Great Vocals Aren’t Made With Plugins: A Different Approach to Vocal Production
Abigail abi@safaripedals.comShare
Hey y'all!
As of late, I have been doing a lot of executive production and have been living inside a lot of song cycles, from taking an initial idea/demo all the way through to the final master. Being in that process has put me very much into listening mode, especially paying close attention to the vocal performance and noticing when something feels right or when something feels off.
In 99% of the songs I've been working on recently, the vocal has been the core emotional element of the record. Spending time listening and living with these songs has made me way more aware of vocal production- what feels good, what feels natural, and what can sometimes take away from the magic of a performance. It really inspired me to get a blog up about this and get another POV on the world of vocal production!
I had a blast getting to chat with songwriter, producer, and mixer John Nathaniel to get his take.
I asked him: "What's something you think people get wrong most often when it comes to vocal production? Do you have a particular approach or philosophy that guides how you produce vocals?"
John's Approach: The Performance Comes First
Oh man, that is a good question! The most important thing in vocals is the quality of the performance and through the years, I’ve seen a lot of people wanting to go too fast, jump into Melodyne and cook vocals before something actually sounds like a record. The reality is, your song will not sound like a record until you have a real vocal performance. You need to spend a certain amount of time in front of the microphone and be patient. It’s like a photograph, a moment in time that you capture and could potentially be shared with millions of people. With some artists, it will happen really fast, others take more time and that’s okay. You need to look for the magic imperfections and gems of character. It certainly isn’t just about being on pitch and time. Taking the time to analyze the lyrics and understanding the emotion you are trying to convey. Performance is literally acting and playing a character so finding the right acting choice is key!
If you listen to albums that stood the test of time, the great majority of them have something in common…GREAT VOCAL PERFORMANCES!
Creating A Comfortable Space For Artists To Perform
On the technical side, I also see a lot of goofs but that certainly isn’t nearly as important as the performance. I see vocals recorded too hot, too quiet, hitting plugin chains at weird or inconsistent levels, audio clicks, over-tuned, not tuned enough, bad recordings, over compression, bad timing, prominent room reflection, clip/region levels all over the place, bad processing choices, too much reverb, not enough reverb, too much noise to signal ratio… the list goes on and on and on…. Most of these, you can fix, or massage, but you can’t make something that is uncool cool!
When I produce vocals, the very first thing I do is make the singer comfortable, I’ve spent a few hours already building a rapport and giving hints of the workflow so they know we might do a decent amount of takes to capture something magical, so when I have them start over, it’s not because it’s not good…It’s because we need to capture something special and sometimes, it takes a bit of time. It’s important to communicate that with the artist, because if they feel defeated, they will not be able to perform honestly. When they are mentally prepared for it, they’re expecting it.
I might try 2 microphones on them to see which one I like best, but I don’t go over 2 to not lose momentum. Simply by listening to their voice, I can tell which kind of tone profile we should be aiming for to get the right tone. Then, I’ll spend maybe 2-5 minutes on soundcheck/levels and microphone placement. I adjust gain on the pre-amp per section, like if the verses are quiet, I’ll send a bit more gain in the microphone and vice versa if the singer gets super loud in other sections. I think monitoring is also super important for an artist to get an inspiring performance, it’s hard to deliver the goods if it’s trash in the headphones, you know? I can give them extra compression for energy (with a plugin) and reverb/delays if the performance calls for it, so they perform to the effects. I’m also not shy with committing. Sometimes, if something needs it, I’ll hit the hardware compression harder because I know I’m gonna want that effect. I’ll make sure I’m not getting any nasty artifacts by doing that, like overly prominent sibilance (or room tones, although my room is treated so all good!) If I’m getting too much sibilance, I’ll add a high frequency compressor on the way in!
Making Fast Decisions During Vocal Comping
When I record vocals, I also commit on deleting things I don’t particularly like as soon as it’s recorded, because when the time comes to do vocal comping, the last thing I want is to have to listen to takes I didn’t resonate with… It will slow down the process and confuse my decision making later on. I keep about 7-10 good takes of the lead vocals and then pick the best of the best. If a take moved me in a really special way when the singer recorded it, I color code it as it’s being recorded so I have a reminder of what I was feeling in the moment. First instinct is almost always right…I’ve learned to listen to it through the years.
On the comping stage, I apply some processing that will resemble the final version, though I do a rough 5-10 minute version of it, just so that when the singer hears it back, it has a “record quality” and fits in the aesthetic and vibe of the song. I’ll later polish it on my own and fiddle around to get it just right.
I’m fast at comping, I think fast decisions on what you like or don’t like are important. It’s like eating food, you know the first bite if it’s good or not, if you need convincing, then it’s probably not the right take. You can also lose perspective by listening to too many takes and listening over and over again to the same ones…hence why making fast decisions will serve you in that regard. I simplify the process to : I love it or I don’t. It’s an emotional response that we get as listeners and that’s why I turn off my producer brain when I do this. I’m simply the audience in that moment.
Once the vocals are comped, I’ll go through a stage of “digital correction” to enhance pitch and timing. I use Melodyne, personally, cause I’m used to it and I’m fast with it. Because I’ve spent a decent amount of time on vocal recording, it’s generally a very light polish at that stage, I’m not re-shaping the pitch or time in any way.
If I’m working on a pop record where I want an auto-tune type of sound, I’ll Melodyne into auto-tune so that I get the automatic tuner to behave in a specific way, though that’s maybe 10% of the time as I usually get what I want out of Melodyne.
Using Editing To Enhance, Not Replace, The Performance
I’m a huge fan of natural pitch, portamento, good vibrato, so for those reasons, I tend to go for a more natural approach and embrace human imperfections. They’re also a huge part of the character of a performance so it’s important to not overly sanitize the editing process to preserve the vibe and character.
The one thing I usually nuke out of vocal performances are vocal clicks, these are rarely musical. iZotope’s RX is stunning for that!
As for breaths, I keep them in 95% of the time (unless some are not musical or add a weird timing to the record). I usually have to manually lower some of them, but I like a natural performance.
Once this is done, I’ll sleep on it and the next day, I might have a few phrases to re-cut. I’ll have the singer punch in the moments that need it while I make sure they match their tone/performance. The rule for me is : sing the phrase before and after the one you want to punch, this way you have the right intention going in and out of the phase with the breaths at the right moments. The majority of tone matching is performance, not EQ.
I love great vocals and great singers. To me, they are the heart and soul of the records I work on and I’m grateful for the art we make together.
Final Thoughts
It was so awesome diving into John’s insightful answer. So many gems here! First, what really stood out to me was his emphasis that great vocal production starts way before any plugin, tuning, or processing comes into play. The performance itself is the foundation.
Nowadays, it's so easy to process, squash, and demolish a vocal to total intergalactic oblivion before asking the bigger question: does the performance actually make you feel something?
I love how John's quick decision making and decisiveness around whether a vocal feels good or not helps streamline the process and keeps the focus on capturing the best feeling performance possible.
Something else that really resonated with me was his point about creating an environment where the artist feels comfortable and the patience that is so important in that process and sooo underrated in my humble opinion. A vocal performance is a vulnerable thing, and the way a producer communicates, and builds trust can completelyyyyy change the energy of the performance.
These were the main takeaways for me, but as you see the vocal production world is vast, and multilayered with a lot of moving parts. ;) John's pov is something I’ll be referring back to. To be a part of the heart and soul of a record is such a special thing indeed!
Thanks John for sharing your approach!
Catch you next blog!