Vocals: the importance of performance

Jerome tells us more about how they navigate the tricky realm of vocals. “At first we were worried because we don’t use a proper vocal booth. Technically, the vocal side of our studio is quite basic, but that gave us a particular way of working. We sat with each vocalist as they were recording. Working with them to find the best vocal for the song.

“As far as compression and EQ goes, we generally treat each vocal differently and try not to rely on ‘templates’. Having said that, don’t dismiss presets completely, as they’ll often give you a very usable starting point. Even the most basic plugins allow you to do so much to the sound, but you have to be careful about overcompressing. Never forget that a vocal is a performance, and obviously you want that human performance to shine through.

“Obviously, there are times when you can get a bit crazy. There were some nights when it was just me and Sam in the studio, and we’d start singing through all sorts of guitar pedals and odd effects. The Boss PS-6 Harmonist pedal handles vocals with very pleasing, yet unpredictable results. You can hear it on the tracks BowMyHead and NoPain.

“Maybe the main thing to remember is that no specific piece of gear or plugin is going to solve all your problems. So… trust your ears. A great performance is always the first step in getting a great vocal recording.”