New Tips eBook: "The Ultimate Guide to Vocal Production"

[Craig Anderton]

The premise of this book is that if I can make my voice sound good, then I can make anybody's voice sound good

But seriously, The Ultimate Guide to Vocal Production distills everything I know about recording vocals - from being produced by world-class engineers back in the 60s, to using the latest cutting-edge vocal processing tools. Yes, I'm super-proud of it. It's not Studio One-specific, but covers 3rd-party plug-ins and other DAWs. However, as you might expect, Studio One is well represented (and you might recognize some of the tips ). It has 269 pages, costs $19.95, and is part of Sweetwater Publishing's free updates program.

Here's what's in it:

Chapter 01 | The Mic Is Your Instrument

Microphone Types and Technologies
Microphone Polar Patterns
Rejection—It’s All in the Angles
Proximity Effect
Microphone Modeling
The Importance of Room Acoustics
Connecting Mics
Preamps and Setting Levels
Remote Control
Accessories

Chapter 02 | Recording Techniques

Be Prepared Physically
Mic Technique
Create a Personalized Singing Environment
Monitoring Your Tracks While You Sing
Singing Through Processed Vocals
Recording and Overdubbing Vocals
Punching and Auto-Punching Vocals
Comping
Looping Options
Judging the Comps
Advanced Technique: Superspeed Comping

Chapter 03 | Vocal Cleanup

iZotope RX Suite
Waves Clarity VX Suite
Waves Debreath
Zynaptiq Unveil
Advanced Manual Control Techniques
Step-by-Step Workflow for General Cleanup

Chapter 04 | Prep for the Mix with DSP

About Event Envelopes
Typical Event Envelope Implementations
Event Envelope Applications
Manual Low-Level Noise Removal
Reduce Inhales and Phonetic Problems
Altering Dynamics Processor Characteristics
Event Gain Envelopes
Track Automation Envelopes
Using Multiple Envelopes

Chapter 05 | Pitch Correction

What You Need to Know About Pitch Correction
How Pitch Correction Really Works
Automatic Pitch Correction Parameters
Manual Correction
Editing Vibrato and Event Pitches
Manual Pitch Editing with Pencil Tools
Multitrack Editing
Manual Pitch-Processing Strategies
How to Use Pitch Correction—Without People Knowing You Are
How to Choose Pitch Correction Software
The Collateral Benefit: More Feel

Chapter 06 | Generate Harmonies and Vibrato

Manual Harmony Generation
Automatic Harmony Generation
But First: Do They Sound Any Good?
Antares Harmony Engine
Antares Harmony Player Module in Auto-Tune Pro
Waves Harmony
Eventide Quadravox and Octavox
Synthesizing Vibrato
Harmony Generator Synthesized Vibrato
A “Believe It or Not” Automatic Vibrato Application

Chapter 07 | Align Vocal Timing

Manual Alignment
Fixing Notes that Don’t End at the Same Time
Automatic Alignment
How Track Alignment Tools Work
Do Pitch Correction Before or After Alignment?
Final Thoughts About Alignment

Chapter 08 | Channel Strips and Effects Chains

Single Plug-In Channel Strips vs. Custom Channel Strips
Basic Vocal Channel Strip Functionality
Optimized Strips for Vocals
Non-Emulation-Based Channel Strip Designs
Artist-Based Vocal Multi-Effects

Chapter 09 | Gain Staging

Why Being Careful About Levels Matters
VU Meter Calibration
Gain Staging Through Inserted Plug-ins

Chapter 10 | Preamps

Hardware Preamps: Physical Tone Shapers
Preamp Circuit Types
Plug-in Preamps: Emulations and Creative Control
Universal Audio’s “Unison” Input Feature
Plug-in vs. Hardware
Preamp Saturation
Real-World Preamp Plug-ins

Chapter 11 | Equalization

Common Equalizer Responses and How to Use Them
Equalization Sweet Spots for Voice
General EQ Editing Tips
Typical EQ Curves for Vocals
Airy, Choir-Type Vocals
Male Vocal EQ
Silky Female Vocal
Male Ballad Vocal
Female Pop Lead
Dynamic Mic Enhancer
Distant Filtered
Background Vocals
Crooner
Podcasting, Voiceovers, and Audio Books
Exciters

Chapter 12 | Dynamics Processing

How Dynamics Processors Work
But First, a Word of Warning...
How to Adjust a Limiter’s Parameters
Compressor Parameters
Types of Compressors
Genre-Specific Settings
How to Adjust the Compressor’s Parameters
Should Compression Insert Before or After EQ?
Expander Parameters and Controls
How to Adjust an Expander’s Parameters
Gate Parameters and Controls
How to Adjust a Gate’s Parameters
Dynamic Equalization
Dynamic EQ Setup
Best Practices for Editing Dynamic EQ Parameters
Dynamic EQ Applications
How to Adjust a De-Esser’s Parameters
De-Esser vs. Dynamic EQ vs. Automation

