“It’s in the can,” “On tape” and “It’s a wrap!” You all gather in the plush leather, shag-pile comfort of the engineering room and wait as the final touches are put to the mix. Anticipation is running high, everything is technically perfect, the rhythm tracks tock to the clock of the heart with precision and feel, perfectly locking in and connecting the bottom end to the mids and linking them to the highs with emphatic punctuation into an harmonious arrangement that captures the feel and energy of live.
The Producer’s Guide to Putting Passion into Vocal Delivery
Mar 31st in Articles by NDK Creative Artist
The last vocals were wrapped in the wee hours and now expectation is bubbling and competing with anticipation that’s a greater high than the caffeine that’s bubbled in the veins and coursed through the mind to maintain the gritty edge that’s kept everybody going over the last several days of finishing the track. You hit play and the groove pulls everybody in, and as you look around the room, you see the critical ears cutting in. As the notes that were labored over and resolved come through, slow smiles of accomplishment stretch the lips of the musicians in acknowledgment of a job well done. “It’s tight,” “it snaps,” the music is good.
As the final part of the aural tapestry locks in and the first lines of the vocals get ready to introduce the message and crown the arrangement to make the song, a song the atmosphere begins to fail, something is wrong. The vocals lack conviction. Technically it’s all there, the timing is right. There are no missing words or lines, but somehow the vocal track doesn’t capture the lyric. Everything else is right and now you’ve got a problem and it needs to be identified, resolved and the vocal take re-done. “It’s just not working.”
The band is perplexed. They don’t know what’s gone wrong: in every rehearsal session the lyrical delivery has always seemed to be right on, but the audio track doesn’t lie. The passion of the lyric is just missing despite the technical perfection of the performance, the vocal feel and the facial contortions that appeared to carry the conviction of meaning as each word was sung, are not on tape. “What happened?”
The singer can sing. Got a great voice, but the lyric is not in their heart and soul, because it doesn’t actually mean something to them. They didn’t write it. The songwriter, ensconced in his studio 60 miles away, strung those words together and he did a great job. The hooks are there, the meaning is there when you read it, but the passion of the vocal delivery—despite technical perfection—just isn’t cutting it.
The problem is simple. The singer doesn’t really know what the song means. They didn’t write it. It does not draw upon their experience, and the only way to resolve this is to have them sit down with a dictionary and define every word in every line of the song. Then, and only then, will the song’s real meaning come alive in their delivery.
This is how you resolve a vocal performance that, in the final mix, just doesn’t cut it because it does not deliver the passion of experience. Give the vocalist the opportunity to study each and every line of the lyric, and then discuss the meaning of the words and also the shades of meaning and hints of symbology, simile and metaphor so these take on the deeper meaning of the words in the soul of the singer, as envisioned by the lyricist. Let them understand the full meaning of the lyric and then sing it again and you will be surprised at the way this taps the emotional heart of the song, and injects the conviction that inspires passion and makes the song truly a part of the living expression of the singer. The song will now be owned by them. It will be a real part of them and not a superficial intellectual exercise. The song will now rock.
This technique is a little piece of magic. It helps create an experience that goes beyond technical perfection to tap passion and introduce the emotive heart. That is what makes a good song sound great.
Why does this work?
It works because language has shades of meaning, and those shades of meaning add subtle tones and frequencies of emotional content that are just as important as the tuning of a piano and guitar, or the right amount of tension applied to skins where they stretch across the chamber of a drum.
When the singer has the meaning spot on, when they understand the depth of expression in every word, and the precision of meaning in every line, then their personality has intellectually and emotionally connected to the lyric and the deeper meaning embodied within it. It is not enough to have an intellectual understanding. A song’s lyric is not simply an intellectual exercise, it’s an emotional expression connected to the heart and soul of life experience common to humanity. People instinctively make these connections of meaning to their own life, but it’s vital for the singer to connect those words to that experience and tap it in the heart of every listener when the final recording makes its way to public broadcast.
This technique of defining the words works, so long as the singers ensure that they identify the correct meaning according to the context and background of the song’s lyric. A song in the end is words and melody perfectly married together to communicate a message. A hit song is words and melody perfectly married together to communicate a memorable message. To make sure the delivery works, ensure the meaning is part of the singer’s expression. Keep a dictionary in the studio.
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Josh Stockwell March 31st
I think this is too formulaic a process. I might be wrong but I don’t think knowing the dictionary definition of words in a song is going to help if the singer can’t relate in any way to the content. You’re right, they don’t have to just understand, they have to feel and connect with the emotions trying to be conveyed, even if it is just for the duration of the song but I don’t think this will be achieved with a dictionary.
