#Frail Autumn,, #GarageBand,, #Lyrics, #music, #Retirement Projects, #songwriting

Vocals and more to learn in GarageBand.

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Vocals on GarageBand (GB) recordings have become something that needs to be really looked at over the next few weeks. There is an intention to possibly re-record a fair few tracks to their full song’s length and record new ones never tried on GB before. Maybe all of them need to be started over from scratch. I may lose certain sounds I could never replicate though. I learned this morning though that I can copy a track from one recorded song. Go to another newly started recording of that same song and paste it into that completely new and different area.

Also, a few weird processes that I have done over past songs, is to sing and play guitar into the same microphone at the same time. To then layer other tracks on top. Now…. I know I can remove that specific singular guitar/vocal track and save it on a new recording out on its own. The vocals and guitar cannot be separated from themselves still, in their new environment. So. No chance for future manipulation of compression, echo, reverb, volume, etc. .

‘Why do this singing/playing together then?’ you ask. There was never an intention to keep songs as the finished articles, but to use the first step of voice/guitar to layer other sounds on.

SO THIS MORNING’S EXERCISE WAS AN EXAMPLE OF ‘WHAT TO AVOIDS’ AND GETTING A SOUND OF VOCAL THAT DOES NOT SOUND POOR ON FINAL RECORDINGS. FIRST UP IS OVERDONE ‘ECHO’.

Echo from both the GB choice from the library and also bouncing back off the Apple monitor screen. Like shouting over a valley to hear the voice coming back at you. Albeit more quickly in this case.

Vocals are strange when they are your own. Out there and laid bare. You hear back and think ‘Is this the best I can do! Is this how I actually sound?’. Well, I do ask those questions of myself. I strive for better technique. As yet don’t know how to achieve it. Or, don’t know if I can in reality. The sound of vocals on GB provides you with a slip road to confidence. Out and off the main road where others exist. You become insular and can sit quietly and reflect.

The GB system has voice library sounds with choices of flat, compressed, echo, reverb, etc.. But slip road quality time is not based on GB sound choices. It is based in the way you record them. Basically, through headphones. You hear in a very comfortable, intimate and private way. Your World exists for you, and only you. You’re alone in that specific moment in time. No others to listen to your voice. Or watch your delivery and judge your results. Confidence? It actually does come purely from the ‘wearing headphones’ phenomena. You are enveloped in the sound of guitar and voice and it swirls around in an ethereal fashion.

BELOW VIDEO

ADDED SOME KEYBOARD SOUNDS. ALSO SOME EXTRA DRUMMING AND EGG SHAKERS. T’WAS MUCH FUN. I USED AN INDIAN DOUBLE ENDED DRUM. NEVER REALLY SURE IF IT IS A PAKHAWAJ OR A MRIDANGAM DRUM. IT SOUNDS RATHER LIKE BONGOS. RAISED THE DRUM NOISE I MADE IN THE GAP PART….

TODAY I MADE UP A QUICK SONG. NONSENSE LYRICS. BUT IT CAN BE USED TO TEST OUT DIFFERENT LAYERING OF VOCALS. DIFFERENT LYRICS COULD GIVE A CALL AND RESPONSE OR DIFFERENT VIEW POINTS. AS AN OBSERVATION. I WAS WATCHING A QUIZ TYPE PROGRAMME (TIPPING POINT) AND ONE OF THE QUESTIONS WAS ‘WHO’S PHRASE IS ‘Yeah Baby’?’ AUSTIN POWERS OF COURSE. STRANGE HOW YOU CAPTURE ODDITIES THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND THEY PLANT THEMSELVES INSIDE YOUR BRAIN SUBLIMINALLY.

………LET’S JUST DANCE………Yeah Baby.

NONSENSE LYRICS:

Baby, baby I don’t wanna dance

But maybe I won’t get a second chance

So baby…… let’s (just) dance.

You love to rock and roll

But I love the blues

(We can work it out)

You with yours

And me with mine

You’ll be good

And I’ll be fine.

