Me at Canonical, earlier.
We'll be working on this new record almost every day for the next few months and thought this blog would be a good way to both keep us sane, and let you guys learn more about how we make this album.
Today we've been recording my vocals for.......Song 1! This meant starting off with a vocal warm up, which I really needed today - having just been on holiday for 10 days without singing at all!
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Sean McGhee writes the blog: Hello, I'm Sean. Welcome to Canonical, my studio.
Rob has done quite a bit of vocal recording with me now, so we're very comfortable with the setup we use. I have a corner of my room set up as a vocal area. It's surrounded by acoustic panels and I use a Reflexion Filter on the mic stand to act as an acoustic "fourth wall". This device kills off any nasty "springy" reverb bouncing back from the walls of the room, so it sounds comfortably dry and well-balanced.
I use a Gefell condenser microphone for Rob's vocal. It sounds clean and warm, but crucially it can take high sound pressure levels, which is very important to get a good sound from Rob, as he sings very loud when he goes for it!
Rob's view from the vocal area - the Gefell mic and the Reflexion Filter.
I used to use a TL Audio Ivory preamp for him, but I now use a Focusrite ISA220, which is a great all-in-one preamp, EQ and compressor. This was an invaluable part of my rig when I worked with Guy Sigsworth, so if it's good enough for Britney and Sugababes, it's good enough for Rob!
A very fuzzy photo of the preamps and the mixer - the blue box is the Focusrite preamp.
We both monitor on headphones when he performs. I have a 4 way headphone amp with 2 mixes available - I either hear what Rob hears or I can set up my own separate mix from the Aux sends on the mini-mixer. In my opinion, all engineers should be forced to be a singer for an hour to realise how critical a good headphone mix is - make the vocalist feel comfortable and they'll deliver at their best.
While Rob sings, I make notes. Here's a comp sheet from today - I number takes and use my own arcane system of symbols to keep track of the best parts of all the performances. Then it's just a case of comping it. Of which, more another time...
Rob has done quite a bit of vocal recording with me now, so we're very comfortable with the setup we use. I have a corner of my room set up as a vocal area. It's surrounded by acoustic panels and I use a Reflexion Filter on the mic stand to act as an acoustic "fourth wall". This device kills off any nasty "springy" reverb bouncing back from the walls of the room, so it sounds comfortably dry and well-balanced.
I use a Gefell condenser microphone for Rob's vocal. It sounds clean and warm, but crucially it can take high sound pressure levels, which is very important to get a good sound from Rob, as he sings very loud when he goes for it!
Rob's view from the vocal area - the Gefell mic and the Reflexion Filter.
I used to use a TL Audio Ivory preamp for him, but I now use a Focusrite ISA220, which is a great all-in-one preamp, EQ and compressor. This was an invaluable part of my rig when I worked with Guy Sigsworth, so if it's good enough for Britney and Sugababes, it's good enough for Rob!
A very fuzzy photo of the preamps and the mixer - the blue box is the Focusrite preamp.
We both monitor on headphones when he performs. I have a 4 way headphone amp with 2 mixes available - I either hear what Rob hears or I can set up my own separate mix from the Aux sends on the mini-mixer. In my opinion, all engineers should be forced to be a singer for an hour to realise how critical a good headphone mix is - make the vocalist feel comfortable and they'll deliver at their best.
While Rob sings, I make notes. Here's a comp sheet from today - I number takes and use my own arcane system of symbols to keep track of the best parts of all the performances. Then it's just a case of comping it. Of which, more another time...
A comp sheet, today.
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3 comments:
Very cool, guys!! Am excited about this. Take care Rob!
Sara.
congrats Rob, for you new album..
This is great! Thanks for sharing all the details about what goes into an album's creation. I look forward to all your updates!
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