Chapter 13 | Reverb and Imaging

Reverb Components
Pre-Delay
Reverb Technologies
Reverb Characters
Natural Space Emulations
Mechanical and Electronic Devices
Creative / Effect Reverbs
One Reverb vs. Many
How Do I Know Which One to Choose?!?
How to Adjust Electronic Reverb Parameters
Best Practices
Supplementing Reverb with a Physical Acoustic Space
How to Obtain “Pure” Reverb
The Preverb Effect
Stereo Imaging
What Stereo Imaging Does

Chapter 14 | Delay

Types of Delay
Main Parameters
How to Set Up Delay
Delay Applications

Chapter 15 | Custom Vocal Effects Chains

The Three Main Vocal Chain Functions
The Order of Chained Effects
Mono vs. Stereo Effects
DAW-Specific Notes for Using Stereo Effects with a Mono Track
Series Effect Routing
Parallel Effect Routing
Bus-Based Parallel Effects
Single-Channel Parallel Track Architectures
Representative Vocal Chains for Specific Genres
Saving and Recalling Presets
Anatomy of a Custom Preset

Chapter 16 | Sidechain Applications

Sidechain Applications for Vocals
Duck Reverb and Delay for Clarity
Highlight the Vocal in a Dense Mix
Maintain the Best Proportion of Background and Lead Vocals
Avoid Over-Processing Sibilants
Create Rhythmic Effects

Chapter 17 | Parameter Automation

Automation Basics and Methods
Method 1: Record On-Screen Control Motion
Method 2: Edit or Draw Envelopes
Method 3: Automate the Automation
Method 4: Record Automation Moves from a Control Surface
Automating Effects Parameters
Automation Applications for Vocals
Channel Send Automation to Delay
Channel Sends and Echo/Reverb Splashes
Panning Automation
Plug-in Effects Automation Applications

Chapter 18 | Doubling, ADT, and Layering

Doubling with Chorus Plug-ins
Chorus Parameters and Controls
ADT (Automatic Double Tracking)
Authentic ADT with Standard Plug-Ins
Pseudo-Double Tracking with Time- and Pitch-Shifting
The Doubled Vocal Fix
Tips for Mixing Double-Tracked Vocals
Techniques for Layered Vocals
Dealing with Inhales
Busing for Simpler Mixing
Fuller, Bigger Solo Vocals

Chapter 19 | Vocal Performance Tips

Emotional Dynamic Range
The Lyric Sheet
Ways to Add Emphasis Other Than Level
“Bigger” Is Not Always Better
Avoid the Vocal Disconnect
The Music/Lyric Fusion
Learn about Connection from the Theater
Surprise—You’re a Salesperson!
Intimacy
Wait Until Playback Before You Judge Yourself
Performance Curves

 

[DanTompkins]

Nice, thank you! With my voice, I'll need all the help I can get

 

[SoxialAxxidense]

Looks cool, but not for German (or other non US users). Today I wanted to buy 2 books from you at Sweetwater. I already bought a book from you a year ago iwth my VISA credit card. No problem. But now it seems that they added a validation where you have to enter a US ZIP code when using your (US) credit card. Fails, because I do not have a US ZIP code.
Talked to the supprt via email and the only suggestion was: use paypal. Okay, but I do not have paypal anymore and don't want it anymore.

So, non US users cannot buy your book, if they don't use paypal...

Bad thing. Maybe you can think about publishing it somewhere else, too?

 

[MisterE]

Craig, I trust the information contained in your vocal recording guide is both accurate and helpful.

However, it also raises another question: when exactly did it become automatically assumed that the best person to record any vocalist, trained or not, is the vocalist him or herself?

That ties in with the question: when exactly did it become automatically assumed that the best person(s) to engineer the entire song are the musicians and vocalists themselves who performed on it?

Sorry, these are the thoughts of a more "venerable" forum member. Cause, you see, I can think of precious few performers who recorded themselves solo without years of experience watching others do it last century or in the earlier stages of this one.

At some point, because DAWs like S1, I mean FSP, have all the built-in capability for someone to handle the entire recording process themselves (including mastering), it became acceptable as the way to go. I respectfully disagree, and I particularly disagree that self-made vocalists (which I know something about) should be thinking about engineering and production concerns while they're laying down vocal tracks.

But that's just me. I'm sure the guide is helpful for people who haven't noticed that the artists they love the most never did their own engineering or mastering and rarely produced. I imagine anyone under 50 is already programmed to do everything themselves.