Singing into the iPad externally with no headphones is completely the opposite. You hear your voice in its true reality. Vulnerable and as it does exactly what it says on the tin. You can alter your voice with different delivery and use a false mimicry. I actually don’t want to. I like a voice that is the singer’s own. Some singers are so unique they have magic in their vocal cords. I don’t mind mine. I truly don’t. But I have no magic in uniqueness.

iPad recording with Waveform Audio capture. 18.6 MB of memory. So high quality sound. But certainly doesn’t sound high quality!

The iPad is ideal for capturing ideas in the moments an idea springs into your mind. A narration of a lyric. A little new melody. But no intimacy exists. Is that why some singers close their eyes on singing live? To connect with what is within. To focus on their pronounced ambience. Giving them a strength of dynamic to express in a different way.

Other GB users may have the answers to capturing vocal ambience. Currently I do not. But the simple fact of only seeing these songs, up to now, as experimental captures to learn technical knowledge has led to the lack of focus on getting professional sound. That does not mean professional playing skills. It means achieving overall finished sound that delivers properly. My vocals have been, up to now, simply trial and error.

Over the times I have recorded vocals, a lot of the rules for proper capture are very wrong. The location of my microphone is in front of my Mac screen. A piece of glass that bounces my guitar and voice straight back at the microphone and causing more echo. I use nothing to absorb sound. Also. My personal distance from the microphone is a few feet away because I am holding a guitar whilst singing. The closer your voice is to a microphone causes intimacy and depth to be present. You can sing quieter and with more soulfulness. Well…..if able to produce quality soulful vocals. I haven’t tried that sort of emotional focus.

THIS BELOW WAS AN ATTEMPT AT CREATING ABSORPTION BY SURROUNDING THE MIC WITH THICK FOAM. ADDING AN ECHO TO SPECIFIC SUNG PARTS LATER.

Speaking of confidence earlier. Actually, the red button scenario can hanker results. Being in front of a microphone can be very difficult for the need to get it right. Natural delivery goes out of the window. A self consciousness creeps in when the red recording button is pressed and mistakes happen. I never check if I am hitting peak volume either. Going into that ‘red zone’ overload where the computer cannot grab and keep the vocal. It simply goes out of the recognisable capturing ability. The vocal then isn’t recorded. Literally the computer says ‘No!’. Can produce ‘click sounds’ as per in the top vocal experiment near the end. Plosive pops can happen too. Therefore cutting off certain vocal sounds, or popping ‘P’ words, which then fails to give true performance. So that will need addressing too.

There is still so much to learn and get clear understanding of what to avoid. And what to keep that works. However, by actually asking the right questions you get answers.

31 thoughts on “Vocals and more to learn in GarageBand.”

  1. Ah, copy and paste! Great!!! I wondered if that was possible, since it’s something one can do in almost every software application. I guess application developers were onto cloning early on. Ha!
    And I love how intricate your study of GB is, Gray.
    You also hit a cord for me here, “You are enveloped in the sound of guitar and voice and it swirls around in an ethereal fashion.” I write a lot about ‘enveloped’ and ‘ethereal’ so those words jump off the screen at me. Going to listen to the clips now with headphones (BrainTap).
    Oh, you also asked about singing with eyes closed, and I feel the same way, most are ‘going within’ to mine their voice from their soul. Eyes open can also allow for distraction, especially in front of an audience. The singer becomes too self aware and Ego creeps in and causes lack of confidence. Or one gets Ego too puffed and mistakes happen when the singer becomes overly confident. Ha! So much going on there.
    I have always been instructed to ‘eat the mic’ while singing. I guess for the reason you noted. Add depth and power. As a fairly life-long singer, hubby still tells me I could learn to work the mic better. Ugh. Haha!

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    1. Great reply Sheila. Lots of great points. And your descriptions of finding soul.

      Cut and paste is even more useful than copy and paste. Sing six or seven takes separately and keep them all. Then choose your strongest phrasing and cut it to put it into another stronger overall vocal track. There is a great video on YouTube describing how to do this. Then you lose no dynamics from a glorious vocal take with weak points in it. I’ve never tried that at all, because it looks over my head skills wise. Simple in his hands, a disaster in mine.

