Your Single, Most Important Studio Skill

Over the 20 years I've been producing, there have been these moments that have been these big "AHA!" moments. Moments that have elevated me from point A to point B, and then from point B to point C. Times when I’ve really increased in knowledge, and my music has been really elevated!

One of those moments was when I stopped everything I was doing and learned how to produce vocals. And producing vocals starts with great recordings, learning how to really record vocals well. Then, even if you're not doing the recording, getting the vocal files, comping them, stacking them, timing them, tuning them, EQ'ing them, getting them to fit into the mix just right, learning how to use effects, and learning what compression is.

All of these things are so, so important.

This is one of the techniques and disciplines that I see lacking in most beginning producers and the reason why they're not getting better and they're not commanding attention with their productions.

It's because they don't want to stop and really learn this. They think, well, “I'll just kind of get by because my voice is really good.” Even if you've got a great voice, it really isn't going to be featured if you don't know how to produce the voice.

Let me show you a quick demonstration of what I mean.

This is a song called "Rise Again" that I released this summer with the amazing Lauren Light. And I'm gonna show you the raw track versus how it came out in the final mix.

(Music Playing - pre-production).

And now let's hear it in the mix with the production on it.

(Music Playing - Post production)

So the point is, if we take a vocal that's very raw, and it's recorded pretty decently well (I think she used an SM7B in her apartment where she recorded). She lives over on the East coast and I'm over near the West coast and we've sent files back and forth to each other. I was able to grab it, and I was able to tune just the little parts of it that needed tuning without losing the flavor of her voice.

I used some tools like Nectar, Isotopes Nectar to sweeten the voice up a little bit, put some saturation into it. There's also a little bit of reverb. And then there's more vocals that get stacked underneath it into that chorus B section.

And all of this stuff is doable! This is the kind of stuff that you need to learn how to do, because it will elevate your music significantly.

One of the best things I ever did was to stop singing myself and allow other people to sing. That was a very big thing for me, because I had taken vocal lessons for a year. I realized for me to actually achieve the levels that I need to achieve - that I wanted to achieve, I had to let people who have a better instrument in their voice do the singing, instead of myself. So that's why I recruit people like Lauren Light to sing for me, and to collaborate with her on tracks like this.

If you are interested in learning how to produce your vocals a little bit better, come join our producer course over at the Triple Threat Artist. I'll give you a discount code (FALL2020) that will give you an extra $40 off per month, and you are welcome to join us and hang out with us.

We, we meet every single week. We go over each other's tracks. I've got about 138 videos that my co-producer Josh and I have put together for you guys. It covers all kinds of topics, including drums, recording, production, mixing, all kinds of different elements. One of the big sections is recording vocals, recording and producing vocals. If that interests you, click below.

Let's do this! I'll see you on the other side.

Let’s make better music,

Zion

https://www.thetriplethreatartist.com/the-triple-threat-bundle

use coupon code FALL2020 for $40 off per month