How do you arrange vocals?

[express]

How do you do it? Do you know exactly every single note that is gonna be sung in your song? Do you sit down at a piano and go through the melody, note by note? Or do you just sing it without much preparation and just trust go by what feels and sounds right?

[hummingbird]

Quote:How do you do it? Do you know exactly every single note that is gonna be sung in your song? Do you sit down at a piano and go through the melody, note by note? Or do you just sing it without much preparation and just trust go by what feels and sounds right?I've seen bands show up in the studio not even knowing the key their songs were in. Should be exciting to hear how ya'll arrange your vocals/melodies. When I'm composing, I go by what feels & sounds right - at this point I improvise a lot. Once I've got the melody pretty much settled, I practice the song until I know it well and can sing it easily & without worry. Then I think about the words, and how the melody expresses them, and then I'll record a take or two to see if it's sounding the way I imagine.If I'm going to a recording studio to record a vocal track, I arrive fully warmed up, having rehearsed & prepared the song (including recording it at home to see if I'm expressing it the way I imagine it should be), and we'll do a quick take to see how it feels & sounds, and get the producers' input... and then we do it. I usually get it within two to three takes.I follow the same process at home, but time is less of a worry so I will allow myself to experiment with things until I'm happy with them. Unless one is a really confident singer with an excellent ear, doing things on the fly can bring insecurity into the vocals. Not that you want to be rigid, but you want to be confident that you know the melody & chord progression & timing so that the vocals are strong & effective.I once hired a demo singer who arrived with a cold, unrehearsed, and who proceeded to make a mash of the recording process because he hadn't taken the time to prepare. Cost us 2 hours at the studio, plus his fee, and I never used his track. Needless to say I was not impressed.

[jeffe]

I would say by feeling every time. I can go through it several times and not be happy, but I know it when it fits. It's similar to getting the piano or other instruments to fit. The only difference is that the vocals are far more versatile than any instrument you might play, and that has to be taken into consideration.