4 Mistakes to Avoid for Vocal Production

2. Don’t be Afraid to Push the Vocalist’s Range

So, after all that finger-wagging about making sure the singer is in a comfortable part of his/her range, now I’m going to turn around and suggest that, sometimes, pushing a vocalist to the limit of their range can be an effective production tool. It’s not uncommon for producers to shift the key of a song a bit, forcing a singer to hit the top notes at or just beyond the natural upper limit of their range. This is done when it’s appropriate to the musical style for the singer to be heard straining for the high notes, at dramatic points in the song—a lot of more-aggressive rock songs use this trick. The extra rasp that comes from the vocalist straining to hit those musical high points can add a sense of urgency and excitement to the performance. Think of how many times you’ve heard a song where the last chorus is modulated up a half-step or whole-step—after hearing the singer effortlessly hit the high notes on the previous choruses (easily within their range), the pitched-up chorus forces the vocalist to put more energy and grit into those same lines, to reach the higher pitches. So instead of just another repetition of the chorus, you now have a subtly more high-energy take, appropriate to the build-up of energy in the song overall.  

Fig 2 Pushing the top of a vocalist’s range can add a sense of urgency & excitement 

This production technique sometimes goes hand in hand with another producer’s trick—very slightly pulling down the vocal level in the singer’s headphones, so they have to push a little harder to hear themselves clearly over the backing track. Together, these two subtle adjustments can help pull a much more energetic performance out of the vocalist. But if you’re producing a vocal session, and do decide to play master manipulator with your singer, just keep in mind that making that singer push harder—especially in a less-comfortable part of their range—is liable to blow out their voice that much sooner, so you need to be careful not to push them too hard, or you’ll run up against the law of diminishing returns.

3. Establish, Then Embellish

One of my pet peeves is hearing a singer, on a song that’s meant to build a little in intensity from beginning to end (as many songs do, obviously or subtly), start the vocal off normally, but then almost immediately begin to embellish the melody with extra notes, turns, and melismas (where the vocalist takes a single held notes and riffs on it). Sometimes I hear this on a song with a well-known—and very hooky—melody, and it occurs to me that if I didn’t already know the melody, I’d never walk away from that performance humming it—the actual melody was so buried in a blizzard of vocal flourishes that it’s almost scat singing, and the song’s overall presentation suffers from it.  

Fig 3 Some vocalists tend to over-embellish the melody 

This is often done by vocalists who are trying too hard to impress, or otherwise demonstrate their (often prodigious) vocal chops—talent show, anyone? Unfortunately, they end up just like the guitarist who constantly plays licks behind everybody else to the point of distraction, or the drummer who can’t stop playing fills and other busy-ness, when a straight, simple, solid groove is what’s desperately needed. While this kind of technique-heavy performance may indeed show off the singer’s skills, it doesn’t serve the song—in fact, as often as not it detracts—and that can be a fatal flaw. As a producer or band member, I often avoided using a singer who, despite a great voice and wide range, clearly had no self-control. It’s fine to add those vocal flourishes, but first the melody has to be well-established, so the listener can retain it, and only then should it be embellished with technique. It’s the producer’s job to stay on top of this, especially with singers who perform more by feel, losing themselves in the moment, and may not realize when they’re jumping the shark, vocally speaking. Needless to say, critiques of this must be delivered carefully and tactfully, or you may end up with the opposite situation—a singer who becomes so self-conscious that he/she loses all the fire and inspiration they need to do their best.  

4. Don’t Peak Too Soon

In the same vein, over-embellishing the melody is only one way that singers sometimes get carried away. A vocalist might mainly stick to the melody as written, except for the occasional variations that any performer would do to keep things interesting for a part that repeats throughout a song. These might include starting in a lower octave, changing from a softer, breathier voice to a harder, more full-throated delivery, and adding a little vocal rasp here and there, for drama. But while all these techniques are welcome, and can be highly effective elements of the performance, how, and most importantly, when they’re used, is key. 

Just as in the previous example, I often come across a vocal performance where the singer started off the first verse, of maybe a typical two/three-verse/chorus song, in softer more laid-back tone and delivery, but by the end of that first verse, and right into the first chorus, they had revved up to 5th gear already. That might make for a dramatic first chorus, and you very well might want a bit of push going into even that first chorus, but too big a push in the first verse-into-chorus may not leave the singer anywhere to go after that. They can still drop back down for the second verse, but they run the risk of it bringing down the now-already-building energy of the song. And if they hit their peak energy level on the first choruses, the following choruses—especially if there’s a repeated chorus at the end—may end up being somewhat anticlimactic—subconsciously the listener’s reaction can be “OK, been there, done that”.  

Fig 4 A performance that peaks too soon can make the end of the song seem anticlimactic 

It’s important to make sure that when a song gradually builds, those vocal techniques that build up the energy are brought in appropriately. Let the song cruise along for a bit; if a slight push is needed in an early chorus, make sure there’s something held back for a more dramatic take on it in later choruses, when the song’s overall energy is higher (listen to any half-dozen classic Aretha Franklin recordings to hear this done brilliantly). The best singers will do this instinctively, but any singer—particularly less-experienced ones—might tend to push a little too hard, too soon, at times, especially if they have to perform multiple takes. Coming off a high-energy finish in one take, and then having to recalibrate back down to a lower-energy level for the beginning of the song in the next take, can often be difficult. It’s up to the producer to keep an eye on this, and also to help, when needed—make sure there’s a suitable break between takes, not too long, so the singer loses momentum, but not so short that they don’t have time to down-shift enough to start the next take at the appropriate energy level. 

Some of these considerations may sound obvious, at least on paper, but it’s surprising how often these key issues do get overlooked in vocal sessions. Good producers need to keep all of these considerations front-and-center, along with all the other usual issues, to make sure they always get the best vocal performance the singer can deliver.