 

[Craig Anderton]

However, it also raises another question: when exactly did it become automatically assumed that the best person to record any vocalist, trained or not, is the vocalist him or herself?

As someone who was raised in the days of big studios and produces, the book reflects the perspectives of how to engineer yourself, as well as how to engineer other vocalists. Much of what is in the book is what I learned by producing and being produced. There's quite a bit of material about the art of recording vocals and performances, as well as the technology.

I think it's a real problem that there are millions of YouTube videos about "my dope pro compressor settings," yet so few videos about how to create compelling vocals in the first place.

Okay, rant over. Much of the book is about mixing vocals, so that could fall on the engineer or vocalist. But there's also one aspect where I strongly recommend deferring to the vocalist, and that's pitch "correction." My advice is that engineers shouldn't do pitch "correction" unless the vocalist is present and the vocalist hears something that needs correction. The book is filled with stuff like that I'm trying to pass along what I've learned to the next generation of musicians before I die.

 

[Craig Anderton]

Bad thing. Maybe you can think about publishing it somewhere else, too?

I've alerted the higher-ups at Sweetwater about this. We'll see what happens.

 

[MisterE]

But there's also one aspect where I strongly recommend deferring to the vocalist, and that's pitch "correction." My advice is that engineers shouldn't do pitch "correction" unless the vocalist is present and the vocalist hears something that needs correction. The book is filled with stuff like that I'm trying to pass along what I've learned to the next generation of musicians before I die.

I'd go strongly the other way. Especially if the vocalist is anything other than a pro's pro. I don't believe listening to the same performance over and over and nitpicking it to death (well, maybe we're talking about nitpicking it to life) is beneficial in any way. Well, it's fine if someone's doing this as a hobby, but if you're going for world class, that's just not the way it's done in the big time...and I believe we have essentially the same experience being unnatural singers who worked hard to become better and have been in every kind of studio situation from the simplest project studio to big time A-rooms.

I mean some actors can direct themselves...but most can't and/or don't want to.

Doing everything yourself is definitely economical; for some, they can't imagine hiring pros to engineer, master, produce, or play on their tunes. Fine. But I for one don't believe it's the way to fly to achieve the best possible results.

Now if you happen to love tuning your own vocals, I'm not here to tell you to stop. But if you had to work hard on becoming a good vocalist, chances are you don't have the greatest pitch. Or maybe your pitch was fine, but you didn't know how to breathe...which can throw off pitch. Many if not most engineers I've worked with have better pitch than me. They're also not going to be self-critical tuning my own vocals like I'm gonna be, they're just performing an unemotional task, which, if performed well, adds to the emotional value of the tune. Anytime someone else can do a certain job better than me, I step aside.

I say if you're a singer your job is to record the best possible take, and if I'm producing, I don't want you to think about pitch or sweetening while you're figuring out how to serve the song. The other stuff is a distraction. Of course, the more time you spend doing everything yourself, the better you'll get at it. Which still doesn't make it the optimal choice.

All that said and my personal two cents aside, your guide sounds quite useful for a lot of folks. And I fully rasp the concept of not wanting your life's work to fade away.

 

[Craig Anderton]

I probably wasn't clear. I was referring to pitch correction added during the mix. My "let the singer decide" fetish started when on one of Barbra Streisand's songs, the mix engineer "helped" by taking out the inhales. When she got back to the session and heard the result, she wanted the breaths put back in.

When doing the book, I used stem separation to look at a lot of "classic" vocals. So many of them used slight micro-pitch variations (only a few cents), often in the notes betwen the first and last notes of a phrase, which were often tuned to scale. Madonna was great at singing notes slightly sharp to build friction, or slightly flat to pull back. I have no idea whether these singers did that consciously, but I suspect not. I think it's simply what happened when they filtered the song through the emotions of a performance. It's like I don't think Steve Gadd thought "I'll play the hi-hat 3 milliseconds ahead of the beat on this song." I think that's just what he felt.

When engineers go in with pitch correction and "fix" notes that look wrong, it can destroy what the singer was trying to do. In one of my seminars, I play the chorus to one of my vocals and ask whether or not it had been pitch corrected. Most of the time, the answer is "yes" because nothing sounds wrong. Then I show them what it looks like in Melodyne, and sooooo many notes look really wrong because it indeed had not been "corrected." When I play the same part with mild pitch correction, it sounds "wrong" - but only if people have heard the non-corrected version first.

This is why I think it's up to the singer to decide whether something sounds wrong or not during the mix. And it has to be in the context of the mix, because the micro-pitch variations are sometimes in relation to other instruments - I think the singers might be unconsciously wanting to add a chorusing effect.

 

[SoxialAxxidense]

I've alerted the higher-ups at Sweetwater about this. We'll see what happens.

