Dear All,
Over the years I have formed, worked with, and trained many choirs, as well as being involved with solo vocalists. Because of this the numbers of singers I have been involved with actually runs into literally thousand’s in total altogether. They enjoy then, a very special place in my life experience's.
It has long been my opinion that if only we were able to reduce, or better still, eliminate completely if possible, unwanted vocal artefacts, this could facilitate an extremely positive improvement in the state of the art recording of vocalist’s as we presently know it. They are of course, so often, the very central figure in the entire recording process. And it would be a better alternative, and vastly preferable to hours of meticulous editing tiny glitches with all the associated difficulties.
There are many unwanted vocal artefacts such as lip smacking , tongue slopping, excessive internal salivation, sudden unpredictable nasal emission, as well as the more common problems of vocal plosive’s and sibilance that we are all well acquainted with.
And we should always beware of singers that have had braces fitted as children, as this will usually create additional sibilance above the normal levels of acceptability, because of the dental modifications that have been surgically applied, which result in unnatural sound shaping to the vocal emissions, and increase the likelihood of excessive sibilance occurring.
I was relaxing yesterday, enjoying the Olympic Gymnastics of the well exercised vocal chords of Celine Dion. Mainly because someone who has helped me somewhat in the past, who I admire greatly, had produced a track for her, I naturally wanted to hear.
I should not have been surprised really, considering the power of vocal delivery involved, but you will be extremely alarmed to read, I could actually hear the good lady drawing an extremely fast, but very deep breath indeed.
I mean a breath, calculated to very quickly, but as fully as possible engorge her lungs completely with air.
It has long been my observation that if only we could break through this particularly undesirable barrier effectively, and eliminate the intrusion of this final artefact altogether, we would have the capability of producing the absolutely perfect vocal take.
Consider this absolute, an axiomatic law. Effective breath prevention measures when applied correctly ensure vocalists do not extrude unwanted vocal and nasal somatic emissions, ensuring perfect tracking of vocal presentation.
Eliminating the breathing of certain vocalists altogether seems to me to be the most important contribution a recording engineer can make to ensure a sensationally successful production, in certain particular cases.
The exuberant and character-full Celine Dion however, is not a vocalist whose stunning vocal performance I view in this way.
It is extremely common knowledge that Mr. Schmitt only uses a compressor on vocals for the tube sound, pulls only 1-2 dB from the top if he uses one at all, Limits pulling 1Db if using one, and that he received his 11th Grammy Award out of 24 personal nominations, for the very Album criticised above.
Clearly he has a lot to learn from everyone here, and I sincerely hope he will read this thread in order to further extend the depth of his understanding of the successful recording process!
In regards to the acoustical problems created by the presence of large mixing consoles, I’m disturbed to read that no-one appears to be utilising either the advantages of a ‘twin levelled’ control room floor, or a sunken console pit to accommodate the bulky mixing board.
Coupled with hydraulically operated, viscous damped, telescopic armchair seating and Penny and Giles fader extensions, the difficulties of comb filtered sound are entirely surmountable these days, and these consoles can continue thus to be used to some good effect.
It is an undeniable fact that the overwhelming majority of the very best and most successful recordings of all time, have actually been made with such consoles. This enigmatic truth is an absolutely undisputable, proven historical fact.
The problems associated with using large footprint consoles, near field monitors and ancillary studio equipment that audaciously demand an actual physical presence in the professional recording studio, control room environment, can be completely mitigated in their entirety, utilising the sunken mounted console and telescopic seating method of control room design.
Or of course, you can in fact stand on your feet temporarily when necessary to achieve the same good effect.
Best Wishes Peter
Peter Poyser
