Mercy Me!
08/09/09
Yesterday, we tracked the vocals for Mercy MIld, and for the last song in this series, The Boat Song. We did the latter first, and it was a a bit of a struggle for me to do the lead vocal. Not a recording horror story, but maybe a dozen or so takes and a number of ‘punches’ (spot edits) on the best tracks, of certain sections where I was having particular difficulty. Paul added the few harmony bits at the end of the session. I’ll talk about The Boat Song in a near future blog.
Anyway, after a lunch break we set up to do the lead vocal for Mercy Mild. Paul set up three tracks for the vocals, as a start. I told him that I would sing the first take laid back, and the next more energized. We’d talk before the third take, and see what next. Paul called me out of the singing room to listen to the first track. The review revealed very minor warbles and micro timing issues, but no wrong notes or obviously screwed up intervals. And we really liked the feel. Paul adjusted the levels here and there, and fiddled with some normal added effects (reverb mostly) - then we declared it ‘the’ track. We did no more takes. If this sounds like bragging, that’s because it is! My advice for amateurs like me is - just relax and sing the song the way you feel it. It helps if you wrote the song, if it’s an easy sing, and if you’ve already sung it a thousand times - but why quibble! So, if you note how thin my voice is, or how less than absolutely perfect the execution is, don’t blame Paul. It’s a straight up performance by me, for good or ill.
Feeling quite positive, I asked Paul if we could re-record the Intro. Having a non-repeated Intro that is quite different from the rest of the song is old-fashiond and long out of favour (see Mercy Mild - 3, 03/09/09). For that reason, I wanted to re-do it in a more stylized way, and make it obvious to the listener that it is ‘different’. Paul set up to record the vocal and single guitar simultaneously, as a ‘live’ take so to speak. We banged that off, and sat down to listen. It worked, especially after Paul made it sound like I was doing it over the telephone. He also created a small gap between the Intro and the song proper, at the end of which his voice counts in the song proper. Alright, it’s a gimmick. But it’s fun.
Altogether, It was a big music day. That evening Doug Anderson and I rehearsed for the 12:10PM Millenium Library show on September 17. Doug nailed the feel of Except My Love For You and Hopelessly Lost in Love. We hope to nail Angel of Truth on Wednesday. Doug’s a home handyman, amongst many other things, so lets consider that the planning phase of the rehearsals. The next nine days will see us filing, sanding, and finishing the songs. Doug, paint or stain? : > )
Anyway, after a lunch break we set up to do the lead vocal for Mercy Mild. Paul set up three tracks for the vocals, as a start. I told him that I would sing the first take laid back, and the next more energized. We’d talk before the third take, and see what next. Paul called me out of the singing room to listen to the first track. The review revealed very minor warbles and micro timing issues, but no wrong notes or obviously screwed up intervals. And we really liked the feel. Paul adjusted the levels here and there, and fiddled with some normal added effects (reverb mostly) - then we declared it ‘the’ track. We did no more takes. If this sounds like bragging, that’s because it is! My advice for amateurs like me is - just relax and sing the song the way you feel it. It helps if you wrote the song, if it’s an easy sing, and if you’ve already sung it a thousand times - but why quibble! So, if you note how thin my voice is, or how less than absolutely perfect the execution is, don’t blame Paul. It’s a straight up performance by me, for good or ill.
Feeling quite positive, I asked Paul if we could re-record the Intro. Having a non-repeated Intro that is quite different from the rest of the song is old-fashiond and long out of favour (see Mercy Mild - 3, 03/09/09). For that reason, I wanted to re-do it in a more stylized way, and make it obvious to the listener that it is ‘different’. Paul set up to record the vocal and single guitar simultaneously, as a ‘live’ take so to speak. We banged that off, and sat down to listen. It worked, especially after Paul made it sound like I was doing it over the telephone. He also created a small gap between the Intro and the song proper, at the end of which his voice counts in the song proper. Alright, it’s a gimmick. But it’s fun.
Altogether, It was a big music day. That evening Doug Anderson and I rehearsed for the 12:10PM Millenium Library show on September 17. Doug nailed the feel of Except My Love For You and Hopelessly Lost in Love. We hope to nail Angel of Truth on Wednesday. Doug’s a home handyman, amongst many other things, so lets consider that the planning phase of the rehearsals. The next nine days will see us filing, sanding, and finishing the songs. Doug, paint or stain? : > )
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