datamusicata

Just got back to a computer. I’ve been on the road and when I got home for the 72 hours I’d be here, I had a million things to do. Too many hats, not enough head. I actually made a beer mug with that on it. You can get one at www.cafepress.com/beachwood or www.cafepress.com/jamesleestanley I believe that they both work.

In any event, I want to talk to you about singing today. As I have been listening to lots of recordings by lots of people on the road, there are some things that I have noticed that could and should help us all.

There are three things to keep in mind when you record a vocal. They are all about service. Serve the song, serve the recording and serve yourself.

By serve the song, I mean, listen to the words you are singing. Speak the words outloud before you sing them. Make certain that you are not putting emphasis on the wrong syllables or holding out a note that doesn’t really make any sense.

If you are going to hold a note out, make it mean something; make it serve a dramatic effect or to increase the impact of the meaning of the words. Just holding a note out to hold it out and doing it over and over again causes it to entirely lose the impact of holding a note.

Serving the recording, or serving the track is listening to what has been laid down and becoming a part of that. Sometimes you will hear a recording by an amateur that sounds as tho the vocal was dropped in on top of the track and does not acknowledge the track.

There are various ways to acknowledge the track. The first is to sing the lyrics in the pocket, rhythmically so that they swing with the other musicians. Holding a note out past the fourth beat of a measure will diminsh the groove on the track. Leave room for what the musicians have laid down.

Make it a conversation between you and the band, not a competition. If you have the opportunity, listen to the track over and over, til you know it. Then speak your lyrics against it and then sing them against it. By against it, I mean while the track is playing.

Experiment with the rhythm and the phrasing til you find that place where what you are singing works with the track, works with the meaning of the song and works for you as a performer.

I often take my tracks and put them in the car and sing with them so that when I go back into the studio to do my vocals, I am conversant with the track. I get it and I try to work with it.

This is not to say that you don’t interpret the song or let the track dictate what you will do as a vocalist. I just want you to be cognizant of what they have already done. If it’s your recording, then you have been in involved with the recording from its nascency and it will already be going where you wanted it to go.

Finally, serve yourself. There are things you can do with your voice. There are notes that sound great when you hit them. There are also things that you cannot do with your own particular voice, as there are notes that you simply cannot hit with any authority or musicality. Be cognizant of your strengths as well as your weaknesses.

Do not demonstrate on your recordings that you can’t hold notes out, or that you can’t hold the pitch or can’t find the rhythm. Demonstrate and deliver all your unique gifts and play down your weaknesses as a vocalist.

If you don’t know what your strengths and weaknesses are, listen to your favorite vocalists. Try to sing what they have sung. If you have to strain and struggle to do something then that is probably one of your weaknesses. If something falls into your vocal “lap” then that’s probably a strength.

And yes, you can improve any area. I’m not talking about whether you can or should improve your control or whatever. I am only addressing what you are putting on the CD that you are recording right now.

Show us what you can do, not what you clearly can’t do. Trust me.