Tips for Better Vocal Performance When Recording
Many of us singers who are just starting out or still new to recording tend to only focus on "pitch" during recording performance which is of course the most fundamental part, but often overlook on the other important aspects that will differentiate between a decent vocal recording and a great one: “vocal expression and phrasing”.
Two singers can sing at the same pitch of the same song, but may not give the same emotion and feeling because of the different characteristics of expression and phrasing. The pitch and melody of the song should already be something you are familiar with and feel comfortable to pull it off to a certain extent before recording, so that you will not just focus on the pitch alone, but also have rooms for other important aspects like vocal expression and phrasing to pay attention to and hear them during the recording session.
What kind of phrasing should be used for singing on the song? Does my singing faithfully express and convey certain emotion on this song? What kind of singing style and vibe should be applied to this song? Should I back off or get closer to the mic on each specific part or phrase to create different tones during recording? These are what we should prepare, practice, and keep in mind before and during recording session.
We are moved by a song we listen to because we feel certain emotions and musical phrases through the artist’s expressions. Pitch and timing can be corrected with editing, but no matter how experienced the engineer is and how well of the quality of the mic and equipment are, all of those cannot help to create “the natural emotion and expression”. We should focus on emotion and passion over perfection.
A recording performance that is not well-prepared beforehand cannot be saved or expected to sound great and natural in post-production. On the other hand, a well-prepared performance will mainly be enhanced afterward, but not fixing.
What skills and techniques that should be applied on expressing and singing in the way that you want? How should you practice and achieve great performance?
How do those great artists sing and what mic techniques do they use? These are the questions that should be asked and kept in mind to improve on singing performance.
Nowadays, we live in the era of internet where countless of information can be easily found by searching. YouTube is a great starting place to learn and watch on how your favorite artists perform live and in the studio sessions. The First Take channel can also be a place to see some of the great singing performances and observe on how those artists convey their emotions through their vocal expression and phrasing rather than just merely focus on vocal pitch and technical perfection without feeling.
If you are interested in recording and looking for a place to either self-record your vocals or with an engineer to support you throughout the process in a cozy vibe and friendly environment with high-quality results even you are new to recording, please feel free to contact us. Our music and recording studio is in Takadanobaba, Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Goldilocks Playroom
Visit Us at: www.goldilocksplayroom.com
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