Vocal Production Quotes

'Boneless,' even though we were thinking about servicing it to radio, it made more sense putting a vocal on there. This was actually the first time that I really looked at doing a song for radio and kind of let go of some control and listened to a lot of different radio pluggers and had Ultra come in and help out with ideas.

Keep in mind, you can use Auto-Tune and you can know how to work it perfectly, but you still have to know how to write a good song.

The records I make, I'm there from the writing of the first note through the click tracks to the miking of the drums to the editing of everything to the production to the vocals to the artwork.

My production and songwriting and the environment around those vocals are not inspired by R&B at all.

I don't think there's anybody that has such a keen sense of vocal production and attention to detail as Dre.

The original vocals had an awful lot of work put into them at the time, and I wasn't really sure that I could better them - I don't know if I have bettered them.

Most records, you build from the drums and bass up. This one, we started with the vocals in Nashville and recorded them live with just the guitars and tried to make that complete and lovely-sounding without any adornment at all. I really wanted to get something with the vocal that I've never gotten before Armchair Apocrypha.

You rarely find someone who sings really well and who produces really well; it's a problem, and I just think it's a missing link in the music scene.

Getting comfortable again and being in a vocal booth on the opposite end of the spectrum, when you're normally the one tracking the vocals, is kind of scary.

Yes, because as composers we are looking for textured voices, and often the singers we find are not trained to perform in a studio environment. So we need technology to doctor their voices to suit the format.

Everybody sings from their diaphragm.

I make records from top to bottom. Bring the best out of the vocalist. I deal with live instrumentation on all our records.

'I Remember' was produced before the vocal. It's just another body of work in the long list of bodies of work.

I always say that when I was recording with Phil Spector, he would not let me really sing, you know? And even to make me sound younger, he would speed the track up. He still wanted that real nice, little, quiet, sweet little sound.

A vocal producer is very important, and it's a very important component of an overall successful and good-sounding record.

For film and TV, try to have a more conversational tone. For stage, you'll need better diction and bigger vocal production.

I usually like to hide my vocals behind the music. I don't like to hide them consciously, but I have a tendency to prefer the vocal at the same level as everything else and put lots of reverb on it.

It's amazing what you can do in your bathroom! I would do vocals and stuff on my computer that would need to be sent to London or New York for things to be added on, and I was thinking they always say you sound good in the bathroom - but then I'd kick the bin, or someone in the next room would flush the chain or something and I'd be like 'oh no!'

Because my early music was heavily produced, people assume my voice was also heavily produced.

My voice has been very, very produced, and very treated - but then, also, it hasn't.

I do loads of pitch writing as well, where you write a pop song and then pitch it to DJs who can then work with the song, and sometimes they keep your vocal on it. It's just good to be involved in different things.

I think that I've gotten a lot more relaxed, and I know how to go about getting a sound now. I know what to do to get the vibe right. As an example, when I'm doing vocals, I don't have six guys sitting out there in the control room, messing around, making faces.

I actually produced other people's vocals for a long time when I first signed my publishing deal and I had just sort of decided that I only wanted to be a writer. I would be in all of these writing sessions, and a lot of times my publisher would say, "You should get a demo singer to sing it because then it doesn't identify as a Solange song."

I think I understand what bands want, just from having made records myself. I understand what it takes to get a good vocal sound, or to make people comfortable in the studio. From minor things like their headphone mix - and if a singer's singing, how they should hear themselves - to how to make people feel that they're getting exactly what they want. All those things, I think, are an advantage, especially the part about having done it myself. I'm not just an engineer who records the sounds well. I'm not afraid to take chances.

I've watched and learnt from DJs and remixers and paid way more attention to how I want my voice to sound. Before, as long as it was loud and in tune it was fine. I've discovered the difference made by various microphones and effects, so each track has a different vocal sound, my voice is woven into everything and it's above everything.