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Ronan Chris Murphy's class on recording vocals

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:12 pm
by jonathanm
Anyone go to Ronan Chris Murphy's class on recording vocals? I heard it was great and would appreciate any info you can pass along.Jonathan

Re: Ronan Chris Murphy's class on recording vocals

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 5:37 pm
by mojobone
Didn't, but I'm following his twitter feed.

Re: Ronan Chris Murphy's class on recording vocals

Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 11:17 am
by tedsingingfox
I went on Friday. I try to hit at least one of his classes every year because they ROCK!!! (Last year, for the very first time, his class opened my eyes and ears to the "sonic landscape" that exists between the monitors. It suddenly made sense to me and became a tangible, 3-dimensional thing. It was truly a light bulb moment.*)And I'm saying that as someone with ZERO ability to record my own (or anyone else's) vocals. For now, that is...Give me a few days to absorb everything from this weekend and to try to better organize my class notes, and I'll post 'em up. Deal?Ted*Thank you, Raags, for planting the seeds that allowed that to happen.

Re: Ronan Chris Murphy's class on recording vocals

Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:48 pm
by jonathanm
Thanks, Ted!

Re: Ronan Chris Murphy's class on recording vocals

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:45 am
by cardell
Great Ted! I'd be interested in this too.Stuart

Re: Ronan Chris Murphy's class on recording vocals

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 7:50 pm
by shorty
I went to his Vocal Recording class on Friday? I took notes they may not be exactly what he said, and I may be emphasizing things I have done wrong as a indication to myself:Rule 1: Have something worth recording - ie emotion, sound, etcRule 2: Whatever it takes to satisfy rule#1 do it - make the vocalist comfortable, candles, lighting, mic stand with a fake mic on it and the recording mic on a boom... etc You don't want to worry about all the tech stuff while getting the vocal take, because you'll get a take that's ruined and it may have been a fantastic performance that's wasted.The red light is bad. bad. bad. bad. You don't want your levels too hot, you want them low and conservative.Distortion is bad, unless you are recording on analog than digital. The loud part of a vocal -10db. That is all you will ever need. In 24 bit, -20db is all you ever need.There's two different kinds of Mics, Condenser and Dynamic. One mic does NOT fit all vocalists. You want to use the right mic for the right vocalists. Shure SM58 (I think, someone correct me if I'm wrong, I didn't write the number down) beat out $2000 mics all the time. A lot of studio albums (U2, etc) vocals have been recorded with a dynamic Shure mic.You want the vocalist in the right head space. See rule #2. Make the vocalist comfortable, and in the mode to get the right take. The small tight vocal booth isn't always the best place to record. Sometimes muting the vocalist in the headphones, helps get the take. Put mic on a stand crank speakers record vocal track (I think this is in reference to the guy in a club who sounds awesome, but you get him into the studio and he's quiet and clams up and doesn't give a great performance.)Omni directional mics are bad for recording vocals in the studio. The more directional a mic, the better.Not everyone is a rock and roll dude.Psychology when working with other vocalists, they are: vulnerable, out of their comfort zone, and nobody likes their crappy parts highlighted. When doing a retake, make them comfortable. Not everyone does well with recording short segments, some vocalists need to do the whole thing. If the vocalist is giving a crappy performance, do what it takes to get the good vocal: see rule #2. Hold their hand, make them feel like a rockstar, etc...Pops and Ps, use the screen not just as a wind screen, but also as an anchor or stability point so the vocalists isn't thinking about how far away they need to be from the mic. Tilt the mic for pops and ps, you lose a little presence, but not so much that it affects the vocal. See rule #2.Space to record in. Tiny rooms suck. Classical music - space and sound of the room and that's how they get the sound for that type of vocal.To make a simple booth, packing blankets on two sides of the vocalist will give adequate padding. The vocal booth is important for rock,pop, r&b etc. Make walls out of blankets.Be judicious with reverbPlay with delay before reverb.Compression is used on all vocals since Elvis. 1-3 on the individual track minimum.Vocals by the time mastering happens, get compressed at least 7 times.Analog does compression better than digital.Chain digital compressors - have each do a little bit, spread the labor across multiple compressors. One doing a lot of compression sucks.Good compression will make it feel more alive.Change the order of different compressors around.That's it for my notes on this class! Hope it helps!

Re: Ronan Chris Murphy's class on recording vocals

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:51 pm
by bigbluebarry
Thanks for posting that Shorty! I was hoping to make it to his class but I had conflicts with both of them. I'm hoping to take it next year. - Big Blue

Re: Ronan Chris Murphy's class on recording vocals

Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 2:59 am
by devin
Fantastic summary Rebekah...and trust me gang, she knows how to make a good vocal And you're right, the SM58 is the industry workhorse as a dynamic mic.

Re: Ronan Chris Murphy's class on recording vocals

Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:51 am
by jonathanm
Thanks very much, Rebekah. I like stuff like this that has a bit of tech, but is mostly philosophy. I'm learning it's much more important to have the right concept of what I'm trying to record than it is to have just the right knob settings. Excellent, and thanks again!Jonathan

Re: Ronan Chris Murphy's class on recording vocals

Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:38 am
by shorty
Devin let me correct, no, I don't know how to make a good vocal, I can sing, but I'm working on recording at home, this was a great class and I learned a lot. I'll use Scott Ross to record vocals for a final project, long before I'll rely on my own recording talents.