One of my favourite things to do…is SINGGGGGGGGGG! You can catch me singing in the shower, singing along to music in my bedroom, singing in the kitchen, just singing anywhere where it’s just me inside those four walls. Like when I’m home alone, I will just sing my heart out and perform a little music medley for myself.
In 2020, the company I worked for gifted its employees with virgin experience vouchers as a way to say thank you for all our hard work during the pandemic. Scrolling through the website, there were so many great experiences to choose from that it took me a little while to decide at first. After selecting a live comedy night (because they are always a fun time), I then chose two singing experiences that had caught my eye at the bottom of the page… a ‘karaoke night’ and a ‘recording taster session.’
‘Recording a song in an actual studio’…woooah what an upgrade from recording songs on my phone or mp3 player. I have been recording my singing escapades/sessions on my phone for years, ever since Nicole Scherzinger told a contestant on the X Factor to do it, to help improve their vocal abilities…wise words.
When it came to the day of the recording taster session, I had decided I wanted to record ‘Trouble Sleeping‘ by Corinne Bailey Rae as it’s a song that I sing a lot and I am comfortable singing because it is not too fast or too high. I knew that on the day I would be nervous, and that the tempo of the song would allow me time to breathe and compose myself.
My two back-up options were ‘Where Is The Love?‘ – Black Eyed Peas and my favourite Lianne La Havas song, ‘Midnight‘. They would definitely be harder to sing, but if I was feeling brave, I would have sung one of those. Maybe next time aye.
I travelled to Orchard Studios in Crewe, UK and was greeted by John and his wife, Alma who run the recording studio. Once inside, they found and downloaded the backing track for ‘Trouble Sleeping’ and Alma also took a couple of pictures of me for the front and back cover photo for my CD. After this I was primed and ready to start the recording process…I stood in front of the microphone that was suspended in the air, placed my headphones on and waited to hear instructions from John behind the glass.
He first asked me if I could hear his voice and backing track through the headphones…yes I could hear everything loud and clear. I took a deep breath and waited to hear the backing track… After the first run through John had some useful feedback for me and I too had a word with myself. John told me to allow myself to miss lines out in the song if I was struggling for breath and asked if I was happy with what I could hear through the headphones. I was not entirely confident in how I sounded during the first attempt because I felt that I couldn’t really hear my vocals alongside the backing track. With the headphones on, and backing music in my ears, my vocals sounded dampened down and different to what I was used to hearing when singing acapella in my bedroom. When I told John this, he adjusted the volume levels so my voice was louder than the backing track and he also told me that I could place one of the headphone cups behind my ear. I actually preferred this technique, as I could hear my voice the way I recognised it normally. However, John did say my voice sounded quieter so in subsequent takes I sang louder, even though I literally thought I was sing-shouting (John reassured me I wasn’t). The advice that I gave to myself, was that I should have practised singing ‘Trouble Sleeping’ with a backing track before recording day to get used to the actual tempo and melody of the song and not the customised way I sung it. However, the more takes that I did, I grew more confident and secure in the way I sounded.
After several more takes, we chose the version we liked the best and then I joined John in the studio, where he performed his production and editing magic. He explained what he was doing for each portion of the track, which included making slight corrections to my voice, adjusting the volume and adding other affects like an echo. When listening back to what had been recorded, I was the first to highlight bits where I sounded pitchy or out of tune and right in front of me, I was able to see how some of those imperfections could be ironed out. I am pleased to say that the final version, is not too polished and robotic sounding…I still sound like ME!
teetreats 