the bad kind. like stuff taking longer than expected.

i keep forgetting that it’s one thing to get a vocal take done; it’s another entirely to listen to it and be satisfied. i maintain this is the hardest part of recording, the vocals, i mean. maybe that’s common knowledge and studio folks the world over are laughing. but it’s news to me.

as it turns out, my method for recording vocals doesn’t work for me at all. i figured i’d do a few takes of every song then go back through one at a time and listen to them and splice the best bits together. well not only is it time consuming, it’s just difficult to decide which bits are best — almost like there are too many options. it feels disorganized and i have no basis of which one is a good starting point. so i was dismayed and decided to rethink my approach.

i’ve known for some time now that for me to do my best vocally, i generally have to be loud. maybe i had the voice too loud in the headphones to (the point) where i was being quiet to compensate, or maybe it was not loud enough to be inspiring or something; but when i listened back it didn’t sound like i was giving it all i had the whole time. a few of the songs i’m still kind of new to singing and they are a little tricky, so some of it is just taking time to practice singing some of those. so a change in the headphone mix was in order – a mix fix, if you will. ok that was lame.

what i decided on was to tackle each song’s vocals individually and keep going until it is done – the whole song, i mean. and if that means adding another instrument part that i think it needs, so be it. then vocally i make sure the mix is plenty loud and i go through it once the best i can and use that for a base because it’s the only option. then i listen and only redo the parts that need it.

so i started with you are never really gone since it’s a simple track with only vocals and guitar. i scrapped what i had vocally and started it over. and it came out great. i mean, i’m really satisfied with it. it would probably be good for me to listen to all of them on another day to be sure, but i’m labeling it done for now, mix, eq, and everything.

if it hadn’t come out well it may have ruined my day. but there was light at the end of the tunnel and though some songs will certainly be much harder than that one, there is hope.