This week:
This week we had our second recording session! Each song takes about 10-12 hours to record from start to finish (including writing and laying down the tracks, recording the vocals, comping vocals, tuning vocals, and mixing and mastering). These next few breakdowns will update you on where we are in the process of recording and will give you a good idea of how our studio sessions are going!
We vocalized on:
mah-mah, nay-yay, no-no, my-my
We worked on:
1. Vocal production/ Comping vocals!
Vocal production/ Comping vocals!
This week, in our second session in our recording studio, we worked mainly on vocal production. The process of recording our songs goes like this:
1-2 voice lessons: We work on HOW to sing our song - pronunciation of words, different style techniques, how to make each line sound a little bit different, and different rhythms.
First studio lesson: We work on how to sing our song in the recording studio: because the microphone we are using emphasizes different things in our voice - we work on adapting what we've worked on so that it sounds great with our studio microphone - making it brighter, and more stylized and breathy. We also work on singing to a click track - making sure that we are staying in the pocket (or keeping up with the correct timing) singing with headphones, and getting used to all the weird and cool new things about the recording studio. This first studio lesson is all about getting comfortable with the recording process.
Second studio lesson: Now that we are more used to the recording studio and the process we go through, this second studio lesson is all about the vocal production. I will sing one or two lines at a time - have the student mimic the texture, style, pronunciation, rhythm, or scat - and then record that line before we move on. This helps makes every line of our song sound exactly how we want it to. It also helps when I get to the next part of our recording process.
I have scheduled 3 studio sessions for every student so that everyone has a chance to feel comfortable in our studio - and that everyone can succeed in our recording studio sessions!
Once we have recorded at least 2 times - in 2 different sessions, I then have enough to start compiling (or "comping") each student's vocal tracks. To do this, I take anything from 1/4 of a word to half of a phrase, each from different takes and recording sessions to compile a vocal take that includes the best vocal performance, style, timing, and texture of our time in the studio so far.
As of right now, I have 11 songs comped and ready to be tuned or "pitch fixed"!
This next week we will have our third week of lessons in the recording studio and hopefully finish up the vocals so that we can move on to final comping, editing, tuning, mixing, mastering, choreography and filming!
All your kids are working so hard!! I appreciate them so much and can't WAIT for you to hear them!!!!