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      1. Right, Gray. Cut and paste. I always use those terms interchangeably, but of course they do different things.
        For the uninitiated, Copy (Ctrl/C or Command/C, depending on if you use PC or Mac) will make a perfect copy of whatever you highlighted/selected. And Cut will cut it out, removing it, but holding it in the clipboard behind the scenes so when you Paste (Ctrl/V or Command V) it will place whatever is copied or cut wherever you have your cursor.

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      2. I have tried that method in the past and messed up badly. Lost stuff during essays. I truly am useless at technology. I have naive methods that I have to follow or get very confused. 😊

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    1. Yes, I do too. This was an example of what not to do to avoid unprofessional sounding recordings. Over-Echo use being one of them. It’s nice to enhance appropriately. I watched Jackson Browne recently on YouTube in his home by singing into a camera and doing it right. Paul McCartney on Let Me Roll it too. Suited the whole song’s vibe. Slim Whitman and the echo is atmospheric.

      But intimacy and emotional requirements in songs is best suited with flatness, warm tones and emotive heart felt phrasing. I want to record this with cello and some haunting orchestral type inclusions. Just get it completely out of my normal style.

      Getting some serious thought considerations to get stuff done on Bandcamp and YouTube for next January now. Getting some really nice feedback from the local crew. Nice really. Cheers Sheila.

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      6. He has his favourites does Tim Burton. Helen Bonham Carter for definite. Ricky Gervaise and Johnny are great pals. But then Johnny has favourites to work alongside too. Steve Graham, etc. He loves Paul Whitehouse the comic. Johnny was in one of the ‘Suits you sir’ episodes on The Fast Show. So funny. It’s on YouTube. Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse on Gone Fishing is pure gold.

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      10. Always a pre warning by the announcer before the Fast Show screened….great characters though. Johnny was obsessed with the show apparently. Saw a YouTube upload once of him speaking of it as a true classic.

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    1. Clip #3 is the iPad flat sound. And just the iPad internal mic too. If and when I find a combination of mic and GB voice sound which has perfect synergy……I will use it all the time for main vocal. Never stray from familiar base and keep in the flow of status quo.

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      2. Thank you. It’s really nice that I have a few followers that keep in touch. I can handle that in proper replies. I believe the majority of followers are those business led types that blanket bomb. The others, if you are active on the app, you can watch liking one post every two seconds. End up with 20 likes that haven’t been read. Unless they read 20 over an hour and then liked them all in one go! Doubt that one. I may spend a few hours removing them soon. They clog the timeline badly and I miss my favourite blogger’s uploads.

        I just love music. Same as yourself and Richard. So am enjoying this so much. Despite the cranky technology fight.

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      3. I feel the same way. I began culling them down then read another’s post about how that hurts their algorithm. So, I stopped unfollowing others, but turned the notifications off.
        Then a friend had one of her best buddies on WP disappear and she was sooo disappointed. One can never really know what’s going on with people.
        But I am to that point, Gray. I want to unfollow or turn off notifications for all who don’t authentically communicate with me. Good points made, Gray. Cheers!

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      4. The sites I have that have thousands of followers and follow thousands of others are the ones that are intrusive. The other ones are those who give masses of likes to your posts all in one go. Yesterday and the day before I saw the latest notification banner coming down off iPad top screen one after the other in quick succession about 15 to 20 times. Luckily the ‘bell’ sound is off. Will do as you do. Turn off notifications.

        By the way, my latest blog of the GB voice tests? I shoved a quick made up song on there. Nonsense lyrics. But shows the drum beat/percussion possibilities. They are great to choose, loop a rhythm, pick up your guitar and play along to find rhythms never usually tried before. That’s what I did on the one now captured. Just fun really with this one. But it could give Richard or yourself a good base to write songs on. I find it pretty good to use.

