Inexperienced producers tend to make a tactical mistake when they’re working with vocalists. At the risk of stating the obvious, a singer is not a plugin, a singer is not a machine. The vocal folds are a muscle and you have a limited amount of time that you can work with a vocalist.
If you don’t understand that, the place it’s going to really bite you is with overdubs. I’ve worked with plenty of vocalists who have no problem singing a long gig. Overdubs are a different animal.
You’re asking somebody to exercise the same little tiny motion over and over and over again. The whole point is they’re supposed to sound like they did in the beginning and they’re not gonna. Treat your vocalists like a person, not like a plugin.
Bake some variety into your overdub sessions and don’t under budget how much time you’re gonna get. We’ll be talking vocal recording in our upcoming vocal kitchen. If someone who belongs in that big kitchen class, share this post.