That would be great when they give us Europeans also a change to read your books.
I already have "How to record and mix great vocals" and "How to create compelling mixes" and I really like the didactic style of your books. So I thought, it would be time to educate myself a little more and get some more from you.. but .. as said, not with a German VISA card :-(

 

[MisterE]

I probably wasn't clear. I was referring to pitch correction added during the mix. My "let the singer decide" fetish started when on one of Barbra Streisand's songs, the mix engineer "helped" by taking out the inhales. When she got back to the session and heard the result, she wanted the breaths put back in.

When doing the book, I used stem separation to look at a lot of "classic" vocals. So many of them used slight micro-pitch variations (only a few cents), often in the notes betwen the first and last notes of a phrase, which were often tuned to scale. Madonna was great at singing notes slightly sharp to build friction, or slightly flat to pull back. I have no idea whether these singers did that consciously, but I suspect not. I think it's simply what happened when they filtered the song through the emotions of a performance. It's like I don't think Steve Gadd thought "I'll play the hi-hat 3 milliseconds ahead of the beat on this song." I think that's just what he felt.

When engineers go in with pitch correction and "fix" notes that look wrong, it can destroy what the singer was trying to do. In one of my seminars, I play the chorus to one of my vocals and ask whether or not it had been pitch corrected. Most of the time, the answer is "yes" because nothing sounds wrong. Then I show them what it looks like in Melodyne, and sooooo many notes look really wrong because it indeed had not been "corrected." When I play the same part with mild pitch correction, it sounds "wrong" - but only if people have heard the non-corrected version first.

This is why I think it's up to the singer to decide whether something sounds wrong or not during the mix. And it has to be in the context of the mix, because the micro-pitch variations are sometimes in relation to other instruments - I think the singers might be unconsciously wanting to add a chorusing effect.

You're kind of commingling overall vocal performance with pitch correction; they're separate things.

With all respect to the talent pool of persons on this forum, I'm not sure citing how one engineer treated an all-time singer's singer like Barbra Streisand helps your contention. She's like at the top of Mount Everest, up in the stratosphere. Sure, she should decide, she's Barbra effing Streisand. And sure, she undoubtedly has perfect pitch, so in all likelihood no one's ever tuned her vocals. Removing the breaths is not tuning vocals.

You might consider that people without perfect pitch take infinitely longer to tune their own vocals cause they're never really sure they're doing a good job (speaking from personal experience).

I sense some overthinking. Some people want their vocals tuned or timed, some don't. Some people want to tune or time their vocals themselves, some don't. That's pretty much it.

 

[Craig Anderton]

You might consider that people without perfect pitch take infinitely longer to tune their own vocals cause they're never really sure they're doing a good job (speaking from personal experience).

Again, I'm not advocating that the singer tune their vocals. I'm advocating that they listen to their vocals and tell the engineer when they hear something wrong, so the engineer can fix it. If the engineer then wants to try additional edits to see about improving the vocal further, sure - as long as the artist agrees it sounds better.

We may also have a language issue. I differentiate tuning from pitch. Tuning, to me, represents specific frequencies that correspond to an even-tempered scale. Pitch is fluid, like a violin player, choral group, etc. When I gave the example of Madonna, she was not "tuning" her vocals in that sense. She was adding tiny pitch variations to add emotional impact. Some singers even alter pitch when they sing to compensate for the intervals in even-tempered scales that are inherently out of tune. I suspect it's not conscious, but who knows...I've learned a lot about results thanks to stem separation, but not necessarily about intention, or what causes those results.

And of course, there is an element of personal bias! It drives me up the wall when I can hear that a vocal has been tuned, with that weird flat nasal sound. It makes it almost impossible for me to listen to a lot of modern country. I can't help but think some vocals might have sounded better if they hadn't been tuned, or at least had the pitch altered to where the vocal sounded "right," even if it wasn't tuned to a specific note frequency. I didn't only mention Barbra Streisand. I'm certainly no singer's singer, and the people at seminars aren't Bob Clearmountain, but they preferred the vocal that was left alone because it sounded "right," not the one that was tuned to specific scale frequencies. I can't argue with their opinions. I don't know if those opinions would change if they all had perfect pitch, and notes that were slightly off would bother them - the mirror image of how notes never being off slightly bothers me.

When I tune vocals, I turn off snap and adjust solely by ear. I often find that what sounds right is not tuned to a scale's frequency. Also, sometimes that's necessary to "split the difference" with instruments that aren't completely in tune with each other. That's why I feel vocal pitch adjustments are best done when mixing, in context with the music. I've seen some engineers solo the voice when they tune it, and that just doesn't make sense to me. But, I've never claimed to be normal