        And watched a very interesting YouTube video about ‘improving’ voice. It’s all about manipulation and pitch control. Nope! But it gives me extra determination to get natural vocal somehow captured. Going to look into using the old 1970s Shure SM58 again. USA original made one. It blipped in my old audio interface. Sounded like a voice a hundred miles away. But haven’t tried it with the new one yet.

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      5. I appreciate that, Gray, about using the drum beat/percussion possibilities if he writes anything new. Currently, Richard is just doing some lyrical rewrites over the instrumental tracks and having Tim or Bubba do a resing and home studio remix. I am sharing a new one tomorrow in fact.
        I hope that Shure mic works out for you, Gray.

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  4. I like them all for different reasons. sometimes you want to use an echo for a certain atmospheric effect, and other times you might want to get a little closer to the audience. I like people to feel like I’m sitting right there next to them when they hear me sing. but that’s just me.

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    1. Your voice is sublime cookie. I can imagine people sitting and hearing your voice for the first time and going ‘Oh! Wow’. I’ve been to gigs, and done the same, where a singer just breaks through the senses. In both areas you mention here, you have consistency. Your tone of voice carries through both the mic or amp barriers and their successes. I have sat, as you have, amongst friends and family and the closeness and atmosphere beats everything. You get caught up in it don’t you. Being on a large stage with a large audience has a different vibe. We were lucky enough to tour with a couple of chart topping bands. So, to enhance the sound, some echo was our engineers choice. Out of the two….give me a small room with a handful of audience all day long. Cheers cookie.

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    1. Hi. So sorry about the late reply. Your message went to the Spam folder. I check it once a week if possible. I have never used the Babyface, but believe it to be a cardioid mic. I have a YouTube presenter I follow who uses one. So looked it up a fair few months ago to see its quality. But, I use the Shure MV5 cardioid mic with USB adapter directly into the Mac Mini M2 computer port and it works really well. No audio interface at all.

      I do have an audio interface which is a cheap one. The M audio M track Solo. This does have a pre amp internally. Mainly I plug the guitars directly into it and use it for that purpose only. I use an Akai MIDI keyboard for the hundreds of choices GarageBand offer for other instruments.

      However. The M audio interface certainly doesn’t work well on my Shure SM58 dynamic 1970s mic. So I know I need a pre amp for the SM58. But they are really expensive. I did plug the SM58 mic into a small and cheap in line audio interface once (which was a XLR to USB converter). It went directly into the Mac M2 computer and it worked well with boosted sound.

      The interface with external pre amp combination is supposed to be gold standard choice. But the better the audio interface with internal preamp, maybe the better result. Trial and error I suppose. But an expensive experiment to get failed results.

      All the best.

      Your question is possibly a try it out situation Vyechi. Maybe Google and see if there are any threads out there where people discuss best results. I have done that in the past concerning best connection systems. It avoids costly mistakes at times.

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  6. Yeah, I think it will be a trial thing, too. I watched Julian on YouTube. He has tested many interfaces. He hasn’t responded to me yet. RME comes with TotalMix software. I don’t think I’ll need it, but I’m curious how well it works with Vociemeeter potato.

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    1. I tend to be a complete Technophobe with all this and do struggle badly. I bought a Yamaha DD65 set of electronic drums recently. Bought the electronic bass drum connection to drums upright, an old premier bass drum kick pedal and the electronic Hi Hat foot pedal too. Then found I needed a Yamaha MIDI interface as the only type that will allow the signal from the drum’s 5 pin MIDI ports to computer USB to work. A cheaper modern in line interface didn’t send in/out signals both ways. So managed to get a ‘rare as hen’s teeth’ Yamaha MIDI lead off eBay. They can be really pricey too. But found one and got it fairly cheap which was nice. Now! Not sure if a Mac system will accept it. Windows has a driver download, but Mac has to be programmed with the drum kit set up alongside the Mac finder set up…..or some such weird procedure. Haven’t found any internet guidance yet. Ah well.

      Glad you are still positively searching and I should imagine will eventually find your answers. All the best.

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