Vocal Editing?

[Scott DeVarenne]

Usually it's around vocal editing(coincidence? I think not.)

I am curious how deep(or crazy) you(and others) go with vocal editing. I know it likely
varies quite a bit from project to project. But what are we talking about here?
Are you talking about trying to create the best possible vocal comp(osite) from a dozen(or so)
complete takes?
Or removing some lipsmacking and noises, and maybe some "punched-in" parts?

[Mathieu Benoit]

Typically, it's the clients discretion, as it's their dime. However, it depends. Are the vocals clashing with other other instruments/vocals? When it's up to me I edit anything that sounds off be way of relation to something else. So I always edit to reference tracks. Then I listen to every thing afterward. I do NOT edit visually. Because I want to avoid editing things that don't need to be edited. It's just too easy to see flaws on the grid.

[macrae11]

Like Matt said, the client is usually the deciding factor in determining what type of product they want. However I'm often given discretion to "do what sounds best".

When it comes to that it depends on the vocalist. If I have one of my main vocalists in for background vocalists in for an overdub session I'll keep it to one take and just punch in any parts that are wrong. This saves a ton of editing time later. If I have an experienced lead vocalist in I'll use the same technique. For example, right now one of my usual BG vocalists is making her own album, so we try to get the best possible take while tracking. I'll always have a few other takes to go by as well just in case we miss something. These are not the projects drive me crazy

The ones I have trouble with are more ones with less experienced studio vocalists, who aren't as good at hearing pitch, doubling, or punching in. For these people I'll usually take anywhere from 3-8 takes and comp from the best 2-4 takes. Anymore than that and I find it's just a lost cause.

Then after comping I go into tuning. For the lead vocal I'm very sensitive about making it musical and not tuning it just for the sake of tuning, which for some of these people is a difficult task which requires bending every note slightly to get the right feel. A very mental tiring procedure to say the least.

If the backing vocals are direct harmonies of the lead, I will work similarly but maybe not quite as intense, but spend more time on making sure the timing is perfect with the lead vocal. If the backing vocals are oohs and aahs I just hammer the autotune to them as hard as they'll take it, and the timing is not nearly as critical so they're much quicker.

As far as cleaning up noise, lipsmacks and punches I fix almost all of that stuff while tracking.

[Malcolm Boyce]

I do whatever I have to do...

"Comping" vocals, or anything for that matter, started out as a means to try different ideas out, and then decide, phrase by phrase what would work best. This was a way to make the decisions without the artist needing to be present, as opposed to punching line by line where the artist was involved in the selection of the phrasing.

These days, comping vocals has turned into a way to take a weaker vocalist, and get an acceptable track by means of 8-12 passes of the same phrasing, providing you with enough material to manufacture one good lead vocal track.

I know exactly what type of singer I'm dealing with when I go to do a second pass of a lead vocal to "try some different things", and I get another track of the exact same phrasing, with a delivery no more consistent than the first one. This is why comping has become so tedious in today's recording environment. And because artists are aware of the tools, it's not going to change for a huge percentage of artists.

The good news is, outstanding talent is still obvious... and outstanding. When you get one in front of a mic, you know you've got the real deal, and things come together so fast, it makes it all the more obvious how tedious comping, editing, and tuning for hours, really is.

[Jef]

I am curious how deep(or crazy) you(and others) go with vocal editing.

It mostly depends on how deep (or crazy) the client wants to get with his/her $$$ money.

[macrae11]

It mostly depends on how deep (or crazy) the client wants to get with his/her $$$ money.

Indeed. I had a singer last year who I would qualify as a great singer. Not quite outstanding, but really had great tone, excellent control, and good pitch. However we spent hours, I would even dare say almost a week just tuning his vocals. Sometimes more than I thought they should be, but once you get one part of a song perfect, it sounds odd if another part is just a little bit out. Anyways he had a very large budget and the end result was excellent.