( )Flip Beatz March 31st
perhaps you can tell us how you would aproach the situation? different artist need different aproaches to get the most out of them.
( )I for example tell them to take the time to feel/enjoy every word they sing.
Osnildo March 31st
I see this as the really subtle part of the music, you just can’t understand or explain this, but when the singer knows what he’s singing, the music just come much better.
( )But I think that the better way to understand the song is to know the songwriter’s view of the lyrics and not the dictionary explain of it.
TheArtist April 1st
From my experience (I’m 47), most of the singers I’ve come across couldn’t get the feeling, let alone the understanding of a song in detail to make this work. And, the one’s that would get the meaning, all ready get it on the first read, so I don’t think this would work, I mean, you’d only have to try to explain it to a singer who wasn’t making it work. It would be a Spinal Tap moment!
( )Joel Falconer April 1st
Actually, this is exactly what does give the singer “the understanding of a song in detail.” You’d be surprised how often it works – I’ve used this trick myself. There are many words that seem similar until you go and define them and then whole shades of language are revealed by the differences. Don’t knock it until you try it.
( )Kenli April 2nd
It’s definitely good to get a singer focused on the intention of the words of the song. Sounds like something to try in those situations. COuld be weird, but couldn’t hurt.
I think it’s probably a god idea to have the musicians know what the song is about too. Joe Meek used to have session guys memorize lyrics of the songs they were recording.
( )Ian D April 7th
I think the intent is well communicated in the article , just get the singer to connect with the words by whatever means you think appropriate. Read the lines over and over to get the message and emotions being conveyed. If a dictionary is needed to understand “a” word or two then fair enough. Getting the message and feeling is all important so it can be conveyed in the performance.
Even at the mixing stage this is important for the mix engineer to understand before mixing to the right aesthetic.
Proviso here is that this is largely dependent on the quality of the source material and performer. If its not well written then the performance will only get to the depth it achieves. And if the singer is not very perceptive and inexperienced then you are not going to get the results you are looking for.
( )vladimir poopen April 9th
Depends… how many times have producers received lyrics and nothing more? As the producer, you start going over the verses, bridges, chorus and then come up with a base line (not bass line) track. You then start trying to work the words around a beat, a bass line, etc. If I get lyrics (rare), I also tend to lay down a midi track in place of the vocals before meeting with the vocal talent. Basically writing the notes for the singer to follow (and it’s open to interpretation and modification).
I think with multiple takes, a producer can work with a performer to achieve that ‘feeling’.
Having said that.. what would you do with obscure lyrics? If someone handed you “smells like teen spirit” back in the 90s, how would you interpret the feeling of the song?
But wait.. there’s more to rant about. What if you get get something like The Waitress (tori amos). How would you interpret and write the music for it?
http://www.elyrics.net/read/t/tori-amos-lyrics/the-waitress-lyrics.html
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=3977970
Starts off like a morbid ballad and then when she talks of believing in peace, the tone is anger. Sorry for the myspace link… was the best live recording I could find.
( )Steve Chatterton April 10th
Rats – I read through all that flowery prose to help get a better vocal performance out of myself, but I am the songwriter & I’m well aware of the emotional & intellectual content of the lyrics. Oh well.
( )jeffreyjames April 12th
I’m not sure a dictionary has to be involved. I think just sitting down and looking at the lyrics can be more effective because the singer has to try and figure it out… it’s more engaging than letting a dictionary define a song. and you’ll probably get things out of it just by studying it that you won’t get by looking up words…
( )jAMES rOGERS April 14th
I think you guys need to sit down and read the original post thoroughly. The best approach is to convey the feeling of the meaning of the vocals to the performer in such a way as that they understand. Nothing more and nothing less. What this entails is as subjective as the individual you are coaching, so use the language that works, be it dictionary definitions, metaphor, picture, movie, whatever. Any person can feel what you want them to if you are able to understand it for yourself…
( )paolo van braumberger April 30th
I would get the lyricist on speakerphone with the crew and the singer. Get it straight from the source, rather than intrepretation. Then the singer actually connects with the music and the writer.
( )Allen Mackley May 25th
I very much agree with this article. It’s the timbre and the dynamics of the voice of the singer. We as humans are very good “lie detectors,” and if the singer doesn’t really know what he’s singing about, most listeners will be able to tell, if only on a subconscious level. We’ve become so used to determining the truth and sincerity of other’s words for the spoken word – in business and in our personal lives as well – that we can usually tell when something is “off” in music as well.
Sincerity is key. Other’s respect it and it’s much more fun to listen to.
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