieve. You should give conferences to companies directors!! Thank you so much for this 💖

When I watched La Bamba as a kid, seeing how Ritchie recorded in studio had always stuck with me. Years later when I started getting into recording workstations, that style of recording has always been my method, which reminds me of exactly how you describe here. Reason why I did it this way was because at the start, the only software I used (and could afford to log my ideas) was windows movie maker, and so I would have to do everything in one take and I would spend hours and hours practicing until I got it right. What made it rough for me at the time was that I was really into prog metal, and so I felt like a good song wasn't good unless it was over 5 minutes long, sometimes around 10 minutes. Using the method you described made life so much easier. The good thing about doing everything in take is that the imperfections is what made it unique and that I got really good at memorizing and performing entire songs. Listening back to the grainy and horribly recorded songs, I can easily remember the feeling I felt when I recorded something, and many times it brings me back to a place in my creativity where I can see things and people, and recollect things I had forgotten about.

I went to the studio for the first time in January to record two songs, The engineer told me to sing the whole song 5 times and then sing the verses again three times and the chorus. When i got the mastered versions of the songs back lets just say i was very disappointed, i have a set up at home with just a mic and a audio interface and i found my records were way better, it seems he didn't put no effects on it or anything. i've started to learn how to mix and master better, which i've learned from your videos. Keep up the good work Joe.

I personally like the "punching in" method. It's way more efficient & less time consuming then 5 diff takes. Bc you're able to clean up, as you go. Then stack your vocals on notes & words that you want to stand out. But whatever works for you as a vocalist. Different methods are ok, long as you created a fire song! Continue to do that thing that works for you.

Wow, thank you so much for this. I despise vocal editing, but I’m not a great enough singer to nail it in a couple of takes. It’s the biggest source of procrastination in music for me, and even extends into background vocals and guitar. This is a great way to make decisions immediately without getting too out of the zone.

Man, I‘m so happy you‘re promoting this technique. I started working in Studios 1996, SSL console, tapemachine… that era. And for obvious reasons this was our main way of recording. Sometimes we dropped in and out only for a syllable or two to get it right. It‘s also a closer and more involved work with the singer. I‘m not one of these „back in the days everything was better“ guys… I wouldn‘t want to go back to the limited technical options we had, but this kind of recording I‘d still prefer. The whole „get the recording right“ instead of relying on fixing it digitally…

Great Advise! I’ve also found that if you record multiple takes for each section of the song start to finish, you can end up sounding like Joe Cocker (and that’s ok) by the last chorus and it’s hard to match all the others tone wise.

I usually do a combination your first two approaches. We do one (or two at most) full takes, sit in the room with the singer and decide what we like and don't like, then go punch those specific spots that we want to tidy up

I'm new to home recording and glad I found your channel. I've been scouring Youtube for instructional videos and so far your style is my favourite. I suspect I'll signing up for one of your courses. Thank you for the clear and concise explanations.