Well friends, we had our 4th recording session for our upcoming CD this past Thursday night. Unfortunately, only Paul (the engineer) and I were able to attend it. Fortunately, we made the best of everyone's absentia by recording some of my lead vocal tracks.
With Chops at the board, having set up a nice new mic for me to use, we recorded the lead vocal tracks for THREE songs... right there in Paul's room! No booth, no bullshit. We both wore our cans (that's recording studio lingo for "headphones"!) and stayed in the same room.
While I was at first a little hesitant and embarrassed to do things this way, I gave it a shot and it turned out great. We set some ambiance by turning the lights off and lighting a candle. Very romantic!!! But seriously, it made for a comfortable and relaxing session.
We approached the vocals differently on this first batch of new songs than we did previously, on our last CD. First off, like I said, we recorded in a room instead of a booth; this allows the vocals to really get out there. No dampening soundproofing to hinder my pipes! It makes for a much rounder tone. Also, like I mentioned, Paul used a different vocal mic, one we've never used before. It sounded nice. Much "hotter" than mics we've used before. This was also helped along by the fact that this time, I sang with my mouth right up against the pop filter!!! Usually, I'll sing a few inches away... but Chopsio suggested I sing really close to the mic this time, almost touching it! It gave the vocals a nice hearty body to 'em.. as if they took over the mic... encompassed it from all sides! Shit sounded dope!!!
We worked pretty fast; we did three songs in about two hours (maybe less). I did some real screamin', too... real beltin'! That felt good. Luckily I didn't ruin my voice! Recording the songs is a lot different from playing 'em live. You have to approach the songs, specifically the vocals in this case, with much more detail to phrasing, attack, and nuance. You can get away with a lot of stuff live due to the stage energy... but for a recording, you have to play to pre-recorded music, with a focus on getting your voice and words across while also fitting them perfectly in the mix. Also, I'm not singing live with Chuck and Christian as we do on stage or in rehearsal... so I don't have their voices to bounce off of and work with. So, I have to keep their vocal parts (which aren't recorded yet) in mind, leave room for them to do their thing, and also make my lead track easy and clean enough for them to harmonize to. It was and is a fun challenge. One I hope I met! Hopefully when I hear these songs again, I will be as happy with them as I was Thursday night. No re-dos! (I hope!)
The three songs we did that night were:
"OUTSIDE, KNOCKING"
"LITTLE WARS"
&
"NO TALKING".
Paulie P.Chops did a great job, we worked together, had fun, made a lot of progress, and so I was and am extremely happy with our first vocal session.
There is still a lot more to be done, but, so far so good!!!
***
Well, that's it for now, kids. Please keep checking back for more of "THE MOTHERJUMPERS' RECORDING LOG"!
Until next time,
Smile up.
~Tommy