| The Key: |
| Vocals sound good only when they are “in tune.” If a singer is
”flat” (or sharp)
the vocal performance doesn’t sound as good and can even sound poorly recorded. |
| The Problem: |
| A singer sings in tune when he/she gets a good “pitch
reference.” The ears, however, are not always correctly “hearing” the
pitch. |
| When music is played loud, a person hears the bass frequencies flat. How
Flat? A lot flat - as much as the pitch difference of the next key on the piano and even
more. In recording the singer hears the band through headphones. If these headphones are
loud and bass-heavy, the singer will try to “tune” to what he/she hears and
usually sing flat. Its interesting to observe that if a singer is off during
recording, it is usually because they are flat - not sharp. |
| The Solution: |
| The solution is simple. If the singer sings flat, reduce the headphone
volume and reduce the amount of bass-frequencies in
the headphones. This may require a little “training” for singers to get used to
using lower volumes and less bass than they want in the headphones. |
| When singers insist on loud bassy headphones and always sing flat, I will
suggest an experiment: |
| 1. Have the singer sing a verse with the headphones loud and bassy. |
| 2. Have the singer sing the same verse on with the headphones much lower
and with less bass. Record this second performance on a different track. |
| 3. Without telling the singer which track is which, play each track with
the music and ask which one the singer likes best. They will always choose the track done
with the lower-volume, reduced bass headphone mix. |
|
| Other Tips: |
| When two instruments are supposed to be playing the same pitch but one is
out-of-tune, there is a “beating” that occurs. This beating sounds like the
volume increasing and decreasing regularly. When the instruments are close to the same
pitch this beating slows down and when they are exactly in pitch this beating stops.
Hearing this beating is a large part how we hear that something is out-of tune. |
| Adding reverberation
“covers” up the beating that occurs when two instruments (or a vocal and
instruments) are out-of-tune with each other. Everyone likes reverb on the vocal. If
you, however, have a lot of reverb on the vocal when a singer is trying to sing, it will
be harder for the singer to hear he/she is off pitch. As a result, vocals are recorded
best with little or no reverb in the headphone mix. |
| Unusual Circumstances: |
| Sometimes singers have become accustomed to singing in tune with loud
music playing. This kind of thing happens to singers that have done a lot of live
performances where the music is very loud on the stage. Over years, the singer has learned
to sing at the correct pitch with loud stage volumes. With a singer like this, low-volume
headphone can cause the singer to sing sharp. Instances of this are rare - but they do
occur. |
| Conclusion: |
| Two rules to record vocals by: |
| 1. If the singer is having problems with intonation (being in tune), use
different headphones volumes - usually turn down the volume and turn down the bass. |
| 2. Use the minimum amount of reverb possible when doing vocal recordings.
|
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