Singers and recording noise

guitarfishbay

Just spent the evening tracking the main vocal for a new song of ours.  One of the lines starts off 'take me' and I spotted some weird click sound so stopped the take, listened back, we both agreed it was there.  Checked the basic stuff, nothing was set wrong on the computer/interface, wiggled cables, couldn't recreate it.  Go again.  Still there, same place.  Hmm.

So I got him to sing the line a few times and it happened almost every time on 'take me'.  I figured it had to be something he's doing, so I took off my headphones...  Yep.  His teeth - he's singing the line fairly quiet to start off with with his mouth fairly closed for the tonality, and his teeth are knocking in the same spot every time.  When he became aware of it he was able to correct it and we got on with the job.

At least this fix didn't cost any money.  When we recorded our first single I discovered my second pair of headphones, the ones I gave for him to monitor on, creaked.  So every time he went for a loud note and opened up it was creating a click that came through the mic, and it was an issue as it happened mid note.  I ended up swapping over, and afterwards bought a second pair of decent non clicky headphones so I could continue to monitor on the ones I liked.

So what other weird little noises that you weren't expecting have you guys come across when recording?  Does anyone else get driven nuts by these little weird sounds?  Things that rattle and click drive me crazy.

Cirrus

I mostly record my own singer, who is the loudest cunt the world has ever known. No mortal sound could be heard over his voice. So there's usually no problems there, except that recently we hired a Coles 4038 for him to sing through and he was singing so loudly the ribbon was distorting - VERY quickly backed him off that one! :-O

Honestly, little extraneous noises rarely bother me. I think they tend to add an element of humanity and life to the music as long as they're not out and out distracting - which they very rarely are when tucked away in a full mix; who listens to the tracks in solo after it's mastered?

Actually, here's an example of three extraneous noises that totally worked for the benefit of the track that have happened over the course of the album project I'm in the middle of;

1; While doing preproduction guide acoustic tracks at home for a song that starts quiet and ends with this huge wall of fuzz, a car alarm a few doors down was going off. I had a lot to get through so I couldn't wait for it to stop. It wasn't loud enough to be heard really while I was playing but a the end of the song you can clearly hear it. I recorded two acoustic tracks, panned hard L and R, and as the final chord fades out the alarm is almost in perfect synch between the two tracks - it's just out of phase enough that it sounds like it's coming from outside the sound-stage and it suits the end of the track so well, it's in key and everthing!

2; The next day I was doing the same for a song I wrote the day my first cat was killed by a car. It's a pretty emotional song for me. Well, at the end of the take one of my cats pushed the door open, waltzed in with a big meow greeting and stepped right onto my lap, purring into the microphone. In the actual production the purring is perfect as the final guitar note washes into line 6 particle reverb, it just couldn't be better.

3; While recording drums for a song with a very sinister and sparse first verse, something was resonating on the drum kit - maybe a cymbal stand. There's one bit where it sounds like a rusty gate screaming in the distance, almost inaudible except for some reason it comes through clear as day on an SM58 I'd set up as a room corner mic - actually a failed experiment but I forgot to disarm the track before rolling for the take. So I just roll that track up for one second in the first verse with some delay on it and it's so atmospheric and mood setting. It's even in a gap between two vocal lines, so it fits in the arrangement.

So yeah, I tend to enjoy the little problems!

)

guitarfishbay

I know what you mean, some random sounds can be cool. But I can't say I've ever had the luck of an in tune car alarm! Sorry to hear you lost a cat like that. 

The section where we experienced the teeth noise is just an up close vocal with a quiet palm muted guitar, it has to be clean IMO, especially as bass and drums drop out for it too. I do think I notice lots of small noises though and I guess my instinct is to stop them if possible, though maybe I just need to head out on to the street and kick a few cars to find one with an alarm in Eb 

Fazer

used to record things in a kitchen with a noisy fridge, so i'd turn it off and always forget to turn it back on afterwards

guitarfishbay

A good excuse for experimental one pot everything must go cooking.

PolarityMan

What I hate is click track bleed in drum overheads due to the fact that our drummer needs the phones turned up until they're about as loud as a 4x12 in order to hear the click over his drums

Cirrus

PolarityMan said:

What I hate is click track bleed in drum overheads due to the fact that our drummer needs the phones turned up until they're about as loud as a 4x12 in order to hear the click over his drums

@PolarityMan I meant to reply to this!

Sometimes I find changing the click sound helps - As an occasional drummer myself there's been times when the click has been masked by cymbal washes or drum tones. Changing from a click to a note can help, if it's already a note changing the pitch can do the job, or adding in extra subdivisions in case the "on" beats are drowned out by playing.

Apart from that, it's usually about making sure the headphones are isolating enough that the drummer doesn't need it to be extra loud to compete with the acoustic sound of the drums he's playing.

guitarfishbay

I too forgot to reply -

In addition to what Cirrus does:

I don't use the inbuilt click on a DAW, I make a midi instrument (klopfgeist in Logic) track and create the click I want, usually including subdivisions. Also I pay attention to this when tracking quieter sections, and sometimes drop the volume fader for it if necessary. For louder sections it usually isn't an issue.

Clarky

my general rule of thumb for vocals is to make a fist and stick my thumb out [like a "thumb's up" sign].. place my thumb on my chin and the opposite side of my fist on the mic.. then place the pop screen between me and the mic..

then.. face like you're going to sing right into the mic and then turn just a few degrees so rather than singing directly into the mic, you sing past it to one side..

the distance between you and the mic helps to level the performance and lose the strength of some of the clicks and pops..

singing a little off to one side helps to take the strength out of the plosives..

Drew_TNBD

PolarityMan said:

What I hate is click track bleed in drum overheads due to the fact that our drummer needs the phones turned up until they're about as loud as a 4x12 in order to hear the click over his drums

better headphones dude, even in-ear ones if needs be.

PolarityMan

Drummer who is not actually deaf in one ear would probably help too.